I thought that there should be a category for the youth in fishing and hunting. The youth will be the future in this sport in years to come. It is important as parents that hunt, fish, hike or just enjoy the outdoors to include our children or other kids in our environment! Cobra
It is not about size, but being able to harvesting a buck during the regular season and filling my freezer!
Jeff gets his first deer ever with borrowed 270 in the Willamette Valley of Oregon!
Frankie decide he would help out his cousin Zach’s buddy Jeff get a buck off of a small section of land he had access to in the Willamette Valley close to Oregon City, Oregon. It was the second weekend of the of the general Blacktail rifle hunt for western Oregon.
Picture of Jeff's Buck taken during the Oregon archery season in August 2011
The two young men traipse all over the 100+ acres of land through the blackberry forest, vine maple tangs and thick reprod. Not a deer was spotted during this hunt. As we all know Blacktails aren’t just going to let you walk up them unusually. So both of the boys were a little upset with what daylight was left quickly going to leave them for the walk back to the truck parked on the opposite side of the property.
There is a section where the grapes are trying to make a start on the farm that you can work along and possibly catch a deer along the tree lines. Now there was only one (1) hunter with Frankie working hard to find Jeff a deer, so Jeff and Zach could have some winter meat and plus his first kill!
By now they were walking along the tree line and working their way to the access road out. Frankie, hey he got out his bino’s and scanned the distant tree line along the grass field. “There is a buck just coming out into the grassy area.” There just happen to be a stump and Jeff had the rifle resting on the stump. The distance was about 250 yards, light failing at this point, the buck turns broadside! There was the report from the rifle and Frankie with is glass still on the buck sees it drop in the same tracks it was standing in! “Whoa, outstanding shot Jeff.”
The boys quickly made their way to the buck via the tree line and catching the gravel access road. They were not allowed to shortcut through the grapes. The deer had already taken out a number of them, so having excited hunters running through the grapes was not a good idea. A few pictures with a camera phone were taken. One of these days I will get Frankie to carry a decent camera in the backpack!
When Jeff got back to his house, Zack and his family were home. They gave him a bad time for shooting a small forked horn buck. The question back from Jeff Brodie was “what did you guys get in Heppner?” Zip! Hmm!
Borrowed rifle, Borrowed Ammo, Borrowed Knife, Buddies Truck! Moral of the story, Jeff filled his freeze with nice tasting valley venison!
Frank Jr.’s Oregon Grizzly Unit Not a guaranteed kill!
Horse Heaven Area Antelope 2004
This particular hunt came about with wanting to hunt Antelope sooner than later again with a rifle, plus not waiting until we had 12 or more points for hunting old haunts from the past in S.E. Oregon. My son Frank Jr. and I had 9 points saved up each. This would be his first Antelope hunt as a shooter! Getting very impatience with waiting for more points and looking out 4-6 years longer to hunt for Antelope maybe in the Wagontire, we decided since we had a couple of places to hunt in the Grizzly Unit in Oregon, that we would put in for the Grizzly Unit. Past and present I have sent many hunters into the unit with very good success!
Permission to hunt Earl Smith’s Ranch was given to us by Earl for hunting on the properties that laid in the Grizzly Unit, one piece being the “Old Gomes Ranch” and the other land lay south of the Cold Camp of Hwy 218, which included the Maupin and Hasting Buttes.
We had found a great buck on the “Old Gomes Ranch” prior to the season and he would be our first choice to chase. “Chase” Strange word with Pronghorn, as most of the time we like to ambush Lopes at water or crossings. In the Grizzly Unit you will not find the waterholes that one would find in the S.E. part of Oregon, so spotting and working in on them is the normal in the Grizzly Unit. We did not get to hunt the opener of the hunt coming in on Sunday late. Little did we know that Earl forgot about us (this happened a lot) and he let a guide come onto the land and hunt the place with his client. Having talked with the ranch foreman an old friend from the past, that particular hunt was very interesting to say the less. The client had a number of buddies with him at the time. It is hard to say who harvested the buck after all the shots that were taken with multiple rifles. Scuttlebutt was that the guide finally had to finish the buck off as it was leaving the property boundary, but then again it is only scuttlebutt! It did piss me off a lot on this one!
