On September 29, 2005, two of my guides had been out scouting for deer for the season
opening the next day. Pat Monroe and Josh Martoglio came in to our lodge very
excited about a large bull elk they had just been seen north of us about two miles.
The three of us went back to where he hade been so I could look at him. Although
only a short amount of time had elapsed, the bull had moved into the timber. We
waited him out. Both guides knowing I had a license for this area wanted me to take
the bull. I still had two elk hunters coming in yet and I said I wouldn’t shoot
an elk until they were filled. Suddenly the elk came out of cover along with several
cows, calves, and younger bulls. It was hard to believe what we were looking
at. His right horn was a beautiful 7 point. On the left were two full size
horns! One good look and they were gone. It shouldn’t be too hard to find
this bull again as all of these elk stay here all year. We filled two elk hunters
along with our deer and antelope hunters. We saw a lot of game and never saw the
three antlered bull again. Should I have shot him when I had the chance?
One year and six days later on
October 5, 2006 my son Tyler had a half day break in between guiding deer and antelope
hunts. Tyler asked to take advantage of the short few hours and hunt an elk for
himself. We only had one elk hunter yet coming in, but not until October 20th.
There seemed to be plenty of elk around, so I told him to go ahead.
Tyler was accompanied by another
one of our guides, Curt Shatzer. They said when the elk were located, that there was
a cow in heat and bulls were everywhere! They had their attention on a large bull
and went after him when out of nowhere came this same three antlered bull that we had seen
over a year ago! Tyler said it didn’t take long to change his efforts to this
bull. Two great things happened. Tyler was able to harvest this wonderful elk
and Curt filmed the entire hunt!
After a closer look, there were
definitely three individual antlers. The bull gross scored almost 370 BC. |
| On October 10, 2005 all of our hunters from our second hunt
had departed by noon. Immediately following, our guests for the third and final hunt in
Wyoming started arriving. Included in this group were three gentlemen from California. Two
of them, Ron Toste and Steve Schaad, were repeat clients of several years. The third
person, Dave Graff, was hunting with us for the first time. I never take over two hunters
at a time to guide, but this time they asked if I would take all three of them as a group.
Ron and Dave had deer tags and Steve had an elk tag. Everyone wanted to be involved with
the elk hunt. We take a very limited number of trophy elk clients each year, so it is very
special to get the opportunity to hunt this unit. It had rained then turned to snow the
third of October then rained again. We received over three inches of moisture out of this
storm in NE Wyoming. Due to the mud, our vehicles were at a stand still except traveling
on the shale county road. I explained to the entire new group of hunters that all hunting
would be done on foot and ATV’s would be used only to retrieve game, no hunt would be
done off of them. We require all rifles to be checked before heading out into the field
and begin hunting that first evening. Due to the mud everyone waited to start out the next
morning so a full day of hunting could be done.
Our first hunting day started out with the wind from the wrong direction. I had chosen
a large roadless area to hunt where we had previously spotted some elk. I knew there would
be some big buck deer also in this area, so I explained to the hunters due to the wind
from the wrong direction, we would have to walk north to the Montana state line, cross two
drainages to the west, and then hunt back to the south. No problem, these guys were fresh
and couldn’t wait to get started. They would feel very differently about seven
o’clock that evening! I knew this was our best chance because of the mud.
We unloaded from my pickup just at light. The march north went well. We glassed several
nice buck deer which one was exceptional. I wanted no shooting until I knew if the elk
were here and where they were located. When we hit the state line, the walking became
easier as we headed west. This timbered country was sandy and we did not have to deal with
the gumbo mud. As we reached the bottom of the second drainage, where I wanted to start
hunting south, two things happened. First, the wind took a 180 and was now out of the
north. Exactly what we didn’t’ need. Secondly, this country is full of old
homesteads and history. We were just passing within about 100 yards of one of these
homesteads and Steve wanted to look around. I said “go ahead I’m going up higher
on this hill and start glassing.” We just got separated when Steve started hollering
at me. This is not setting very well with me! We had just walked several hours to get
here, then the wind changes, and now this guy is making enough noise to empty most of
northern Wyoming of anything with four legs. I ran back to him as fast as I could to tell
him to be quiet, but he was making all kinds of hand signals of which I understood none.
