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What have you shot?

Old 05-17-2015, 12:14 PM
  #1  
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Smile What have you shot?

I love to hear and ready hunting stories about people and their adventures.


Please tell me and anyone who reads your story of a hunting adventure!

Please if possible provide pictures and details. Why was it special? Was it your first? Your biggest? Your last? The day it was on? The story behind it? What made it special for you! From nub bucks to monster bulls please tell!
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Old 05-17-2015, 03:11 PM
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well there are so many, how to choose one?
o.k
here is the story of a small two point mule deer I once killed. was by far not the biggest buck I ever shot but may very well be the most important to me.I had hunted all season rifle with no luck that year. times were a bit tough and I really neede the meat. rifle had endes but I was leafing through the regs and saw that a short range season was open in a unit nearby but closed the next day . I had one last day to hunt and I went for it.

I hunted all morning and early afternoon and saw nothing. so ,I gave it up and got in my truck to head home. while driving out ,I spotted a lil two point skylined on a ridge top about a half mile away,so I watched him awhile and he dropped just under the rim and bedded down.the only way I could get close was to drive about a mile or so down the road until there was a break in the rim where I could get above him unseen.then peek over the rim from above.
the problem was the wind was blowing exactly from me to him, so I was not optomistic of my chances.

before I started my final stalk ,I said a prayer to GOD ,asking that HE would bless me with a kill, as I really needed the meat badly.

I crawled to the edge and there he was right below me , still bedded down. I don't know if he smelled or saw or heard me but he stood up , knowing something was up but did not run.I fired my 12 gauge slug gun and down he went. he probably rolled a hundred or so yards as the hill was pretty steep.
I raised to my knees ,said a prayer , thanking GOD. I then began my mile or so hike back around to where I could get off the rim, (I still am not sure how he was able to get off that rim as it was straight up and down and I could not see a way)Igot my truck and was able to park almost directly under him, so it was a fairly easy pack off the hill.

that was one of the most delicious deer I ever had the pleasure to eat.and there is not a doubt in my mind that GOD had my back that hunt.

Last edited by kidoggy; 05-17-2015 at 03:34 PM.
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Old 05-17-2015, 03:18 PM
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just can't get a pic to post

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Old 05-23-2015, 04:31 AM
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this is chapter 1. luckys home

back in the early 90s my brother chris and I decided to try archery for elk.we had hunted archery for deer in the past but elk was a new experiance for us. on this hunt ,it was I who possesed the tag so he was my bugler and with a little (or a lot) of luck , my pack mule.

it was opening day late in august. we left the truck well before daylight and started up the ridge. it took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. when we arived it was just beginning to get light .so we set down to glass the surounding hillsfarther down the ridge we were on to our left I spotted several cow elk ,feeding their way down into the timber. when they disapeared we decided to throw out a bugle and see what happened. chris bugled and instantly we heard a deep throated response from a bull, probably about a half mile across the bowl below us . needless to say , it got our blood pumping. for those who have never heard a bull bugle ,it is something you must experiance.

we decided to try and work our way closer before we tried again. so we quietly worked our way down into the bowl, following a little finger ridge. when we got fairly close to where we figured he was , chris threw out another bugle. again an instant deep throated response. we waited a few minutes and chris tried a couple cow calls. nothing.
we gave it a bit more time and chris ,bugled again. once again instant response, but still quite a ways off and did not seem to be any closer. there was a fairly small hill between us , so we decided to try and slip over the top and setup to try again. it probably took us half an hour to cover a few hundred yards as we were taking it slow and quite, but eventually we got were we wanted to be and chris threw out another bugle. again instant response. we waited and again tried a cow call . nothing.

