We Be Elk Hunters
(but not elk shooters)
Ted's Story 2006:
Pistol Triumph
First posted November 3, 2006
Last updated April 18, 2007
Day 1
I arose around 4:30 am for the 6:30 flight to SLC. Rented a Dodge SUV of some sort and was headed east by 10:00 am. Good weather, uneventful drive, arrived in Rawlins around 2:00 pm. Picked up some supplies and headed towards camp. McCarty Canyon was dry but had some impressive ruts remaining from the last moisture about a week earlier. Crossed onto Jaure’s and tried the walkie talkie…no response. Got to 5 Buttes and tried again…still no response, drove to the new gate (old entrance is now fenced) and found it locked…dag gonnit. Went back past the Butte and honked…Bill answered on the walkie talkie and met me at old entrance to pass the key over the fence and I made my way into camp. Craig and Bill were busy setting up, so, after some brief hello's, I pitched in. My main contribution was the fire pit, helped Bill briefly with his new 3/6 man tent (pretty darned nice one), and Craig with the tarp for the cook tent.
With about 1 1/2 hours of light left I took a quick jaunt to give the coyote call some work. On the way to the calling spot, I glanced updraw and into the setting sun, noticing a coyote whose curiosity caused him to sit down and watch me. Calling was out of the question, but I couldn’t pass on a sitting shot. I figured him between 150 and 250 yds (I know about 3 feet of drop between the two, but it was into the sun and I just couldn’t tell). I held the front sight up some and squeezed the trigger…boom…dirt flew about 6 inches above and a few inches to the right of his head. I missed my first shot of the trip. Probably could have just aimed at his head…lots of guesswork when I start raising the front sight. Went on to my planned call site and go no response.
Back to camp, ate dinner, and figured where everyone was headed the next morning. No surprises, Craig to Craig’s cut, Bill to Box Canyon and I was going to look at the Waterfall area from the nose of the bowl. (Just looking David, not going to stir it up at all.)
Day 2
Up early enough that it was still dark upon arrival to my spot. Those darned cattle sound big and close at night. I didn’t see much until the sun was well up and the deer started to head from the feeding grounds to their beds. I ended up seeing a group of 4 bucks with 1 pretty good one, and a group of 7 with 2 pretty good ones, both groups were on Buck Ridge. None were B&C type, but figured 2 would satisfy my lowered standards.
There were 2 hunters right above Waterfall that were watching/stalking some deer higher up the draw. I watched them shoot (several times) but didn’t see the results. 2 more hunters were patrolling the fence line between me and the alfalfa field on 4 wheelers. At some point during the shooting and driving around by those other guys…all 11 bucks headed out taking some does with them…dropping into the bowl and out the low spot. They milled around just a bit once on top and the sight of all those antlers together won’t be soon forgotten.
This is a view of the East Fork of Waterfall Canyon. Waterfall is out of sight to left. (taken by David, 2006)
I don’t remember the afternoon, I think I went to 3 Pockets, and past the Old Camp Saddle, calling coyotes with no success. Bill and Craig returned well after dark reporting the usual plethora of bucks, but nothing big enough to be interesting. Bummer.
Day 3
Went with Craig to the Lookout and other various places including behind 5 Buttes…nothing of note. Bill went again to Box Canyon, again nothing of note. We saw a coyote at 200 yds, I let Craig have the first shot (rifle)…the coyote had been much closer, but by the time Craig shot it was beyond 200. He narrowly missed, I shot shortly thereafter and missed by an unknown margin. 0 for 2.
Day 4
Bill finally relented and moved from Box to the edge of Jaure’s, still on Bird Gulch. I hitched a ride and headed for the cut just down from Box. Found a good spot to sit out of the wind and observed the normal stuff (mostly deer Bill had described seeing the day before). Heard shots that sounded as if they were on Jaure’s and got up to investigate. They came from elsewhere and I meandered on the flats above Bird for an hour or 2 before Bill drove up.
Craig had gone to look over Waterfall, walking in from the south gate and had seen a nice 5 x 4. He said he was tempted, but decided it wasn’t quite good enough. I wanted to have a look, so Craig and I went back that evening. We sat where I had the first day and Craig spotted him just to the right of the draw coming down from Buck Hill. Craig lasered him at 320 (?) and was once again tempted to shoot. I asked that he let me have a try…he agreed. The buck fed up to the top of Buck Ridge and lay down. I figured he would come back that way in the morning and planned to ambush him near the top.
