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No tag soup this year!

I've been looking at my phone for a hour now trying to talk myself into writing this. We're on out way back from CO headed to the family farm in WV. Just filled up the truck and are going through Kansas City now. I've got about four hours until my turn to drive again. Gonna try to get it done before then. I always enjoy reading everyone's stories on here and I told myself before we left I was gonna write this one. Good or bad. So here goes please ignore the bad grammar and spelln.

You couldn't beat the smile off my face yesterday as we rode off the mountain. I was watching my dad on the horse in front of me and the horns of my first elk on the pack horse in front of him. On the two hour ride off the hill I had plenty of time to daydream about our future hunts and hopes that my daughters would join me on one of these trips once they are a little older.

We planned the trip a year ago after my cousin Shannon talked me into it. Dad and I have been out twice before during rifle season. Neither of us had been able to get it done. We both love bow hunting so we decided to go for it. What's the worst that could happen? We have two weeks off work hanging out with family. You can't make good memories on the couch watching tv. Our group was my dad, cousin Shannon and a good friend of his Brad. Dad Shannon and I were going to drive out on September first and come back today. Brad flew out on the 6th and joined us at camp on the 7th. We made arrangements with a outfitter we had used previously to pack us on the mountain. We had a area in mind and made our base camp there. We planned on spike camps most of the time with return trips to our base camp for more food as needed. All spring and summer we talked nonstop about what we needed for camp and gear. Plus lots of google earth time going over the area. I took advice from a lot of posts on here and started lifting and using the elliptical with my weighted pack on six months ago. Also I kept notes from different posts on advice I thought was good. The two biggest I kept in mind was always watch the wind and knock a arrow anytime I stopped for a break or food or whatever. More on that later.

I better hurry up. I just told Shannon I've been typing on this stupid phone for a hour now and we're not even on the mountain yet. I shoot my bow year round almost every day so I didn't need to change anything with my shooting schedule. I did get a new compound for my daughters so I had some good company over the summer while shooting. They both want to switch from the crossgun to the compound as soon as they can.

Ok, the day finally came. September first we planned on meeting at the farm and loading into Shannon's truck. I stayed at work as long as I could take it and headed out. We all got there earlier than planned. It was a long and enjoyable trip to Co. lot of laughs and good times. We checked into a hotel once we got close to our area. OTC tags on public land. One last good meal and shower. So Sunday morning we head out. Meet the outfitter and pack up the hill. We get to our planned base camp spot and surprise! No one was there. Great. We have base camp set up by 2 and shoot our bows some afterwards. We all opt to hang at camp that evening and get used to the altitude and prep our stuff for heading out Monday morning.

Monday morning rolls around. I don't think I slept at all. Dad wasn't feeling well so Shannon and I head out. We had two sat phones so he could contact us if a emergency arose. We had planned on hunting out and dad hunting around camp the first few days anyway. Within a half hour from camp we were almost to a spot we were gonna call from and had our first encounter. Sneaking up a trail a bark stopped us in our tracks. It was close! 50 yard close it sounded like. We both knocked arrows and kept looking. Then another bark same spot. Shannon dropped his pack and slowly crept up the trail. It's amazing how quiet the elk can be. We didn't hear anything tear out and didn't get a look at what it was. We both were all smiles and asking each other what we could of done differently. Oh well, first morning not a half mile from camp and already into elk. Gonna be a great day. We slowly work our way toward a area we had planned on hunting for a day or two. About 11 we get the first of the daily hail storms we got to enjoy every day. We found some cover and put up a small tarp I had in my pack. While we were waiting it out ate some lunch and talked about the plan for the evening. We worked our way to the area we wanted to be at for the evening after the storm rolled thru. Found a small pond and filtered some water. We decided to set up our spike camp there.

