Walker and i got to the spot around 9 or 9:30 in the morning. we got back to the last blood i had found and started looking for more blood. after 30-45 minutes of not finding any blood we decided to crosshatch the hill we were on. we started at the top and would walk from the point of last blood to the first big gully we came to, about 100-150 yards. then we would move down the hill 20 yards and go back. we finished that hill around lunch time. we stopped to get a little drank and a little snack and discuss which hill was next. there were really 3 hillsides to choose from. we had the hill side on the back side of the one we just walked, the next hill in the direction the elk appeared to be running and the hillside on the back of that hill (which we thought was the least likely). i thought since the elk was so close to the top of the hill that maybe he crossed over the ridge and got back into his sanctuary. i had walked the next hill in the direction he ran, to get back to the truck the other day (just one trail about the level that i had found the last blood) and we had walked it coming back in today (a trail a little lower down the hill). we decided to crosshatch the hill on the backside of the hill we had just done. we walked down to the bottom of that hill (i knew there was a creek there) and worked our way up. we did find 4 or 5 nasty big wallows at the bottom of the hill but never found any sign of the elk. we had to get back into town that night so we quit when we got back to the top of the hill and walked out the top of the next hill.
Now it was the 3rd day looking for my elk and walker could not go with me this day. i decided i would walk the next hill in the direction that the elk had run. i started at the top and worked my way down, looking in every nook and cranny. i was starting to feel like someone looking for a lost person, the longer i looked the worse it felt like my odds were getting. the longer i looked the more disappointed i was getting with myself. i had worked so hard to prepare for this trip, running, shooting, etc and i had screwed it up. i would rather not get a shot at an elk than wound one and not find it. but here i was in montana, with a few more days left, i was not going to hunt anymore unless i found my elk then i would do some mule deer hunting. so i had all kinds of time to look for the elk. i saw several magpies flying to the northeast so i got on the ridge and headed that way. i got the point of the ridge and sat and listened for a long time but the magpies were gone. crosshatching a hill by yourself takes a lot of time and gets lonely. i had to do it, i owed it to the elk. day 3 no elk.
on the 4th day i went looking for the elk, it was actually the day before i flew back to tn. i decided to go back to the mountains and look a little more. i had to drive back to billings for the night and fly out the next morning and the mountains were on my way. i was going to check the hill on the backside of the last hill i checked. i thought i would walk the hill about the same level of the last blood i found. i was going to look for ravens and magpies or try to get a whiff of the dead body. if i hadn't found anything by noon i was going to climb over the ridge and head back to the truck and back to billings. i had walked about 1/2 a mile in and looked at the gps and realized i was about 400 foot in elevation above the last blood i found and decided i should get down the mountain a little. i had moved down the mountains a little and came to a gully. i thought i saw an antler sticking up on the other side and was trying to look at whatever it was through my binoculars. when i did, a raven flew right by me and landed in a tree a little ways away. i looked again and realized it was not an antler, but a limb. i decided i would stay there for a little while to see what the raven was doing. after waiting about 10 minutes the raven did switch trees but that was it. the wind was blowing in my face pretty steady. i decided it was time for me to head out. just as i was taking my first step to leave the wind stopped. all of a sudden i could smell something odd. my first thought was, that can't be it, i'm not sure i really smelled anything. i started walking up the hill towards the raven and i smelled it again and knew it had to be my elk. i saw something about 40 yards uphill but couldn't tell if it was the elk of not. i walked up to it and there he was! it was the elk i had shot, there was no mistaking his rack. he was laying on his right side so i could easily tell where i had shot him. the shot was about 5 inches behind the front leg and mid chest. i do not think i could have made a better shot. however, there was very little blood on his body below the wound. it could have been because he had been there so long or maybe he just bled internally, i don't know, but i still think it was a great shot. i immediately got out my gps to see how far he had ran from where i shot him- 3/4 of a mile, and gained 400 ft in elevation. so much for wounded elk, especially ones shot in the lungs, running downhill and towards water. well, i found him, and he was rancid. there was a bubbling gas coming out of the wound...rancid. getting him out, the wind was blowing the smell from my back to my face. and i don't know how much an elk head weighs but i can tell you 2 things: 1)i packed it wrong, with the antlers hanging back behind me and 2) i thought i was going to break an ankle or tear an acl getting him off the mountain. it was ankle busting and knee knuckling!
lesson of the days: never, never give up. know how to pack your elk to get him off the mountain. hunting elk is a hard roller coaster ride of mental thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment