Editor’s Note: Mike Lee, formerly from Montana but now living in Oregon, has been hunting elk for almost four decades – both on Montana and Oregon public lands. According to Lee, “Because I like to work from the ridgeline of mountains down to the lower elevations, I hunt in trees and dark timber most of the time. So, if I’m calling an elk from down below me, more than likely, I’ll meet him in the timber.”

At this point, I need to explain that I’m primarily a meat hunter. Usually, I don’t pass-up any legal elk I can harvest. My family and I love to eat elk. An elk in the freezer really saves on our grocery bill. The best Oregon bull I’ve ever taken was a Roosevelt elk that scored about 270 points. The Roosevelt elk differ from the Rocky Mountain elk, because they like to stay on the western side of Oregon in the deep canyons that I call rain forests, remain closer to the tree line than the Rocky Mountain elk do and rarely like to be in open places.

On this particular hunt, I had found a herd of elk that I had attempted to catch-up to the previous day. The next morning, I was a little late reaching the hunting spot where I wanted to start hunting. So, I wasn’t able to catch up with the elk that morning. I took a break in the afternoon. In the late afternoon, another hunter had come in upwind of

 the herd and spooked the elk. I hiked back to my truck and got there a little bit before dark. The next morning, I was determined to get out of camp early. But then as luck would have it, I had a flat tire on my truck. I repaired the tire and stopped by a gas station for some fuel. Although I only live about an hour from where I wanted to hunt, I was still late getting to the woods. While driving to where I wanted to leave my truck, I spotted a herd of elk crossing a ridgeline about two ridges over from where I’d planned to hunt. I parked my truck, grabbed my gear and ran across a canyon to cut off this herd of elk. As soon as I got over the top of the second ridge, I saw the elk – about 15 in the herd – moving in the bottom of the canyon. The biggest bull was the last animal in the herd and had two smaller bulls running with him, because the rut was over. I only had an 80-yard shot.

Back then I was shooting a 7mm Magnum. But since that time, I’ve built a custom .338 Edge (http://www.defensiveedge.net/index.php/338-edge). Don’t get me wrong. The 7mm Mag is accurate out to long ranges. However, the .338 allows me to shoot a bigger bullet and deliver more energy down range to put a bull down quicker.

Once my elk was down, I boned him out and only had to pack the meat out about 1-1/2 miles. I’m often asked, “How do you butcher your elk in the field?” My pack will hold 80 – 100 pounds on each trip. So, once the meat is boned out, I usually only have to make two trips to carry the meat out, and I make a third trip to carry the head out.

To learn more about hunting elk successfully, check out John E. Phillips’ book, “Elk: Keys to 23 More Hunters’ Success,” available in Kindle, print and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09B2H9V6Y/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2. And see John E. Phillips’ book, “Secrets for Hunting Elk,” available in Kindle and Audible at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KQA40W/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i5.

You may have to copy and paste these clicks into your browser. When you click on these books, notice on the left where Amazon allows you to read and hear 10% of the books for free. On the right side of the page and below the offer for a free Audible trial, you can click on Buy the Audible with one click.

Tomorrow: How to Skin and Pack Out an Elk