Winterover
10-02-2006, 10:44 PM
All right guys, as promised here goes the hunt story.
Starring:
Jeff (cow) "the teenager" hunting with his dad Brent, and grandpa Ernie.
Christina (bull) "the girl" Hunting with her brother Randy and her dad.
Bruce (cow) hunting wtih his 2 buddies the first week, then by himself the 2nd week.
Joe Nash, (bull) the 20 year old hunting with his dad Joe the first week, then bringing his wife (rachel), mom (liz), and daughters Gabby and Katie to camp wiht him the 2nd week.
Myself (bull) hunting with my dad the first week and my wife the 2nd week.
Supporting cast (guides)
Bob and Lillie Whitney as owners of elk view cabins and guide service were the primary field commanders. Along with them were John, Bill, Don, Leon (with the mules), Gordy, and joining us the last weekend Carl Courser (elk guide).
We rolled in Gaylord late the 24th of August just as it started raining. Once again as I had done so many times before I dreamed of elk hunting. We woke up on the 25th only to find out it rained all night long. We arrived at the orientation around 11:00 which means we had 2 hours before it officially started. We introduced ourselves to Bob and Lil Whitney and talked about the camp and the outlook of the hunt. After this I found Carl (elk guide from this site) and introduced myself to him. After talking with Carl for a while we grabbed one more cup of coffee and it was time to start the orientation. The DNR did a great job on presenting the information to us and it seemed like the 2 hours flew by, we received our kill tags and flagging kits and were on our way to the camp which was down 4 1/2 miles of pure mud road.
That evening I went up to the camp fire and introduced myself to Joe Nash. We were joined around the fire by Al, Fred, and Moe who were just up for the weekend. They proved to really liven up the fire. We found out 3 of us were staying in camp; Bruce, Joe, and myself, while Jeff was staying at Canada Creek and Chris was staying at their place in Atlanta.
Opening day dawned drizzly and cloudy. We all meant around the fire pit at 6am with anticipations high going into the hunt. Bob and the guides came out and took their respective hunters to their "specialty" areas. Bruce and myself went with Bill and Lil to the Tomahawk lakes area. We stalked iinto several clear cut areas that are not visible from the road and we checked several that are visible from the road. The only thing we saw the first morning was one set of fresh tracks that were being heavily guarded by a hunter from Canada Creek ranch. We broke for lunch around 11am and meant up with the others from camp. The only one who had seen an elk was Chris who had passed on a 3x4 bull. When we checked at the DNR check station after lunch we found out 3 elk had been taken, 2 cows, and the bull Chris had passed was taken by another hunter. We rested until 3pm then got together to head back out for the afternoon hunt. This hunt ended up much the same way as the morning hunt, uneventful.
Day 2 found Bruce and myself with John Jones whose specialty was the area south of Vienna corners. We started the morning off by seeing a cow inside the no hunt area (yes virginia, there are elk up here). We were told this cow had been in the same place for 3 days now. The landowner called the DNR who sent out 3 trucks and a helicoptor to dispatch her, and take her in for testing. We then saw 2 huge bulls (one may have made top ten in MI) out in a field, but they went over a hill just as I got my scope on them, at which time we saw a rag bull further out in the field. I decided to pass on him. We could not pursue the 2 big bulls becaue they went onto private property that we did not have permission to hunt. We then drove several 2 tracks until we cut about 4 sets of fresh tracks; things were looking up. We tried to put the stalk on these animals only to find out a mile later that they went into a large stand (200+ acres) of jack pine. We sat up in the clear cut on the other side of the pines while John, my dad, and Bruce's buddies tried to drive the pines. The only thing we saw come out of these pines were the drivers. While walking back to the vehicle we cut a bulls track that was about 6" in diameter, (things looked even better:)
We hunted the rest of the morning only to find a lot of trees and empty clear cuts. Again we broke for lunch at Betty and Bucky's in Atlanta; they can really put on the feed bag. After this Bob stopped at the DNR check station. While there the DNR gave him the contact information from a farmer who had a lot of damage occuring from the elk and wanted them off his property. That afternoon Bruce and myself returned to the same area and became the first in camp to get checked by the DNR (this got to be a habit for me) but did not see an elk;Joe, Chris, and Jeff went down to the field and saw plenty of elk but they were not in a position to get a shot. Once again we went back to camp empty handed.
