Archery elk hunting with claudia 2017

[Delw]

This one was a blast. No elk but the season isnt over yet.we were suppose to leave Wednesday night after she got off work. but my worked just didnt work out that way. finally I said **** it and started working on her towbar mounts. got done at 1am. Just dont do shit at night it doesnt work out. by then I am wiped out. didnt even have the truck loaded.
so slept in got up and left around 11am. drove up there no problem. still able to deer hunt for a while. Claudia spots a few deer off the hi-way and we are off. to no avail.
figured we we unhook her jeep and drive the powerline road to drake. that turned out to be a cluster ****,. turned around and drove freeway to drake. got on the road and started heading up the hill .
But she had to get a picture of her and her jeep and her 1st mud puddle (it was like someone poured out half a bottle of water on the road but hey its MUD.)




Ran into a group of pigs on the williams perkinville hiway up in the pines. one was big had a little baby with it and another small one. headed to our camping spot.










get set up and 1st thing I do is run over claudias brand new tow bar and bust it. now I am worried I can get parts and I wasnt going to let her drive back to the valley.


Txt Jamie to see if that had a chinese embassy or trailer part place in town he said they did. I said cool pick one up for me by sunday and I will drive down and pick it up at his house on the way home. He told me no he was bringing it up. Friday around 11am.(which was extremely cool) so now that that worry was over we pulled out the cots placed them by the fire and went to sleep.

Friday 430 am were up and rdy to go drive the jeep down the road 1 mile to a small 2 track. park right there.
sun comes up nothing quiet as shit. so we start walking down this 2 track. here a few bugles and the chase was on. Bulls f'n everywhere. and about 30-40 cows.
claudia told me to stay put and stocked some bulls ( I think 12 in that bunch) I saw her draw back a few times. well I lost her but still could here the bulls and see shadows and she was right in the middle of them.
I walked probably 3-4 miles by myself and saw at least a dozen bulls. figured claudia was real close. F'n wrong she was 5-6 miles away chased the stupid herd at least 7 miles. shes said over 4 canyons. she got 2 shots and had a ton of draws backs but it was thick and didnt like the shot..
she said there was one spike in the bunch and everything else was bigger than the 300 inch deadhead she found this spring. said she was no father than 50 years from the herd the whole entire time. yup at least 6 miles worth and they never knew she was there.

get back to the truck started resighting in her bow and its off WAY The **** off. got taht all fixed and Jamie shows up with the tounge parts. Which was super cool of him to do. bullshitted for a while and he head back home.

That afternoon we went out again and Nothing just saw 2 cows. heard zero bugles. went to bed freaking beat.

[Delw]

Sat I set alarm for 430am but I did it for weekdays (Smart phones suck) we got up late. no bugles ran into 2 cows and a calf. jumped in jeep and drove to camp. I get out of jeep and a bull was 20 yards from the tent bedded. he jumps up grunts at us a few times and runs off. Claudia wasnt even out of the jeep yet.
so then we decide to head to JD dam and then williams for ice. Bad move. Claudia sees a mud puddle. she is more excited about that than anything. so I had to let her drive in it which turne dout to be 20 times back and forth. (got vid gotta figure out how to post them. you can hear her laughing as she is going through them. funny as shit. even though I warned her thats not a good idea.
so we start heading to jd damn Jeeps starts squeeling like a mothe****er. ( she doesn't know the word slow and hit those puddles pretty hard and fast.) jacked up the tire and it felt weird. I go nervious rock fell out and we drove away quietly again.

so now were heaidng to williams hit a bump and the tranny starts making a shitty noise. I'm like **** it were going to back to camp. get to camp start working on jeep adjusted the linkage sounded much better but still funny.
we head out for the sat evening hunt. we walked about 3 miles and nothing get on a cliff 100-200 feet drop off sat down talking had some water and poptarts. mean while I am bugling for elk every 20 mins or so. just to see if somethign comes out on the flat on the other side.
I hear this awfull racket like someone hitting rocks. I told claudia elk. she says no. then say oh yeah maybe. Grabs bow and stands up. I blow the call again and this elk started barking at us. he was 20 yards off in the thick bush below us.
so we run up the hill and start bugling again. elk comes with us. he's on the other side of a bush anywhere from 20 yards to 30 yards. Claudia draws back three times on him but he didnt present a decent safe shot. a few times her and the elk had a star down contest, like 10 yards away through the bush. she said his eyes "were pretty" che played ring around the bush with him for 45 mins easy maybe longer. he got bored and trotted off. barking all the way. he was pretty vocal he would Bark, squeel bugleing and I swear laugh like a laughing hyena.
we followed him and he came back following use all the way to the jeep 3+ miles away till dark. he hung out right at the edge of the forrest all you could see was a shadow 20 yards away.

