These guys were fishing at Fort Peck Reservoir in Northeastern Montana and caught a bull elk on the bottom of the lake that had drowned.

Can any of you Montana folks confirm the truth of this?

i recd this email a month or two ago. it said it was on the columbia river in eastern washington. the guys were salmon fishing. with the heavy gear im inclined to think its from washington. also the country looks more like eastern wash than the ft. peck country ive been in.

I too recieved this e-mail a month ago and started researching it to no definite conclusion. The Boone and Crockett website says that the rumor has it that it is either Fort Peck or central Washington. Looks like it could be either place to me as I've been around both parts of the country, the fishing gear is no giveaway either as they could be trolling for Walleyes in either location or trout for that matter. Their gear is not sturdy enough for Salmon, Steelhead or Sturgeon if it is Washington.

What a hoot! They certainly had to use heavy tackle I'm sure.

Sort of reminds me of the time a dang whale died and washed up on the beach in front of our South Carolina beach house...all us rednecks hauled butt out there and had our picture made with one foot on the whale's tail, holding a fishing rod.

Hope Santa is good to everyone.

quote:

all us rednecks hauled butt out there and had our picture made with one foot on the whale's tail, holding a fishing rod.

NICE! I wanted to board one we found floating dead off Martha's Vineyard while chasing tuna, with a gaff in hand, but was voted down. Some people are downright humorless. More years back, a sperm whale came ashore on a North Shore beach, and some enterprising individual went out under the cover of darkness with his trusty chainsaw. They found both jaws buried in his backyard soon after. Can you say "fifty thousand dollar fine?" LOL!

KG

Neat pic.

That's a Monster Bull for sure regardless of where it was "Caught."

I wish I had that kind of luck on big bucks where I bass fish

Have a Good One

Reloader

Reloader
I did! We found two buck locked together floating in the Big Alamo tank of the Camaron down in LaSalle county. Aparently they fought to the death at the waters edge or one dragged the other in trying to get away from coyotes. My buddies dad has them mounted in his office. Both were big 10 pointers that scored out about 150 points each. It was a really cool find!

Perry

Not big enough to be a MT elk.

I believe that photo is from the Columbia River just north of the Hanford nuclear reservation.

It looks very familiar......

IV

It would be my guess that this photo is not a real fishing accident but a manufactured pic by a guy that had a nice bull and got some folks in a boat to pose with it.

I agree IdahoVandal. The land area looks identical to just west of the Vantage bridge on the north side of the Columbia River.

Don't most dead ungulates float?

-phil

quote:

Originally posted by akperrydog:
Don't most dead ungulates float?

-phil

I have been wondering if maybe this picture is merely a situation where these gentleman came across a bull that was swimming across the river, and took a unique opportunity to garner an interesting photo. The animal in the photo does not look bloated and sort of looks as though it is alive but very exhausted??

Who knows......

IV

Interesting observation. Huuumm?

Why did it drown - horns too big and heavy to float?

I have never had to deal with a dead elk in the water, but I know from experience that moose, caribou and deer float when fresh dead....I can't imagine that they would get less bouyant as the gasses in their stomachs build up...they already have a lot of bouyancy with the hollow hairs.

If some reported that they had "caught" an elk on fishing tackle I would want to know several things...

-tackle they caught it with....what depth(I think you would need to be dragging surface plugs to catch one)

-quick and dirty necropsy would tell you how it died...at least if it drowned or got shot

Just me, but I sure would be suspicous of I was a game warden in those parts...

-phil

The bubba holding the antlers doesn't appear to be hefting much weight and the carcas is floating pretty high as it is.

It does look like Fort Peck
i've got 2 more pictures of the event

I've gotta agree with the Hanford Reach group. Looks like White Bluffs country to me. IMO, these guys are salmon fishing in late September or very early October, the tackle hanging there is a jet diver and very popular. Also, IMO, the elk is very dead. In late September and the rut, this bull would not hang around for pictures. I had a gal working for me once that caught a cow elk in the Columbia up near Wenatchee. She thought she'd be smart and fill her freezer. As she told the story, the cow fought every inch of the way after she lassoed it. Well, it fought until it drowned which was right before the game warden pulled up and said, "What's going on?" That was her only time in jail.

Something could've been fishy there. My hunting partner lives in Pasco, WA. I will email him the pic, see if he recognizes anybody.

Brad

Vapodog: I was born and raised in Washington State and spent a fair amount of time on the Columbia during the 49 years I lived there! I have also Hunted the Ft. Peck area extensively and have done so since 1970. I just spent 16 days in the Ft. Peck region Hunting Deer and Elk this season alone.
I am quite certain the picture IS NOT from Montana.
Anyway, I am pretty sure it is from the Columbia River. There is quite a significant herd of Elk in the Hanford area close to the Columbia River.
I will try to link a picture from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation showing Elk in a pool of water there.
I just checked my saved files and the picture I had there of about 25 Bull Elk cooling off in a pothole is gone! The VarmintWife must have nixed that one!
Dang anyone have a copy of that one with the Bulls all in velvet and frolicking up a storm.
Also this the fishing gear the fellas are using is more like the gear used on the Columbia and is typical Steelhead and Salmon river fishing gear.
The white sand beach in the background precludes this picture from being taken on Ft. Peck! The hill in the back ground is also not like anything I have seen on Ft. Peck. The erosin pattern and hillsides on Ft. Peck are extremely different than in this photo.
I vote Columbia River.
By the way I think that Elk has 7 points per side!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

here are 2 more pictures, maybe they will be helpful

Skidly: With the addition of the other two photos I am now quite certain the pictures were taken on the Columbia up Hanford Way. Clues being the green vegetation close to the shoreline and more looks at the fishing gear. Plus the water on the Ft. Peck is never that clear.
I have been about everywhere on the Ft. Peck and no where do I recall seeing such LOW hills on both sides of the river (Missouri River) as can be seen in your additional pictures.
I could be wrong but I will bet you $5.00 that those boys bought that Almar Boat (they are made in Tacoma, Washington - if I remember correctly) out in Washington State and live in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State. The Almar line of boats is fairly popular on the west coast for ocean and river fishing ( for river back trolling - and thats the type of fishing they are set up for). I have not seen an Almar boat in Montana as yet - but I have only been living here full time for 9 years now. I have never seen a boat set up like this on Ft. Peck but I usually only frequent there in the spring and in October/November.
Yeah thats a dandy 7x7 and I can only wonder why its dead and in the water?
I do not believe archery Hunting for Elk is open to the public on the Hanford area in September. I hear there are like 20 permits drawn for this area but its in Rifle season and this Elk met its demise before Washingtons Rifle season began - judging by the velvet on the antlers.
Thanks again for the additional pictures!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
P.S. Let me know on the $5.00 friendly wager.

Somewhere between Ringgold & Vernita

the more i look the more i must agree, the hills are higher in the Breaks, show more washouts and a few more trees. Gotta say i have never seen the water that clear on ft Peck either.

quote:

Originally posted by Kamo Gari:

quote:

all us rednecks hauled butt out there and had our picture made with one foot on the whale's tail, holding a fishing rod.

NICE! I wanted to board one we found floating dead off Martha's Vineyard while chasing tuna, with a gaff in hand, but was voted down. Some people are downright humorless. More years back, a sperm whale came ashore on a North Shore beach, and some enterprising individual went out under the cover of darkness with his trusty chainsaw. They found both jaws buried in his backyard soon after. Can you say "fifty thousand dollar fine?" LOL!

KG

Neat pic.

Why should there be a $50,000 fine for cutting parts off of any creature that died of it's own accord?

The law is a Ass.

AllanD

My contacts confirmed that this is the Hanford Reach about 1 mile upstream of the Ringold hatchery. The land above the rocky shoreline is a state owned wildlife recreation area. During mid to late September, there was an investigation by WA wildlife into reports of poached elk. My hunting partner was asked at a boat launch if he'd heard anything in that regard. Apparently, illegal farm laborers were camped on the recreation area and were collecting anything they could for food. The story goes that they ran into some elk. At least some of these folks were apprehended and cited or shipped home.