A little dog hunting with the Glock at Earl's
So the hunt had changed for the both us now. This hunt was about Frankie getting his first Pronghorn in Oregon. We would have to work old deer and elk haunts in the Grizzly Unit that carried a population of Antelope and put Earl’s places on the back burner. We would work the area around Hay Creek as I had found a good buck over in B.L.M. area during another earlier scouting trip for deer. There were the areas around Ashwood and the National Grasslands that we could concentrated on for Lopes also. None of this worked out, even with all the glassing from observation points. Water was scarce in these areas; the Lopes were not working the areas as expected. We would work another area of the Grasslands later in the hunt!
A run into the Horse Heaven and Donnybrook area was warranted. We found a couple of decent bucks that would be shooters for Frankie during the first day of the hunt, but light was fading. The 2nd day of the hunt, Frankie got on a pretty good buck near Horse Heaven. The wind was really blowing hard on the hill and the shot was at about 300 yards. That was one lucky Antelope at that particular moment of the hunt in the Horse Heaven area outside of Donnybrook.
Later a number of good herds of Antelope were located in the Grasslands near Hwy 97, but all the bucks were small. No mature bucks were hanging away from the herds that we spotted. A little dishearten for me as I truly wanted to see a Big Buck. The Grizzly Unit had gone through a major poaching epidemic of Antelope, Deer and Elk some years back along the Hay Creek Ranch, Ashwood & Grizzly Mountain area. The culprits (youth) were caught from what I understand (local rancher gossip) and given just punishment.
We finally took a run down into Clarno which is B.L.M., the Northeast boundary of the Grizzly Unit and were about to drop in on quads to get back into the basin about 3 miles were I knew some good bucks would be. Just as we are unloading a lone hunter comes up to the road off of the well warn trail. He told us he had not seen any Antelope and he had been in their whole day. Hmm! Here we have a long hunter that is working hard and walking in, who knows if he was getting into the area of the Lopes. I did not want to just head off down the trail and over the knobs with him there. He then told us he would be hunting back in there once he got some food, new socks and a little rest. Disturbing his hunt was not in my nature!
A very good hunt for Frankie! Grizzly Unit Lope
Finally Mike T., the ranch foreman for Earl Smith is located out in the hay fields on a tractor, see what glassing gets you. Mike says go ahead and hit it hard in the two ranch sections in the Grizzly Unit, I saw a number of bucks earlier in the morning on those sections. The hunts know starts to get pretty exciting for both of us. This hunt was for Frankie and I wanted to make sure he got his Lope. Since I do most of the glassing in the field and Frankie can spot them with the naked eye on the road, I was able to find a buck up on top of a draw along a fence-line at about 1000 yards. Since I could only see the horns of the Lope, I told Frankie he was about to do some hiking to move in on the buck. It was now very hot in the late afternoon, so this hike was a bit laboring!
We are able to close the distance to about 150 yards with little cover at this time. The buck was not a monster or even a big buck, but Frankie said he still wanted to harvest the buck and get one under his belt (youth and the wait). The buck started to move out, but Frankie now had a rest on a fence post on the side of the hill. He made the shot from his Browning BLR 270 loaded with 130gr. Nolser Ballistic Tips. The shot hit the buck in the chest cavity, a bit high in the lung at an angle, I would see later on. The buck staggers and drops, but then all of a sudden he is up and heading out full tilt through the sagebrush and not stopping until he was a more than about 1/2 mile out in the rocks and sage. I forgot to tell Frankie to shot if they move! Now the chase was on for us without actually chasing the buck. Using cover and moving quickly we were able to get within about 275 yards. To my surprise Frankie stands up without any cover or rest and shots offhand at the buck as he starts to run again. The buck drops and never moves a lick after that. I was quite happy that Frankie got a Lope on this hunt and he made the final shot that counted.