It was around 4 or so by the time spike camp was made and we ditched some of the weight in our packs there. Much better! Stupid tent and sleeping bag weighed almost 10 lb. Out to the edge of a large field we head. I talked Shannon into throwing out a bugle to see if anyone wanted to answer. It sounded beautiful. He looked at me and said get ready. If tv and you tube has taught you anything we should be getting ran over by 30 or 40 of them any minute. No such luck. Every thing was pretty tight lipped while we were there. I heard two bugles the whole time we were there. Shannon wanted to watch the field that eve to see if anything was coming out so I opted to take a stroll around the edge of a patch of timber that butted up to a big rock face that ended at a opening into a drainage. I really liked the look of the drainage from google earth and had high hopes of finding a good trail going into it. Everything was uneventful on the way around. I did find a large rockslide that opened everything up and had a awesome view of the mountains across the valley form us. As I got near the opening of the drainage I jumped three spruce grouse. What a lot of noise they make! I made my way to the rock face that was alongside the opening into the drainage. Sat there for a bit but couldn't make out a trail from where I was at. Oh well it was a great view and would of been a great shot if one walked by. I took a minute to write a text to my wife. I couldn't send it but was nice to pretend I was talking to her. The thermals switched while I was sitting there so I decided to move out to the edge of the field where the drainage started and watch until dark. Surprisingly when I got there the wind was blowing from the opening to me. So I knelt down beside a pine tree on the edge or the field. Here's where I forgot my number two rule always knock a arrow when I'm sitting around. I thought for the hell of it I might as well range a large rock at the opening of the drainage. 50 yards, nice a baseball is in a lot of trouble at that distance.

Sounds great so far!! Have someone else drive for the next couple hours, so you can keep writing this story.....

Keep it coming...thanks for sharing your story. Wish more people would

Agree. Hitting a beach ball at 50 yards is a chip shot. Let's hear the rest of the story!

So the next few events take place in about 8 second but it felt like 8 hours. It will be one of my best memories in life besides marrying my beautiful wife or the girls being born. My legs had begun to go numb so I stood up. Shorty after I heard it. The sound of a elk walking. Wow it's coming out of the drainage. How can that happen? That's kind of where I thought one might walk. Wind is still good. Crap!! I need a arrow! So I rip one out of the quiver and get it on the string. I look up from that chore and can see horns appearing from the edge of the hill. Damn there big! This can't be happening. I'm not supposed to get a chance at something like this. Now I need to draw while his head is still below the edge of the hill. Crap my release is still folded back. I have practiced non stop with it to fold it out quickly for just occasions like this. Not this time. I felt like a monkey trying to launch a spaceship. It can't be this complicated but it felt like three days had passed by the time I got it flipped and on the string. I looked back up and he was in full view and had turned and was walking to me. Wow I've never seen a elk this big in the wild this can't be happening. He hits the thirty yard mark and his head goes behind a small bush. Nows my chance draw dummy I'm awfully good at telling the tv people when to draw. As I start to draw his head clears the bush and he stops starting right at me. Oh well I'm going for it. I tell myself did you come here to shoot one or live with the regret of not drawing when you had one this close. Of course he immediately turns and runs. Hey the tv people always mew and they stop for them why not me? I make my best hot cow mew with my mouth since I didn't have a diaphragm call in at the time. What the heck? He's slowing down this stuff doesn't happen. He's just passed the 50 yrd rock and stopped quartering away. What is he 60 now? Ok my 50 pin is red. There it is 60 is right below it Ok anchor is good squeeze the trigger and away goes my arrow. As I watched the arrow take the 3 hour flight across to the bull it looked like the pink nocturnal was gonna sail right below his stomach. I thought I was gonna puke. Smack! What was that,it hit him and hit him good! Looked like it buried to the vanes. He spun on a dime and tore a** back over the hill. I still can't believe it. I just shot my first elk! And it's a bull! And a big one. As I stood there shaking uncontrollably I had a brief conversation with the lord thanking him for making such creatures and blessing me with the opportunity to enjoy this place with my family and soon to be new friend. I got myself back together and slipped over to look for blood. I was pretty confident he was down after the plane crash I heard when he went over the hill. Sure enough. Hair, chunk of meat, blood! Wow a lot more blood! I hung a glow stick on a small bush beside the blood and turned around to go find Shannon. It was working on trying to get dark so I walked through the field to a place I could see Shannon's hide out. He was about 400-500 yards from me so I started waving my arms like a clown hoping to get his attention. It worked and I soon saw him stand up and look at me through his binos. I motioned him to come over to me and he started on his way. When we met up I told him the story and we celebrated with a hug and handshakes. He said let's go get your bull. Off we went. Back to the blood I found. He dug out his headlamp and left his pack there. We had enough light to make it a little way on the blood without the lights. 40 yards into it the blood disappeared. Oh crap I started to get sick again. Didn't take much but we found it again and a lot of it. 60 yrds or so we found part of my arrow with about 4" of the broad head end broken off. Still can't figure out what happened. So I was walking with my head down scanning for blood as we went and Shannon stayed with last blood and scanned in front of us. We were traveling fast at this point with the good blood. As I walked through between two trees Shannon says look up. There he lay! Not 5 yards in front of me. I almost fell over. Wow were we excited! You guys that have posted about the work starting once you find them aren't kidding. It's a lot more work than a whitetail. We got him cut up and hanging in game bags in a little over two hours. It was about 1am once we made it back to spike camp. I'll finish up tomorrow it's about my turn to drive again. I'll add some pics in a few