I'd bet there's a bullet hole in that bull!
Brad

Brad in Wyoming: During my preparation for retirement about 12 years ago - I tried to teach myself to fly fish! I did so over in one of eastern Washingtons Premium Fishing Lakes. The format for "premium lake" being the limit is one fish per day limit and a barbless single hook on lures or flies only - no bait!
Well the "illegal immigrants" in the area were always coming to this remote lake I was "learning" on and using "worms" and bait along with barbed hooks and treble hooks and catching and killing lots of fish. It did my heart good one day to see the Gamies (Game Wardens) apprehend two illegals that had 97 Trout in their possession as they were fishing illegally!
Back then local law enforcement types could still notify the INS (now ICE) when they had in custody illegal aliens.
The shame was the harm these types did (and still do!) to the Pheasants, Ducks, Geese, Deer and apparently Elk in eastern Washington!
Nowadays the local law enforcement types are NOT ALLOWED to relay evidence of being in the country illegally, to the Immigration Service. Another reason I moved out of the "socialist empire of washington"!
Its a shame, that huge creature going to waste - whatever caused its death!
Me now I would have been up for that alleged $50,000.00 fine - I would have gnawed those antlers off with my teeth, if need be, to get them home!
Again, a shame on the waste!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy,
Your observations and concerns are very real. Whenever there's agri-dustrial employment opportunity anywhere NOT filled by local resident populations, wildlife will absorb the grocery bill for the meat portion of the diet of illegal immigrants. Illegals can't afford Safeway, Wal-market, etc. This is a generality of course, but with expansion of agri-dustrial enterprises needing cheap labor, they've been cornered, so to speak. You won't find USA born and bred kids needing date and movie money sorting potatoes and onions, cutting asparagus, picking berries (cherries, peaches, apricots, pears, apples, . . . ) or anything else that needs hand picking, hand working. It is a sad statement in my mind.
The apparent lack of enforcement on all regulatory sides of this picture do not connote good things for local wildlife populations. This is the land of plenty and it will be usurped by those who are trying to survive leaving the dregs for those of us trying to use it "as described" in our litany of fish and game laws. Another sad statement.
This is a large digression to this thread and I apologize to the powers that be.
Brad

quote:

Why should there be a $50,000 fine for cutting parts off of any creature that died of it's own accord?

The law is a Ass.

AllanD

Ever heard of the Marine Mammal Protection Act?
The number I mentioned was pure tongue in cheek on my part. I recall the fine being extremely steep, but I'm sure it wasn't 50K. As far as the law being an ass, well I agree in spirit in a great many instances, but on this one I understand. The sperm whales are protected. The law is in place in no small part to discourage/punish any illegal trade/commerce in whale parts. Sperm whale's teeth are valuable. The genius that got convicted of taking them away knew exactly what he was doing, and the risks he was taking, evidenced by his sneaking out under cover of night, then hiding them in his back yard.

He got stung breaking the law, and I'm all for his getting skewered for it.

Question for you to think about: if you were making the laws, how would you write the law and procedures for determining which endangered whales were actually 'found dead', and which ones were harpooned/hunted/other?