after a minute or two , chris again, threw out a bugle and once again instant reply. this time chris bugled again before lucky finished his own and cut him off. a few seconds went by and lucky bugled again, chris once again cut him off, hoping to piss him off. it seemed to work. the next time lucky bugled he was coming closer. we waited .chris tried another cow call and this time we heard branches snapping below us. he was inside of a hundred yards but we could see nothing.
lucky bugled , chris cut him off. chris bugled ,lucky cut him off. this went on for maybe close to an hour or so, but he would come no closer. eventually the day began heating up and lucky grew bored with us and headed off through the brush.we tried more bugles and cow calls for awhile but could get no response.we thought about trying to go after him but it was getting hot so we decided to pull out and try again the next weekend. we never did get a glimpse of him ,that day but still it was one of the greatest hunts I have been on.


the next weekend was pretty much a repeat of day on with the exception that we did finally catch a glimpse of him through the trees.but alas ,still no shot.

stay tuned for chapter two.

how lucky got his name
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Old 05-29-2015, 12:45 PM
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I have hunted a lot of things: pheasants, ducks, squirrels, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, and elk. I love my big game hunting the most, particularly elk hunting. My partners and I engage in do-it-yourself elk hunting on high public land in SW Colorado (unit 75 to be specific) during the first elk rifle season.

We pack-up and drive up to our camping spot on Friday morning early. It is a long drive up a winding dirt road that has pretty views of the surrounding mountains and a scary view off the edge of the road as we get further into the mountains. The last 4 miles is pretty rough 4WD road. We drop down into 4WD Low to drive that last 4 miles.

We set up a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent and an old wood stove. Our camp leader cuts up blocks of seasoned snags, and the rest of us split those rounds of wood to good burning pieces and some very small pieces of kindling. We camp at 11,500 feet altitude. It generally gets down to 20 degrees -- sometimes 15 degrees -- overnight. We have cots with sleeping pads on them. We sleep in sleeping bags on top of the sleeping pads. It is cozy to be in that tent -- either sitting up in folding cloth chairs or in the sleeping bags going to sleep -- while the wood crackles and snaps in that wood stove, the gentle odor of wood smoke permeates the tent. The camp leader has a big wind-up clock that is set for about 4:15 or 4:30 AM. When it goes off in the morning it is louder than hell. No one sleeps through that bell, though we may remain in our sleeping bags a couple of more minutes. We dress, eat a bagel, and hit the trail. We are generally in our spots by 6 AM, and shooting light may be about 6:30 AM.

So much for the context and background of my hunt. I'll tell the story of my hunt last year, as it is near in memory and may have been my most satisfying hunt for a variety of reasons. I came down with a bad chest cold on opening day. Waking up Sunday morning I felt like dog crap. I had been sleeping fitfully, with a wheezing, gurgling sound in my upper lung area where the crud in my lungs was pooled. I told our leader I couldn't hunt that morning and thought I would have to get down off the mountain and leave. He said wait until he returned from the morning's hunt.

It turned out that I got to feeling better. I got up and chopped some wood. Our leader had killed an elk. He asked me to go back to his elk and help him cut it up (I'm pretty good with a knife -- cutting up elk). We had to walk in about 4 miles. This went pretty well. I didn't get exhausted or stove in.

The next morning -- at the direction of our leader -- I went out hunting while he and our other partner went in to pack out his elk. I assume I was relieved of pack-out duties because I still had that chest cold. I walked out on the trail about 5 AM. It was pretty bright out because of a bright moon. It was pleasant walking alone, in the dark, in the mountains like that. I felt pretty good. Not 100% healthy, but up to what I was doing at that moment at any rate. I got into my place at the same time legal shooting light occurred.

I had gone to a place on the edge of a wooded area, below an open grassy bowl surrounded by an arc of high ridgeline. As the morning advanced, I spotted a hunter high on the edge of that arc above me and another hunter high on the edge of the opposite edge of the arc, probably 1/2 mile from the first hunter. Nothing was happening, but it was pretty watching the sunlight come up. It was also nice feeling that sun burn down on me, warming up my seemingly frozen feet. My expectation was, for various reasons, that our camp would pull up stakes and leave this day, if I didn't get an elk.