Crap! I wanted the pic at the end of the last post. Guess it gave the end away. Oh well here's some more

Still can't believe it! First day! theres still three in our group and 9 days left. I'll continue tomorrow morning if anyone wants to hear the rest. Good luck to anyone on a mountain now or headed out. Be safe

Man, that's awesome. Big congrats! Great bull with some awesome character!

Nice!

LOL!

The story, as written... with little punctuation and paragraphs but lots of adrenaline...... was perfect. That's actually the way it happens. A stream of consciousness event.... LOL!

Good for you! Congrats! and thanks much for sharing. That was awesome.......

Yes. Very much would like a blow by blow of the rest of the hunt.

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far. Just finished up my turn driving. The sun is starting to come up in Kentucky now. Tuesday morning,day two. Cuz and I both slept in until 6:30. Time for some breakfast. We didn't get dinner the night before. That's when I decided I didn't like mtn house breakfast skillet. Oh well it'll make a turd. When we found my elk last night cuz hiked back up to his pack and called the outfitter from the sat phone.I started skinning and was well underway when he got back. I still can't thank him enough for the help. No answer from outfitter so he left a message we had one down. Back to Tuesday morning, we hadn't heard back from outfitter so we decided it would be best I hike to his base camp and hope he was around. It was about a four mike hike from our spike camp. No big deal I was still full of adrenaline and wanted to get the meat packed off the hill and to the butcher asap. We parted ways and I was off. I didn't find out until that night but half hour after I left Shannon had his first encounter of the trip with a bull at 20 yrds. It didn't want to clear some brush so it would live another day. Cuz can chime in with more detail if he wants. I made the hike to find the outfitter in no time and was relieved when hit the field his base camp was in and saw his horses. He was in the process of putting up a wall tent when I walked up. I told the story and where the meat was. He gave me a big congrats hand shake and said he needed to close some things down before we left. I volunteered to help him finish setting up the wall tent. Thanks to Shannon's multiple years of killing elk and dealing with the meat it was hung in plenty of shade. It also got pretty cool overnight so I was confident it would be fine for a few more hours. We got the tent up in no time and saddled the horses. Off we went. No problems getting the meat on the pack horse. We rode back to our base camp and he dropped me and the head off. I was afraid it might disappear if he left it at the trail head. I also wanted to skin it out and get rid of the bottom jaw and brains.

I hadn't been in camp too long and dad and Shannon showed up. Dad was feeling much better. He went out Monday evening. No action. Same thing for Tuesday. Shannon showed up a little after dad and told the story of his encounter from that morning. We had a great time making some dinner that night. My brother reminds me all the time that occasionally you need to stop and enjoy your last meal. You never know when it will be. We did just that. Elk loin, instant taters and cheese. One of the best meals I've ever had! Chased down with a few brews. Everyone went to bed full that night.

Congrats! Great story as well.

Sorry to interrupt, but I really enjoy the off-the-cuff writing style. Congrats. Great story and great character on that bull.

