# Michigan Elk Guides Working Together - December 2019 Edition



## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

I first need to apologize for the delay in posting this, I’ve been done hunting since Wednesday of last week, but getting caught up with work and family, then getting sick on top of that has put me behind. 

This won’t be in any chronological order, as the five days we hunted were a whirlwind with reports of downed animals flying in from everywhere it seemed. 

I will do this one by animals taken by each guide, as that is the only way I can actually sort them out. 

First up, my brother Dan Connell, started the season off with two cow hunters and a bull hunter. One of his cow hunters was an eight year old girl named Braeleigh whom received a transferred cow elk tag. We had a big herd of cows (about 70 animals total) using one of the private farms we have permission to hunt in Johannesburg on a regular basis. While a few of our guides would be going to work on this herd, they all agreed that this young lady would get the first shot before anyone else would pull the trigger. In my opinion, that shows a lot of class from all of the other cow hunters that were there for their once in a lifetime hunt. 

I can honestly say that I was not 100% on board with him taking an eight year old elk hunter, but Dan handled it like a pro and the little girl dumped a 390 pound dressed cow with one shot at over 200 yards to break the ice for us. Looking back, I have never been more proud of my brother for taking on the challenge and getting it done so seamlessly. 

Braeleigh is now on record as the youngest hunter in Michigan to ever harvest an Elk. She took home quite a haul from the Atlanta Elk Pole winning multiple categories. 


























Later that day, Dan and his bull hunter, Ken, caught up with a known group of bulls close by and Ken was able to take a great 6x6 out of the group. 










The next morning, Dan and his last cow hunter, Kevin, were able to get into position on a herd of cows in farm country again and Kevin made good on his opportunity with a big cow down. I believe this cow was also 390 pounds dressed and estimated to be 13 years old at the DNR check station. 










After tagging his hunters out in a day and a half, Dan spent the next three and a half days helping some of the other guides in our group get their hunters tagged out.


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## Firefighter (Feb 14, 2007)

Huuuuuuuuury!


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

The next guide we had is James Bunker, whom also started the season off with two cow hunters and a bull hunter.

As you may have read in past posts, James (aka Jammer) is a long legged, elk tracking machine, and his hunters were in for a ride (or lots of walking in this case) from the start.

After tracking different groups of animals the first day, they were finally able to catch up to a group of cows in the afternoon. Don made good on the opportunity and punched his Michigan antlerless Elk tag. They were assisted by Jim Ormsbee and Will Iler in a team effort. It was a good thing they had help, as they were a long ways from the road when they knocked this one down and would need plenty of help with the drag out. 










The third day, James moved down to farm country to work on the group of bulls that Dan had harvested his bull out of on day one. After sorting through tracks with Joe Ferguson and Dan Connell, James settled on some to follow and started working his way through them. They eventually caught up with the bulls on a power line where his bull hunter, Rick, put a nice wide, symmetrical 6x6 down.










After loading the bull up and getting it off to the Atlanta check station, James was able to catch up to his other cow hunter, Gabe, whom was working on a group of cows with guides Will Iler, Jake Ormsbee and Jim Ormsbee. Once the whole crew was together, it didn’t take long and Gabe was kneeling behind a big, beautiful Michigan Cow Elk he could call his own.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Thanks for sharing.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Speaking of Jim Ormsbee, his cow hunter for opening day happened to be his 14 year old son, Hunter, whom was the recipient of another transfer cow tag.

Hunter turned it into a family affair with his brother, Dad, his Uncle and Grandpa all tagging along for his elk hunt. Being seasoned veterans across the board in elk country, they made short work of their season with Hunter filling his tag on a 400 pound dressed cow the first day.


















It’s so great to see these youth hunters partake in the elk hunt with their whole families involved! I encourage everyone to apply for their kids and sign them up for the transfer program while they are eligible.

Joe Ferguson started the season off with two cow hunters whom both filled their tags in farm country on the second morning on big cows.