Normally I would get up and return to camp at 9:30 AM at the latest. This day I stayed in place, on the hunch that when those hunters pulled out they might push an elk to me. At 10 AM, having seen nothing, I leaned my rifle against a tree, stood, and began packing my gear. I saw a couple of elk come at a half-trot out of a draw that angled up into that open grassy bowl. I sat down, fetched my rifle, flipped open my scope covers, and got the lead cow in my sights. She was quartering towards me. She may have initially been 200 yards out. I just let her keep coming towards me. As she got close, she sort of turned her head and looked straight at me.

I decided at that point that I ought to start shooting. I shot three times at her before she passed out of my view behind a tree close to me. I had seen no indication that I had hit her. At the same time, I felt pretty sure I had hit her. She was pretty close.

I looked for her along the path she had been following for 45 minutes and found nothing. There was snow on the ground, and I had tried to find her tracks to no avail. Then I went further to one side and found her dead. She must have taken a hard, right angle turn away from me just where she disappeared out of my view. She was hit hard and had bled a lot. There were two big bullet holes in her forward chest area (I would guess the path of the bullets was aligned to pass out behind her right shoulder), about 3 inches apart. I field dressed her and then skinned her and cut her into pieces. I put the pieces in game bags and dragged them into the shade of a tree. I put up some flagging tape to help find the game. Then I headed back.

My partners met me about 1/2 way back to camp. They had completed their pack out and wondered where I was. They may have thought I had had an accident or was in need of help. The next day we packed the elk out in packs. It was about a 2 mile pack out on a good trail that rose about 500 feet over that distance -- pretty good circumstances considering what CAN happen. One of the partners actually carried an elk ham and a shoulder and half the backstraps. We figure he must have had a 100 LBS pack! I carried a pack with a ham (guess about 55 LBS). Our leader had a shoulder and the other half of the backstraps (guess about 55 LBS).

For me this was a highly rewarding hunt because I had thought I was done in Sunday morning. I felt good for hitting my trotting elk well and cutting my elk up promptly. It was just very satisfying. The elk meat has been excellent. This is my first cow elk (I've taken 2 modest bulls before), and I think it is easily the best elk meat I have eaten. A great hunt. I'm looking forwards to going back this October again.

Last edited by Alsatian; 05-29-2015 at 01:09 PM.
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Old 05-29-2015, 06:17 PM
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Originally Posted by kidoggy
this is chapter 1. luckys home

back in the early 90s my brother chris and I decided to try archery for elk.we had hunted archery for deer in the past but elk was a new experiance for us. on this hunt ,it was I who possesed the tag so he was my bugler and with a little (or a lot) of luck , my pack mule.

it was opening day late in august. we left the truck well before daylight and started up the ridge. it took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. when we arived it was just beginning to get light .so we set down to glass the surounding hillsfarther down the ridge we were on to our left I spotted several cow elk ,feeding their way down into the timber. when they disapeared we decided to throw out a bugle and see what happened. chris bugled and instantly we heard a deep throated response from a bull, probably about a half mile across the bowl below us . needless to say , it got our blood pumping. for those who have never heard a bull bugle ,it is something you must experiance.

we decided to try and work our way closer before we tried again. so we quietly worked our way down into the bowl, following a little finger ridge. when we got fairly close to where we figured he was , chris threw out another bugle. again an instant deep throated response. we waited a few minutes and chris tried a couple cow calls. nothing.
we gave it a bit more time and chris ,bugled again. once again instant response, but still quite a ways off and did not seem to be any closer. there was a fairly small hill between us , so we decided to try and slip over the top and setup to try again. it probably took us half an hour to cover a few hundred yards as we were taking it slow and quite, but eventually we got were we wanted to be and chris threw out another bugle. again instant response. we waited and again tried a cow call . nothing.

after a minute or two , chris again, threw out a bugle and once again instant reply. this time chris bugled again before lucky finished his own and cut him off. a few seconds went by and lucky bugled again, chris once again cut him off, hoping to piss him off. it seemed to work. the next time lucky bugled he was coming closer. we waited .chris tried another cow call and this time we heard branches snapping below us. he was inside of a hundred yards but we could see nothing.
lucky bugled , chris cut him off. chris bugled ,lucky cut him off. this went on for maybe close to an hour or so, but he would come no closer. eventually the day began heating up and lucky grew bored with us and headed off through the brush.we tried more bugles and cow calls for awhile but could get no response.we thought about trying to go after him but it was getting hot so we decided to pull out and try again the next weekend. we never did get a glimpse of him ,that day but still it was one of the greatest hunts I have been on.