Wednesday morning I slept in. My plan was to be lazy around camp. Didn't work out. I couldn't sit still and needed something to do. I built a table for camp with some small stuff I cut with a hand saw and rope. Added a couple tarps to base camp to combat the daily hail storms. Dad made it back to camp at dark. Another uneventful day for him. Dang it. At least we're on a mountain together having a great time. Shannon wasn't coming back until Thursday night. Thursday morning dad hung around camp with me. We had a great time bs'ing about life and joking around. Today was the day Brad was coming up. He made it to camp around 1. Dad or I hadn't met him before Shannon said he was a good guy and would fit right in. He didn't lie. Couldn't meet a nicer guy if you tried. Once he got his gear stashed and shot his bow a few times he was off. Dad went the opposite direction and I started prepping for dinner. Everyone made it back safe after dark and we had another good elk backstrap dinner. No action,no bugles. Oh well we've got more days left. Friday morning everyone was up early. Brad headed off to hunt near the area I killed mine at. Shannon went another direction. Dad and I headed out to check out some other drainage areas I saw on google earth. I hated to leave my bow at camp incase someone stopped by with sticky fingers but oh well. Just my bugle tube the rest of the trip. We covered a lot of ground that day. We ran into a lot of fresh sign also. Every time we found steaming fresh poo we would set up and call with me 20-40 yards behind him. No takers. I thought I sounded good for not knowing what I was doing. Most set ups I would give out a chuckle followed up with me beating the crap out of a tree. Then top it off with some sexy cow mews. How could they resist? I've got a lot to learn. We were beat when we made it back to camp and half wet from the daily hail storm. Didn't get the rain gear on in time today. Shannon made it back shortly after we go there. No action. Tomorrow,lord willing is another day.

Awesome man! What a great bull too.

Fantastic, congratulations!

Thanks for the great comments on the story so far! Looks like the phone outsmarted me again and has a pic upside down. I almost forgot. The meat and remains from the head. I took it a hundred yards or so from camp. I brought a trail cam with me with plans of putting it on a wallow for some pics. Instead i set it out hoping to get some pics of a red fox that was hanging around camp. That didn't work out very well. If I can outsmart the computer when I get home. I'll post the pics of the two bulls with three cows that walked past camp Friday night. Amazing, here we are traveling all over the place looking for them and they show up less than 200 yards from camp in the middle of the night.

Saturday morning I head out with Shannon. Dads going back to the area we were at Friday. We make it 300 yards from camp and have shooting light. Shannon needs something out of his pocket and asks me to hold his bow for a second. Funny how elk know when your least prepared and show up. As soon as he turns and reaches into his pocket I see movement 40 yards away. I whispered take your bow back there's a bull right behind you. Somehow he knew I wasn't joking and got a arrow ready. It was a small rag horn 4x. That's perfect it was full of delicious elk meat and we needed more at camp. As fast at they show up they are just as good at leaving. As cuz turned to draw it noticed him moving and took off. Oh well we saw one and the day is starting like the first one. Good omen? We covered a lot of ground that day and set up and called a few times. No more action that day. We set up spike camp and had some dinner. Sunday found us up early and back at it. We decided to try more calling. Something has to break soon. Several miles and just as many call set ups we both freeze in our tracks. I smell one, me too! Knock a arrow he's gotta be close. We stand around scanning everywhere and see nothing. A few steps forward and we find the source. A bed,and it stinks! It was cold so we hadn't blown him out. Let's set up and try to call again. Shannon ripped off a great bugle and I started beating up a tree again 30 yrds behind. Just as I started into some sweet cow calls, the sky opened up and we got the best rain,hail storm of the trip. I was soaked by the time I got the rain gear on. We slowly worked our way back towards camp and got there a couple hours before dark. Dad was there waiting when we made it and the storm stopped as we walked under the tarps. No action again for the old man. Oh well let's have a camp fire and warm up. Good family time for all. Little bit after dark Brad made it in. He had some good action. I don't want to steal his thunder and tell his story. He might chime in and give some details. I stayed at camp the next couple days and just kicked back. Ate like a pig and enjoyed the time without phone calls or emails. Stupid work. Tuesday dad and Shannon came back to camp before lunch. I had hiked over to the local phone booth to call the wife. It was a rock cliff about 500 yards from camp that I got a few bars sometimes. As I hung up with her a bull ripped off a bugle on the hillside across from me. Ha! We got you now! I haul tail back to camp. As I told them the location they were grabbing bows and some gear. They told me get your bugle tube your gonna call for us. Ok great let's get him. We eased into what I thought would be within 100yrds of his location and I stayed back behind them. I was supposed to bugle and then beat up another tree. The sound that came out sounded like someone killing a cat with a trumpet. After a little quiet laughter I set into a few cow calls. Half hour later nothing. Oh well we're having a blast.

