For bow hunters

Al Hansen

Well-known member
We have a family who is getting a pup from Jalapeno. I happened to receive an email asking if they had been born yet. I told her not yet but then finished with this question. Did your husband get his elk on his bow hunt?

She sent me this.
Al




View attachment Robert's elk.jpg
 
Thats one heck of an elk!

I was in college with a guy from Alaska, he had a tip abuot moose hunting & shot placement that seems applicable: He said the best place to shoot a moose is uphill from and as close to the truck as possible. :)
 
We got 2 elk on a Wyoming hunt. We had to rent horses to get them out. The lesson is only shoot the big ones near a road.
 
Over 22 archery seasons I've helped pack out 8-10 elk on my back up to 2 miles in. A couple of mine and the rest, hunting buddies. The best was the last bull that I got in 2015. He expired up hill and only 30 yds from the road.
 
Always something to see the massive size of these creatures. A great job to get a nice bull with a bow, best of luck to all those going this year, I hope to get a tag one day.
 
Pete, she told me that it was less than a couple of hundred yards to a forest road. He was extremely lucky.
Al
 
That is about the same story I was told when I moved up there in 1966. More than one guy had advice for me. Kind of like going on an antelope hunt in Wyoming.
As for me, Carl, I sure as heck didn't listen. I asked my good friend, that I taught with in the Anchorage School Borough and he told me of a favorite spot of his. I had to walk up 1,800 feet to a valley and then down the valley a ways. The hunt was a couple of miles. There were moose just like he said. My first one was a mulligan bull and the 2nd one was a bull that was shy of 60 by an inch. Both times my friend, Carl and his son Bruce helped pack that animal out. There was a small lake up in that valley and Carl's friend landed his super cub up there. We gave him the two hind quarters and he circled and circled but in the end came back to us. We unloaded the meat and carried it out. The pilot said, it was just too much weight and he couldn't get the right lift so he didn't want to chance it.
Al


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Pete, didn't your entire party have the best hunt? If I remember correctly you all got your animal.
Al
 
Joe, I happen to agree with that. In 1973, an outfitter was a mile south of where we hunted. His hired hand was heading out for supplies and offered to take our sheep out for $35.00 a head. I can tell you that the previous year when I shot my ram on a solo hunt, when I got back home I weighed my back pack and it weighed 138 pounds. I carried that 7 miles as the the crow flies. There is no doubt that age makes a huge difference.
Al
 
Al Hansen said:
Joe, I happen to agree with that. In 1973, an outfitter was a mile south of where we hunted. His hired hand was heading out for supplies and offered to take our sheep out for $35.00 a head. I can tell you that the previous year when I shot my ram on a solo hunt, when I got back home I weighed my back pack and it weighed 138 pounds. I carried that 7 miles as the the crow flies. There is no doubt that age makes a huge difference.
Al


Oh, to be young again, with a strong heart, back, and body.

The greater reward in older age, is that You Did It, and that is what counts. Salude!


Seems like now a days, when I go fly fishing, or hunting, it's more minimalist then ever.

Some pondering as I go through what I carry (on my aching back). "Do I really need to take that?"

Not paired down to Nessmuk style, but heading in that direction. [;)]


Best regards
Vince
 
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