Elk hunting pictures

[Rocky998]

Some people eat cow’s brains so I bet some people would eat Elk’s brains…
but I’ll pass!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Saturday night was another almost-kill. I snuck out in the woods in the evening, took a seat in the middle of some small pines, and did some calling. No elk were responding, so I figured I was in for a boring evening. Just as the sun was slipping behind the ridge, an elk started locator bugling about half a mile away down the valley. This was the same elk that had snuck in and winded me the previous morning; he had a distinctive, hoarse-sounding bugle. Another elk, up on the ridge above me, responded, and I threw my own bugle into the mix, along with a few cow calls. Wandering bulls tend to get very interested when they think there are some ladies around.

Now, bull elk have several different bugles: A high, clear "locator bugle" that seems to just be for keeping track of who's about; a "chuckle" that seems to be a (usually friendly) invitation to come on over, and a "grunt" (I think of it as a roar), a bass growl that underlies the bugle and seems to indicate hostility. Cows make an odd little chirp at each other (sounds kind of like a cross between a cat's meow and a sparrow's chirp); they will also make longer, drawn out mews when they are lost, annoyed, or, um, getting really interested in finding a bull. If ya know what I mean.

Well, as soon as the first bull (whom I named Frat Boy, because he seems to like partying all night and sleeping all morning) heard me and the second bull, he started throwing out these loud, growly screams: He was itching for a fight. I couldn't go to him (I'm still in a walking cast, and can't sneak worth trash), so I kept bugling every five-ten minutes, chuckling, throwing in an annoyed cow call and some breaking branches once in a while, so I sounded like an adolescent bull chasing cows around. That got the Frat Boy pretty mad. He'd bugle every few minutes, and he seemed to be coming closer. Once I figured he was within a couple hundred yards, I started throwing some grunts into my bugles, too, and blowing some "distressed" cow calls. Man, did he get mad! Screaming, roaring, breaking branches, thrashing trees with his antlers. I was hunkered down about 20 yards from a little rock outcropping, and he was right on the other side of it.

The trouble was, all this had taken about an hour, and it was getting dark. I knew he was going to come around that rock at any moment to whip my tail, but by that time it was so dark that, if I had taken a shot, I wouldn't have been able to see where the arrow went, which really determines what you do next. So I gathered up my gear and snuck right out from under his nose. We heard him and the other bull (and a little spike with a squeaky bugle that sounded like a nerdy little kid trying to hang out with the high school jocks) bugling at each other a few more times from our camp.

He's still out there.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Some people eat cow’s brains so I bet some people would eat Elk’s brains…
but I’ll pass!

I wouldn't eat a deer or elk brain unless I was starving--besides the gross factor, which is quite enough, chronic wasting disease is a real thing here. They're excellent for tanning hides, though.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

@WhistlingBadger
Have you scored Deer before?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Saturday night was another almost-kill. I snuck out in the woods in the evening, took a seat in the middle of some small pines, and did some calling. No elk were responding, so I figured I was in for a boring evening. Just as the sun was slipping behind the ridge, an elk started locator bugling about half a mile away down the valley. This was the same elk that had snuck in and winded me the previous morning; he had a distinctive, hoarse-sounding bugle. Another elk, up on the ridge above me, responded, and I threw my own bugle into the mix, along with a few cow calls. Wandering bulls tend to get very interested when they think there are some ladies around.

Now, bull elk have several different bugles: A high, clear "locator bugle" that seems to just be for keeping track of who's about; a "chuckle" that seems to be a (usually friendly) invitation to come on over, and a "grunt" (I think of it as a roar), a bass growl that underlies the bugle and seems to indicate hostility. Cows make an odd little chirp at each other (sounds kind of like a cross between a cat's meow and a sparrow's chirp); they will also make longer, drawn out mews when they are lost, annoyed, or, um, getting really interested in finding a bull. If ya know what I mean.

