Muley1
Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2009
- Messages
- 128
Well, my first and last elk hunt in North Dakota has come and gone. To say the least, it was a blast. I began scouting this spring during turkey season and was lucky enough to run into a group of 12 elk with two bulls in it. Obviously this time of year they weren't sporting any antlers so I was left to assume what type of bull it would be. After making several more trips to the Badlands throughout the summer and searching many different locations, I was only able to lay my eyes on one other elk which was a quick glimpse of a bull two weeks before the season. I was quickly becoming discouraged and knew that if the season was going to go as my summer scouting had gone, I would have my tag for a long time and could be eating it.
Well, I loaded up and headed out Wednesday after work. After receiving a tip from a certain guy on this site that seems to have a lot of success in the Badlands, I figured I would give a new area a try. Low and behold, I spotted my first bull elk that I was able to watch for more than a few seconds Wednesday evening. The bull I'm talking about was the one that Hardscrabble posted on the site last Thursday. I got a good look at him that night and again on Thursday morning. I knew he wasn't the biggest bull in western ND, but after seeing so few during the summer and receiving some feedback from others I felt I should give it a valant effort to try and harvest that bull.
On Friday morning myself, Hardscrabble, and his friend Glen headed out well before sunrise and were in the position that I had seen him the day before. As we were glassing, we heard some branches breaking and shortly thereafter he appeared on top of a small butte. As I watched him stand there, I caught a glimpse of another bull in the trees in the background. Shortly thereafter, that bull, another smaller 6x6, and a 6x5 came walking across the meadow. We continued watching them until they fed in to a timbered drainage at the end of a draw.
We felt they would be there for the day, but I decided to wait them out just in case something crazy happened and they were to get pushed out of there. Well, about 8 hours later, Hardscrabble and I decided to make a move to position ourselves closer to where we thought they were bedded. After a short walk in, we were within 300 yards of their bed. Shortly after I sat down and got in position, I began to glass and immediately noticed one of the three bulls standing up and feeding away from us. The adrenalin began to pump as we ranged him at about 350 yards. He quickly moved into the trees and we figured he could be gone. About 15 minutes later, we heard branches breaking and all three bulls appeared where we had first seen the one bull walk off. All three began raking their antlers and gave us quite a display for about 10 minutes. They then walked off in the direction they had come from and again we figured we had blown our chance. Well, as luck would have it, they came back and this time they were heading around the bottom of the butte through the meadow that led right below where we were sitting. After about a 30 second walk, the bull I had my sites set on was 128 yards below me standing broadside. Meanwhile, the other two bulls were behind him sparring and making quite a racket. I touched off the first round hitting him but he still ran about 10 yards and stopped. I put the crosshairs on him again and put him down. The best part of the shot was that Glen who had waited back at the point 550 yards away happened to catch the bull walking out and put the video camera on him. He was able to get awesome footage of the shot putting him down.
Like I said, the entire hunt was a blast. Although he isn't the BIG bull that I had my hopes set on, it is still a trophy in my mind as the hunt was a trophy in itself. I want to give a special thank you to Hardscrabble and Glen for helping with the hunt and the packing and also to Buschy for the tip. It was definatley fun and I only wish we could draw more than one of these tags in our lifetime.
Well, I loaded up and headed out Wednesday after work. After receiving a tip from a certain guy on this site that seems to have a lot of success in the Badlands, I figured I would give a new area a try. Low and behold, I spotted my first bull elk that I was able to watch for more than a few seconds Wednesday evening. The bull I'm talking about was the one that Hardscrabble posted on the site last Thursday. I got a good look at him that night and again on Thursday morning. I knew he wasn't the biggest bull in western ND, but after seeing so few during the summer and receiving some feedback from others I felt I should give it a valant effort to try and harvest that bull.
On Friday morning myself, Hardscrabble, and his friend Glen headed out well before sunrise and were in the position that I had seen him the day before. As we were glassing, we heard some branches breaking and shortly thereafter he appeared on top of a small butte. As I watched him stand there, I caught a glimpse of another bull in the trees in the background. Shortly thereafter, that bull, another smaller 6x6, and a 6x5 came walking across the meadow. We continued watching them until they fed in to a timbered drainage at the end of a draw.
We felt they would be there for the day, but I decided to wait them out just in case something crazy happened and they were to get pushed out of there. Well, about 8 hours later, Hardscrabble and I decided to make a move to position ourselves closer to where we thought they were bedded. After a short walk in, we were within 300 yards of their bed. Shortly after I sat down and got in position, I began to glass and immediately noticed one of the three bulls standing up and feeding away from us. The adrenalin began to pump as we ranged him at about 350 yards. He quickly moved into the trees and we figured he could be gone. About 15 minutes later, we heard branches breaking and all three bulls appeared where we had first seen the one bull walk off. All three began raking their antlers and gave us quite a display for about 10 minutes. They then walked off in the direction they had come from and again we figured we had blown our chance. Well, as luck would have it, they came back and this time they were heading around the bottom of the butte through the meadow that led right below where we were sitting. After about a 30 second walk, the bull I had my sites set on was 128 yards below me standing broadside. Meanwhile, the other two bulls were behind him sparring and making quite a racket. I touched off the first round hitting him but he still ran about 10 yards and stopped. I put the crosshairs on him again and put him down. The best part of the shot was that Glen who had waited back at the point 550 yards away happened to catch the bull walking out and put the video camera on him. He was able to get awesome footage of the shot putting him down.
Like I said, the entire hunt was a blast. Although he isn't the BIG bull that I had my hopes set on, it is still a trophy in my mind as the hunt was a trophy in itself. I want to give a special thank you to Hardscrabble and Glen for helping with the hunt and the packing and also to Buschy for the tip. It was definatley fun and I only wish we could draw more than one of these tags in our lifetime.