Frankie really liked the 270 BLR, now he has to shoot the 257 Weatherby in the future!
I never did see a buck that I would take on the rest of the hunt. The Grizzly Unit is not an easy hunt, as most areas of the Grizzly Unit are walk in area. Now if one can hunt some of the private lands that hold Lopes, it could be a much easier hunt. Would I hunt the Grizzly Unit again, yes I would. Though I want to go back to another haunt with Lopes that is going to take 12 points or better to draw. There is something about hunting the S.E. part of the state, that only one that has hunted it would realize what draws you to it!
Commander Rod Briece U.S. Navy Retired was a Believer, a Father, a Husband, a Leader, an Educator, and a Friend. Plus hunting and fishing was a passion for him in his off time. In the later years Rod, found his grandson to be his new partner in the field. That will surely be missed forever, but not forgotten for his grandson!
My name is Frank Biggs aka Frank Trumble when I first met Mr. Briece in 1969 at the Naval Security Group Activity in Imperial Beach, California. He was a young Lt. Jg. Line Officer attached to Admin at the Naval Security Group Activity in Imperial Beach, California. I was a young enlisted Petty Officer attached to a different Division in COMSEC. I had heard that we had someone from Portland, Oregon at the site and I just had to meet him. I was able to see Mr. Briece one day and found out that he love to duck hunt. Well I knew all of the places to hunt ducks outside of San Diego, plus along the Mexican border. I quickly invited him to duck hunt on my 80 hours off. The hunt as an outing was great but no ducks, yet the day before I had jumped more than 500 ducks and geese in the marsh land between the Mexican and U.S. border.
I did not have much time left at that base, as I was going overseas. I met Rod & Cheryl one day near Ream Field, Imperial Beach. They had their two twin daughters Janel and Anne with them. For some reason, that I can’t remember, I was able to hold both of the girls, one in each arm. In reference to the above sentence, some years later like about 10 years I took my daughter Rebecca to the reserve center and Rod held her, she was about the same age in reference to the time I head Janel and Anne. Ironic the circle of life and happenings.
It was some time later in 1972 that I was able to reconnect with Rod at the Naval Security Group Activity in Portland, OR. It was a Reserve U.S. Naval Security Communications site at the reserve center doing active military work. Rod later became my Commanding Officer for the unit I was attached to. Great Leader of men and women! I would have to say Commander Briece was hands on Officer. At this point, I always refer him when on duty as Commander Briece!
Over the years I feel that Rod and I became great friends, nice thing about the reserves you can fraternize in civilian life. While Rod was teaching Political Science at Mt Hood Community College, Rod helped me with projects with career at Burns Bros., Inc.
There is a great deal that I can tell you about Rod & my relationship over 40 years! I do have to mention that whenever I called Rod, Cheryl normally answer the phone with a great voice and always say I will get Rod for you and “how are you doing”!
During the summer months when Rod wasn’t having to do an Reserve Active Duty Training and the college was close you could find him working at Norm Thompson Outfitters, where he would be working fly fishing or gun section. In those days Norm Thompson was the place for the best in hunting and fishing. It is during that time frame that Rod met Jack O’ Connor, the legendary hunter who traveled the world was known as that man that shot the Winchester 270 for everything. Rod acquired a Winchester Model 70 in the 338 Win. Mag caliber from Jack. I was fortunate enough to see the rifle on an elk hunt with Rod. That was Rod’s elk hunting rifle!
He guided me on my first Antelope hunt in Oregon, which was hunt of a lifetime and the meeting of new people. Later Rod introduced me to Wild Bill Campbell on a deer hunt outside of Pilot Rock, Oregon. Wild Bill Campbell and I would become great friends over the passing years.
