After arriving a little later than I would have liked on a nice piece of private property near a river in north west Alberta , I was looking to fill the freezer for my young family. I have to say that this is not a long range hunting story, but it is unique enough that I felt I should share it.
My 10 year old nephew accompanied me on the hunt. I hadn't before taken an elk since I grew up in a region that had mostly moose and deer.
We arrived on the property a little later than I would have liked, day break happened 20 minutes previous to us arriving. We walked down to the southern tip of the property which over looked the river and coulees below. I had almost taken an elk in that spot last year. We bugled and cow called with no responses. We packed up and decided to go to the northern border of the property 1 mile to the north. We set up in a small pasture which had tall grass in spots, almost over your head. I placed a "miss September " montana decoy up on the highest point in the 20 acre pasture, under the curious gaze of a muley doe.
We walked 40 yards away and sat up against some small aspen trees. I cow called and heard an instant response, it was so close that I was surprised that the cow hadn't seen us. It came from directly across the pasture we were in. I bugled and got a reply. It sounded a couple hundred yards off. I alternated cow calling and bugling and the bull was sounding closer and closer each time he replied. Then through the tall grass from the corner of the pasture I could see the tips of the tines of the bull. He seemed to zero in on the decoy which was beyond us on our left (he was coming from our right.) This gave me a broadside shot a 80 yards. My first shot hit him high in the lungs, and the follow up in the flank as he was moving pretty fast. We could hear him crashing around as he left the pasture into the trees. initially my heart sank because I couldn't see any blood among all the underbrush that was already splotched red from the colors of fall. Shortly after my nephew spotted the elk maybe 130 yards from the first shot.
My family would be eating a nice 4 x4 elk this year. I reloaded my 30-06 and propped it up on a sapling near the head of the elk. I had just seen a fresh pile of black bear scat , and didn't really want to become part of the next pile. I began the dirty work of field dressing the elk. I sent my nephew back to collect the decoy and gear still in plain view of the fallen elk. I was working on the rear of the elk when i thought "you know, I am just going to put the rifle right behind me."
There was a small aspen that had been knocked over at the head of the elk. A minute or so after grabbing my rifle I stood up to see on the other side of the fallen aspen what I thought was the top of a dogs back. I stood up and exclaimed "what the hell is that?" It trotted of away from me 30 paces. I grabbed my gun as I had realized that it was in fact a cougar. I saw through my cross hairs the face of the cougar watching. It saw my then returning 10 year old nephew and crouched. It died a split second later of acute lead poisoning of the brain.
He wasnt a large Tom, maybe a hundred pounds or so, certainly big enough to ruin your day. We prayed that morning for safety from anything that might harm us, I personally feel that prayer was answered.
My 10 year old nephew accompanied me on the hunt. I hadn't before taken an elk since I grew up in a region that had mostly moose and deer.
We arrived on the property a little later than I would have liked, day break happened 20 minutes previous to us arriving. We walked down to the southern tip of the property which over looked the river and coulees below. I had almost taken an elk in that spot last year. We bugled and cow called with no responses. We packed up and decided to go to the northern border of the property 1 mile to the north. We set up in a small pasture which had tall grass in spots, almost over your head. I placed a "miss September " montana decoy up on the highest point in the 20 acre pasture, under the curious gaze of a muley doe.
We walked 40 yards away and sat up against some small aspen trees. I cow called and heard an instant response, it was so close that I was surprised that the cow hadn't seen us. It came from directly across the pasture we were in. I bugled and got a reply. It sounded a couple hundred yards off. I alternated cow calling and bugling and the bull was sounding closer and closer each time he replied. Then through the tall grass from the corner of the pasture I could see the tips of the tines of the bull. He seemed to zero in on the decoy which was beyond us on our left (he was coming from our right.) This gave me a broadside shot a 80 yards. My first shot hit him high in the lungs, and the follow up in the flank as he was moving pretty fast. We could hear him crashing around as he left the pasture into the trees. initially my heart sank because I couldn't see any blood among all the underbrush that was already splotched red from the colors of fall. Shortly after my nephew spotted the elk maybe 130 yards from the first shot.
My family would be eating a nice 4 x4 elk this year. I reloaded my 30-06 and propped it up on a sapling near the head of the elk. I had just seen a fresh pile of black bear scat , and didn't really want to become part of the next pile. I began the dirty work of field dressing the elk. I sent my nephew back to collect the decoy and gear still in plain view of the fallen elk. I was working on the rear of the elk when i thought "you know, I am just going to put the rifle right behind me."
There was a small aspen that had been knocked over at the head of the elk. A minute or so after grabbing my rifle I stood up to see on the other side of the fallen aspen what I thought was the top of a dogs back. I stood up and exclaimed "what the hell is that?" It trotted of away from me 30 paces. I grabbed my gun as I had realized that it was in fact a cougar. I saw through my cross hairs the face of the cougar watching. It saw my then returning 10 year old nephew and crouched. It died a split second later of acute lead poisoning of the brain.
He wasnt a large Tom, maybe a hundred pounds or so, certainly big enough to ruin your day. We prayed that morning for safety from anything that might harm us, I personally feel that prayer was answered.
