The Hedgehog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2000
- Messages
- 11,634
Drove over to you know where, a place with lots of elk, but piles of roadhornhunters. And believe it or not, there was big ass bull (350 range) with both horns on, standing 1/4 mile off the road at the edge of some trees. He went into the trees and a few minutes later a bull appeared on the other end of the trees... no antlers on. I stayed till dark thinking I would have an easy set of antlers the following day. Plan A was to hike into a good place, as I figured I could return and snag this bull's antlers in the afternoon. Stayed out too late that night and drank a bunch of beer/whiskey. Woke up and decided I wasn't in any shape to hike up a mountain, so I slept more. At daylight, I was where I spotted the bull the night before.
I hiked over above the trees and spotted an elk... it was him!! He was a big narrow 6X7 with the 7th on his left side pointing inward. He had his left antler still attached but had dropped his right side during the night. The bull without antlers I'd seen the night before was obviously a different elk. Blood was running from this one's head. I watched him close up for about an hour. He ended up catching my wind and moving down the ridge. I figured I'd easily find his dropped horn nearby. Over two hours later I gave up. I followed his tracks in the dirt for more than 1/2 mile and didn't come across his left. I figured for sure one this side would drip that big thing off real quick. So after 5 hours of looking, no bone. Hung over and tired, I decided to head back into town.
On the way down the road, a Subaru outback passed me going the opposite direction. In my rearview mirror, I noticed them hit the brakes, put it in reverse, backed up about 20 yards and stopped. The passenger (guy sitting on my side as I drove by) jumped out, ran into the ditch, and snagged a nice 6 point horn out of the sage brush.
At this point, I decided it was time to quit shed hunting for 2006.
I hiked over above the trees and spotted an elk... it was him!! He was a big narrow 6X7 with the 7th on his left side pointing inward. He had his left antler still attached but had dropped his right side during the night. The bull without antlers I'd seen the night before was obviously a different elk. Blood was running from this one's head. I watched him close up for about an hour. He ended up catching my wind and moving down the ridge. I figured I'd easily find his dropped horn nearby. Over two hours later I gave up. I followed his tracks in the dirt for more than 1/2 mile and didn't come across his left. I figured for sure one this side would drip that big thing off real quick. So after 5 hours of looking, no bone. Hung over and tired, I decided to head back into town.
On the way down the road, a Subaru outback passed me going the opposite direction. In my rearview mirror, I noticed them hit the brakes, put it in reverse, backed up about 20 yards and stopped. The passenger (guy sitting on my side as I drove by) jumped out, ran into the ditch, and snagged a nice 6 point horn out of the sage brush.
At this point, I decided it was time to quit shed hunting for 2006.
