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We(Gale Maroney and I) had a great trip again. Like most years, the Elk stayed in Colorado. We don't measure the success of the trip by the tags we use, but on the hunting experience we have. On the 3rd or 4th day of the hunt, I was watching over a narrow clear cut slop as the sun came up.(this is where I flashed my pan(flint lock rifle) on a 5X5 bull 2 years ago) at 0655 that morning, having watched a mule deer doe for about 5 minutes, then seeing the legs of an Elk thorough the bushes across the clear cut, I proceeded to get quite excited. About that time I hear some cow talk coming from behind me and down the slop a ways. With seeing Elk, and hearing cow talk, I figured life couldn't get any better than this. I am waiting for several minutes, My elk call is all back at the cabin on wolf lake, well used by the grand Children. But there is plenty of cow talk going on anyway. As i glassed the opposite side of the clear cut for sign of the animal i got the glimpse of, out comes a Bull Elk. Now this is what my tag is for. its standing there about 100 yards away facing me. No shot from this angle. I am pleading with it to come forward, or to turn and give me a better angle. Course he is interested in this cow talk behind me. The anticipation is getting greater by the minute, strike that, Second!. All the sudden he turns, and I have the sights on him, from a prone firing position, and I fire! He didn't just turn sideways, he turned 180, and i don't believe my ignition was perfect(Flint Lock). Well he did another turn and ran down slop. Thinking, this is good. (wounded animals will tend to go down hill) I am stuffing a new charge into the muzzle, and watching where he is going, Over the ridge he goes, As I search for sign of blood, I look to the ridge behind me, and there are 2 hunters working their way up-hill. They are my cow talk. I approached them and asked if they saw the bull i shot at. They had. and they believed it was uninjured. as they had a view from above. (I still spent the next 2 hours retracing the event). They were hunters from St. Paul, and we hadn't met before, and we didn't know of each others presence on this clear cut slope. They had been working there way up and had seen the Bull, and 2 others (a 3 point and spike, along with a cow) This is what started them to cow talk. I was sitting in the tall grass already. I apologize to them for the coincidence of us being in the same place, and told them that it was too bad they didn't get a crack at any of them. The next morning i am back at the same place, well before sun-rise. About 5 minuets before legal shooting here comes one of the hunters. He stops 120 yards in front of me and sits down. I whistle to him and wave my orange cap at him, he waves back to me, but stays put. I am now in a situation. So i walk over and ask the man, How am I suppose to shoot with you sitting in front of me. He said there is lots of places to shoot, and I don’t own the woods. I assured him he was correct, and I didn't own the woods, and told him its not right to take up a stand in front of me. The answer was, Its not right to shoot at an animal his son was calling in. I was speech-less, I had no way of knowing anyone was around yesterday . I moved to another place well away from them, and still feel bad that they would think I was wrong in taking the shot i took. That they pushed me away, means nothing, that was their action. What bothers me is they will know doubt tell the story about the hunter that spoiled their hunt. That bothers me!. Wednesday and Thursday we had some weather. It was what we were hoping for. It takes a change in weather to move the animals some times, As it was hot most of the time. We had lightning and snow both days, but only for a couple of hours each time. We had lightning on top of lightning for about 15 min. There was sometimes more than 35 bolts a min. Never have i been in a storm like that. Most bolts were across the sky, but many came All the way to the ground(we were at 9,600 feet). Thursday Smiley got some bugling action and got a look at a nice Bull. (he had a cow tag) I was watching over a wallow about 300 feet below him. I spotted an Elk coming down a slop about 300 yards west of my position. Checking my watch, I have about 25 min. until sun-down. 1835hrs 6:35pm. There wasn't time for me to wait and see where he was going, I had to go to him. After crawling under several downed trees, I made my way to the rock wall that divided the basin i was hunting.(this is where Anton Shook a shot loose at a spike bull 2 years earlier. The Elk was about 150 yards out, but was unable to see it well. I took out my monocular, and tried to find it, I couldn't see anything in it. it was still there when I put my glasses back on, but still it was not positioned to get a look at the head. Again i tried the Monocular, again it was useless, Then i discovered why. Why I was "shaaakkkkkinggg" like I was hypothermic, I couldn't stop the shakes, I have seen alcoholics shake as the bring a drink to their lips, but I was shaking worse. It just wouldn't stop. Then it trotted into the open, There it was! Antons Spike Bull, I shook just like Anton did 2 years earlier. The bull trotted off into the trees, and i stood there shaking. 5 min., later as I tried to determine why (i was still shacking), i realized what had happened. As i was making the rapid stalk, I overdosed on adrenaline, and i didn't work off all the adrenalin before stopping to check for the Elk. There is no way for the body to burn off adrenalin when you stand still. The old Buck Fever syndrome) . The next few days were again hot, and we saw no more Elk, But it wasn't uneventful. Saturday Morning as I sat over the big wallow, I saw a movement, Here comes a cub bear! He is a small little rascal, and passes by me at about 30 ft, and disappears. I don't see anything or hear anything. Now where is Mamma? The cub was too small to be on his own, he is going into the den with mama this fall. "Where do I go"? I don't know. I sit tight. Smiley is about 150 yards away watching the upper slope. We plan on talking at 11am. 1hr.10min from now. I am big time concerned about where Mama is, My thumb is on the cocking piece, of my Cap lock rifle(I changed guns after the miss). My eyes are everywhere. Its very disturbing thinking about where she might be. Finally 11am. Smiley comes on the radio. Did you have a visitor? Yes i answer, where is he? and did you see Mama? Smiley didn't see Mama, but he did see the cub cross the basin and into the trees on the far side. Where was Mama? we cam only speculate. The nights were just above freezing, and the days were for the most part too hot, Most hunters reported they didn’t see anything, some got animals. They had some hard work to do. As we packed our gear out. 3.4 mile back to the trail head. more than 1,000 feet back down. we reminisced about the hunt. It would have been a lot of work had we got a kill. we had a good time, I will anguish about the other hunters if they want to blame me for the circumstances that placed us at the same place. Greg | Founding Fathers | Larry Mackey | Last Hunt | | Return Home | Youth Sports | DNR Youth Firearms Safety | Register For Class | Concealed Carry Training | 809 Crane | FAQ Page | Erich Klebe | Understanding OPD Valves | |
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