Well, as soon as the first bull (whom I named Frat Boy, because he seems to like partying all night and sleeping all morning) heard me and the second bull, he started throwing out these loud, growly screams: He was itching for a fight. I couldn't go to him (I'm still in a walking cast, and can't sneak worth trash), so I kept bugling every five-ten minutes, chuckling, throwing in an annoyed cow call and some breaking branches once in a while, so I sounded like an adolescent bull chasing cows around. That got the Frat Boy pretty mad. He'd bugle every few minutes, and he seemed to be coming closer. Once I figured he was within a couple hundred yards, I started throwing some grunts into my bugles, too, and blowing some "distressed" cow calls. Man, did he get mad! Screaming, roaring, breaking branches, thrashing trees with his antlers. I was hunkered down about 20 yards from a little rock outcropping, and he was right on the other side of it.

The trouble was, all this had taken about an hour, and it was getting dark. I knew he was going to come around that rock at any moment to whip my tail, but by that time it was so dark that, if I had taken a shot, I wouldn't have been able to see where the arrow went, which really determines what you do next. So I gathered up my gear and snuck right out from under his nose. We heard him and the other bull (and a little spike with a squeaky bugle that sounded like a nerdy little kid trying to hang out with the high school jocks) bugling at each other a few more times from our camp.

He's still out there.

This is WAY too complicated...why not just shoot a cow, and be done with it?*

*I kid, of course

 

[WhistlingBadger]

This is WAY too complicated...why not just shoot a cow, and be done with it?*

*I kid, of course

Last year I was hunting whitetail deer on an old guy's ranch. He was telling me about the area he wanted me to hunt (this being a BIG ranch) and informed me that he had some year-old steers in the area that I should watch out for because they can get kind of flighty.

"Right, don't shoot the fat, black deer," I said.
He laughed and said "Well, you ought to. They taste a lot better."

 

[GaryE]

The beavers up your way have a hot tub. They're probably not living in the mud lump part - that's the air bnb.

Some evenings, I watch cars slamming their brakes in front of my house as the 20+ herd of deer wander around. There have to be 5-8 fawns out there, so the herd is expanding quickly. We're the only predator we haven't wiped out around here.

Yet.

 

[Colin_T]

@Fishmanic You're just going to have to be patient; I won't be back in the mountains until Thursday, and I'm not likely to find any elk at the elementary school.

You could always get the kids to do a talent show dressed as elk

 

[Colin_T]

post a pic of your rifle

not sure we should be posting pictures of firearms on a fish forum

 

[Colin_T]

One elk equals meat for a year
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depends on who/ what is eating it. in my younger days I could eat several kilograms of meat in one meal.

The head has cheek, tongue, eyes and brain to eat. Cheek and tongue isn't too bad but I draw the line at zombie food or boiled eggs that look back at you.

 

[connorlindeman]

I

not sure we should be posting pictures of firearms on a fish forum

Nah its allowed I think. Besides, I would love to see it

 

[Rocky998]

Should be allowed to show as long as it's a hunting rifle and not any other type of gun.
Then it MAY be an issue but idk what the mods would say about it. But badger is a mod so I guess he can decide if it's allowed? Lol

 

[Colin_T]

This is WAY too complicated...why not just shoot a cow, and be done with it?*

*I kid, of course

That remined me of a friend who lived in the country on a wheat and sheep property. They had been losing sheep for a while and couldn't figure out what was taking them.

One day the local primary school kids had a show n tell of what they did on the weekend. A few kids got up and spoke about their adventures and then this little Aboriginal kid gets up and starts telling the class about how he and his uncles went hunting wild sheep on the weekend. They got 3 of them.

The news spread to the local Police station and they went out to pay the sheep poachers a visit and found sheep ID tags in the bin. They matched the tags to sheep from my friend's farm. Problem solved.

Be very very quiet. We're hunting wild sheep

 

[connorlindeman]

Should be allowed to show as long as it's a hunting rifle and not any other type of gun.
Then it MAY be an issue but idk what the mods would say about it. But badger is a mod so I guess he can decide if it's allowed? Lol

@Fishmanic is also a mod and hes the one that asked lol

 

[Colin_T]

Should be allowed to show as long as it's a hunting rifle and not any other type of gun.
Then it MAY be an issue but idk what the mods would say about it. But badger is a mod so I guess he can decide if it's allowed? Lol

Self regulation in the moderators section. Hmmm, sounds like self regulating banks or Police that investigate themselves.