My last Elk

[unforgiven]

Happy hunting brother be safe. 🍺🍺🇺🇸

[Lonewolf McQuade]

Good luck & happy hunting @Magwa

[Rsquared]

Go get em brother. And give wolf girl a good workin over if/when you find her in the brush.

[Armed Eye Doc]

Happy hunting!

[Cunuckgaucho]

If the border and covid wasn't such an issue I'd be telling work I'm off to pack elk out of the bush.

You might want to consider 'rabbit hunting'... just saying 

Happy hunting brother may the days be sunny and your teepee warm

Edited October 8, 2021 by Cunuckgaucho

[98Z5V]

16 hours ago, Magwa said:

Ok fuk it I am going in Sunday morning is opener going to do it again ,

I knew it...       You'll never stop, brother.  It's in your blood. 

Get a good one for us.  

[Magwa]

I will keep you up to date on the quest....you got to kill it before you grill it .... but first you have to find one... !

[Magwa]

Oh Thank you Cunuck! she is exquisite !

Edited October 8, 2021 by Magwa

[Sisco]

Never doubted that you would answer the call. It runs too deep in your blood to quit now my friend. Good luck.

[Belt Fed]

Good luck, hope you get the biggest in the woods.

[DNP]

Next season I’ll come pack for you. Good luck on the hunt. 

[sketch]

Happy hunting 🍻🍻

[Magwa]

WEll , a monkey wrench flew into the plan, woke up yesterday took a walk out to the orchard to get some pears, found a dead deer right at the fence. We have had a outbreak of a disease that is spread in the water they drink by gnats once they get it they die within 36 hours this is the 5th we have found around here first on our property so i got the tractor and buried it , then went to town and bought a ton of pellets for the stove while unloading that smelled something else dead and we found another within 30 yards of the house so I am going to be burying deer and looking for others pretty sad both were does with fawns have not seen the fawns yet.....

[unforgiven]

Sad situation brother

[Sisco]

38 minutes ago, Magwa said:

WEll , a monkey wrench flew into the plan, woke up yesterday took a walk out to the orchard to get some pears, found a dead deer right at the fence. We have had a outbreak of a disease that is spread in the water they drink by gnats once they get it they die within 36 hours this is the 5th we have found around here first on our property so i got the tractor and buried it , then went to town and bought a ton of pellets for the stove while unloading that smelled something else dead and we found another within 30 yards of the house so I am going to be burying deer and looking for others pretty sad both were does with fawns have not seen the fawns yet.....

What is the disease? Sorry to hear. 

[dpete]

I thought I had heard of something similar in MI in the past.  This is from Indiana.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/wildlife-resources/wildlife-diseases-in-indiana/epizootic-hemorrhagic-disease-ehd/

[Cunuckgaucho]

That's awful

[unforgiven]

3 hours ago, dpete said:

I thought I had heard of something similar in MI in the past.  This is from Indiana.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/wildlife-resources/wildlife-diseases-in-indiana/epizootic-hemorrhagic-disease-ehd/

I started teaching Hunters Ed again. Next week I now need to go to continue education course to keep my certification. I will mention this.

[Magwa]

3 hours ago, dpete said:

I thought I had heard of something similar in MI in the past.  This is from Indiana.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/fish-and-wildlife/wildlife-resources/wildlife-diseases-in-indiana/epizootic-hemorrhagic-disease-ehd/

That is it it is a horrible way to die for any animal but it is sad to see got all of the ones on the place that I can find either buried or covered in Lime.. will go hunting tomorrow

[Magwa]

Day one.  Got to the ridge at 6.00 sun just starting to show some light  took off down the trail to my secret spot and did not make it a 1/4 mile and there was a nice big mule deer buck standing in the trail. He saw me a stepped off the downhill side of the trail behind a little ridge I just kept walking when i got to where he stepped off I got sneaky and just peeked down the ridge there he was looking for me at 50 yards. There he was a nice big mature 4 point but his left side was like a cactus all knarly I love non typical deer I could have shot him but if I had all the elk in the valley would have got out of dodge and I would not see anything so i tipped my hat to mr. buck and kept on down the trail.

    About a 1/2 mile further down total elevation drop now 800 ft. I spotted a cow elk about a thousand yards away then a calf and got into sneeky mode ,checked the wind it sucked it was blowing towards them so I climbed above the trail and as fast as I could went farther down the canyon till i was past them i checked they were still in the same spot never winded me and now i am behind them the wind is in my favor.

    I start glassing and the elk started popping out of the landscape they were feeding just coming out onto a big grassy knob I raged it at 356 ,then I heard a bugle it is getting go time and I am on full alert then I see a bull not huge but a mature 5 point chasing a cow I have to go down the hill to intercept them and get a shot it is to thick with trees where I am at. Wind is still good i work my way from tree to tree and they are still coming from my left to my right , then a cow pops out just below me I am pinned down can not move if I spook them now they will leave the country .