This was a great trip with Rod, my GMC truck working the hills and having 3 game plans. Boone & Crockett Pronghorn
Rod was always working on us Navy boys to come closer to God and he introduced me to Good Shepherd Church and the men’s group for early Morning Prayer on Tuesdays.
Then there was the summer that I was invited to the Good Shepherd Camp out at the Fairgrounds (Hunt Park) in Tgyh Valley, Oregon, bringing along my son and his buddy. The boys camped outside in a tent and I had the luxury of Rod’s Camper. The boys were able to fish and later we all went on an Exotic Sheep hunt with success. That was the talk around the campfire that evening after the hunt!
I would have to put the biggest deal in my life when I was invited to the Sportsman’s Dinner at Good Shepherd. It happen to be the time when Dennis Agajanian came and gave testimonial to all us that were there. I was very enlightened and when Dennis Agajanian asks of those in the audience who was ready to come to the Lord. Stand and be known, touching Rod on the shoulder and doing so was of great feeling and the great feel of the chill when you touch the Lord.
I thank Rod for everything that he gave out to everyone he touched. I am sure that Rod will continue on this new adventurer with Jesus! Rod you will be remembered by all of us in our Hearts my friend! God Bless!
Max's First Elk at 14 years old in the Grizzly Unit of Oregon
As I have said before many people come into our lives. In the outdoor world of hunting and fishing, I feel that we connect with the land and those that are part of the land…
For me there have been many Ranchers that I have come in contact in regards to hunting, especially in the state of Oregon…
In the 80’s. 90’s, 2000’s, much of my time was spent in Central Oregon mostly on the west side of the John Day River in pursuit of deer, elk and free ranging exotics. Through the years one might become infamous or notorious in relationship of the owners of the rimrock, sage and junipers. This past summer my son and I visited one of the ranchers that I have known through others, as well as how he knew me, yet we have never sat down and had a fireside chat… During the 4 or so hours we spent in a tent on his property, setting life straight and becoming friends of the mind, a common bond was made. Life is not easy for Ranchers, especially in the hostile land of the John Day River.
So the following was able to happen because of the gathering of the past summer!
Hi Frank-
“I found your website after sending you a private message on Ifish after you responded to my post about my son needing a place to hunt for cow elk in the North Grizzly Unit. If you have any contacts that would be great the season ends on November 30 and I am running out of options. Any help you could provide for a 14 year old kid would be greatly appreciated!” Jeff
Being able to come up with an area and the Rancher’s phone number, Jeff was able to get permission to hunt on this land.
Hey Frank-“Look at what we found! Ha-Ha….
Great hunting experience for my son we put in a long stalk in on Saturday morning after putting the elk to bed Friday night. We ended up walking the rim rock all the way to the end. We crawled to the edge where my son touched one off from the top clear down to the bottom. He hit her in the back leg with a stiff wind coming from left to right, very tough shot!
The Wind always blows in the area!
They took off running she was hurt yet still ran for an extended period. We caught up to her a couple of times but she ran off before he could settle in to shoot. I finally spotted her bed down in front of a tree at a high vantage point. This time we cut a limb off a tree after he missed twice so he could get a good shot. He connected while she was laying down right in the neck and died immediately… Took us all day to finally get her out with the use of a 4 wheeler but we were both still beat after coming in and out of that Canyon a couple of times! Finished skinning her out then cut her in half and headed for home about 6PM last night.”
Great experience!
Hey Frank-Happy Black Friday!
We ended up on Dave’s property….he really took to the “kid” as he called him…..Ha-Ha.
He let us use his 4 wheeler to haul that thing out which really helped the cause!
He also enjoyed the whiskey, salmon, beer and tuna that I brought to him as Thanks.
Hell of a memory for a 14 yr old kid, made it even more special that we were able to do it together….
Thanks again for the connection, Max is very thankful and wanted me to say Thanks as well….
You have to read the last post to this story from Mike Willis!
A little update since the writing of this post! Recently after all these years I have found that Diane Campbell, Wild “Bill” Campbell’s wife is still living on the ranch in Pilot Rock, Oregon! 06-09-2018. Diane put up with all of us that frequented the ranch! One of the greatest places to ride horses, hike and hunt for pheasant hunt, elk and deer hunt!
This picture was donated by Linda Mathison Bill Campbell is on the left…
I had an email a while back from an old friend; well he is younger than me. He had been on a Texas deer hunt with his kids on a friend’s ranch. Mention about a dear friend that is no longer around and that the tradition of the hunt would change. How true his words were to me that day! Over the past 30+ years or more I have had the privilege of hunting a number of private ranches. Some were rancher friends that I have met via hunting with someone else, met in the road near their place, through work and from knocking on doors.Relationships with ranchers change with the times and the conditions of life.This reading with me is about a rancher that I met during a deer hunt near Pilot Rock, Oregon that I was invited on from a Naval Officer that I first met when I was stationed at the Naval Security Group Activity in Imperial Beach, CA. Rod Briece was from the Portland Metro area and was on his active duty obligation. I took him on an unsuccessful duck hunt along the Tijuana border. The day before there were more than a 1000 ducks and geese held up in tidal flats…? This story about a rancher; he went by the name “Wild Bill Campbell”, a rancher that lived up on East Birch Creek outside of Pilot Rock, Oregon. Bill Campbell was a Cattle Rancher, Horse Trader, Husband, Peacemaker, Hunter and mostly a Friend of mine.
As I said earlier I first met Bill on a deer hunt with Rod. Rod was hunting with his usual deer hunting group. I was the outsider invited to the hunt; I came ready to deer hunt prime private property on eastern Oregon Cattle & Horse ranch.Bill’s ranch was along East Birch Creek and had boundaries south near Pearson Creek and the Umatilla National Forest. There are many notorious places that are still thought of by the hunters or persons that roam the area. Such places that might be alone the 4230 road such as Foggy Knob, Four Corners, Little Pearson Creek, California Gulch, Government 80, Sagebrush Flat, Dark Canyon, Merle Canyon, Tamarack Gulch, Cold Springs Canyon, Hascall Spring, Pole Mill Rd, and Spring Hollow just to name a few spots that are like having a GPS with waypoints when talking.Right from the get goes; I knew that I was going to like Bill a lot. Bill looked like he came from out of the “Old West”; never saw him without a Single Action Revolver and or wearing suspenders.
On this hunt Bill gave me knowledge and taught me to be patient, go with the flow. On one particular day I was riding with Bill, he would stop and talk with every other rancher or ranch hand he knew. In my mind I am going is this ever going to get over with, it’s daylight out and I need to be hunting and not BS’n. There had to be a big buck waiting for me in the timber. Later I find out that with Bill talking with everyone, he is gaining knowledge on game and getting us permission to maybe get onto another rancher’s property…
Since that time I have learn to take time out during the mid-day and slow down. Bill was a man of many stories of past times. Bill had a cabin up near Sagebrush Flats that all of us would jockey on the use of the cabin. On the walls were written passages of days spent on the cattle trail moving cattle from the out of the mountains to the valley floor. I remember one passage written by Bill when he was with his father-in-law, “the snow was more than three feet deep, with drifts over your head, wind blowing hard, 10 degrees out, horses tired and a pack of coyotes following their every movement”. If one had foresight they would have taken pictures of these passages on the wall of the cabin. I understand that the cabin is gone, as an outfitter bought the property some years back from Bill’s widow. Being and old horse trader, or better yet a gun trader, I have always felt it to be a privilege to hunt someone’s property. Not much on paying with “Green Backs”, but with something that every rancher might want to rat hole. Has anyone every known a rancher that might not want a new rifle, possible good pair of bino’s, knives or how about a master case of 30-06 Remington 180 gr. cartridges.