the next weekend was pretty much a repeat of day on with the exception that we did finally catch a glimpse of him through the trees.but alas ,still no shot.

stay tuned for chapter two.

how lucky got his name
chapter 2

how lucky was named





o.k . it was my brother chris and I s third day hunting, it is now the final weekend of the archrey season, last weekend in sept.

we ,once again, left the truck well before daylight. by now we had a pretty good idea where lucky would be found, so we hightailed it over the ridge and slipped quitely into the bowl where lucky called home. we got to where we wanted to be about the time it got light enough to see. we set up where I could see fairly well through the brush and had descent shooting lanes, with chris about 40 yards behind me.




chris decided to start with a couple of cow calls and got no reply. after waiting a few minutes he threw out a bugle and the forest trembled with a reply., lucky was close. after waiting a few more minutes, chris , bugled again . and once again lucky answered . and he was coming closer . chris waited and after a few minutes lucky bugled and chris cut him off with a bugle of his own. this seemed to infuriate ,lucky and I heard crashing in the brush below me. he was close. I could see brush moving maybe fifty yards or so away and I could hear him but could not yet see him.

chris bugled again and I could see the brush moving as lucky came closer. next came a series of lucky and chris bugleing back and forth a few times, as lucky slowly came in the last bit.


there was an opening in the trees at about 30 yards out and I determined lucky was going to show himself there, so I drew my bow and waited he steped into the opening but was facing me,. no shot .

chris threw out a cow call and lucky turned , showing me the sweet spot and I let go. and shot low, right under his body. yup ,I blew it. lucky ran down the hill , just out of sight and for the next hour or so he and chris bugled back and forth but he would not come in again. after a while ,he grew bored with us and quit answering our bugles.


chris's wife had drawn one out of ten tags for the early rifle hunt in that unit which started the next weekend, so we quitely slipped out of luckies home with the intention of bringing her back the next weekend.


as we walked back to the truck , chris said, "boy he sure is lucky you can't shoot for chit!"




and there you have it , lucky got his name.







just another teaser.

chapter three

THE RIFLE HUNT

look for it early june
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Old 05-30-2015, 08:17 PM
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Like kidoggy posted, "well there are so many, how to choose one?" So instead of picking just one animal or hunt, I'll try to give an overview of my hunting life...

I'm a fourth generation Coloradoan, but my Dad didn't hunt, so I wasn't exposed to hunting until I was in college in Ft Collins. My sophomore year I had a couple of roommates from Craig, CO. The dad of one of them had a hunting camp in the mountains there, and they invited me to go mule deer hunting with them. He lent me a 94 Winchester in .32 Win Spl, and I killed my first deer-- a spike buck.

The next year, he invited me back and I bought both a deer and an elk tags. I borrowed a sporterized .30-40 Krag from my Uncle, and I killed my first elk, a 5 point bull. I was then hooked on hunting.

Back then I had a summer job with the Forest Service in Steamboat Springs and two of my bosses were local guys who grew up hunting and they got their deer and elk every year. I decided that I needed my own rifle for hunting, so I asked my bosses what I should get. They suggested either a .270 Win or a .30-06. They said only the city dudes from Denver would hunt with big rifles like a .300 Win.

So I ordered a .30-06 barreled action and a semi-inleted stock from Herter's, and that summer I put together my first centerfire rifle. That rifle served me very well, and kept my freezer full of deer, elk, and other big game animals for over 30 years.

The following year, I got drafted into the Army. The day that I left Vietnam, I ordered my first shotgun, a Miroku 12 gauge over and under. After I got it I became hopelessly addicted to shotgun shooting and I have since reloaded and shot over ¼ million shotgun shells. On Christmas Eve 1970, I got out of the Army and returned to Colorado to finish college and to hunt, fish, and ski.

