trouthunter

Beav' s watched Jeremiah Johnson one too many times! Nice bull though, Congrats!

elknut1

BJ

You never said how your friend faired, did he get his cow or what?
It must be nice to hunt the middle of the rut with a rifle, how far of a shot was your bull? Did you call him in? How about some details. elknut1

BeaverJack

Nope. The one good chance my buddy had at a cow in range of his smokepole, he was fussin' with his clothes an' water an' such, an' didn' t see her. I spooked her tryin' to git his attention. Yeah, I called the bull. He would answer, but not come. I had to slip into the timber on my belly, cow callin' ever so often. The bull would run back an' forth blowin' an' rakin' his antlers against a tree. Finally, I stood up behind my last cover. I peeked around to see the bull starin' at me at 50 yards. I raised my rifle an' stepped ' round the tree and fired. Hit him a lil' back as he whirled to head up the hill. I knew he was hit, but he kept goin' to a place I knew would be tuff to git the mules to. So I ran an' fired, ran an' fired as he darted up the slope. When I got to a lil' clearing, I had a clear lane to where I thort he was heading. Sure enuff, he not only entered the lane, but stopped broadside to me on a outcroppin' of rocks. That cinched it. My next shot took the top of his heart off at 70 yards. I love the heart, but I sure didn' t want to chase this feller any more. I was startin' to feel my age. After the shot, the bull still didn' t drop. He merely turned and started walkin' up the chute another 30 yards, then collapsed. He groaned for an eternity, and was still movin' when I got up to him. Then he rolled over, looked at me, and took his las' gasp. A fine bull he was. Wouldn' t give up, even with two 180 partitions in his chest. The partition that took out his heart was unner the off side skin, having entered behind one shoulder an' penetrated the other. Its nose flattened & seperated, but got pushed in front of the base to the point it stopped. My friend commented on how the hide made him feel like his knife was dull, even though it weren' t. Elk hide is tuff stuff, an' many bullets stop when they hit it on the back side.

On the matter of the early rifle hunt in my unit, I love it for bulls. It ain' t much good for cows, cause they' re all herded up with one or two bulls, an' any pressure pushes the herds back an' forth over huge mountains. Solitary bulls hang in lil' groups or alone an' are a blast to play with. We called in several nice 6x6s jus' to play with them a lil' early in the hunt.

BareBack Jack

Good story BJ,to bad about the heart gonna miss out on some good sandwiches.

elknut1

BJ

Great story! Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Once the rut gets going good those ole bulls will join the others and kick some raggy but and take over their herds they worked so hard for, they never learn, oh well they were king of the castle for awhile anyway. elknut1

BeaverJack

The rut is petering out by the 20th of September. So the bulls git rutty in spurts. One day, a bull will leave a harem to chase off an intruder 200 yards away, the next day you gotta get within 50 yards before he' ll come yer way. Then, some days he may jus' move his herd over a mountain rather than come to a call. Hard to predict what they' ll do til yer in on ' em an got ' em talkin' .

elknut1

THe start of the Rut in WY must start earlier than here in Idaho. Our peak rut starts around the 17th and goes hot and heavy to the end of the month and then some into Oct. The higher elevations in a given area regardless of the state, the cows come into estrus earlier therfore they bugle sooner.
You got that right about the elk keeping one guessing from day to day. But you can figure them out many times by becoming familiar with the reasons why they do such things as run one day and not the next, just become familiar with your quarry and what makes him tick. I know easier said than done, but it' s possible, a weekend warrior just isn' t able to put in the necessary time it takes to figure out these critters. But as you mentioned, once you get them talking, that' s all you need to figure out their next move, I think you know what I mean.
Great job on your bull! elknut1

SnoBall57

HAHAHAHAHA! Jack, you ARE a TERROR! Nice bull! Congrats!

BeaverJack

Weather' s got a lot to do with how hard they rut. They can talk into October, but this hot weather we' ve had puts a damper on it early. Then the pressure will shut them up. Some new fellers campin' in my unit are old farts who won' t go 100 yards ' thout a horse. They ride right into the best beddin' areas an' run all the game out. We had ' em talkin' on the ridges all ' round camp til they showed up an' left their sign all over. Gonna have to have a talk with those boys. I don' t molest the area ' round their camp, they outta stay outta my country. Specially since they ain' t got a stealthy bone in their wrinkled ol' carcasses.