Day 5
The morning was a little nippier than the previous few and we had to scrape ice from the windshield. I went in Craig’s truck to the washout and walked down the bowl (those cows sure sound large and close at night!), along the creek and up a deep draw to the top of Buck Ridge, spooking something around the spot we had first seen the buck previous night…I had negative thoughts. It was just light enough to see and I set up, moved, set up, moved, always higher and never entirely satisfied. Finally I had about run out of hill and sat so a piece of sage would shade me from the soon to be rising sun, near the top of a very small bowl between 2 small cuts and looking across the easterly one to Buck Ridge. I had forgotten the rangefinder…distance to the Buck Ridge was unknown but looked to be 70-150 yds depending where on the hill one looked. I had spent the better part of an hour trying to figure out my stand and the sun was now up…shouldn't be long now. I lay down much of the time (couldn’t see squat, but neither could the deer) and sat up every once in a while to check things out. I heard strange noises (deer pulling off browse? hoofbeats? my heartbeats?)…nothing visible when sat up. Some more time passed…noise for sure this time…ooops the unmistakable sound of stotting starting from near and headed for far. I sat up in time to see 4 bucks crossing the top of the westerly draw. They had come right down on top of me and evidently smelled something awry and took off. Fortunately, my quarry was not among them, but I had very negative thoughts about my chances.
About 3-4 minutes later, I spotted a small fork just across the easterly cut…how in the heck did it get there without me seeing or hearing it? Then a second buck came up from the cut and eventually a third. One of the bucks had seen me and was looking, but not more than mildly alarmed. I thank natural gear and Bill’s loaner face net for that. These bucks were too small and I didn’t bother to glass…but I really ought to make at least that effort. Binocs came up, the bucks noticed that movement…let's see, there is one small one, another small one, wasn’t there one that was a little bigger?...yes there he is…wait, that’s the dude I am after! He was kind of disappointing up close, but I had come for him and I was going to try. I slowly raised the 454 from my lap, the buck quartering towards looking right at me, found and held the sight picture…a small quivering but the overall hold was very steady…squeeze (now would be good), squeeze (come on, now), squeeze (boom). He staggered, nearly went down, then started heading for the cut with an obviously broken shoulder. Did the 250 gr Nosler Partition fail to penetrate as storied by some Internet guy who had tried it on a small black bear? Did it veer off line? Did I hit too much to the right? (amazing what can get through your mind in a split second). Without conscious thought, the Casull’s hammer was thumbed back, sights realigned, held to the front, squeeze, boom…the buck piled up in the sage. Wow…the adrenaline was really pumping. I estimated the distance at around 100 yds (we all know how accurate that is, not) and I was feeling pretty happy with two good shots until I walked up and saw that my second had hit him at the base of the antler, knocking him out cold. (I will note that he was going downhill with his head down…it was a case of over leading more than a case of wrong elevation.) The first had hit where aimed, at the front of the shoulder and had penetrated, taking out at least one lung and making it into the guts…it had been lethal, and penetration had been good.
I got to work, had him quartered an in bags before I remembered to take a picture.
Another view
This is where I hit the antlers
I stuffed the backstraps and one front quarter into my day pack and headed to the rig. Hung the meat on the trailer hitch, completely emptied my frame pack and headed back.
Stuffed the 2 rear and 1 front quarters, hide and head on top and strapped it down. Oh my, I could barely pick it up! Got it on my back, nearly tipping over a few times until I got used to it, and started back to the rig. My muscles screamed that I couldn’t do this…I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to pick it back up on flat ground, so I just kept walking, my body accepted the weight and I made it back to the truck without further ado. My memory tells me it wasn’t that bad, but I do remember being very thankful for the tailgate when I arrived. Drove into camp about 12:30, around 4 hours after my shots, with a slightly guilty feeling about taking one from David’s hoped-for spot. (Ted, don't worry, I don't own the Waterfall Canyon, and besides, I got my own buck and story to tell! - David)
One more picture showing the width, or lack thereof, which had made it look pretty small when looking into the sun with the naked eye.
