I love hunting season. Deer starts next week on the 4th and Elk starts on the 14th. Guess we' ll have to come back home a few times but I' d rather stay out the whole time. I' ve only had success by picking a place to sit and watch. So far I' ve gotten a nice buck (sat on top of a slash pile with my morning coffee). A cow elk (took a nap by a draw in some nice rocks). And last year got a nice 4 point Bull by picking a good draw to sit on.

Here' s what I wrote to my friends after last years SUCCESSFUL Elk hunt.

" We' re back from our Elk Hunting trip.

I got a 4 point bull the second day of the hunt (actually there' s a we involved here but you' ll have to read the story).

Actually I was basically the only one who saw any elk during the whole trip (I think the statement was something like they all hate me now and I am forever delegated to being camp cook). Brother-in-law said he caught a brief glimpse of a bull but it was really brief. I always go off by myself when we hunt (can' t stand hanging out with the guys and feeling like I need to stay out of the way) and on the first day’s evening hunt I climbed up to a point above a place called Round Meadow. I found what I felt was a great place to watch over an open draw that had lots of grass in it with good wind. After about 1/2 hr., I saw 5 elk (3 cows & 2 calves) wander through. That was fun so I went back the next morning to the same place and, after another 1/2 hour of watching, another herd came out, 7 this time (4 cows and 3 calves). I watched them graze for almost an hour (they got within 50-75 yds of me and never had an inkling I was there). Then a yearling bull elk ran into the clearing, stopped and bugled looking back the way he' d just came. Out they all came in a stampede, at least 5 more calves and maybe 8 cows all followed by a really nice 4 point bull. The dust flew as they all stopped and then instantly the lead cow spotted me and they all took off again at a dead run. I shot twice, missed the first shot totally and hit him broadside with the second. I surprised myself with the shot, I have to confess I' ve never hit a moving target before, always always totally missed. The elk faultered when I hit him and kept on going. There was another hunter close by and he took a shot too (that set me back to have a shot sound so quickly and so close by). He told me later that he had heard me shoot and that he heard my second shot hit and he was trying to put him down for me (yah, right). This guy and his brother, who showed up a few minutes later, looked for blood sign and checked around. After speaking briefly with them, I went ahead and followed the trail. I made some radio trys and got my sister. Told her what had happened so far. I kept tracking for about 200-300 yds then decided I shouldn' t get too far from where I was comfortable. I turned and headed back to where I' d shot and, all of a sudden, MY BULL bolted from brush in front of me. This happened 3 times as I headed back, seemed like every time I got to a rise, he' d disappear into brush in front of me. I got a little, well maybe a lot, breathless as I followed his direction of travel, ready to take a shot if I got a chance. I made radio contact with my sister again and got back to the hunters I' d talked to earlier and told them I' d seen the elk 3 more times since I shot at him. I’m not really sure they believed me. They had different opinions going on over what I was telling them, plus the silent one of they think I’m just talking up a story, I’m sure they thought I had just missed and spoiled their hunting by shooting at the bull they’d been working. They took off to hunt back towards their rigs and left the area. I finally get my husband on the radio. He’s heading my direction as my sister had already gotten him and her husband on the radio from where she was located. When hubby gets to me, he has me take him back to the point where I shot and he looked for blood sign & holes in trees. After looking around there a little he decided to go uphill from here and we diagonal up to the top of the ridge. We seperate about 30' and start looking around. We' re get to the top of the ridge and hubby signals me to come over to him. I nod my head “no” and signal him over to me. I had already looked out over the top of the ridge into some clearings on the other side and I looked that direction again as he heads towards me. I turned towards him as he walked up. When he got almost to me, he grabbed his gun and said (his exact words) “What the ****?” I turned to look and there about 20' in front of me is MY BULL bedded down behind a stump just looking at us. Hubby takes a shot, I see the impact--wham, and the elk jumps up and takes off again. It goes about 100 yards with speedy hubby in hot pursuit. The elk stopped again, looked back and hubby shot it in the neck and dropped him. Tough critter. I had gotten a high gut shot so the Elk was bleeding internally and not leaving any blood trail. We' ve got a freezer full of meat, a nice rack and a great hide hanging at home along with our joint elk hunt story. Hubby likes to add the part about the look on my face when he hoisted his rifle to take a shot as he walked up on me. Something about instant divorce.

Then on Sunday morning (last day of the hunt), I went back to the clearing where I' d shot the 4 point to take pictures. The wind was wrong to watch the clearing so I decided to circle the top of the butte (walking into the wind) and was surprised when I spotted what was at least a 6 point or more (as in huge!!!!) disappearing at a trot into the brush. 2 seconds is definitely not enough time to get in a shot but I tried. I had the gun up but he was gone. Hubby had me take him back to my clearing that night and we sat for 3 hours but my luck is mine alone, I guess I don' t share well."