After two more years of college, I finally graduated and moved to Steamboat Springs where I lived for another 3 years. During that time I killed a deer and elk every year, and enjoyed grouse, duck, and goose hunting with new shotgun. Also during that period, I met several other hunters who opened me to other forms of hunting. I learned that we could extend our hunting season and hunt earlier with archery and muzzle loading seasons.

So I bought a recurve bow from Herter's, and on the opening day of the 1973 Colorado archery season I still hunted to within 10 yards of a 5 point bull elk, and killed my first elk with an arrow.

I had another friend that was into black powder shooting, and when Colorado FWP announced that they were opening an early black powder deer season, I ordered a .45 caliber Kentucky percussion rifle kit from CVA and put together my first black powder rifle. That fall, I bought a muzzle loader deer tag, and killed my largest antlered ever mule deer -- a 30" non-typical.

By then, the hunting bug had hit me hard, so every year I would buy tags for every animal that I could. I was then able to kill my first pronghorn antelope and my first black bear.

By 1975 I was married with two little boys, and it got harder and harder to support my family while living in a resort town and working seasonal jobs. So when a permanent job in my field opened in northwest Montana, I applied and got it. The Ranger Station that we lived and worked at was next to a lake that was full of a variety of fish from trout to bass, plenty of ducks were there in the fall, and the forest around us had ample populations of Ruffed, Spruce, and Blue grouse.

That area of Montana had both white tail and mule deer. I killed my first white tail deer there. In the 3 years that we lived there I was able to kill a buck deer and bull elk every year, including my largest antlered ever bull -- a 6x6 that was 48" wide and had 60" long main beams. When I took him to a taxidermist in Kalispell, he told me that if I had killed that elk with a bow, he would have ranked high in the top 10 archery elk killed in Montana.

While living there, we were also able to draw antelope tags in eastern Montana so we would go there every fall to hunt antelope, sharptail and sage grouse, and pheasants.

In 1978 we moved to the Bozeman area of southwestern Montana. Back then it was not as difficult as it is now to draw special tags, like sheep, moose, and mountain goats. There were also a number of Game Units that had Unlimited Bighorn ram tags that we could buy every year. I was able kill a Mountain goat, 3 Bighorn rams, and 2 Bull Moose.

Shortly after moving here, several of my friends planned a DIY caribou hunt in Alaska and asked me to join them. We drove to Seattle, flew to Anchorage, flew to King Salmon, then took a float plane to a small lake somewhere out in the tundra where we each killed an Alaskan Barren Ground Caribou bull.

In 1999 a friend who had moved to Canada called and told me of a cancellation Dall sheep hunt in the Mackenzie Mountains of the Northwest Territories in Canada. Having been bit hard by the sheep hunting bug, I bought the hunt and went on my first guided hunt. I drove to Edmonton, took a commercial jet to Norman Wells, then a float plane to the base camp, then a Super Cub to where we would begin my backpack hunt for a Dall ram.

I was able to kill a beautiful 39"+ ram, and as we were packing my ram and our camp back to the Super Cub pickup point, we spotted a Wolverine. I had a tag for it, and shot him. Later in that hunt, I was able to kill a bull Mountain Caribou. He was in full velvet, and my taxidermist was able to preserve the velvet on the mount.

In 2000, another friend of mine got a great deal at a Safari Club dinner auction. It was a 10 day group hunt for plains game in the Limpopo Province of South Africa that came out to $100/day/hunter plus trophy fees. He asked me to join them, and I made my first African safari. I was able to shoot 9 animals on that hunt that included Kudu, Gemsbok, Waterbuck, Limpopo Bushbuck, Blesbok, Impala, and Blue Wildebeest.

In 2003 I found an outfitter out of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada who did combination Musk Ox and Caribou hunts in the fall before the weather got bitterly cold. There were 3 other hunters in camp, but I was the only one that had a Musk Ox license. We were allowed two caribou each, and we all shot some great Central Canadian Barren Ground Caribou, and I shot a great old bull Musk Ox.

