ARCHERY ELK
I put in 19 days bowhunting for elk this year, which is pretty good considering I' m a Junior in High School and had to leave after school and every weekend. I was in elk every time except for twice, and I passed up numerous, by that i mean A LOT, of spikes, cows, and small bulls. I was after the grande bull. In late september I got the privelage of hunting the peak of the rut where i was surrounded by bugles, grunts, and squeals everywhere....that was my favorite part of the season. I bugled in 3 different bulls but no shot opportunity. I had my during the season to shoot different bulls 5 times...twice i was busted on the draw...the other I shot under a bull right before dark(he looked WAY closer than he was, a big 320 class 6 pt)...got an arrow deflected in thick timber on a 25 yard shot on a 300 class 6pt bull...and i connected on the last weekend of archery season. The problem is, I only caught one lung, it was an odd angle and I aimed high to compensate for what I thought was him looking closer than he actually was. Long story short, the bulls fine and I' m empty handed.

ANTELOPE RIFLE
So that brings me into antelope season in mid october, I harvested a 15.5 inch heavy horned antelope buck after scouring over hundreds of antelope with my spotting scope on opening day. I took my aunt out who is 58, and we had a great time stalking a 14.5 inch buck...she shot him in his bed. I also took two of my friends out, both got bucks..a skinny 15 incher and a heavy pronged, thick horned 14 incher.

DEER RIFLE Then deer season opened on october 26. I got a nice 28 inch Mule 4x5 last year, so I wanted to top that this year. I took my best friend to one of my best spots on opening day, and advised him to pass up over 50 bucks throughout the day, and that' s not an exaguration. We spent from before sunrise until 4 in the afternoon covering as much of the breaks and grain fields as we could, all on foot. At 4, I was on a ridge glassing over an oat field surrounding on one side by rugged breaks when I spotte 2 bucks feeding into it. I could tell immediately one was a shooter, the other was noticably wider. So we circled around and got in position-problem was that the deer were in the middle of the field which contained stubble no higher than a foot. We only had a few hours of light left and the stalk was on....we belly crawled for over an hour until we had closed the gap to 300 yards. I set my pack in front of him, and he lined up on the deer with his 7 mm MAG. I' d reloaded some 160 gr Noslers with 63 grains of 7828 IMR..and those are hot loads, he held on the deers back and dropped it in his tracks. He was a heavy horned 5x6 that was only 24 inches wide but very tall. He almost looks like a whitetail with all but 2 of his points coming off his main beam, his G2 is 15 inches long!! Then, I went to my buddies ranch near the missouri breaks. We spent our long weekend from school glassing timbered breaks and looking over the scores of mule deer that inhabited his 80,000 acre ranch. He took a great 5x4 mule with a 26 inch spread and heavy horns the first day. I shot a 29 inch tall, 25 inch wide, 5x5 mule in his bed the next morning. Last weekend, my dad and I went out and he got a good 5x4 whitetail feeding in one of our alfalfa fields along the river.

BIRDS
I' ve been out pheasant hunting three times this year, and it' s the best I' ve seen ever. I got my limit of 3 each time, along with a 4 sharptail grouse and 9 huns combined. My buddies and dad have limited out at least once and we' ve combined for 25 roosters, ? huns and grouse....and believe me there' s plenty out there. I' ve taken 4 canadien geese and 7 mallards....only went goose/duck hunting twice. I also went out with my dad in september for hungarian partridge and grouse and got a limit of 8 huns and only 1 grouse, while HE got a limit of 4 GROUSE and 1 hun...that was weird.

I' ll try and post pics of all these things if I can...but it keeps telling me the files are too large to fit.

