opening weekend
well, the much anticipated opening weekend of elk hunting has come and gone. saturday, 26Aug was opening day so i headed up to a spot i had scouted the previous weekend. i got up there late, about an hour before sundown, and to little surprise saw another party that was hunting the same area. now this area isn't too big but after discussing it with one of the other hunters we decided that we could make it work. i got my pack out with all my gear and realized my water bladder had leaked, not only was my water nearly gone, but it had soaked some of my clothing. what a start to opening weekend. i decided to hike in, about a mile, and set up my tent and organize anything else that wasn't wet. after i had set camp i ventured all the way down the mountain to a workmate's house to refill my water bladder and put some clothes in the dryer. by the time i got back to my tent it was nearly 11pm.
up at 545am i packed a smaller bag and headed out to walk ridges from peak to peak in search of elk. about 10am the weather decided to change, and it changed in a hurry. thunder, lightening and rain forced me back to my tent where i ate a delicious MRE and did a little reading. the rain stopped and back out i went to find spot where i could sit and glass the area for hours at a time. the mountain was still and peaceful, you could hear every sound that was surrounding you. the elk were still and they were not rutting yet so there was no bugeling to be heard. i crept slowly along the ridges and found another spot where i could glass and ended up taking a short nap in the sun. around 4pm i decided to head back to a spot i found earlier that morning. no more than 15 minutes after i sat down i saw an elk coming up the mountain to the right of me. it had horns, the adrenaline encompassed my body and took control. i hadn't had time to collect myself yet so my release was still in my pocket and my quiver was still on my bow. the bull kept moving and was soon out of sight because of the rocks i was sitting behind. so i gathered myself, quickly putting on my release as quietly as the velcro would allow, took off my quiver and placed the arrow in my bow. i peaked around the rock and he had changed his path so that he was walking broadside to me. he stopped at about 40 yards, still broadside. i had already been drawn for about 10 seconds before i decided to release. low and behind him, i jerked and i missed. i effin missed my first bull, which was a 4x4. he started trotting off so i sounded the cow call, he stopped, took another look and kept moving.
now all this happened within about 3 minutes, from when i first saw him to when i released my arrow. the scenario replayed in my head a million times, i wanted to cry. i had no excuses and could only blame myself, my lack of preparation, lack of practice during the summer. now the hardest part about hunting big game is finding the animal and getting close enough for a shot, and when you're using a bow, that distance is significantly less. so when you have your chance you don't miss, to miss is completely unacceptable. i was lucky enough to have one come right to me and i missed. i continue to beat myself up over this huge disappointment in myself. this would have been a magnificent animal for me to take on my first elk hunt ever, but i will learn from this, i will now practice before and after work to eliminate mistakes like this on my next hunt.
even though i missed i felt satisfied for seeing an elk, scouting apparently paid off. that elk was huge and i was utterly surprised on how daintily he moved through the trees without making a sound. for such a large animal, it was absolutely remarkable.
the next day i decided to hunt another area i had scouted earlier that week. i didn't see any elk but saw a small fork mule deer. the mountains on this day was amazing, fog rolling over the peaks while everything was still and quiet. the weekend was not a disappointed at all (besides the miss). i thoroughly enjoyed being out there again, by myself with no one else around. so peaceful and comforting. there is still plenty of the hunting season left and i'm dedicating myself to taking an elk. i will not fail on my first elk season.
elk 1, me 0
up at 545am i packed a smaller bag and headed out to walk ridges from peak to peak in search of elk. about 10am the weather decided to change, and it changed in a hurry. thunder, lightening and rain forced me back to my tent where i ate a delicious MRE and did a little reading. the rain stopped and back out i went to find spot where i could sit and glass the area for hours at a time. the mountain was still and peaceful, you could hear every sound that was surrounding you. the elk were still and they were not rutting yet so there was no bugeling to be heard. i crept slowly along the ridges and found another spot where i could glass and ended up taking a short nap in the sun. around 4pm i decided to head back to a spot i found earlier that morning. no more than 15 minutes after i sat down i saw an elk coming up the mountain to the right of me. it had horns, the adrenaline encompassed my body and took control. i hadn't had time to collect myself yet so my release was still in my pocket and my quiver was still on my bow. the bull kept moving and was soon out of sight because of the rocks i was sitting behind. so i gathered myself, quickly putting on my release as quietly as the velcro would allow, took off my quiver and placed the arrow in my bow. i peaked around the rock and he had changed his path so that he was walking broadside to me. he stopped at about 40 yards, still broadside. i had already been drawn for about 10 seconds before i decided to release. low and behind him, i jerked and i missed. i effin missed my first bull, which was a 4x4. he started trotting off so i sounded the cow call, he stopped, took another look and kept moving.
now all this happened within about 3 minutes, from when i first saw him to when i released my arrow. the scenario replayed in my head a million times, i wanted to cry. i had no excuses and could only blame myself, my lack of preparation, lack of practice during the summer. now the hardest part about hunting big game is finding the animal and getting close enough for a shot, and when you're using a bow, that distance is significantly less. so when you have your chance you don't miss, to miss is completely unacceptable. i was lucky enough to have one come right to me and i missed. i continue to beat myself up over this huge disappointment in myself. this would have been a magnificent animal for me to take on my first elk hunt ever, but i will learn from this, i will now practice before and after work to eliminate mistakes like this on my next hunt.
even though i missed i felt satisfied for seeing an elk, scouting apparently paid off. that elk was huge and i was utterly surprised on how daintily he moved through the trees without making a sound. for such a large animal, it was absolutely remarkable.
the next day i decided to hunt another area i had scouted earlier that week. i didn't see any elk but saw a small fork mule deer. the mountains on this day was amazing, fog rolling over the peaks while everything was still and quiet. the weekend was not a disappointed at all (besides the miss). i thoroughly enjoyed being out there again, by myself with no one else around. so peaceful and comforting. there is still plenty of the hunting season left and i'm dedicating myself to taking an elk. i will not fail on my first elk season.
elk 1, me 0
posted by ~miah at 21:04
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