In 2004 I went to the Sportsman’s Expo in Salt Lake, and booked a hunt for Cape Buffalo in Zimbabwe and plains game in South Africa. On that hunt I was able to take a Buffalo and Chobe Bushbuck in Zimbabwe. I then went to South Africa and hunted properties in two Provinces. I first hunted in Kwa-Zulu Natal where I shot a Nyala, Zebra, Common Reedbok, and Grey Duiker. We then drove to the Free State where I shot a Black Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Common Springbok, and Mountain Reedbok.

A year or so later, I heard about a meat/cull hunt for American Buffalo at Ted Turner’s Flying D ranch west of Bozeman, MT. I used my .54 caliber Green River Hawken rifle that I built, and for $1,500 I got a great OLD Buffalo bull and a little over 500 lbs of hamburger.

I retired in 2007, and as a retirement present to myself, I went on another South African hunt. This hunt was in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and I hunted on 6 different properties or concessions. On this hunt I shot 14 animals including a Cape Eland, Bontebok, Steenbok, Gemsbok, Red Lechwe, Jackal, Tsessebe, Black Springbok, Vaal Rhebok, Cape Eland, Cape Bushbuck, and Cape Grysbok.

In 2009, after 40 years of wanting one, I finally bought a .300 Weatherby in a Vanguard that I restocked in AA Fancy walnut. In January, 2010 I took this rifle on its first hunt. Two friends and I went to West Texas and hunted some Texas exotic animals. I shot an Aoudad, Blackbuck Antelope, and a Scimitar Horned Oryx.

In 2012 I again got the urge to hunt in Africa, so I went on another hunt in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The primary animal that I wanted on this hunt was a Sable bull, and I also shot a Klipspringer, White Blesbok, Baboon, Warthog, Caracal, and African Civet.

Last year, after many years of wanting to go there, I went on a 3 1/2 week trip to New Zealand. My girlfriend went with me and we spent the first week hunting Red Stag, Tahr, Chamois, Fallow Deer, Arapawa Ram, and Wallabies. We then spent 2 1/2 weeks driving on the wrong side of the road, in the rain, touring the beautiful New Zealand South Island.

During this time in my home state of Montana I continued to hunt deer, elk, and antelope almost every year. For over 20 years I had my own horses that I used to pack my hunting camps into several of the Wilderness areas in southwest Montana, and for packing out the animals that we shot. I really appreciated my horses when I shot one of my moose 5 miles from the nearest road. Like most of my Montana hunts, that was a DIY hunt, and I was hunting by myself.

So there’s kind of what I’ve shot. I’ll be 70 next year, but I work out regularly and try to stay in good shape. I’m looking forward to many more years of big game hunting, however, I’m discovering that every year the mountains are getting higher, and the trails are getting steeper…
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Old 05-31-2015, 04:46 AM
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I've done so much hunting that it is kind of hard to just pick one. But if I had to go out on a limb I'd say my hunt to Cameroon for Western Roan would probably top the list.


Rather than re-write it, I'll give a link to it:

http://swamptalkforum.com/thread/254...long-pic-heavy

As far as what I have shot? I've taken whitetail deer, blacktail deer, mule deer, whitetail/mule deer hybrid, elk, moose, caribou, stone sheep,black bear, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, bison, wild hog, alligator, aoudad sheep, and blackbuck antelope in North America and like buffybr above I've taken a whole bunch of stuff in Africa

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Old 05-31-2015, 08:35 PM
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These stories are so amazing! thanks for sharing!
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Old 06-01-2015, 08:39 AM
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CHAPTER THREE


THE RIFLE HUNT




it is now early october . my sister-in-law( whom I wil call "seester" for sake of story ) has drawn coveted elk tag of which there are only ten for entire unit. my brother and I Are to be her guides on the hunt and with a little luck also her pack mules.




