Team 4
jspencer
rezhunter
Bradq
BioHazrdMan
fishman
clarkeman1954

Just letting my team know that in 17 days I will be in the woods giving chase. Unit 8 and 8A in north Idaho. If I have a year like last year I will definitley be contributing to the cause.

hello, good to meet you all. best of luck to us. I am going out for 12 days in the midle of september and if I get luckly Ill be able to sneak in a few more days.

Good to meet you all. Heading out to do some scouting this weekend and then going to try some early season luck over labor day weekend in Idaho.

Oh ya! Lets DO THIS! Anyhow, pretty excited, and this will just push me even more to be a part of something like this elk contest, or team. Wish we had a cool team name though By the way, I'll be hunting the Blue Mountains, pretty much my backyard.

Hi! Just checking in.... I gotta cut this short cuz I am heading outa town but I hunt in a couple of months. Going scouting next weekend and am getting the itch BAD to get out there! Well, like I said... I gotta go but will be back Monday!

~Noah~

Got back from scouting today. Looked over some country we haven't hunted and it looked really promising. Didn't see any big ones, but did see quite a few cows and calves along with a 4x4 and a 2x2. The 2x2 still had his velvet on.

Can't wait for the season to get started. Less than 2 weeks

I went fishing this weekend... saw some NICE bucks in valvet and just that gave me the itch BAD to get out there! Next weekend doing some scouting where I'll be elk hunting! 120something miles away so it isn't too bad.

Almost a week to go before opening day, can't wait!!!! We need to come up with a team name, does anyone have any suggestions that they'd like to throw out?

Here's a couple that aren't very good, but I'll them throw out...

Knock'em Dead
Dead Zone
Whack'em
Thwack Pack
Bull Freaks
Elk Nuts

Elk Nuts LOL. I like that one.

Elk Nuts is good... I thing we should go with that one.

So, can a moderator put "Elk Nuts" next to Team 4? Like Team 1 did with Babb, what ever that is.

Ok guys. Well, 3 of us are for Elk Nuts as a team name. I pm'ed Clarkeman1954, fishman, and Bradq and just need 1 more for the majority vote I just saw that we can enter the team name once we decide, but I dont like to decide for everyone and only half of us agree, so just need 1 more vote.

Hey guys i forgot i was in this contest haha. but ill be checking in occasionally but i dont go on my elk hunt til the last week in november so idk how much ill be posting before that. Ill be checking in and hopefully i can get us a big bull

I like the name!!

going scouting this weekend, I will let know whqt I SEE1

Ok! Majority rules Elk Nuts it is! Sorry clarkeman1954 Ok fishman, lets us know what you see out there, or how its goiing. My eye in the sky told me about 5 Bulls and another 3 in a different location same mountain. Should be a great year, I keep stressing that, and its colder here pretty early than usual.

Yeah! I am packing up the 5th wheel, the wifey, and leaving in a while to go scouting for some elk nuts!!! Got a 4 day weekend, 130 mile drive, and LOTS of time to be in the woods. Maybe I'll get some pics if I'm lucky... You all have a GREAT (hopefully) LONG WEEKEND!!!

Thinking about heading out Sunday and look for a pair myself LOL. Alright you Elk Nuts! Its On!! Goodluck!

Got back from our trip. My brother shot a spike about 15 minutes in on opening morning. There were 4 spikes and a 3x3, all still in full velvet. The early season calling works great as they came a running in from down wind. It think the scent wafer we had pinned to the decoy helped with that. Headed back up next weekend for another try. Our spot is just a little over 2 hours away, so it makes it easy to get up there for the weekend. Have 6 days carved out in the middle of the month though.

Had a nice black bear at about 15yds, but there's no season in the unit we hunt in. Had a great time and can't wait to get back.

Well, today was beautiful hunting weather here in the Blues, 59 degrees maybe lower, for sure it was lower than that in the morning. But all day, didnt have to worry about all them bugs, there were few, but not as much when its warm.

Anyhow, I went by myself today, thinking my usual partner in crime was in Troy OR scouting, he made it back last night. Anyhow, we were in the same area, he saw 7 bulls, again (I have yet to see one), he even called a 3pter in, but his son only had rifle and can't shoot branch bulls, so they could just watch it, they said it was actually running at them. IN a different area, a couple 5's ran 5 yards in front of their truck while driving, they saw a big one and others down deep into a canyon, but as I said, all they can do is watch as its only archery on branch bulls.

