sabotloader

Elk ML season ended 12-9 in my part of the world. It was not a good elk season for myself or my hunting partner. Actually it was not really a great hunting season at all - passed on to many opportunities early and then in the end the weather and the moon were big problems.

The one good thing is I did get drawn for a late deer tag (doe only) good till 12-31. So this morning I head for one of favorite hunting spots and eventually wanted to end up in 'hot draw' which has really been good to us in the past.

Well, guess what happened on the way to the draw??? Hint - remember elk season is over. As i worked my way up along the south ridge peering throught fog into the old clearcut on the north side of the ridge.... yep! you guessed it there in all her glory stands a very nice cow, broadside, looking directly at me! - probably 100-125 yards out there.

All I could do was kinda cus under my breath a bit... but then decided, what-the-heck!!!, I am going to shoot her anyway. So, I slowly lowered myself towards the ground and out of view a bit, at least i did not look like a person. I layed the rifle in the frosty grass - unhooked both straps of my back pack and shed it off my back. Unzipped the upper pouch - reached in and got the camera bag - unzipped that and got the Canon!!! (A-470).

Now I was ready... turned the Canon on and slowly stood up again. To my disbelief - she was still standing there - so I aimed very carefully and snapped the first shot. To my surprised the flash went off and it was obvious... again there she stood. I was not satified I wanted to get a better pic - so moved 3 steps down the hill to get a better pic. I snuggled up to a Ponderosa Pine sappling - laid the camera on one of the branches to steady the camera. I really had a good view of her and took another shot... again with flash - the fog made it seem darker than it actually was. After this second flash she continued to look at me then she turned her head and looked the opposite direction so i took another picture really quick but did not allow the camera to focus, but again the flash was plenty visible. After that 3rd flash I think she had enough as she turned and walked away from my location. But i got one shot at her.

I really do not think she ever figured out what was going on and she just walked away out of sight into the saddle leading down to 4 corners.

I went back retrieve my pack and blew the frost off the MK. Got loaded back and headed very slowly up the ridge to look down into the saddle area. On the way to the saddle I knew there were more as I could here the pooping on debris under foot.

Again working very easily and slowly up the ridge I finally topped the ridge to the point where I could see into the saddle area. Yep! more elk - like 12 of them all spread out feeding. One big problem... I was so intent on watching the elk in the saddle - I failed to notice Ma BIG cow laying in the grass maybe 20 feet from me in the tall grass. When bounced up and dove into the draw leading down to 4 corners - She scared the crap out of me! She was a huge boss cow... Well when she left half of the group followed her to 4 corners and the other moved up the ridge to 458 draw.

Well that was plenty of excitement for one morning so I went over to my ground stand point and sat down hoping that maybe a doe would show up on the opposite slope. I sat there for 15 minutes and during that time it was really entertaining listening to those elk talk to each other. Yearling were trying to locate the right cow and the cows were trying to locate them. It was entertaining.

Finally I had enough waiting and decide to work to the 458 tag looking for a doe. About halfway up the ridge on the other side of the saddle I look up the ridge and here is a line of elk coming down the ridge looking for the 'boss' cow and her group. i hunkered back down in the brush and watch 3 pair of elk walk by me at problaly 30 yards... Could not get to the camera again to get any more shots...

The rest of the morning was totally un-eventful...

Here are the 'shots' I got - dang Lehigh/bloodlines just did not work... So they all got a walk for the day!!!

Semisane

What a fun hunt that must have been Sabotloader. Great story and well told. You should start packing a paintball gun to mark your "kills".

cayugad

that is how it always happens. But it still would of been nice seeing elk. Even if you could not shoot them.

sabotloader

I did shoot her!!! 5 times... She just walked away!!! I will always insist - I shot her!!!

Grouse45

Are you surprised this late in the season they are that calm? Around here everything is spooked pretty good. Very nice hunt for sure.

Washatonian

WOW!! those are some smart elk, they have the hunting regs down pat. Sounds like you had fun though. Don't fret going without elk meat, Andre has a couple of nice elk rump roasts in the freezer with your name on them.

sqezer

Sabot, just think now you can catch up on TERRY's honey does now. Great story also.

Muley Hunter

I have to ask what and why did you pass up elk early on? I thought I remember you saying you were a meat hunter?

sabotloader

Early on - they were not in season yet. The archer hunters have the early season all to them selves, then centerfire guys have it for 14 days, but if you choose to hunt CF season you can not hunt the ML season from 12-2 to 12-9.

Hunting CF season is normally done in t-shirts - it is that warm and dry - so I always or most always choose the ML season...

We did not pass on anything but bulls during the late season and they are not in season in the late season...

rules...

Muley Hunter

Oh! I was going by you saying this:

" passed on to many opportunities early "