we had told her of our archery hunts and lucky and she was game to go after him.as it is not a very easy place to get into we decided to bring a horse for her to ride while we walked beside her.e once again left camp well before daylight and headed up the ridge. on this day we did not crest the sumit before light as we had a fat nag (the horse not seester ) slowing us down. as it got light ,I noticed something moveing in the draw to my left a couple hundred yards away. so ,I stopped ur lil convoy grabbed my binocs and checked it out. it was a spike bull. a lil 5x5 and a couple of cow elk.they were looking at us but ,I believe , because of the horse had no fear and did not seem terribly concerned as they just continued feeding around.

my brother asked his wife , "do you want to shoot the 5x5/"

she answered , "yes, but I would rasther go shoot lucky!"




YEP, SHE'S A KEEPER!





so we continued on. as we got to the top we decided to leave the horse so we could slip quitely into luckies domainwe glassed the bowl and chris bugled and true to form lucky immediatly replied , screaming back a bugle. on this day he was on the opposite side of the bowl which was heavy timber and brush so we could not pick him out with our binocs. so we decided to circle around above him and follow a lil finger ridge which we though would bring us right to him. when we thought we were getting close there was an opening in the brush so we set up. chris decided to try a couple cow calls to start since we figured lucky probably had a harem by now.llucky bugled . after a moment chris did a couple more cow calls . nothing . we waited . chris bugled and lucky replied . we waited anchris bugled again . again lucky replied but he was gatting farther away.

I began glassing the opposite hillside and there he was with a harem of 15-20 cows he was heading out of the area with no wish to lose his cows to another bull. this was the first real good look I had gotten at his antlers and was finally able to count points. he was a very nice(not monster)7x7.

as he was running up the hill, it was just to far and to brushy for a shot. so we let him go.we decided to let them crest the hill and then follow them over the top in hopes we could get lucky to turn on us.

as we got close to hill top lucky bugled and he was fairly close so we sllipped over the top setup with chris twenty or so yards behind us . viibility was not great but it could be worst and we really just had no other option. not the ideal situation but we figured it is what it is,

again lucky bugled and chris bugled and cut him off. as always this infuriated lucky and he did not like us in his home. we heard crashing in the brush, he was coming. I whispered to seester to get ready he was gonna show himself. chris cow called , lucky answered with a bugle and again chris bugled and cut him off. suddenly I saw movement about 50 yards away and it was lucky , he had his head down looking under a branch right at me. trouble was ,while I could see him and could have shot him had tag been mine ,seester could not. we waited.next came a series of chris and lucky bugling back and forth it probably only went on for 15-20 minutes but it seemed like hours. the whole time lucky and I were looking right at each other but seester could not see him. we could not move for fear of spooking him so we waited , hoping lucky would make a mistake.

He did not. I believe he fially winded us because he suddenly turned and crashed through the brush and would no longer bugle. we waited for maybe an hour and never again heard his screaming bugle. we got to a high point where we could glass the area he disapeared into, but after several hours of this,saw no sign of him. eventually we retreved the horse and headed back to camp.




we hunted all the next day with no more sign of elk. and that was seesters , rifle hunt.




driving home that night, chris asked his wife, "do you wish you had killed the5x5?"




she replied, "NO! THAT WAS THE MOST EXITING HUNT I HAVE EVER BEEN ON!"





yep! she's a keeper!













EPILOGUE



that winter we got early snow and it was a harsh winter , causing ,a major elk die off due to winterkill.so in march chris and I donned our snowshoes and head up into luckies domain. this time we came in fro the opposite direction, from the river below. we followed the draw up a couple of miles , to a point where it split. I went left , chris went right. a few hundred yards after we seperated , I came around a tree, and there was lucky in his final bed. he did not survive the brutal winter.luckies luck had finally run out.





25 years later , I wish I could say,I let him be but being the young man that I was , I wacked his antlers and mounted them on a horns-on-panel.he resides in my home to this very day.never do I gaze upon them that I am not reminded of that hunting season and spending time with family , doing what we love to do.

Last edited by kidoggy; 06-01-2015 at 08:48 AM.
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