Day 1 - Opening day. New years day. Not much time to sleep last night. Went out before light. Saw a herd of elk before it was light enough to shoot and before we were where we were looking. Went on to our other area. Saw 1 runner elk there. Didn't see the other herd out in the open later. Too early in the season to work too hard. Went to another area and jumped a herd of about 25 elk 3 times before they went into an area that I did not want to follow them.
Day 1 stats -
36 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
36 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 2 - Got up early on this first Saturday of 2010 with the intention of only hunting for a few hours. We headed out to where we saw the elk the day before and they were not there. After a few hours we began to think we were going to be skunked today and not see any gawkers. But, just before heading home for the day, we drove up one more road and there they were. The only problem was, they were the wrong genetic variety. We like gawkers because they stand around gawking at you long enough to be able to shoot at them. These elk were already running about 100 mph when we saw them, and I am not sure if they stopped running before sundown! We tracked them for a long ways until they went down into a hole that we did not want to go into and decided to call it a day.
Day 2 stats -
8 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 3 - Slept in, went to church. Did not feel like hunting today.
Day 3 stats -
0's across the board.
Day 4 - First day of work for the new year. Started planting today and arranged to have planters in areas that were near elk so we would have reason to go hunting. Unfortunately, we were kept busy enough that we did not see any elk today.
Day 4 stats -
skunked
Day 5 - Another day at work and no time to hunt. Got to go out in the woods but was on the wrong side of the highway, in an area that my tag was no good.
Day 5 stats -
6 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 6 stats - Out in the woods for work again today. On the right side of the highway this time, but all we saw were runners far off. Found a herd of elk that always managed to stay downwind of me to know where I was and kept just far enough in front of me that I could not shoot. After jumping them about 12 times, they finally got tired of messing with me and left the area.
Day 6 stats -
12 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 7 - A busy day at work unloading trees and checking on tree planters. Did not even go out in the woods looking for elk, so as a result, I didn't see any.
Day 7 stats -
Its hard to see something your not looking for.
Day 8 - Out in the woods today looking at areas that need planting. They just happen to be within the hunt area. As we are leaving the area, we look off 1 last hill and there are a bunch of elk pretending to be gawkers. We quickly set up and take 1 shot and the elk bolt. Turns out, this is the same group of runners we chased the other day. We tracked them around through the reprod where they did not even slow down, and they came out on the same trail as the last time we saw them. Then they went back down in that same hole that we do not want to be in, so we let them all live another day. The one shot was not enough, missed.
Day 8 stats -
8 elk seen
1 shot fired
0 elk hanging
Day 9 stats - Woke up early on another Saturday morning. Not real ambitious today. We decide to leave the area that we have been chasing so hard alone and try a different area today. We spend a lot of time looking through our binoculars at rocks and stumps that look like elk, that we start thinking every strange animal looking shape we see is a rock or stump. About mid morning we spied some more suspect rocks down at the bottom of a clearcut and drive right on by. On the way back, we stop for a closer look, and to our surprise, one of them rocks stood up and looked back at us. There was some more elk! Got behind a slash pile and found a good rest. Took careful aim, had a clear shot with only elk in the scope and let 2 shots fly as the whole herd stood up. Then they headed right down the hill into Fools Canyon, which is called this because only a fool would follow an elk down there. Hiked down to where they had been and we missed again. Then on the hike back to the truck I found out why. There was a small log about 10 feet in front of my rest that had 2 nicely placed bullet holes in it. Oh well, that would have been too much work anyway.
Day 9 stats -
9 elk spotted
2 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 10 -Another Sunday with more important things to do than chase elk around the countryside. Just stayed home.
Day 10 stats -
Nope
Day 11 - Its Monday morning and back to work. I needed to be in the office and my hunting partner had a doctors appointment, so we came to work in nice office cloths with no intention of looking for the gawkers today. At about 0830, a coworker called to tell us he just spotted some gawkers by a certain gate that they were known to hang out at. So we grabbed the rifles and headed out in the woods again, thinking they will be gone by the time we get there. But, to our surprise, at 0925 we found them gawking about just down the road from where they had been originally spotted and two of them fell over after there was 2 loud booms.
Day 11 stats -
14 gawkers found
2 shots fired
2 elk hanging
Skinning elk gets kinda messy.
Here is one of the 2 elk after skinning.
Wasn't she cute?
Now the season is over. Just waiting now for the fruits of all our effort. The freezer should be full in the next couple of days.
Day 4 stats -
skunked
Day 5 - Another day at work and no time to hunt. Got to go out in the woods but was on the wrong side of the highway, in an area that my tag was no good.
Day 5 stats -
6 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 6 stats - Out in the woods for work again today. On the right side of the highway this time, but all we saw were runners far off. Found a herd of elk that always managed to stay downwind of me to know where I was and kept just far enough in front of me that I could not shoot. After jumping them about 12 times, they finally got tired of messing with me and left the area.
Day 6 stats -
12 elk seen
0 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 7 - A busy day at work unloading trees and checking on tree planters. Did not even go out in the woods looking for elk, so as a result, I didn't see any.
Day 7 stats -
Its hard to see something your not looking for.
Day 8 - Out in the woods today looking at areas that need planting. They just happen to be within the hunt area. As we are leaving the area, we look off 1 last hill and there are a bunch of elk pretending to be gawkers. We quickly set up and take 1 shot and the elk bolt. Turns out, this is the same group of runners we chased the other day. We tracked them around through the reprod where they did not even slow down, and they came out on the same trail as the last time we saw them. Then they went back down in that same hole that we do not want to be in, so we let them all live another day. The one shot was not enough, missed.
Day 8 stats -
8 elk seen
1 shot fired
0 elk hanging
Day 9 stats - Woke up early on another Saturday morning. Not real ambitious today. We decide to leave the area that we have been chasing so hard alone and try a different area today. We spend a lot of time looking through our binoculars at rocks and stumps that look like elk, that we start thinking every strange animal looking shape we see is a rock or stump. About mid morning we spied some more suspect rocks down at the bottom of a clearcut and drive right on by. On the way back, we stop for a closer look, and to our surprise, one of them rocks stood up and looked back at us. There was some more elk! Got behind a slash pile and found a good rest. Took careful aim, had a clear shot with only elk in the scope and let 2 shots fly as the whole herd stood up. Then they headed right down the hill into Fools Canyon, which is called this because only a fool would follow an elk down there. Hiked down to where they had been and we missed again. Then on the hike back to the truck I found out why. There was a small log about 10 feet in front of my rest that had 2 nicely placed bullet holes in it. Oh well, that would have been too much work anyway.
Day 9 stats -
9 elk spotted
2 shots taken
0 elk hanging
Day 10 -Another Sunday with more important things to do than chase elk around the countryside. Just stayed home.
Day 10 stats -
Nope
Day 11 - Its Monday morning and back to work. I needed to be in the office and my hunting partner had a doctors appointment, so we came to work in nice office cloths with no intention of looking for the gawkers today. At about 0830, a coworker called to tell us he just spotted some gawkers by a certain gate that they were known to hang out at. So we grabbed the rifles and headed out in the woods again, thinking they will be gone by the time we get there. But, to our surprise, at 0925 we found them gawking about just down the road from where they had been originally spotted and two of them fell over after there was 2 loud booms.
Day 11 stats -
14 gawkers found
2 shots fired
2 elk hanging
Skinning elk gets kinda messy.
Here is one of the 2 elk after skinning.
Wasn't she cute?Now the season is over. Just waiting now for the fruits of all our effort. The freezer should be full in the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment