My Cookson refuge elk hunt

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okhunter

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Congrats. I'll bet you had elk steaks this weekend. We had some 9-10 month old frozen elk steak two weeks ago. They were yummy.

My first (@ 2008?) controlled hunt (deer) was at Cookson. We saw more elk than deer. Set up along a tree line and food plot the first morning. We heard twigs breaking about 20 yds to our left. Wishing it was going to be a great BIG 12 pt 175" deer, but it was a 5x5 elk. He looked at us with steam coming out of his nose - I take the safety off on my gun coz I'm in a wheelchair and won't be able to get out of his way if he is pi**ed that I sitting in his living room and next to the kitchen. After what seems to be 10 minutes, probably only 3-4 minutes, he walks on 20 more yards and has his breakfast. Very fun to watch him. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think we saw @ 20 bull and cows vs. ZERO deer.

We talked to a GW about the elk hunting. At that point, @2008, I think harvest limits were @1 per (cow?) year, he said he could, if the hunter wanted, take the hunter to a group of cows and said hunter could usually have their animal on the ground within an hour or so. Cookson was beautiful and I'd like to see it again, but it is hard for me to hunt very wooded area. I do better out west with fewer trees and flat ground.
Cookson is such a beautiful place. The deer herd there is a little thin but it is such a nice place.
 

okhunter

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Congrats!

They had a youth deer hunt going on at the same time??? WTF?! Why would they schedule those together? Just seems like a recipe to have the elk disappear with all those people about.
Not sure why they had the youth hunt at the same time but I think that’s how they have always done it. It had some what of an impact but in the end I got a decent elk that I’m happy with. The odwc employees were above and beyond helpful. It really is a once in a lifetime hunt.
 

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