Day 3 found me again with Lil, hunting a lot of farmland in the area. We ended up over by Johannesburg where Lil has some relatives who own property. We checked out about 7 acres of corn they planted for the deer, only to find the field full of elk tracks and the corn bare of anything resembling an ear. After breaking for lunch I found out the evening was going to be my chance to hunt the field along with both cow hunters. We sat up with both of them on the North side of the field (big mistake) and myself on the south side. About 30 minutes before the end of shooting time a cow walked out in the field 80 yards in front of me. We called the cow hunters on the radio, but before one of them could get into position she had gone into the woods. As we headed across the field to meet up with them after shooting time was up, they radioed us and said there were 3 bulls in the grass field behind them. We went over to their position and watched as two 5x5 bulls and a spike destroyed a popple.
Day 4 dawned to find me once again scouring the area farms looking for elk. It was here where I ran into Conservation Officer Steve Birk. After doing his obligatory checks he asked if I had a bull or cow permit. After telling him I had a bull permit he told me he had seen a "halfway decent" bull running with a 5x5 about 3 miles away not more than ten minues before running into us. He took us down to show us the area where they had crossed from private property onto state land then he said "I took a picture of them, want to see it"? He got out his digital camera to show us a pictue of a HUGE 6x6. It had its antlers going way back over its shoulders. He dwarfed the 5x5 he was running with. It looked like a bull you would see in a magazine. It was foggy and wet so I decided to try to put on a stalk for the animals. I was able to follow their trail across a clear cut and into the thick woods. I didn't want to follow them in there and run them out of the area so I backed out quietly so as not to spook them and returned to the truck. When I got there I was told by Lil that officer Birk said if I shot the elk he would make sure I got a copy of the picture he took of it, this told me officer Birk is a real class act. We checked another corn field where there was an active scrape.
After breaking for lunch it was decided to check on the scrape, only to find it had been hit since the morning, then we decided I would check out some state land early in the evening adn then put together a little party for the 2 bulls when they came out of the woods. I sat up beside the opening where they went in, only to watch the birds fly around until the end of shooting time.
Day 5 found us once again in the Tomahawk lake area this time will Lil and Jeff where we would find out our timing was just a little off. As we drove down a road we had been down 10 minutes earlier we cut a set of fresh tracks. We decided it would be worth stalking the animal so Jeff, his dad, and myself headed down the bermed logging trail to stalk an elk. About 200 yards down the animal decided it was going to walk into the edge of a clear cut. We decided to continue up the logging road until we got over a hill, then we would cut across and come up over the hill, and hopefully ambush an elk. When we came up over the hill we did not see anything at first but after glassing the edge of the clearcut for several minutes I spotted something brown move from one clump of brush to another. Wanting to see "the kid" get his elk I told Brent where to set up with Jeff then after they were set up I would do a slow one man drive in the heavier stuff at the edge of the clear cut. Apparetly we had our wires crossed and I found out they were not in the correct position. When we got back to the vehicles we found out another DNR officer had stopped to "check the hunters" (for those of you keeping score this is the third time for me). We went back to check another area only to find elk tracks crossing the road where we had been an hour ago. This one went into some heavy cover which made us to decide it would not be a viable stalk. We finished the morning checking a large clear cut we checked first thing, only to find it full of elk tracks this time. As close as we could tell there had been 15 - 20 elk in the opening since the first time we checked it. There were cow, bull, and calf tracks.
The afternoon found us back at the clear cut formulating a plan for the afternoon. It was decided we would spend the first 2 - 3 hours checking other clear cuts where we had seen sign earlier, then return to the field for the last hour. Sitting in the field as the sun went down on the first week of the hunt, a cow made 2 soft calls in the woods, as if to say, I won this week.
Sitting around the campfire that night you would think the spirits would be running low, but in reality there were many high spirits. It was becoming clear to me that I was making new friends and enjoying this experience with a great group of people. With several handshakes and some "see you in a couple weeks" we all left the next day to head back home and start dreaming of elk hunting again.