Well Bill was always one that would want something new that he has never had in his gun cabinet. Being able to get some items demo out to me or be able to pick up a new rifle for wholesale, I could not past up the opportunity to do this barter system.We always had a place to stay, leave our horses, go anywhere, do anything, hot meal in the evening and even drive Bill’s truck up into the back country. Bill would be ready to go on a hunt at a moments notice. No one ever had to worry that he would not be ready.
His truck was never without a rifle, six shooter, knives or ammo. On the Ready! The following are a couple of short thoughts and happenings with Bill Campbell.
Remembering when I had a small group of bro’s hunting with me, we were staying at Bill’s and Diane’s House. One of my buddies Steve Pomp was staying thee also. We all bunched in the living room. Yelling all of sudden when Bill’s big black cat jumped up onto Steve’s face. Pitched dark… The object at the time went flying through the room. Steve must have thought he was back in Vietnam…
Oh! Bill was a Reserve County Sheriff and would go out on any call. One look at Bill and I think an outlaw would just put their hands up. One afternoon Bill and I had to go into town to the local market, we had just come out of the canyon above Bill’s main house. We were packing iron on the hip. Getting out of the truck I started to remove my holster and belt. Bill quickly said “Frank no need to do that, we pack here”, so it is probably first and last time that I have walked into a store with handgun on he hip… Looking at us would have most likely seemed like a picture from the past.
Another time Bill had the county veterinarian come out and look at one of his horses that was sick. The county vet., said that he would have to put the horse down, he felt the horse was contagious to the rest of the herd. Bill slowing put his hand on his hip, of course where his 45 Colt was and look straight into the Vets. Eyes and said “I don’t think so Doc”. The Vets eyes went to the size of golf balls and he left most hastily.
There was the time that Bill gave me a pink lariat for my Birthday on an early scouting trip in June. Inside of the package was a set of chaps from the turn of the century and this pink lariat. Bill, his wife Diane and Stick gave a really bad time to me on this gift. It was given to me because I thought I was a macho cowboy from the valley… Anyway I still have the lariat. My lariat was always tied to my saddle, even when I was in the bottom of Hells Canyon.
It reminded me of the great times I spent with “Wild Bill Campbell” at his ranch. One of the most memorable hunts that I had with Bill was a middle of the season deer hunt at this place. Bill had dropped Ben and I off at the head of California Gulch for a two person deer drive. Ben and I split up on the two walls of the canyon and worked our way down into the timber. Ben was a great partner, when working canyons we seem to know were and what the other person was doing without ever seeing them. Anyway I had beat Ben to the bottom of the canyon and was working my way up the center into some down timber and grassy area. All of a sudden I jump a large black bear that was sleeping. The bear jumped up and was on top of a down tree broadside at 50 feet. I had my 257 Weatherby at the time. I quickly shoot into the boiler room of the bear, nothing happen, so I shoot again at the bear into the same spot. The bear is off the tree and running. I shoot twice again at the bear as it is moving left to right into the same spot but on the opposite side of the animal. The big black bear expires in the creek bottom! Now what I said to myself. One has to remember that while shooting the last two rounds I had yelled up the canyon for Ben. Ben came running down and thought that I had a small war going on. To his surprise there was a bear laying dead in the creek and not a big buck. In my mind I wanted to skin this bear and be able to have a life size mount done. We could not budge the bear out of the creek as the creek had steep walls due steepness of walls from spring flooding. We skinned the bear in the creek which took some time to do. No we knew that Bill would want the bear meat, being an old mountain man. Just getting ready to quarter the bear and we hear a truck coming to us down into the canyon. Bill with his Blue and White Ford F250 pickup stopped at the edge of the creek wall. You have to be kidding me, Bill drove to us. Morale of this story, have patience, a rancher can get anywhere to pickup game.