Brad in Wyo.: Great points on the observations of the folks that work todays fields!
I am 59 years of age and I came from a "different time"!
When I was 9 years old I started picking string beans (along with many dozens of other youngsters!) for Ivan Umpedaught there in the Green River Valley (just south of Seattle, Washington - near where South Center mall is now located). I remember making like $6.00 to $8.00 per day - for a LOT of bean pickin! I was paid by the pound.
Then when I became older (12 through 17 years of age) I would go stay with my aunt and uncle and cousins in Madras, Oregon! I could make some real money there. I mostly hoed the weeds out of the mint. Some of those rows of mint were in excess of 2 miles long!
I KNOW where the term "long row to hoe" comes from!
Typically gangs of 10 to 25 folks would each start a row (early in the morning - cause it got up to 100 degrees often hotter, each day!) and dig up the weeds from in between the peppermint (mint) plants!
Tough work this... NO, back breaking work this was!
I would come home from 12+ hours working these fields and just fall into my bed - exhausted!
The only people that could do this back breaking work without complaining - was of course Mexican migrants! There were at most two or three of us teenage "white boys" dumb enough to try and work alongside these people for our meager pay!
Even though I could seldom communicate with the migrant folks they always shared their food, water and ice with me!
On occassion I would bring them watermelons from one of my Uncles ranches. They loved watermelons - as did I.
I had to do this work or I could not buy any decent clothes (poor family) for my school year and any extras at all.
I learned to appreciate the "cost" of things and, that, money does not grow on trees!
I enjoyed working with the migrant folks and never had a problem with any of them.
Indeed even back then the migrant folks would head off into the hills at night and bonk a Mule Deer now and then with a 22 Rifle. Fresh meat was a treat for them.
Another thing about the migrant folks they knew not what a "weekend" was!
They worked EVERY day, and, ALL day!
I worked most every day as well but I was only in the area for 90 days or so. They came to the area early in the spring and left when the winter approached.
I agree that MORE U.S. young folks should learn to do agricultural labor (learn what blisters are and what "an aching back" means, etc!) and the values that would come with that type laboring!
To this day I can not smell peppermint candy without recalling the back breaking work it takes to plant, cultivate and harvest mint!
Hard work in the fields and being short on money though is still no rationalization for anyone to engage in illegal Hunting and fishing!
The harm that "poaching" does to our fish and game is very hard and slow to recover from.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hey VarmintGuy,
I'm not far off your when/where from. I'm younger by 5 years (cuter too!!) and from Whatcom Co., strawberry capital of God's green earth. My older siblings (2 sisters, 1 brother) began field work at 6 or 8 years old. It began with strawberries after school let out, progressed to raspberries and the to the pole beans. I still love 'em all and can gorge on the fresh stuff, but picking them for posterity or the freezer just makes me sick! That is what canneries are for!!! We'd come home and claim, "First bath!, Second Bath!, . . . Well, as the youngest, guess what I always got. Oh by the way, this was the same bath water cuz my folks, being Great Depression survivors, felt water and especially hot water was not to be wasted. Thus, we scrubbed our dirty little parts daily in used water. Then, headed back out to the berry fields. Also, we picked at a primary farm until things were done. While waiting until the next picking, we picked at another farm. Geez, I was real young then, but I sure thought this was like slave labor. Climb around in the dirt all day and hate every minute of it. I was exposed to migrants in those days, too. I was sincerely embarrassed by my attitude and productivity when I saw their attitude and productivity given their situation in that day and age. I continued working farm situations until high school ended. Much of it branched off into dairy farm work for spending money, an uncle of course. I did work for one row cropper that housed migrants and that left an impression also. My co-worker and I kept our distance as we were told, but again, I admired their work ethic. We may have been naive, but we never saw any evidence of foul-play with regard to illegal harvest. You are so right with regard to the work-week, too. It never ended for them. It is an admirable trait I try to continue until my responsibilities are done. I don't know how successful I've been in conveying that to my kids, they always seem to complain how hard nosed I was about the garden, the yard, etc. Things have changed. I will have to say that our girls seem more prone to working their butts off for something they want than the boys. They all, however, just chuckle hearing me talk about how things were "back then". If they (and about 6 million other kids!) only knew!! Hard, sweating hard, work eludes too many young folk today.
V-G, be well at Christmas, Hannukah or your choice,
Brad
PS. I still get to make my back ache with hay bales, cleaning barns & corrals, raking leaves. . . therapy, as it were. Plus great exercise outside.

I'm surprised the acolytes of Elmer Keith haven't piped up and pointed out that a 4/0 hook is barely enough for coyote and would simply bounce off a trophy elk.

Brad in Wyo.: Great to read of your "upbringing"!
Good for you!
Once I became an adult I was easily able to handle two full time jobs (at the same time!) - this went on for 13 years!
In addition I helped the VarmintWife with her thriving business for most of 25 years!
The reward - we were able to retire once I turned 49!
I do not know if I made it clear that the lady migrant workers toiled right along side us "men folk"! Impressive that.
Love the part of your post where you "shared" the bath water!
I been there!
My parents of course lived through the depression and my father really "had it bad"! He would sit in the dark instead of turning a lamp on, for instance!
I could go on and on with those type stories!
He passed away a couple of Septembers ago at age 82. He had $661,000.00 in his checking account AND $15,000.00 cash hid in his home (just in case the Banks folded again?)!
Bless his disabled veterans, depression fearing heart, anyway!
Memories, sometimes bring me solace (comfort during times of stress).
Thanks for sharing yours with me.
Long live Whatcom County Strawberries (and Loganberries!).
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy