MT elk hunt a bust

[SRMohawk]

Gentlemen,
My first ever time hunting Roosevelt elk in the Rocky Mountains was a bust. Or was it? I arrived back in Texas from northeast Montana several days ago and I'm still decompressing from the experience! Whoa Nellie!!! I mean do I now truly appreciate so much of the wisdom of those of you who are good enough to instruct the rest of us in the ways of survival! And boy, am I gonna be better off if and when SHTF as a result of having done this thing!

I'm not gonna bore any of you with a protracted monologue on the whole affair. Hunting stories usually give me a headache anyway. It's photos we all want to see and gloat over. And I don't have any. But I will go back! Next year even! 'Cause this experience taught me soooooo much about myself and about human kind in general.

Now I just have to use what I learned to develop a training regimen that will ultimately result in scoring that huge bull when he's hundreds of yards out (it was the closest my guide and I ever got to the two big trophies we saw) and my hands are that cold, my vision is that blurry, my heart is beating that fast, and my legs feel like big lead ingots!

 

[Polishrifleman]

Sounds interesting to say the least. Wait until your friends start laughing at you when you tell them you are getting in shape for Elk season.

During hunting season here in Washington we are between 4 and 6 thousand feet in elevation with up and down hiking at its finest. I eat and drink well but always lose weight when at camp.

Good luck next year.

 

[H&Hhunter]

SRMohawk,

Please don't take this wrong because I am not trying to bust your chops here merely trying to educate folks on the different elk species.

The Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) is a costal species that only lives in the costal regions of the North Western USA, California, Oregon, Washington and Southwestern Canada, BC. They do not occur east of the costal ranges of the above mentioned areas. They are characterized as having larger bodies and generally heavier live weights than any other elk species and generally have a shorter thicker rack.

In Montana, if you were hunting on public ground you would have been hunting the Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsonii.). The Rocky mountain elk is a smaller elk which thrives all over the intermountain western United States and Canada. The Roosevelt would be considered an exotic species in Montana and it would be very strange to find one there even on a private high fenced ranch.

I have often heard people confuse the term “Royal” elk which is any bull with a seventh point on either side with the species Roosevelt elk. Any species of elk can be a royal bull but the Roosevelt or “Rosie” is a whole other critter.

In any case it sounds as though you had a proper introduction to elk hunting. If it doesn't hurt, it just ain't elk hunting.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Couldn't have said it any better H&H. Our Roosevelts here in WA are mostly confined to the Olympic Peninsula and some of the coastal hills.

 

[SRMohawk]

Whoops! There I go again with referring to Rocky Mountain elk as Roosevelt elk. When I lived in Montana as a little boy, dad hunted Rocky Mountain elk in the area south of Livingston (Gallatin National Forest) every year and persistently mis-referred to them as 'Roosevelt' elk. So I guess that nonsense carries over from him. Hell, my guide must have corrected me on this matter a half-dozen times while I was up there the last week of last month.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

H&Hhunter:

With no disrespect intended, I question you on a couple of points:

It is my understanding that the Roosevelt elk have the largest antlers per species and the Rocky Mountain elk have the largest bodies per species.

Also, I have always understood the the following terms described thus:

6 X 6 or 6 X 7 as a Royal

7 X 7 or 7 X 8 as Imperial

8 X 8 or larger as Monarch

Of course, I've been wrong before and may very well be again.

Sam

 

[enkindler]

SHOOT1SAM:

It is the other way around, Roosevelt are bigger bodied then Rockies and Rockies have a bigger spread.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Also, I have always understood the the following terms described thus:

6 X 6 or 6 X 7 as a Royal

7 X 7 or 7 X 8 as Imperial

8 X 8 or larger as Monarch

SHOOT1SAM,

Your quote from above,
----------------------------------------------------------------
My quote from earlier on a Royal elk,

I have often heard people confuse the term “Royal” elk which is any bull with a seventh point on either

As far as the size thing you are misinformed. What enkindler said is correct.

 

[abearir]

Welcome home from your trip. Dont feel too bad, I live in Montana and just got back yesterday from my trip empty handed too.. Got snowed out in North Central MT. so we moved camp to the SE area....not enough snow there to get them moving...........oh well maybe in the next week or so something will happen. :banghead:
Hope you enjoyed your stay here.