Brad came back to camp Wednesday afternoon with a great story. Once again I'm not gonna spill the beans for him incase he's gonna tell it.

Everyone was all smiles when we packed off the mountain on Thursday. It's been a great adventure. We're almost back where we started from.

Thanks for reading. I'll add a few more pics.

Awesome story so far and congrats on the bull! I did my first ever write up this week on my coues deer hunt. Takes about as much time and effort to write as it does to actually hunt. Thanks for taking the time to share it!

Great story and pictures! I can't wait to get in the woods myself.

John

Youre living the dream dude,congrats!!!!

Wv Hillbilly, By posting your experience on here for everyone to enjoy, not only do you feed the itch for the rest of us, but you have now chronicled your hunt in an online diary of sorts. You'll reread your story and photos a hundred times over the years, I almost guarantee it.....

Congratulation hillbilly . . . sounds like a great hunt. I liked you comment on your first bugle . . . I remember mine - way back in '97 - heard a bugle up the mountain and thought, been practicing for 11 months and let one rip; almost fell on the ground when he answered back. Thirty minutes later had him at 10 yards and couldn't get a shot!

Can't wait for the rest of the story . . . be careful on the road!

Michael

Good story; GREAT bull!!! Is he really a 5X5, or did I miss something? Hard to believe a 5 could be that big.... one more reason to not give a rip about scoring systems!!!!

And I think this Brad fella has some work to do - you're a true Gent to let him tell the tale himself.

Congrats on a great bull and thanks for the story and pics !

Awesome man. Congrats and God Bless

Awesome!! Congrats!!!

Mark

Awesome thread! Congrats:)

Well congratulations, you just ruined deer hunting for yourself. You'll never be the same. Elk just do something to you that a lot of other animals don't. Great story. You'll have a good supply of meat. When it's freezing outside this winter and you're enjoying a wonderful elk dinner you'll be counting off how many days until you can go again.

Fantastic story,well told..can't wait for more,thanks for sharing,i feel like I'm there....

Congratulations, so refreshing to share your success and excitement.

Great story! Congratulations!!

Really enjoyed your write up. Congratulations!

Absolutely loved the story! Congratulations on a great animal!

Once again, thank you for the nice comments! I felt like I was stealing over the years on here reading everyone's posts and not writing one myself.

Medicinemann, your right. I've read the story a couple times already. It's wonderful I can still picture the whole thing in slow motion. GF, he is a 5x, once I get the euro done I'll look up how to measure him and give a report.

It sure was nice to sleep in my own bed last night. After 30 or so hours awake on the trip back, I slept like a dead rock.

I didn't mention before, but I hit him a little past mid way and it came out right behind his front shoulder on the opposite side. I shoot a bear agenda with carbon express 350, tipped with Magnus stinger two blades with bleeders.

The return trip was full of us talking about the next adventure. We are set up for another great bear hunt with pine acres. I've finally talked the old man into going. I remember him talking about wanting to kill a bear with his bow all the time growing up. It's gonna happen next August!

Anyway, we also discussed a guided elk hunt for 2019. I want to know more about when and how to call. Also how to deal with the ever changing wind. I know it was dumb luck that brought me and this bull together. Just like whitetail, once you understand how to hunt them, I'm sure it's much easier. I remember killing my first deer sitting on my dad's lap and been hunting them for 34 years since. Next elk trip all my efforts will go into getting dad on one. I can't wait to get back out there!!!