When I got to him he was saying something about elk and pointing at the homestead. In the
back of my mind I’m thinking this guy has gone goofy and may need to be put out of
his misery. After getting Steve settled down he starts to tell me what happened. All of
these old homesteads had cellars. When Steve approached this one to get a better view, the
cellar exploded with activity back at him. During or right after the snow storm we
received several days ago this large 6x7 bull elk had walked out on the cellar roof which
was covered with dirt and fell through. With his large antlers all he could do was stand
up and lay down. His left horn was hooked in a supporting post and a lot of the hair was
gone off his back from part of the roof.
We all agreed that saving this elk was now a priority. We quickly hunted our way out,
passing up several nice deer. Reaching the county road at 4:30 that afternoon, we raced
back to the headquarters. I loaded up an ATV, rope, chainsaw, shovel, chains, and
dehorning saw. Leaving Ron and Dave behind, Steve and I went back to the elk knowing
darkness was close and that this poor bull had little time left...
As I started shoveling dirt off the supporting timbers of the remaining roof, I told
Steve to be very careful as the rest of the roof could cave in and I did not want either
of us to end up on top of that set of antlers or under his hooves. As soon as we started
working, this guy started grinding his teeth and never quit. After removing the dirt from
the timbers over the cellar hallway, I broke off the rotten boards and chain sawed the two
big supporting timbers off to give him an opening out.
There was an old ladder in one corner that he couldn’t get his horns by, so we
ripped it out right in front of his face. This was very difficult to do while still trying
to keep our distance so he couldn’t get us with hose horns of his. We then shoveled
more dirt off both sides so the hallway would be V-shaped to allow for his horns on the
way out. Where this elk was standing, he had to make a 90 degree turn to get in the
hallway to leave. We thought that everything was just right to allow his escape, but he
wouldn’t move. Maybe a little persuasion would help. We got the shovel and an old 4x4
behind him and pried on his hindquarters. I learned something new real quick. Elk can kick
quicker and more repeatedly than any mule, horse or cow. Now all he wants to do is look
over his shoulders at us instead of the escape route. I put a rope on one tine of the left
antler and pulled his head around so he would look at the opening. With the rope on only
one tine, it would come off by itself if the bull headed out. Again with his head pulled
around and facing the right direction, we pried on him again. Same result, all he wanted
to do was fight us and kick. He was also starting to paw the ground now with a front hoof.
This is not a friendly sign! Steve mentioned that maybe we should leave him for a few
minutes and maybe he would go out on his own. We tried this but all the elk did was tried
to figure out where we went.
I thought maybe if I removed more of the roof this would allow him more moving room. I
caved a bunch more off around the elk while staying clear of his horns. While I was doing
this, Steve asked me what to do if the bull got out and instead of leaving, turned on us.
I said “Kill him! If you don’t he will try to kill us. That was a terrible
thought, but those horns would be deadly if he attacked.
After caving more of the roof in it looked like he had plenty of moving room. Once more
we got the shovel and 4x4 and pried on him. He’s definitely got plenty of moving room
now, because he made a lunge at us with his big antlers and almost got turned around in
the cellar. That’s enough, he sees the opening. He is terribly mad and dangerous.
Before one of us gets hurt, we let him stand and get his bearings. When he calms down and
it gets dark, maybe he will leave on his own.
We returned to our hunting lodge about 8 PM that night. The local game warden Alan
Osterland was called and the story told. We talked about tranquilizing the elk the next
day and drag him out of the cellar if he had not left on his own and arrangements were
made. The following morning at daybreak we returned to the homestead. We were very happy
to see that the bull had walked out on his own during the night and he was nowhere to be
seen. Good luck big fellow!
I would like to express a very special thank you to our three California hunters for
giving up precious hunting time for the sake of saving the life of this majestic animal.
...Cole Benton |