went back to camp ate then to bed.

sunday am

get up at 430 head to spot. this is going to be great as elk are everywhere in that area.
didnt hear one bugle saw 2 something we think were deer that jumped out of a bed..
said screw it packed up and headed home.

in the last 3 years(counting this year) we have called in a ton of bulls. usually about 15-20 for the 2 weeks. this year we didnt scout once, didnt go deer hunting in the area like the last 2 years. went in there blind and saw more bulls 20-40 years out the 1st day than we have in the past.

while she was off chasing that friday am herd I had about a dozen bulls all with in bow range with no bow or claudia around to shoot. it was pretty cool.

weekend sucked as far as trying to get out on time with out any worries. its the only time I get out of the shop is to go hunting with the kid. between work and stupid vehicle issues I was pretty stressed out
hopefully I get all my jobs finished this week and can get out for another 3 days with claudia.




She said she had to be "one with the elk"






couldnt figure out how I been getting close ups of claudia making faced on my hone for the last 3-4 months. seems she has been grabbing my phone when I am not looking at taking selfies as a joke.
I got one a couple of months ago and freaked out I was like WTF I didnt take this asked the Warden she said she didnt know. found out its my goofball kid messing with me.

[Delw]

Oh yeah so anyway Claudia was telling me, that when she ditched me to go after that friday am herd , she got to watch elk fight and scrap trees and the ground said it was cooller than shit.
she named one bull godzillia. she missed him once. said she drew back on the spike and saw this guy closer and figured heck with the spike I am going big. she missed. she miss judged the distanced by 10-20 yards cause up close and personal the elk are just huge.
her bow was way off on distances when we resighted in friday afternoon. by a ton. her 40 and 50 yard ping shot maybe 30 yards and 35 yards

[Grizz]

Great Story DEL, Aint elk hunting fun !!!! on a side note, was driving to town last night at dusk, 2 bulls standing along Hwy 260 eating, saw a guy slam on his brakes going opposite way, guy jumps out of truck and starts chasing them, bulls take off, but then a game warden saw this shit, turned around, pulled up behind truck and turned his siren on, Bulls took of quick then, Guy comes back to truck and the warden is asking for his Lic and tag, I left, dont know what happened, but in Payson, there is no hunting allowed within town limits, and these guys were in town. Should have know better, Hell I could shoot a bull everyday at end of my driveway if I could, LOL...

[Catfish Campbell]

Nice job!

[HOLEINTHEWATER]

Great story as usual. Miss my archery elk hunts.

[Basman1313]

Go getem!!! You 2 had more action than Mike and I did. I am heading back to New Mexico this Thursday afternoon for 3 more days of chasing bulls.

PS. Make sure she sights here bow in UP there. My bow at 60 yards is 8" higher at 6000 feet than it is here.

[Delw]

Go getem!!! You 2 had more action than Mike and I did. I am heading back to New Mexico this Thursday afternoon for 3 more days of chasing bulls.

PS. Make sure she sights here bow in UP there. My bow at 60 yards is 8" higher at 6000 feet than it is here.

we had talked about this before and never had a issue. however when she resighted in at camp(after she missed that am) she was way off. more than 8 inches. My bow was dead nuts at 20 30 and 40. last couple of years her bow was dead nuts as well just not this year. but its a different bow also shoots way faster
I ended up revaning them up there with different vanes and we got it all sighted in again the vanes I put on now make the arrows fly alot nicer and quieter too

[Scrat]

Hey... I thought that was Claudia cruzing south on Perkinsville rd on Sunday morning about noonish. We cruzed 108 west off Perkinsville rd around to I40, had lunch in Williams then did the 122 west off perkinsville rd. Saw a bunch of deer about a 1/4 mile past the logging operation there. No bucks that I could see but about 50 does in 4 seperate groups at about 2 and 3pm. Only elk we saw all day was in the back of a dodge pickup...

[Delw]

Hey... I thought that was Claudia cruzing south on Perkinsville rd on Sunday morning about noonish. We cruzed 108 west off Perkinsville rd around to I40, had lunch in Williams then did the 122 west off perkinsville rd. Saw a bunch of deer about a 1/4 mile past the logging operation there. No bucks that I could see but about 50 does in 4 seperate groups at about 2 and 3pm. Only elk we saw all day was in the back of a dodge pickup...

Scrat
what truck were you in? I was in the green hd2500 in front of her. she drove it from camp to the drake turnoff then we hooked it up to the truck and towed it home.
it was around noon.
that road has very little traffic but the climb from the ranch to the pavement sucks its bumpy.