Two weeks of work then me and the girls are headed to WV to hunt the opening weekend with my good friend, who happens to be my father n law. Hopefully they will get some action and I'll be able to tell their tale.

I'll add a pic from the trail cam. The computer out smarted me so its a pic from the phone.

Once again thanks for the nice comments!

Elk and the story are awesome. Two girls shooting there bows priceless. You are blessed. Thanks, Enjoyed.

He measures 43" inside spread

Great story. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats Wv Hillbilly! What an awesome read and an even more incredible adventure! You have a good group of guys to hunt with. Good Luck the rest of the season in WV.

Cracking bull WV Hillbilly; proper job! Many thanks for sharing your adventure and memories; I really enjoyed the part where you describe how time stood still when your bull came in Good luck and good hunting!

Its great to see a fellow West Virginian that has success, my dad and i just returned from southwestern Colorado on an archery hunt, it was our second trip out, we was out there last year in 3rd rifle season, my whole trip was made the second morning , was able to hear them bugle and watch bull keep his cows in herd, we had 4 satellite bulls at 200 yrds at daylight, and while slipping around to get in front of them to a wallow, one of them winded us and they all 4 took back to the dark timber, and this is a 25 acre patch of timber open on all side, we watched herd bull take 16 cows in there also, so my dad decides he would take one side me the other, about halfway up mountain i look and see an elk rear end, spike 40 yrds, standing still i watch him get more and more nervous, then cows and calves start filing off mtn, then boom 20 yards broadside full grown cow head behind pine nothing but air between us, and i happen to catch movement above her its herd bull, so i get greedy!! over he comes i try to stop him with cow call , but momentum keeps him from stopping in right place, all of sudden 2 satellites bust up over mt i draw one trotting right at me, gut says touch trigger i hesitate one second, which is to long, and i try to stop the second one and he is not stopping and my shot is inch low, !!! its over n 6 seconds, we hunt 3 more days see lots of animals, my dad is 65 yrs old, cardio wise he is in excellent shape, old bone wise he was wore out in a weeks hunt, but man the memories, sorry for long story with no happy ending!

Awesome story and big congrats!!! What a gnarly bull!

Thanks for sharing your hunt! Loved it!

Congrats ! Thanks for sharing

Once again thanks for all the kind words. WV hunter, wish you would of connected. I'm sure you agree, even a close call is well worth the trip out there and back. I'm sure you had a great time with your dad and that in itself makes a happy ending. We have to enjoy them while they are still with us.

"Sounded like someone killing a cat with a trumpet " LMAO!

Great write up and bull hillbilly! From your story, it's easy to feel your excitement and enjoyment you guys experienced.

Thanks very much for the write up David. I didn't get to go this year because of shoulder problems so any and all stories get my heart too beating ,yours was well done sir, thanks again!

Just put the last coat of sealer on the skull. Once it dries I'll get some measurements and update with the score. If it's close to p&y I'll get someone around columbus to do a official measure. Doesn't matter either way. I can't eat the horns. I still can't believe it!!

Great story. Thanks for sharing. Very nice trophy. Congrats !!

Just measured and added everything up. I came up with 289 for the score. Once it goes through the rest of the drying time I'll take it to someone to officially measure. Once I run out of elk meat. I might try cooking the horns. Can't wait until I can go again. Till then I'll just settle on killing whitetail and trapping coyotes. Might post some trap line pics this year. Until next time everyone have a safe and good hunt!

Congrats on the bull! Great writeup and story telling.

Congrats. Now you'll be wanting elk hunt every year.

Wow, that is awesome. Congrats! I love a big 5!

Nice, I liked that a lot. Congrats. Paul

Congrats thanks for sharing!

The guy has some sweet genetics!! Congrats!!!!!

What kind of sealer did you put on the skull and how did you get it so white??

Thanks again everyone. Ski&skin I used the stuff in the attached pic for the bleach and elmers glue for the sealer. I've had good luck on deer heads with it in the past. Paint the bleach on and put it under a heat bulb for 24 hr. Rinse off let dry and brush on the glue. Thin with water and spray the glue everywhere you can't brush.

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