Elk down and in velvet Sept 22?!
Thank God I finally got my Elk after 4 years of trying and nearly wearing out my boots. Oddly enough he was a bit of a freak, a 3x4 in full velvet. At least there is nowhere to go but up right. I'd be hard pressed to find a smaller legal bull (275lbs on the hook).
I wasn't allowed to shoot into the canola swaths and spotted him and his crew out 300 yards into a field (figures). Started cow calling and one started to mosey'd over to to me feeding in my direction. Took him about 20 minutes. 80, 70... When he got to 15 yards I realized I shouldn't have set my bow down 20 yards away(thank God I left my pack back there) and was committed to the rifle even though he was now crusing by at 15 yards. Blouch goes the 270 and I flinched more than him. I must have missed I thought but when you have nothing but elk in your scope that would be hard even for me. Que the now open tap of blood running out of him and he was definitely well hit. He keeps coming to 10 yards before he gets wobbly and does an forward roll before sitting up and staring at me untill he went to his final rest.
So even a blind squirrel...
Special thanks to my hunting partner who abandoned me due to family obligations to figure it out for myself, though without his help and permissions I would have an empty freezer. As it happens an Elk even a small one, is not the kind of critter you drag up into your truck box by yourself in the darkness like a deer. It's was fine though, by 5 am I had it hung, gutted and skinned by what you would assume to be the aforementioned blind squirrel. I then slept for 2 days.
Should have got my moose too. Snuck into 40 yards of a very nice bull earlier that day and was at full draw. Calm (for once) steady, clear path, not standing on a log in an alder tangle(for once) and decided my anchor wasn't perfect. I let down to take off my hood and a damned black bear got with 100 feet of my moose and he buggered off. I almost put a broadhead into Mr bear out of spite but that comes with a time cost and a folded tag so I let the problem bear (3 encounters in 24 hours) walk. It probably helped him that there was an elk bugling a few hundred yards away I was fixated on. Frustrating, as I was within bow range of moose 14 ish Times in 10 days (mostly the first 2 days). 8 different bull moose all of which were nice and one was a beast. Only saw one cow and one calf. Moose, my new crusade...
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