 

[SRMohawk]

Abearir,
How gracious of you! And yes, I did enjoy my stay. So much so, in fact, I was bitter that my brother, John, and best friend, Eric (who both love Montana as much as I do) couldn't have joined me for a few days in Mizzoula, where we'd all three have drank away the disappointment of my not having killed. But I can't stew about it too much. The outfitter made no guarantees when I hired him ($4800 after the license and air fare to and from Spokane, WA). I knew going in that for the same amount I could have driven out to the Davis Mountains here in Texas and shot a ranch elk with a 6X6 rack. But then I don't want to pay $5000 to shoot a cow in bull elk's clothing, ya know! I want to track down a free-range monster that maybe hasn't ever even been seen by another hunter in it's 8-12 year life. I'm talkin' about a bull that's maybe gored another bull or two to death fightin' over some cows or maybe even broken the ribs of a couple of 160-lb grey wolves who thought they could make a meal of it! I'm talkin' about the John Wayne of bull elk! Yeah, that's what I wanna on my walls, not some sissified bastard who gets fed corn and oats from the back of a Chevy Silverado every other day and hasn't ever traveled outside the 3000-acre, high-fenced spread he was born on!

Yes sir, despite the odds, I'll gamble the money again for a chance at such a bull . . . maybe even next year (the wife permitting)!

 

[22-rimfire]

No disrespect intended, but tell us about your hunt. You didn't say anything about the hunt except you were in MT and were unsuccessful. What part of Eastern MT? Give us a description of the setting (landscape)? Did you get any shooting? What rifle did you take? How many elk did you see? How many were hunting? What did you learn about yourself? What did you learn about survival? Training? Bore me please.

 

[SRMohawk]

22-Rimfire,
I hunted on the Flathead Indian Reservation just north of Mizzoula, my guide having been the son of one of my father's teammates/trackmates from back in the day at Haskell Indian Junior College in Atchison, Kansas. He attended school there in the late 1950's with other Native Americans from all over the U.S. (including Montana), and has remained in contact with many of them ever since.

As for the hunt itself, it was quite remarkable from a psychic and spiritual standpoint. I tell you, before I even got into the backcountry I felt like a Rottweiler puppy on the first cold day of Fall. It all took me right back to when I lived up there in the 1970s. But my frame of mind clearly upset my guide. He kept telling me that I wasn't gonna kill if I didn't stop musing about how beautiful the surroundings were and start glassing for big bulls. And then he kept telling me, "I told you so!", when we started back out of the backcountry without a trophy. We did see elk, however. On the third day of the hunt and then again on the sixth and last day. I never spotted anything really impressive, but there was this one 5X5 that looked like it had unusually thick antlers, even if they weren't that tall/long. We thought we might advance close enough to take a semi-sure shot. But then the cows he was with started to move into some heavy timber and he went with them, the horny, controlling bastard!

By this time, I was spent and it was snowing (which seemed more magical to me than any of the trip's events). So I essentially just stopped hunting and devoted my psychic energies to enjoying myself.

What did I learn about myself, you ask. I learned that humankind was much better off in a far more primitive state. But then I'm almost half Native American, too. So maybe that part of me simply calls to me louder than any other!

 

[H&Hhunter]

What did I learn about myself, you ask. I learned that humankind was much better off in a far more primitive state. But then I'm almost half Native American, too. So maybe that part of me simply calls to me louder than any other!

Hmmm..

I wonder what my excuse is?

 

[22-rimfire]

Thanks for a little detail on the hunt in Western Montana. New snow is magical as long as you aren't in any danger. Sounds like your guide was doing his job, the business of guiding.

I love hunting stories. If I can't be there myself, I love to hear about the successes and failures of hunting. Hunting puts you in a slightly more primitive state of mind andfor that it is wonderful.

If you want to share more, please feel free to do so. There is always next year!

 

[SRMohawk]

Duhhhhhh! Which way did he go? Which way did he go?

One of the rest of you could have helped me out here instead of waiting for 22-Rimfire to do it! NorthEAST Montana! Please! Of course, it was northWEST Montana. Actually very much western as you say, 22-Rimfire. Hell, there probably hasn't been an elk in Northeastern Montana (Syndney area) in thousands of years. That's antelope, mule deer, and bison country! Speaking of which, I don't know if I wanna go back right away for elk. Some of those endless, desert prairies would be real nice to amble through and sit around in for days on end, glassing for a nice pronghorn and then trying to clip it with a heavy .30 cal. a half-mile out. I would be significantly cheaper than hunting elk, too!

BTW, I took the only light, sporter-type rifle I currently own up there. It's a 6.5x284 Norma. I had previously asked you all what your thoughts were on hunting elk with such a caliber at another thread under the rifle country forum last September. The load I used was definitely adequate, as long as I wasn't going to be trying to deliver a single, killing shot at distances over 400 yards. It incorporated a Hornady 140-gr A-Max projectile and 51.5 grains of VV N160. I had never used these projectiles before last September, but heard they were both very accurate and very effective on even heavier game in the subject caliber. I still don't know about their lethality, but the accuracy part wasn't just rumor! Nonetheless, my guide was pissed that I didn't have a heavier hitter. I mean to go back and prove to him that the 6.5x284 Norma is at least as potent as a .270 Win.