His hunter, Ken definitely put the miles on his boots keeping up with Joe and earned his opportunity on a fantastic cow. 










Dave was patient and made a great shot to end his elk season with a big cow when afforded the chance. 










Joe and Michael Pedigo of Campbell Farms also teamed up on the last day of the hunt to help Don not only see his first cow elk of his 10 day hunt, but harvest a giant cow. Don has COPD and isn’t able to walk much before getting winded. When the DNR called and asked if they would help, both Mike and Joe jumped at the opportunity and did a great job for Don and his sons who were along with him trying to help.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Great stories! Thanks for sharing.


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## bluealaskan (Sep 18, 2011)

Thanks Scott for taking the time to post these fantastic hunts to share with us. I know there are many that look forward to these stories on the elk season. We appreciate it.


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## DBosch (Nov 15, 2017)

srconnell22 said:


> Speaking of Jim Ormsbee, his cow hunter for opening day happened to be his 14 year old son, Hunter, whom was the recipient of another transfer cow tag.
> 
> Hunter turned it into a family affair with his brother, Dad, his Uncle and Grandpa all tagging along for his elk hunt. Being seasoned veterans across the board in elk country, they made short work of their season with Hunter filling his tag on a 400 pound dressed cow the first day.
> 
> ...


Outstanding job as always. Great team work!


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

Thanks, those are great stories.


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

Looks like Ron will get more taxidermy work by the looks of it...

Good job.


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## Gracierator (Feb 6, 2009)

Great work! A lot of memories made!!


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## dntnddb (Jan 15, 2009)

Congratulations to all successful hunters and great job as usual by the guides!


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

As I eluded to in the other thread, we wrote the final chapter of the book of history I have with what has been my main target bull for the past five years on opening day. This is a bull I named Willy’s Bull because one of the members of our group has a single shed off him from 2015 and his complete 2016 set.

August 2015:
Kotimaki from this forum contacted me and told me about a big, old, bull he had on his farm. My bull hunter at the time was Bersh from this forum and we hunted him pretty hard in August. One evening as we were posted up in the Far South East end of the 120 acres, Karl (Kotimaki) called me and said that the bulls were coming out near the Northwest corner.

Bersh, his son, and I bailed out of the blind we were in and took off running to the northwest. We were behind a hill, so they wouldn’t be able to see us coming. As we approached the crest of the last knob, Bersh’s son fell behind and started crying. Bersh immediately stopped and looked at me, and his son on each side of him. I was just barely cresting the knob and saw the rear end of the bull standing in the field with two other bulls. I looked back at Bersh and he made the correct decision, he went back to comfort his crying son and promise him that Dad wasn’t running away from him. Meanwhile, I backed down below the knob so they wouldn’t see my head peaking over. As he was working his way back to me with his son, the bulls had heard the commotion and slipped back into the timber. Little did I know at the time, this would be the last time I personally saw this bull until December 2018.

2016:
An entire year passed and I wasn’t even close to being in the game on him. He wasn’t at the top of my priority list, just kind of a phantom big bull. Didn’t know where he was, or where to even start looking for him. I found pictures of him someone had taken on Facebook (cyber scouting is a real thing) and immediately became somewhat obsessed with him. I went as far as to Facebook stalk the person who took the photos (a high school kid from downstate who was up here for a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation camping trip) and got what info I could, but he wouldn’t tell me where the pics were taken (rightfully so). It was this year during deer season that two people I knew also had trail cam pics of him (his 8x8 rack was unmistakable) 24 hours apart more than 8 miles as the crow flies apart (through the nastiest swamp in the area). I found more trail cam pictures of him through more Facebook cyber scouting in late 2016, after elk season had closed and started to get an idea of where to hunt him the next December, at least. I was a little farther ahead than last year, but due to his wide range of travel, still wasn’t really in the game.


