As this is getting long I am going to cut it off here and start another reply for part two WITH PICTURES ATTACHED:)
Starring:
Jeff (cow) "the teenager" hunting with his dad Brent, and grandpa Ernie.
Christina (bull) "the girl" Hunting with her brother Randy and her dad.
Bruce (cow) hunting wtih his 2 buddies the first week, then by himself the 2nd week.
Joe Nash, (bull) the 20 year old hunting with his dad Joe the first week, then bringing his wife (rachel), mom (liz), and daughters Gabby and Katie to camp wiht him the 2nd week.
Myself (bull) hunting with my dad the first week and my wife the 2nd week.
Supporting cast (guides)
Bob and Lillie Whitney as owners of elk view cabins and guide service were the primary field commanders. Along with them were John, Bill, Don, Leon (with the mules), Gordy, and joining us the last weekend Carl Courser (elk guide).
We rolled in Gaylord late the 24th of August just as it started raining. Once again as I had done so many times before I dreamed of elk hunting. We woke up on the 25th only to find out it rained all night long. We arrived at the orientation around 11:00 which means we had 2 hours before it officially started. We introduced ourselves to Bob and Lil Whitney and talked about the camp and the outlook of the hunt. After this I found Carl (elk guide from this site) and introduced myself to him. After talking with Carl for a while we grabbed one more cup of coffee and it was time to start the orientation. The DNR did a great job on presenting the information to us and it seemed like the 2 hours flew by, we received our kill tags and flagging kits and were on our way to the camp which was down 4 1/2 miles of pure mud road.
That evening I went up to the camp fire and introduced myself to Joe Nash. We were joined around the fire by Al, Fred, and Moe who were just up for the weekend. They proved to really liven up the fire. We found out 3 of us were staying in camp; Bruce, Joe, and myself, while Jeff was staying at Canada Creek and Chris was staying at their place in Atlanta.
Opening day dawned drizzly and cloudy. We all meant around the fire pit at 6am with anticipations high going into the hunt. Bob and the guides came out and took their respective hunters to their "specialty" areas. Bruce and myself went with Bill and Lil to the Tomahawk lakes area. We stalked iinto several clear cut areas that are not visible from the road and we checked several that are visible from the road. The only thing we saw the first morning was one set of fresh tracks that were being heavily guarded by a hunter from Canada Creek ranch. We broke for lunch around 11am and meant up with the others from camp. The only one who had seen an elk was Chris who had passed on a 3x4 bull. When we checked at the DNR check station after lunch we found out 3 elk had been taken, 2 cows, and the bull Chris had passed was taken by another hunter. We rested until 3pm then got together to head back out for the afternoon hunt. This hunt ended up much the same way as the morning hunt, uneventful.
Day 2 found Bruce and myself with John Jones whose specialty was the area south of Vienna corners. We started the morning off by seeing a cow inside the no hunt area (yes virginia, there are elk up here). We were told this cow had been in the same place for 3 days now. The landowner called the DNR who sent out 3 trucks and a helicoptor to dispatch her, and take her in for testing. We then saw 2 huge bulls (one may have made top ten in MI) out in a field, but they went over a hill just as I got my scope on them, at which time we saw a rag bull further out in the field. I decided to pass on him. We could not pursue the 2 big bulls becaue they went onto private property that we did not have permission to hunt. We then drove several 2 tracks until we cut about 4 sets of fresh tracks; things were looking up. We tried to put the stalk on these animals only to find out a mile later that they went into a large stand (200+ acres) of jack pine. We sat up in the clear cut on the other side of the pines while John, my dad, and Bruce's buddies tried to drive the pines. The only thing we saw come out of these pines were the drivers. While walking back to the vehicle we cut a bulls track that was about 6" in diameter, (things looked even better:)
We hunted the rest of the morning only to find a lot of trees and empty clear cuts. Again we broke for lunch at Betty and Bucky's in Atlanta; they can really put on the feed bag. After this Bob stopped at the DNR check station. While there the DNR gave him the contact information from a farmer who had a lot of damage occuring from the elk and wanted them off his property. That afternoon Bruce and myself returned to the same area and became the first in camp to get checked by the DNR (this got to be a habit for me) but did not see an elk;Joe, Chris, and Jeff went down to the field and saw plenty of elk but they were not in a position to get a shot. Once again we went back to camp empty handed.
Day 3 found me again with Lil, hunting a lot of farmland in the area. We ended up over by Johannesburg where Lil has some relatives who own property. We checked out about 7 acres of corn they planted for the deer, only to find the field full of elk tracks and the corn bare of anything resembling an ear. After breaking for lunch I found out the evening was going to be my chance to hunt the field along with both cow hunters. We sat up with both of them on the North side of the field (big mistake) and myself on the south side. About 30 minutes before the end of shooting time a cow walked out in the field 80 yards in front of me. We called the cow hunters on the radio, but before one of them could get into position she had gone into the woods. As we headed across the field to meet up with them after shooting time was up, they radioed us and said there were 3 bulls in the grass field behind them. We went over to their position and watched as two 5x5 bulls and a spike destroyed a popple.
Day 4 dawned to find me once again scouring the area farms looking for elk. It was here where I ran into Conservation Officer Steve Birk. After doing his obligatory checks he asked if I had a bull or cow permit. After telling him I had a bull permit he told me he had seen a "halfway decent" bull running with a 5x5 about 3 miles away not more than ten minues before running into us. He took us down to show us the area where they had crossed from private property onto state land then he said "I took a picture of them, want to see it"? He got out his digital camera to show us a pictue of a HUGE 6x6. It had its antlers going way back over its shoulders. He dwarfed the 5x5 he was running with. It looked like a bull you would see in a magazine. It was foggy and wet so I decided to try to put on a stalk for the animals. I was able to follow their trail across a clear cut and into the thick woods. I didn't want to follow them in there and run them out of the area so I backed out quietly so as not to spook them and returned to the truck. When I got there I was told by Lil that officer Birk said if I shot the elk he would make sure I got a copy of the picture he took of it, this told me officer Birk is a real class act. We checked another corn field where there was an active scrape.
After breaking for lunch it was decided to check on the scrape, only to find it had been hit since the morning, then we decided I would check out some state land early in the evening adn then put together a little party for the 2 bulls when they came out of the woods. I sat up beside the opening where they went in, only to watch the birds fly around until the end of shooting time.
Day 5 found us once again in the Tomahawk lake area this time will Lil and Jeff where we would find out our timing was just a little off. As we drove down a road we had been down 10 minutes earlier we cut a set of fresh tracks. We decided it would be worth stalking the animal so Jeff, his dad, and myself headed down the bermed logging trail to stalk an elk. About 200 yards down the animal decided it was going to walk into the edge of a clear cut. We decided to continue up the logging road until we got over a hill, then we would cut across and come up over the hill, and hopefully ambush an elk. When we came up over the hill we did not see anything at first but after glassing the edge of the clearcut for several minutes I spotted something brown move from one clump of brush to another. Wanting to see "the kid" get his elk I told Brent where to set up with Jeff then after they were set up I would do a slow one man drive in the heavier stuff at the edge of the clear cut. Apparetly we had our wires crossed and I found out they were not in the correct position. When we got back to the vehicles we found out another DNR officer had stopped to "check the hunters" (for those of you keeping score this is the third time for me). We went back to check another area only to find elk tracks crossing the road where we had been an hour ago. This one went into some heavy cover which made us to decide it would not be a viable stalk. We finished the morning checking a large clear cut we checked first thing, only to find it full of elk tracks this time. As close as we could tell there had been 15 - 20 elk in the opening since the first time we checked it. There were cow, bull, and calf tracks.
The afternoon found us back at the clear cut formulating a plan for the afternoon. It was decided we would spend the first 2 - 3 hours checking other clear cuts where we had seen sign earlier, then return to the field for the last hour. Sitting in the field as the sun went down on the first week of the hunt, a cow made 2 soft calls in the woods, as if to say, I won this week.
Sitting around the campfire that night you would think the spirits would be running low, but in reality there were many high spirits. It was becoming clear to me that I was making new friends and enjoying this experience with a great group of people. With several handshakes and some "see you in a couple weeks" we all left the next day to head back home and start dreaming of elk hunting again.
As this is getting long I am going to cut it off here and start another reply for part two WITH PICTURES ATTACHED:)