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For me, it is all of the above. But above all, I just enjoy the time in the woods. I like seeing the squirrel middens, the gray jays that eat out of my hand, or the occasional pine marten on a fresh kill.
Your thoughts?
Mike
As far as bonding with friends, getting away from it all, and just enjoying my time in the woods, I can do that the other 11mo of the year. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy seeing deer, moose, pine marten's, etc, as well, but my entire focus for Sep is the mountains and the elk that live there. Although I certainly prefer filling my tag rather than the alternative, I'm pretty selective on what I'll shoot anymore, so I'm ok with eating tag soup on occasion. Either way though, I have to have my elk fix, and I'll do my darnedest to make that happen as often as I can.
This is why I hunt elk. As long as YOU enjoy your time in the elk woods doing what YOU enjoy, that's all that really matters...It's ALL good!!!
Coming upon a muddied wallow, with droplets of dirty moisture still making its way down the trunk of an aspen tree.
Laying awake at night, listening to a bull bugle 200 yards away, and wondering where in the hell he came from I spent all day up that draw!
Tracks after a rain, The pines and aspen shaking in the wind.
Talking with my 72 year old dad around the fire, as he tells me the story about the first elk I called into him, or when it snowed 8" Aug 28 while hunting mulies.
Is it the Elk, or the Elk country?
I don't know, I just know I want bacon with my eggs when I get back to camp!.
No hunt has ever motivated me more to stay in shape, to shoot my bow more often than a solo, DIY, public land elk hunt.
No hunt has ever given me more thrills, more sense of accomplishment than killing my first bull elk, solo, DIY, on public land.
Two: I just love every aspect of the mountains. The sounds, the smells, all of the other critters that live there.... and the fact that I have gotten pretty good at living up there so in a way it's home.
Once that wall tent is standing it like "Aaaah, home sweet home"
Its good to share the sweat, the early morning chills, sunrises and sunsets, and campfires that puts it all into perspective.
Elk? Ehhh... thats the frosting
Not wanting to throw water on your parade and having a great group of guys willing to help you pack out your bull, my question is how come you don't cut the legs and feet off and also cape out the skull, saw the antlers and leave the heavy skull in the woods? I do that even with my mules, and to pack lighter is always better. It always amazes me to see all of that extra weight being toted around. I can perhaps see the skull as many don't know how to cape it but it seems it would be worth learning how to do so especially if you are going to pack it on your back.
If I were to tell you why we carried the legs, skull and unboned meat of the 2 elk my son and I shot at the same time out of the woods last fall, you probably wouldnt believe me anyway.
Get the latest issue of Bow and Arrow Hunting magazine. In in, is an article [pg 53] that Jaquomo [Lou] wrote that may explain some of your questions.
Stoney, the short answer is that they didn't have to. Much easier to do all that while lounging around in camp with a cold beverage. Plus, they had two elk to deal with at one time, in bear country.
To be able to hunt with others who are not jealous, pitch in and make it a team effort, sure seems like the best part!
It's hard to beat an archery elk hunt, in traditional elk country....for the amount & variety of game to be seen, for the heart-pounding close encounters with those huge beasts, for the beautiful pristine country they live in, and if you're lucky enough to score....for the fantastic eating to be enjoyed.
I love whitetail hunting, but man Elk and elk hunting is enchanting.
I guess for me it's not so much the "allure" as it is a lifestyle. Its what I've done every September since I was old enough to drive, 45 years ago. I crafted my career so I could do it as much as possible, and live in elk country. It's not what I do; rather it's who I am.
Trying to describe the allure is like trying to describe why we're attracted to a beautiful, intelligent woman.
But every now and then.... it does! Then you're really screwed, you've gone and ruined a perfectly good elk hunt by killing an elk.... finally, eventually, even though your body is trying to tell your brain it never will.... the pain stops and your animal is back to where something else besides you is hauling it. It's sooo good when the pain stops... you stand up without your pack and fall over...
Now it's business, get somewhere, ice, wrap, freezer bags, cut it all up and freeze it somehow. Beg for boxes at the same stores that wouldn't let you use their freezer, pack up gear to mail back so coolers can go on the plane, find a post office. Weigh out coolers... 51 lbs at the airport and you're toast. You now have a 70 lb carry-on....
Running on empty after 2 weeks.... driving.... clean up rental car, airports, deal with the 90 lb little old lady the airlines assigned to check your carry-on with who wants to gut you with a butter knife because yours weighs 70 lbs....