And guess what! I was in the same areas as my partner--DIDNT see one branch bull, I was an hour behind them as they got there at 6am me 7am, but I didnt see nor hear any bulls. But, I hiked into this canyon, and about 1/2 hour into it, I heard hooves, come towards me, I stood there, got behind a big tree, and saw a heads pop up, cows were coming straight at me, so I'm at full draw and in aw! watching them run about 15 yards right in front of me, cow, calf, cow, calf, about a herd of 15, and last a spike, I was hoping maybe a branch bull was in the bunch behind them, but none, I got them on video, as they went to the other side, I was using a cow call and one was calling back, and after a couple minutes, gone! I was thinking Please come back spike! Man, my heart was pumping, adrenaline going, back up the canyon no problems ;-) I decided to head out again tomorrow being its suppose to be around 65degrees, so I'm there! and partner who's seeing all these bulls will be with me so maybe I'll see my first branch bull for the season. done with my book.

Jspencer--called in a couple bears a few days ago, a lil' guy, 2nd one was decent but not big. Black bears are out in full force with the berries out.

You ain't kidding about that, tons of huckleberries and bear sign everywhere. Even had tracks over ours on the trail from that morning. It was pretty cool to see as he was just charging up the trail and had no clue we were there until one of the guys in our party moved. There are lots of bears in the unit we hunt in, but there's only one controlled hunt. Not sure what the deal is with that, but maybe they'll open it up in a year or two.

Freakin' awesome morning. Me and my partner were sitting on top secret ridge It was about 5:30am, spotted a couple Bulls waaaaaay on the West side of canyon one big guy, we kept bugling and cow calling, couldnt get them to bugle. After a while, partner says they aren't bugling and wanted to check out another spot. Then on the East side of this ridge a bull bugles. Then hear an elk laughing on that West side, and then the bugles were on. Partner couldn't hear them as he was walking back to the truck, he looked back and I point to both East/west sides w/ thumbs up, he came back down, and could hear them too. Next thing you know, as the sun hits that west side canyon, Bulls start popping out from the tree lines one after another, saw 13 bulls altogether. Only thing was, they were on private land, wrong side of the fence, well for us anyways. Boy it was beautiful. Tried a couple other places and nothing. Will be back up next Saturday, and 2 weeks after I have a goat hunt in Elkhorns, might come out with an elk in that one too, who knows. Anyhow, got nothing but still was an awesome weekend.

Scouted this weekend. Saw a wolf at 50 yrds, had a radio on. And saw 50 elk, mabeye 4 bulls and a hand full of spikes. We are hunting a new area to us, and hopefully it all pans out.

Dang a wolf! Cool! WIsh I can see one, I hear their making their way to Eastern Oregon. Been around for a while from what I hear, ODFW didnt want to hear it.

Well, I'll be out tomorrow morning, gonig to try a different spot, dont know if it will be like them 13 bulls on private land, but hopefully we see a few. Suppose to be a lil' warm tomorrow so wont be out too long. Will give an update on my outing.

Good luck man! I got about 35 LONG days to wait to get out there and hunt.

Well, I ended up tagging out on a cow this last weekend. It wasn't what I was really looking for, but she was big and just wouldn't leave and stop tempting me to shoot. I just hope that the pictures that I got will work as I shot the cow and about 30 seconds later a spike came in and one of my hunting partners shot him about 10 minutes later (he missed the first time). All this happened just at last shooting light and the only camera we had had no flash. The spike was hit back quite a ways and so we took care of my cow that night and let the spike sit overnight. If you haven't tried de-bonning an animal on the spot it is really slick and took us less than an hour to get each one all bagged up.

Good job guy! Is this your first elk? I haven't got an elk yet in my two years of elk hunting. I say any elk is a good elk.

Thanks! This is my 3rd in 5 years of archery hunting. 1st year I made just about every rookie mistake that you can make and came out empty. The other year I didn't tag out I had opportunities, I just didn't make the right decision. They've gradually gotten smaller as the first was a 3x5, spike and now a cow. Got plenty of meat in the freezer, so next year I am holding out for something a little bigger.

this would have been my third year if I would have got a tag. The first year I went out I should have got one but I made some rookie mistakes also plus I was hunting most of the time alone. I did call in about fifteen elk (9 bulls 6 cows) could have killed a cow but I was thinking about the bulls to much. Now that I look back on it I should have shot a cow. Hopefully next year I get a tag in montana. Last year I hunted with montanaelkslayer. We had a great time, I called some in for him but we still walked away with no elk. Stuff just goes wrong sometimes.
well good job on your elk, maybe next year will be my year

Had trouble getting on here this past weekend. Anyhow, went to this place for the 3rd time, I saw about 9 bulls partners saw about 7 others, about 16 there were more, waaaaaay down in the canyons on both sides, screaming like crazy. Partners wanted to sit at the top and call--sat for long time, I was thinking why not get closer and cow call, we knew where they were. Seemed so easy LOL. Oh well. This was Saturday.

Today, I went out on my own, went down into the canyon to get closer to this big sounding bull. I twisted my knee on way down, could barely walk, so I had sat at the bottom for about 1/2 hour, made my way across( not straight up) the hillside using my bow as a cane, twisted it again, sliding into this dry creek, sat for a while. Lost my cell phone, made it back up. got some footage of a big 5, a cow and a calf, and the big bull still going off for about 1 1/2 hours. the 5er was barking, sounded pretty cool. Anyhow, no luck once again. Can't wait till rifle season Man my knee is burning right now.

I start my goat hunt next week. Hopefully knee is feeling better.

EXACTLY 1 MONTH TILL I AM OUT THERE HUNTING!!! Scouted the area over Labor day and saw some good country and lots of sign. Had the wifey and the kids (dogs) with so didn't get as much scouting done as I wanted to. Oh well... I got high hopes for this hunt. It is on a WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA and there are only 20 tags for my hunt! The hole area is closed to vehicle/4-wheelers so that means a lot of walking. The area I want to hunt is 3.5 miles in so I'll be starting up there probably a couple of hours before the sun... it's a good thing I am young enough! My thinking is I'll be up there before anybody else AND maybe someone coming later will push something towards me!

Well, its been about 2 weeks since I've been out. Headin' to Elkhorn Mt's this weekend for a goat hunt, and I'll bring my bow with me too just in case ;-). If I fill my goat tag the first day, I'm definetly going to chek out the elk seen the next day.

Sorry I haven't checked in lately but been busy with work and hunting every spare minute. I have been into elk every time out but things have not worked out yet. Just got some bulls to bugle yesterday so hopefully this weekend will be good.

Well, I was successful in my Rocky Mt Goat hunt, now that is some exercise there fella's. Now that is out of the way, I can concentrate on elk! Anyhow, will post an update after this coming weekend. Can't wait till rifle season! no luck with the bow yet. Anyhow here is my goat, the Eastman july/aug cover was originally for my Elk when I got it, but I put it in the photo since I had it in my pack.

[img=http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/3939/1000500ow7.th.jpg][img=http://img519.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif]

Good looking goat you got there. Congrats! What does it taste like???

Taste like goat Tastes good, it has a different little taste. when I killed it it reminded me of elk, the smell. Beautiful coat though, can't wait to get it rugged, I couldn't afford a shoulder mount, did a euro mount, or skull mount.

Anyhow, back to elk. Well I was with in 75 yards of a big 6 today!!!! A BLOODY HUGE 6. And of all times, something awkward has to happen when I'm right up on this monster. So I'm on the opposite side of this lil' hill from this 6 and a small 5, I slid, crawled, slipped, landed on my butt a couple times, left myframe pack behind, and binocs, so I'm about to go on the side to where they are at. And THEN! a freakin' bird (couldn't tell what type of bird in the sunlight), takes off from this tree right behind me, and so happen a big branch falls, must have been a loose branch the bird was on, however it falls, hits all these other limbs--bang, bang, bang, and THUD! The monster 6 and his buddy take off into the tree line and down they go, A FREAKIN BIRD!!! WHYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

So that is the end of my archery season, hangin' the bow up and wait for rifle season to come into play. And thats the begginning of some great F.U.N. And I will bag a few elk fo' sho' and fill a few freezers for me and my familia. A BLOOOOODY BIRD!!!! WHYYYYYY!!!

We still have 12 days of bow left!! Dont give up!

Was wondering if there was some one else from here that would be on the site. Told my partner about primos site, are you him? Naw, its more about gaaaaas money. with 4 kids and raised child support I gotta' budget a lil' But its hard to hold back and have thought about it, and this weekend is going to be nice and chilly, perfect to be in mountains. Just may head out, who knows... Now you got me really thinking hard about it hahaha.

I leave in 6 days for my 5 day elk hunt! The wifey got to talking with a co-worker and the unit that me and my wifey got drawn for is the same unit that the co-worker hunts whenever he gets drawn! Went over to his house and he gave me a map with exact locations where he/his buddies have killed there elk! a total of about 9! He gave me a LOT of info... How lucky am I!?! I am getting stoked! Kinda hard doing all the scouting I want to with the price of gas and the distance I have to drive. This next week of work is going to be the longest of my life. It is going to be the most challenging hunt yet I think. We are packing in 4+ miles without horses for 5 days... hopefully less if we both tag out. Never packed in before...

Well, It'll be pretty hectic till the end of Oct. for me so I'll not be online much. 2 days after my elk hunt I go to CO for a week for a deer hunt. Good luck to you guys, shoot a big one, and keep us posted! I'll post how it went when I get back!

After seeing nothing after the first snow fall in the blues on Sat we saw some elk today. Ran across some good size coug tracks in the snow on Saturday about 6:45am, followed them a lil' ways ran into its scat, felt it and it was soft, must have been there with in the hour otherwise it would have been frozen . Well, partner took down a young 5x4 bull. We could have taken out a couple cows if we have known the pack would have been decent, we let them go, was a monster cow in the bunch. Anyhow, next weekend will be the first for rifle season on bulls, so ITS ON!

Well guys.... SORRY! I had no luck this year with my elk hunt. By far the hardest hunt I have been on yet. We packed in 4+ miles on Friday on foot. Hunted Sat. - Mon. and packed out Monday afternoon. Listening to the weather on my GPS and 6-12in of snow expected on Monday night!!! I don't think we could have made it out with that much snow!?

Didn't see a lot of elk... 6 cows one morning, a spike bull later that morning. Interesting story about the spike bull... walking along and saw him eating about 40yds away. Raised my gun and he saw me and just stood there looking at me for about 1 min. He walked off and I stood there for about 5 min. to see if there were any other bulls... no luck so I cow called and within 30 sec that spike bull was back looking at me! I think the little guy was horny after not getting any during the rut cuz of the big boys!

Monday I was up at 4am to get to a spot I wanted to get to before light. Still didn't get there before light (long walk) but ended up in some thick trees between 2 medows. I KNEW there was a bull in there. Slowly walked in, herd him making noise. Little hard hearing cuz of a stream but sat down and I could hear him but not see him. I moved to try too see around a tree and startled him about 15 yds. away! NICE bull too! Didn't get a chance to count points but he had a drop tine on one side at least. He bolted and was gone in 2 seconds... no shot. I was really dissapointed in myself. Work so hard and end up blowing it.

All in all a great hunt. Not as many elk as I thought there would be. People said the muzzleloader hunt REALLY pushed the elk around and spooked them. But the closest I have ever been to elk. Again, Sorry so points from me. Better luck to the rest of you and GO ELK NUTS!!!

well, successful on first day of rifle season, knocked down a decent 5x5. got pics, Elk Nuts, rezhunter pics, date stamp also and all, but I'm not done yet. Just may help the team with the big one So I'm not going to put this 5x5 in the score books just yet.

Anyhow, saw about 6 bulls, 20+ cows, this 5x5 was the only decent one towards the top as I was by myself so I didnt go for the big ones towards the bottom cause its a looooong ways and still I had a long day despite knocking the bull down around 9am, I wounded him, he walked into the trees, I waited about 1 1/2 hr, went down and up across the canyon to where he went in, still he gets up and takes off and thru the trees he goes, oh man my heart was pumping thinking the worst, then he pops out in the opening looking for me, just sitting there, I sit down aim my cross hairs above him about 5 inches being I was kind far away and he drops right in his tracks, falls down the steep hill lil ways and the work started. Called for back up and partner showed up at 4pm, had him all qtred up before he got therel already had 2 hind qtrs inthe back, and it was all in back of my truck by 6:15, partner shaved off about 2 hrs otherwise I would have been sitting in the dark it was a loooooooong warm day, and now my back, everything is aching, I will not get so anxious next time and bring a bud ;-) N their still bugling.

Go Team ElkNuts!

Well guys, couldn't get the big one. I got another 5x4 bull, good size, bigger than my 5x5 though body wise. Crazy, I butchered up my 5x4 today, was taken out the backstraps and what do you know, a broken off arrow embedded under the fur and skin, towards the front of back strap, it must have been hit from last year or longer cause there was no wound (hole) at all, and it was incased in underskin like a cocoon. It wasn't even in the meat/backstrap like some one shot the elk with it facing towards the person instead of broad side and just got under the skin--either way who ever shot it was a very bad shot and waaaaaaaay off the mark--5x4 was meant for me ;-) That is just weird cuz there was no broad head on it, huh???? Well, My season is over, dont need anymore meat, unless a family member wants an elk No big deal I'll throw this one in the books.

Anyhow, here is my 5x5

Elk Nuts sign
http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bullnuts3gi0.jpg

Bull pic
http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2ndbullsz2.jpg

Hey rezhunter,

Great bull you got there, but to give your team the points I need a pic of a tag. I know you dont need tags, but for this contest we need you to follow the rules of entering an elk without a tag. You can find these rules in the "rules" entry thread, pretty much all you have to do is put your team name, screen name, your real name and sign it and date it. Once you get that all done I will update your team score. Once again nice bull and congrats.

Ok, Mt Elk Slayer, posted it in the entry thread.

good job with the bulls so far guys. Archery season was a bust but we will make it up once for rifle season. see you there.

Well, it was a good year for me. It was great to hear some of your reports/stories and so on. I dont think i'll join this contest next season as i dont think its fair for me to do this as a Native American we have a little edge as subsistance hunters and different rights. But i will be watching and reading future elk contest forums as i like to read about every ones success and stories in general. lookin forward to next season!!

Ah, you should still do it! I am quarter native american, but our great grandmother and her family wouldn't sign the treaty.