BRvalley
10-24-2012, 11:00 PM
I recently located up to the peace region for work, amazing area and no shortage of wildlife...I saw a few bulls during the any bull season...spikers, a big 12 point and everything in between.....but due to heat wave, not having a quad to pack him out and location(up high and steep) I was wise enough to not squeeze the trigger...it was hard and I was regretting it for the longest time
not much daylight lately so instead of exploring new areas, since i've only been living up here 2 months, i stuck to 3 spots where i was consistently finding fresh sign and getting out to those areas as much as possible, then i decided to stay focused on just one spot...found a tri palm during the bow only season...i was determined to get him, in an area with low hunting pressure, and i was out there almost every day past 2 weeks....all day on the weekends and after work during the week....a little over an hour of daylight by the time i get there after work
yesterday it finally paid off, not the bigger tri palm i wanted but i didn't hesitate either...found a spike fork with a cow and a calf..so i'm thinking the spike was last years offspring maybe?
1st shot attempt - waited about 20 mins for a perfect shot and the trigger was frozen up, never had that happen, cycled a new round figuring that would break the freeze up but they were moving through the cut and no shooting lane
2nd shot...i had just ran 100 yds to get a clear shot again and was breathing hard, forced the shot free standing and complete miss...probably should've waited to calm down a bit....was a sick feeling but to my surprise they stuck around, didn't seem to even notice the shot
3rd shot...found a rest, waited about 5 mins for him to walk into a lane for me and bang, flop, dropped in his tracks
being a fairly new hunter and 99% self taught, let me say that no amount of youtube video's could've prepared me for field dressing and quartering...did it all in my headlights too...the gut sack refused to come out the way it looks so easy online LOL....i ended up with a small cut in the sack and some spillage on the rear quarter, the butcher assured me it wasn't anything to worry about...wiped it down right away and cleaned it up better when i got home
pulled him to the trail with my truck and 400' of rope and a pine acting as a pulley point, about 4 hrs from being shot to quartered in my truck and driving home, pretty proud it did it solo
extremely happy i didn't shoot a much larger moose high up a steep mountain, 5 km's away from my truck in almost 30 degree weather during the last week of august...that would've been a rough situation
here's a few pics...and what's left of the 165 grain bullet
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1546.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1549.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1554.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1558.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1471.jpg.html[IMG]
the mission for this weekend is my first elk
not much daylight lately so instead of exploring new areas, since i've only been living up here 2 months, i stuck to 3 spots where i was consistently finding fresh sign and getting out to those areas as much as possible, then i decided to stay focused on just one spot...found a tri palm during the bow only season...i was determined to get him, in an area with low hunting pressure, and i was out there almost every day past 2 weeks....all day on the weekends and after work during the week....a little over an hour of daylight by the time i get there after work
yesterday it finally paid off, not the bigger tri palm i wanted but i didn't hesitate either...found a spike fork with a cow and a calf..so i'm thinking the spike was last years offspring maybe?
1st shot attempt - waited about 20 mins for a perfect shot and the trigger was frozen up, never had that happen, cycled a new round figuring that would break the freeze up but they were moving through the cut and no shooting lane
2nd shot...i had just ran 100 yds to get a clear shot again and was breathing hard, forced the shot free standing and complete miss...probably should've waited to calm down a bit....was a sick feeling but to my surprise they stuck around, didn't seem to even notice the shot
3rd shot...found a rest, waited about 5 mins for him to walk into a lane for me and bang, flop, dropped in his tracks
being a fairly new hunter and 99% self taught, let me say that no amount of youtube video's could've prepared me for field dressing and quartering...did it all in my headlights too...the gut sack refused to come out the way it looks so easy online LOL....i ended up with a small cut in the sack and some spillage on the rear quarter, the butcher assured me it wasn't anything to worry about...wiped it down right away and cleaned it up better when i got home
pulled him to the trail with my truck and 400' of rope and a pine acting as a pulley point, about 4 hrs from being shot to quartered in my truck and driving home, pretty proud it did it solo
extremely happy i didn't shoot a much larger moose high up a steep mountain, 5 km's away from my truck in almost 30 degree weather during the last week of august...that would've been a rough situation
here's a few pics...and what's left of the 165 grain bullet
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1546.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1549.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1554.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1558.jpg.html[IMG]
[IMG]http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/user/BRvalley/media/IMG_1471.jpg.html[IMG]
the mission for this weekend is my first elk