Sometime in 1987 Bill Campbell “Wild Bill” passed away in his favorite sitting chair in the living room. I suppose he had a glass with good aged whiskey in it. He had honor, give you the shirt off his back, lone you a weapon if short and he would open his home to you to stay.“Wild Bill” I hope you are still chasing elk and deer up in the clouds!
I would like to say that I was down at Waldport for the 2nd Season Rifle Elk Season this year to watch Frankie, my son shoot his bull at long range, but I was not.
My son Frankie, Jim N. and his hunting buddies down at the coast hunt for different reasons, one being filling the freezers, two for the pleasure of the hunt with friends. It is not always about hunting for the big racks and at the coast, the hunting for large racks is not even close to the eastern and central part of the state. So when these guys are out hunting, they are hunting hard for game to harvest and put in the freeze. The coast can definitly be more difficult with the terrain and plant growth than the other parts of the state.
Jim N. with his Retrival System for the Coast Elk
This has been a tradition of Frankie and Holly of hunting down at Jim & Cindy’s place down near Waldport off of the bay for about three years. It is a great place for the two of them to go as they have a house to say in while down there during the course of the year and during the elk season.
I do believe that Frankie has grown accustom to hunting with the older locals around the area, they have taken a shine to him and know that he will get in there and work when an elk is down or he needs to do some game driving.
Linda and I gave Frankie and Holly the opening weekend to hunt together as we had Addison for the weekend and brought her down Sunday evening.
The weekend would have proven a winner for Frankie if trespassers had not driven into the private farm they were on. Frankie was letting the cow elk pass in front of him at 40 yards expecting the rest of the herd with two (2) bulls in it to pass along also during his ambush of the elk coming out of the pasture into the timber. This was not going to happen as the non-invited hunters drove their pickup into the long driveway and into the remaining herd. The rest is history and they were left empty handed on what should have been a successful opening morning hunt.
John, Frankie and Jim during retrival and getting a rest.
Talked with Frankie on Tuesday and he was pretty depressed about hunting down at the coast and I told him maybe next year we can use the preference points and draw a great eastside tag for Oregon. Sounds Great Dad!
I get a call on Wednesday early on and Frankie tells me he has a bull down in the same place that Jim had gotten his elk in 2007. Wow! Do you need some help in getting him out, from my past memory of getting Jim’s elk out of the marsh? NO Dad, we will be all done by the time you get here.
Not a bad way to gut and skin your elk.
Later within about 1 ½ they had the bull out of the marsh area. I did not remember that Jim had gotten a retrieval season down with a capstan style unit with 2500 feet of heavy rope. Frankie took the line out the bull which was about 600 yards out direct line of sight. Once he got the rope around the head, he made comment that he could not keep up with the speed of the removal.
View from the shooting spot to the elk.
From Frankie’s account of the kill, he had been in Jim’s front area of his property watching the timber across the way and watching to see if any game was going to move out and across the marsh. One of his buddies was on the edge of the timber area moving or pushing the ghosts of the forest. Frankie said that a really big Blacktail buck came out within 300 yards. Within minutes he spots a lone elk at about 500 yards, takes a close look and could see that it was a bull (spike) and knew what to do. The bull was moving right long and he takes the shot, hitting the elk unknown to him in the lower rear leg. Having remembered from training never stop shooting until the elk goes down he makes another shot and this one is right on target in the boiler room. The elk goes down within 15 yards and into the deep part of the marsh. The 1980 vintage 340 Weatherby with 225 grain Barnes X bullets did the job. The range for the shot was range finder at 583 yards. Great shot!
During the rest of the week, Frankie was the brush or timber as beater (driver) and the group was able to get a couple more bulls and one cow elk. So they went 5 for 7 during the Coast Elk Hunt.
I was informed that he had GPS some hotspots and added the waypoints to my Garmin GPS. Maybe this next year I will check it out for archery on elk and hold onto our preference points. Hmm!