   So here I sit next to a burned tree watch total of 12 or 13 cows and caves and One nice bull and two spikes one of which has really thick spikes and a fork on one side, I am not picky first one to present a shot gets the prize...been almost a hour now 7.00AM they are feeding in and out of brush and timber about 150 to 200 yards from me but every time i get the crosshairs on one of the bulls they go behind a tree or I am not steady enough to make the shot it is hard to shoot 30 degrees down hill while sitting on a grassy slippery slope and I can not get the gun into prone and the tree is not much help. they are continually on the move and I can not move without them spotting me it is exhausting being on full adrenaline alert without engaging finally the 5 point comes into view and stops I am pretty steady and start taking the slack out of the trigger I am expecting it to fire any second and crap he whirls and chases a cow crap! then the spike with the fork is standing in the same place and i get set on him squeezing the trigger and crap he walks over the ridge  FUK!

      Now they are all moving over the ridge two more time I get one in the sights and can not make it happen they just will not stop moving.. then they are gone! I know where they are going...........

       So I take off and moving down hill and to my right they are heading for the bedding grounds and to get there they will pass through the most ugly canyon where I hunt solid rock and little dirt cliffs and steeper than the back of Gods head....I get where I can use my binos again and there they are in the bottom heading to the next ridge I range them they are 350 to 400 I can make that shot with the 308 but it is where they are I can not pack one out of that hell hole they stop on the ridge just across from me I am prone now looking at any one of the bulls they start feeding again But i know I am not going to pull the trigger it will not happen today maybe tomorrow.

[sketch]

Close! Your in the right spot for sure. 🍻😎

[DNP]

He’s just squeezing out as much time in the wilderness with the wolf girl as he can.  Probably squeezing a few things, really. 
 

Keep up the good hunt Magwa.  May your aim be true and your freezer overflowing. 

[unforgiven]

On 10/13/2021 at 8:39 AM, Magwa said:

Day one.  Got to the ridge at 6.00 sun just starting to show some light  took off down the trail to my secret spot and did not make it a 1/4 mile and there was a nice big mule deer buck standing in the trail. He saw me a stepped off the downhill side of the trail behind a little ridge I just kept walking when i got to where he stepped off I got sneaky and just peeked down the ridge there he was looking for me at 50 yards. There he was a nice big mature 4 point but his left side was like a cactus all knarly I love non typical deer I could have shot him but if I had all the elk in the valley would have got out of dodge and I would not see anything so i tipped my hat to mr. buck and kept on down the trail.

    About a 1/2 mile further down total elevation drop now 800 ft. I spotted a cow elk about a thousand yards away then a calf and got into sneeky mode ,checked the wind it sucked it was blowing towards them so I climbed above the trail and as fast as I could went farther down the canyon till i was past them i checked they were still in the same spot never winded me and now i am behind them the wind is in my favor.

    I start glassing and the elk started popping out of the landscape they were feeding just coming out onto a big grassy knob I raged it at 356 ,then I heard a bugle it is getting go time and I am on full alert then I see a bull not huge but a mature 5 point chasing a cow I have to go down the hill to intercept them and get a shot it is to thick with trees where I am at. Wind is still good i work my way from tree to tree and they are still coming from my left to my right , then a cow pops out just below me I am pinned down can not move if I spook them now they will leave the country .

   So here I sit next to a burned tree watch total of 12 or 13 cows and caves and One nice bull and two spikes one of which has really thick spikes and a fork on one side, I am not picky first one to present a shot gets the prize...been almost a hour now 7.00AM they are feeding in and out of brush and timber about 150 to 200 yards from me but every time i get the crosshairs on one of the bulls they go behind a tree or I am not steady enough to make the shot it is hard to shoot 30 degrees down hill while sitting on a grassy slippery slope and I can not get the gun into prone and the tree is not much help. they are continually on the move and I can not move without them spotting me it is exhausting being on full adrenaline alert without engaging finally the 5 point comes into view and stops I am pretty steady and start taking the slack out of the trigger I am expecting it to fire any second and crap he whirls and chases a cow crap! then the spike with the fork is standing in the same place and i get set on him squeezing the trigger and crap he walks over the ridge  FUK!

      Now they are all moving over the ridge two more time I get one in the sights and can not make it happen they just will not stop moving.. then they are gone! I know where they are going...........

       So I take off and moving down hill and to my right they are heading for the bedding grounds and to get there they will pass through the most ugly canyon where I hunt solid rock and little dirt cliffs and steeper than the back of Gods head....I get where I can use my binos again and there they are in the bottom heading to the next ridge I range them they are 350 to 400 I can make that shot with the 308 but it is where they are I can not pack one out of that hell hole they stop on the ridge just across from me I am prone now looking at any one of the bulls they start feeding again But i know I am not going to pull the trigger it will not happen today maybe tomorrow.

The trials and tribulations of an ethical hunter. 🍻🍻

[Sisco]

The Man knows his prey and his territory.

[Cunuckgaucho]

I look forward to the upcoming chapters.