Finally home.... relief that Coach was just kidding (this time) about how all my stuff was going to be in the front yard.... meat in the freezer, get some quick rest, gear put away, reflection.... oh crap, work tomorrow? Really? no, reality....
That wasn't so bad.... I did it, it's done. An indescribable self satisfaction comes over you. Accomplishment. Did all that really just happen? The good parts overcame the the bad, the awesome parts stand alone in your mind, head and shoulders above it all. Stuff you take to the grave with you. Can't wait for next year....
Yeah.... what's pleasure without a little pain.... I'm told whips and chains can be fun too... just what I need, another obsession....
Mike
In a couple years the "allure" will change as my kids start nocking arrows.
I LIKE that Dingo!
Where/how else can one experience this type of beauty, adventure, challenge, and accomplishment every year on a blue collar salary?
When you do stand on that ridge and look across the deep valley at that basin, you're thoughts will either be, "I'm going over there and kill me an elk!"
Or if you're an old guy like me with a few dozen elk under your belt, you'll think, "If I kill one over there, how will I ever get it out? Maybe I'll just sit right here above camp and try to call one in!"
;-)
Red eyed, snot dripping from it's nose while he raises his head back and lets out that hair-raising bugle.
You will believe you are in heaven but when checking your pulse, there still is a beat, but just a little faster.
One will never be the same!
My best, Paul
Anything worth doing is never easy. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it!
I can still remember my first "real" elk bugle like it was yesterday. There was NO mistaking or questioning if it was another hunter. (And that was in 1998). And that bull is still the biggest bull I have ever seen while hunting. (Very similar to Paul's pic above)
I used to live for whitetail hunting. Nothing could trump chasing WT's with my bow,,,,,, until my first elk hunt. Now, deer hunting takes up time in between my elk hunts.
For me, it's not camaraderie as I have hunted elk alone. I have points in several states that I am applying for alone.......it doesn't seem like any of my hunting buddies have a passion for elk like I do. As a result, when it comes time to cash in those points, I will probably be going alone.
I'm a flatlander and for the longest time elk were just a dream. Then I hunted them......and the dream came true, which turned into a passion. Everything from the bugling, to their size, to the physical challenges, to the mental challenges, to how majestic they are, to traveling to find them. I love it all.
Only 96 days out! LaGriz
MikeC. walk softly but carry a big stick
It's gotten to the point where I struggle with trying to figure out how to hunt the other animals I want to hunt because I don't want to give up September. And the time spent in September means I have to work at some point.
If you're passionate about bowhunting and haven't tried it, trust me, stop procrastinating and just make a trip happen. It'll change your life.
He and I shared a great wilderness hunt last year. I called in a great bull for him. In the end, neither one of us killed an elk last September, but we sure enjoyed the heck out of our time together like we always did. At the end of the hunt we assured each other that "next year" we would both fill our tags with nice trophies. My Dad died unexpectedly in early January 2015.
I'll kill more elk. I'll enjoy teaching my kids to bowhunt elk. I'm not sure though, that I will ever realize a greater trophy than those many unforgettable instants that my Dad and I shared after a stalk was blown, an arrow was realeased, a bull was spotted, a bugle erupted, a shed was found, or "our" animal was recovered. It's the disappointed smile after a missed shot, or the emotional tear rolling down his cheek after a long, but successful tracking job that will accompany me in the elk woods this fall.
It's hard for me to express the undeniable allure I have to the wildernesses that contain elk. While I love to kill a big bull as much as anybody, I can definitively say that it is not the trophy antlers that motivate me. There are no antlers in the world that could top the trophy of last year's elk hunt...although I never loosed an arrow.
Mike
Best of luck to everyone for 2015 elk season
Just have to add:
"a true pleasure and uniquely American event to be in the Mountains during the September rut. bow in hand on public land!"
And for some of us Canadians too, although (I suppose) we are North Americans....!
This year will be a little different I will be taking my youngest daughter who will be a high school senior this year (oldest daughter cant get away she is in college working on getting into a nursing program), my son who is 12 and been wanting to elk hunt since he was big enough to hunt, my wife, and my in-laws (in case the grand kids put their first tag on an elk). I can't wait to experience the mountains with them and watch them get hooked on elk and elk country as I have done. To see the sun rise and set I over the mountains, hear a bull bugle, or just to gain respect for this creature in his habitat. And just maybe tag their first elk!
My hunting buddies will be a few miles away but we will get to meet up share some stories, some info, enjoy God's beautiful Creation, and let the kids experience what we have grown to love about elk hunting!
My best, Paul