I' ll tell ya, this is the year to hunt Montana. I' m concentrating ALL of my efforts now on getting a bull elk with my rifle. I' ve been with two of my friends while they got a 5x5 and 6x6, but I really want to get one. This is by far my most successful season so far, and I hope everyone else is enjoying it as much as I am....bagging an animal is only a bonus, the excitement of the hunt is why I keep coming back for more!

good luck,
Dan

Alright Dan, way to go, sounds like the seasons going great for you, got your e-mail the other day as I have been hibernateing the past couple months and have just turned the computer back on. My season is going good but not near as good as yours. I didn' t get drawn for the 401, but went down to Dillion and hunted antelope and then to West Yellowstone in Gardiner and hunted mulies and elk. Saw two nice mulies two days in a row but shots not right, I could have filled my white-tail buck tag many times though. The weather was too mild and game spread all over and needed some nasty weather to drive the herds down, Elk were scarce but I did fill my tag while hunting public property and solo, not no biggy but meat in the freezer as I spent a couple of weeks liveing like a pack-rat in the back of my truck hunting various hunting units down in the S.W. part of the state on the Montana, Wyoming and Idiaho border takeing advantage of the Block Management Program and the National Forestry. Season is still early too. Enjoy and stay in touch, I got to rotate my jerky now, Bobby

Nicely written young feller, ah for the days when freedoms were at a maximum and responsibilites were at a minimum! Sounds like you are a heavy duty hunter and are working " full time" on a full cross section of game. As you pursue your " rifle elk" please bear in mind how tough they are and how they require " plenty lethal force" compared to all the other game you mentioned. It sounds like you DO love the game you hunt and I' m NOT calling you unethical, but you " hit me where I live" on the bull elk....

Unless, I mis-understand what you wrote, then I think you are discounting the damage done by a broadhead hit to a lung. You may be empty handed, but I' m betting that the bull is not fine at all, but rather is coyote fodder already or is succumbing to infection as this is read. I saw an cow elk hit with a 270 and run off without a flinch or a limp, we checked the " hit zone" found blood, and tracked until dark and then picked the trail up the next morning and after two miles lost it and had to give it up -- we didn' t delude ourselves, we killed her and she went to waste and it was our fault -- I think of her every time I pull down on an elk -- makes me that much more intense to " use enough" and " do it right" at showtime.

EKM

Way to go man! Now, you should rack up a bunch of younger hunters, and get them out shooting and such. Sounds like you are a hell of a guide. Way to go again buddy, take her easy. Haha, ok, nevermind, take IT easy.

right on " HUNT ON" got any pics heres my blacktail from this year thats my boy next to it

Sounds like you have had quite the season.!!! Do you have any pics?

I hit him while shooting up, and the arrow didn' t completely take out one lung. I knew it was a lung shot by the blood, and looking at the arrow in him and knowing an elks anatomy is how i figured it. I followed the elk, not pushed it, but watched it through a spotting scope, for 4 DAYS! The blood trail petered out, he scabbed up, the arrow came completely out, and he just went about his feeding and did his routine....I could never get close enough for a second shot without spooking him. The next weekend I came back, and sure enough...he was doing the same thing. I just went back this last weekend rifle deer hunting and guess what, there he was again! I know a guy with an either sex tag for that area and I' m gonna try to get him up there and shoot the bull, I feel like crap about the whole thing...but at least he' s alive...right now. So hopefully that explains it a little better.

Yes a one lung hit on an elk can live, the real question is, how about other damage as EKM mentioned? In this case he obviously lived, from your sightings. No doubt it was tough on him for 7 to 10 days though. Glad to hear he made it though. It sounds like you' re a consientious young man and that' s great to see, because crap happens. Good Luck in the future. elknut1

Wow,
Learn something everyday. I always knew elk were tough to kill, I didn' t know they had an immune system to match! I assumed (bad) like most mammals, if you puncture the lung and introduce hide, hair, and dander into the wound that the ensuing infection would be lethal. I guess not, I stand corrected. Humans sure are whimps by comparison, aren' t they? Magnificent animals.

Keep it going Montana,
EKM

I think he learned a very valuable lesson at an early age in life, I am sure you been there, its like someone hauled off and hit you in the stomach when $hit happens, but I will give you credit Dan in makeing a great effort in tracking it. Have fun and enjoy, only 10 more days left and the big boys are starting to show up, been kinda boreing seeing does and spikes and forks but now the signs of the white-tail rut is takeing place and seeing some big boys move around but no shooters. YET!!!!
Hey ya Elknut, hope your haveing a great year, I' m haveing a BLAST, Bobby