2017:
I bought a new house in May 2017 Northeast of Gaylord, which put me about a mile from his favorite place to spend his November and December’s. Lots of guides would ask and wonder where he was for the September hunt, everyone seemed to be looking for him but nobody could find him.

November came along and he showed up on one of our properties near the same place the cyber scouted pictures came from the year before, just like clockwork. He was feeding in a field south of the property we had permission to hunt, but traveling through our piece and going up into the hills to the north to bed. 

















He was there every day, on an easy pattern to follow, I was finally “in the game”, and honestly was pretty confident I’d get him killed. That is, until two days before the December elk hunt when we had a big snow storm come in and drop about 20” of snow on us overnight. He missed a day on the cameras the next day, and I assured Brad Martin, who was keeping track of him with me, that he was still there but locked down in the hills feeding close to his bed.

Meanwhile, I had heard through the grapevine that another guide had pictures of him on a property he had permission to hunt close by as well. I didn’t really see him as a threat, but wanted to make sure we would be the only ones hunting him. Through another one of our guides, Joe Ferguson, I offered up a field that I had first option to hunt, to the guide that I heard had pictures of Willy’s bull. Joe only had cow hunters and this field had 20+ bulls in it every day, morning and night, with some really nice bulls in it, but no monsters. I had looked over all of the bulls twice and there were shooter bulls (lots of 6x6’s and one big 5x6) but nothing that jumped out at me as a “must have”. Knowing that the appeal of having exclusive access to a field with 20+ bulls in it for his one bull hunter and his TV show would be too much for him to resist, I asked Joe to offer that option to him. That guide took the bait and went that way with his bull hunter (and ended up killing the 5x6 four or five days later). I was now confident that we would be the only ones hunting Willy’s bull again, so I was still feeling good about our chances.

Brad couldn’t take it and wanted to find him, so he proposed going up into the hills on his snowmobile to look for him. I said no, don’t do it, he’ll be back, he just needs a couple of days to exhaust his food supply close to his bed. Brad agreed and we anxiously awaited trail cam results the next day.

He was a no show the next day, the day before season, again. Brad wanted to go find him on his snowmobile again and I again said no, leave him be. I had checked the 14 miles of road around the block and he had not come out that I had seen. If he were in there the next day, I would eventually find him. 

Two and a half hours later I got a phone call from Brad. He had rode up in there to find him and saw him stand up out of his bed to watch Brad on his snowmobile at only about 100 yards away. He was excited as could be, but my heart sank. I immediately knew it was over, he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of pressure and would disappear. He was too old, had been through the game too many times and always a loner. Another snow storm came in that night and I tried everything I could to find him the next two days, and came up with nothing. It was like he picked up and flew out of there. No sightings, no tracks, nothing. He was gone.

Another one of our guides, Jim Ormsbee, ended up finding his right side that shed season about 8 miles Northeast of where we last had him in December.


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## wyandot (Dec 5, 2013)

A bit off topic, but I'm curious. What is it that keeps the herd from spreading out more to the west? Too many people? Terrain not quite right? Not enough feed?


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

wyandot said:


> A bit off topic, but I'm curious. What is it that keeps the herd from spreading out more to the west? Too many people? Terrain not quite right? Not enough feed?


Great question. I-75 and Old 27 form somewhat of a natural barrier for them that they will cross, but for whatever reason, don’t continue to move west from there very often. A lot of the animals that are on the west side of 75 will bounce back over to the east side rather than continue west across old 27. There is great habitat for them west of 27 but for whatever reason, they would rather be on the east side. We do hunt and kill elk on the west side, but the animals that are there are few and far between. 

We have found that it’s usually a group of young bulls that have been kicked out by older animals, or a lone mature bull that no longer participates in the rut that consistently stay on the west side. 

As a rule, they seem to be moving south in greater numbers than west, which I’m sure is the exact opposite of what the DNR wants.


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## Wolverick (Dec 11, 2008)

I see a lot of elk sign when hunting mushrooms west of Wolverine and know there is a herd in the Chandler Hills area from what my cat hunter friends tell me. I think though I`m no expert, that there is just too much human activity west of the I-75/27 corridor. I would like to see them spread out but the farmers resist due to damages caused by the elk. I don`t blame them because I have seen what they can do.

I don't know what the situation is in Kentucky but since they returned the elk there they have spread like wildfire even into all the neighboring states! I know elk have to be causing problems for the farmers there too, they are large animals after all.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Great story an pictures. Thanks for sharing.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Wolverick said:


> I see a lot of elk sign when hunting mushrooms west of Wolverine and know there is a herd in the Chandler Hills area from what my cat hunter friends tell me.


Even the ones in Chandler Hills typically come from Ford’s property or Storey Lake on the East side of 75 and usually just make a swing through Chandler Hills and head back East. 

We have hunted them a lot out there and that’s typically where they head back to as soon as they are jumped and figure out they aren’t going to lose you easily.


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## Jimbos (Nov 21, 2000)

wyandot said:


> A bit off topic, but I'm curious. What is it that keeps the herd from spreading out more to the west? Too many people? Terrain not quite right? Not enough feed?


I know that you're familiar with the area, there's that heavy lowland about 4 miles north of Vanderbilt and 4 miles south of Wolverine, when I still worked afternoons I would leave to come up afterwards and get in that area at about 330am, multiple times I would see Elk standing there and once had a herd heading west crossing over 75 in a misty rain with me coming real close to whacking that last one.
After that I had asked on this site about there range and someone mentioned about a cluster being located in the Chandler Hills area which is 10-15 miles west of the freeway.

Oops, I just seen the posts about Chandler Hills, sorry to be repetitive.


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## wyandot (Dec 5, 2013)

Wolverick said:


> I see a lot of elk sign when hunting mushrooms west of Wolverine and know there is a herd in the Chandler Hills area from what my cat hunter friends tell me. I think though I`m no expert, that there is just too much human activity west of the I-75/27 corridor. I would like to see them spread out but the farmers resist due to damages caused by the elk. I don`t blame them because I have seen what they can do.
> 
> I don't know what the situation is in Kentucky but since they returned the elk there they have spread like wildfire even into all the neighboring states! I know elk have to be causing problems for the farmers there too, they are large animals after all.


My grandmother grew up on a farm on Shire rd. Good, god fearing people but when the elk moved in they did what they had to do to protect their crops, and "Resist" was exactly what they did.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Jimbos said:


> Is he at Ron's shop? Ron had invited me over to check out his operation one day, maybe he'll give me a glimpse of him.


Maybe? Not 100% certain on that. Sorry!


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## FireDoc66 (Oct 9, 2005)

Congrats Scott! Great story and end result.

After hunting Elk in Colorado for so many years it is so cool and different to hear how they get hunted here in Michigan.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Great story Scott! You should be a outdoor writer.


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

"FireDoc66 said:


> Congrats Scott! Great story and end result.
> 
> After hunting Elk in Colorado for so many years it is so cool and different to hear how they get hunted here in Michigan.


 Elk hunting in Colorado is not like Michigan hunting so it seems.


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## WMU05 (Oct 16, 2004)

That's awesome Scott! Well done and thanks for sharing.


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## bersh (Dec 9, 2003)

I was wondering if that was the bull we hunted. That damn bull gave us the slip a couple times, showing up in places and times that were different than the pattern he had followed prior. Good job and congrats to you and your hunter on finally catching up with him. 

Anyone that gets drawn should be contacting Scotty or one of the crew he works with regularly. They are great guys and know their stuff.


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## big show (Sep 10, 2007)

8-year-old becomes youngest hunter to kill a 400-pound elk in Michigan: 'My dad hasn't set a record before'


https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/youngest-hunter-elk-record


Explore the Fox News apps that are right for you at http://www.foxnews.com/apps-products/index.html.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

big show said:


> 8-year-old becomes youngest hunter to kill a 400-pound elk in Michigan: 'My dad hasn't set a record before'
> 
> 
> https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/youngest-hunter-elk-record
> ...



Yeah, unfortunately her hunt has blown up online and gone viral. They have received hundreds of death threats today alone.

It’s a sad world we live in when a dad can’t celebrate the success of his pride and joy without exposing her to radical death threats. Protect your little ones, guys. There are some crazy, crazy people out there.


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## maddiedog (Nov 21, 2008)

srconnell22 said:


> Yeah, unfortunately her hunt has blown up online and gone viral. They have received hundreds of death threats today alone.
> 
> It’s a sad world we live in when a dad can’t celebrate the success of his pride and joy without exposing her to radical death threats. Protect your little ones, guys. There are some crazy, crazy people out there.


I read about ten comments and wanted to throw up. If we don't stay together the crazies are gonna win. Nice job as always Scott. Like always, next year when I draw I'll call.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

srconnell22 said:


> Yeah, unfortunately her hunt has blown up online and gone viral. They have received hundreds of death threats today alone.
> 
> It’s a sad world we live in when a dad can’t celebrate the success of his pride and joy without exposing her to radical death threats. Protect your little ones, guys. There are some crazy, crazy people out there.


Seriously BS. Let these bastards show up at her door step with feather ticklers. The MS army would unite, like our chances.


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## SMITTY1233 (Dec 8, 2003)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Seriously BS. Let these bastards show up at her door step with feather ticklers. The MS army would unite, like our chances.


How fast and how far this world has changed since I was a kid is astounding. I'm 40 now. I really fear for our hunting privileges sometime in my children's lifetime.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

DEDGOOSE said:


> Seriously BS. Let these bastards show up at her door step with feather ticklers. The MS army would unite, like our chances.


Show up at that families door threatening them and it probably wouldn't turn out well for the perp. The Miller's are a well armed clan and all of them, including the wife and kids (obviously) know how to shoot.


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## RNHunter (Nov 4, 2018)

Please count me in!I will gladly and proudly join your ARMY!


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## Randall Stevens (Mar 19, 2019)

Wow great story and pictures! Those are very impressive animals!


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

The next day (day 2) I ended up hunting my second bull hunter the whole day. I would love to be able to tell you an exciting, action packed story for this hunt, but quite frankly, it was just the opposite. It was the most boring, ridiculous thing I’ve ever done while elk hunting.

Early in the morning (before legal shooting hours) we found a pair of bulls sneaking off into a small hardwood lot (about 4 acres) to bed down for the day. One appeared to be a shooter, the other was a run-of-the-mill 6 point (6x6). We didn’t have permission to hunt on the property they were on (nobody does, it’s a firm no to anyone that asks). We made our way around to the south side of the wood lot to see if they would come out. Now I’ve never considered myself to be very good at playing the waiting game on anything, let alone Elk. Patience is my least used virtue (and usually my biggest downfall). I am, however, stubborn as a mule. This led my poor bull hunter, his son, and I, to sitting on the south side of that wood lot for nearly 9 straight hours waiting for that bull to come out to where he usually fed which was less than 100 yards from his bed.

At one point in the day we had guys walking along the road 150 yards north of them, in plain sight. They would talk loudly, just hanging out, thinking it would get those bulls up and moving. Instead, the bulls layed in that little hardwoods, in complete view of a paved road, and never budged. It was hard for me to abandon my position. I was downwind, watching to the direction this bull normally fed out into for the afternoon. All he had to do was get up and walk 97 yards and cross a fence. We were within 250 yards of a shooter bull the entire day, at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

At about 4:30, I got a phone call that said the bulls were coming out on Kotimaki’s farm not far away and to come check them out. I abandoned my position, and made our way over there.

Once we got there, we looked over the four bulls in the field. There were two dinks, a respectable bull with short tops and a wide, chocolate horned 6x6. After determining the 6 point was the best bull in the field, I asked Erik if he wanted to take him. He excitedly said, Yes (of course he said yes, it was the only excitement he had had in the last 9 hours of pure boredom, poor guy) so we proceeded to get set up for a shot.

I ended up having to stop the front two bulls (the 6x6 and a 5x5) four different times because each time they would stop in the field, from our angle, the 5x5 would be directly behind the one we were shooting at. Erik was cool, calm and collected when finally, on the fourth time I stopped them, the five point walked ahead of the six point, giving us a clear shot. Erik made good on his opportunity with one good, clean shot at about 260 yards and had a great dark horned, wide Michigan 6x6 on the ground.










As a side note, I checked the field we had been watching all day long on our way out of Karl’s, just before dark. No bulls. They were more smarter (or more stubborn) than I was.

Erik punching his tag would leave me with only my cow hunter, Pete, remaining for the third day.

Before daylight we found cow tracks coming back north across a road from animals we had bumped south on day one. Knowing they would likely bed in a heavy select cut woods we had permission to hunt, we elected to let them lay down and get comfortable. Using the wind to our advantage, Pete and I slowly snuck into the woods, keeping our eyes peeled for where they might be bedded. We had barely hit the edge of the woods when I caught one of them laying down while scanning the knobs with my binoculars. We had to cut the distance, so we backed up and made a loop, using the rolling terrain to shield our movements from the herd. The last 100 yards of our stalk, we were out of cover so we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get into position for a shot. Mind you, Pete is still an active police officer in Traverse City and that training would help him on this day as he did a great job of staying right on my tail, despite my 300 yard loop to go 100 yards forward and crawling through the snow.

After making it to where we needed to be, we set up the bipod and Pete settled in on a standing cow that was off by herself on the edge of the group at about 205 yards. Once he was comfortable, he squeezed a shot off. The cow walked about 4 yards and looked our way. The rest of the animals stood up, trying to figure out where the shot had come from and what was going on. After watching her for a few minutes, it was plainly evident we had missed. Once I knew it was a clean miss, I gave Pete the green light to shoot again. Another clean miss ensued and by now the animals were getting nervous but still didn’t know what was going on. After a few more minutes, they started for the power line we were on, so we got up and started walking/jogging south to cut them off.

We came up over a knob just in time to see them come down to the power line and a cow stopped right in the middle of the power line by herself. I set the sticks up again and told Pete to “kill that cow.” The shot was good this time and she went straight down, before gathering herself up enough to thrust herself over the hill onto a skidder trail about 15 yards below before expiring. Pete had his Michigan cow elk. His sons, brother and other family members were there to enjoy it with him, and I was all out of hunters for the December hunt.

Pete didn’t get out of it without a little ribbing for his misses. We told him that if for some reason he were trying to catch us in Traverse City, we could run and not worry about getting shot since he’d likely miss. He assured us that he was too old to chase us and shoot at us. He just calls in the dog that is younger and faster!


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

You're elk hunting looks like great fun. I wish I could get a tag.


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## Wolverick (Dec 11, 2008)

I`m laughing to myself thinking about you being bored waiting on a nice bull. You are the only person I know who could say that and mean it! Run over here and shoot this bull then run over there and shoot that bull. Sounds like your success has spoiled you a little.


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

Some great animals. Congrats to all involved.


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## Playin' Hooky (Aug 29, 2002)

Great stories! 

Was Willy’s bull still in the breeding game? Must have been impressive to see him with a harem.


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## srconnell22 (Aug 27, 2007)

Playin' Hooky said:


> Great stories!
> 
> Was Willy’s bull still in the breeding game? Must have been impressive to see him with a harem.


I honestly don’t know the answer to this. My first impression is no. I just don’t know of anyone that saw him with cows in the fall (or saw him period) after 2016. If I had to guess, he didn’t partake in the rut anymore and stayed alone, which is what made him so hard to find. 

That is just a hypothesis though.


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