WY Elk: KHunter archery 2016

Tease! What we can see looks good

Congrats! Enough with the teasers around here!!!

The end

As noted, I had pushed the one wild herd down into another that was bigger and even more rambunctious...bugles, screams, growls, sparring and chasing the lady elk all through the brush in bottom of the draw and across the open hillside.

At this point there must be 60 elk all around me within 50-400 yards and the bulls were constantly on the move challenging each other, trying to breed, harrasing cows etc.

I already let a 300ish bull walk that I called in about 45 minutes prior and had just missed out getting a shot off at a BIG bull at 23 or so yards because he was surrounded by cows.

So I slide on down the ridge I am on in pursuit of the big bull and cows I pushed. They are never more than 100 yds from me and I can see them merging into the other herd. All hell breaks lose when that happens. Some action I can see and some I can just hear. I hear trees being shredded and horns clashing and cracking loudly and lots of cow talk in addition to bull vocalizations. I am not really sneaking as much as hurrying kinda out in the open and there in front of me is a good looking bull wallowing in an inky black wallow. He sees me and climbs out and brushes up before I could get him in this photo.

I get within 45 yards of the big bull I am trying to arrow but too many low hanging branches for a clean shot. I trying calling and get a response but a pretty 6 pt comes in on a string instead from the back side of this group I am edging into. He comes right in to 17 yards broadside and actually partially loops behind me and might score 290-310. Not sure and did not try to size him up beyond knowing he was not gonna get an arrow from me as he came in knowing what I was seeing in the herds I am now right on top of. He knows something is not right and trots back into the herd and then settles down again.

Like I said it is constant movement and chaos at this point. Elk, especially the bulls going every which way and I was close to the center of the action. Or at least at the very edge with all the elk right in front of me or to my right and left within 200 yards. Not 30 seconds goes by without bugles, chuckles, etc. sounding off. I will admit, I was electrified by this experience already. The dream elk encounter for sure. And while it sounds foolish....I am sure I can get opportunity at a bull I want to hang a tag on. The rare circumstance where you reasonably know you have the upper hand in the situation if you keep it together and avoid dumb mistakes.

The elk in this photo is "my" first herd of elk for this morning just coming off the little ridge I am following them down and as the two herds are coming together. The herd bull is just out of view in the shade in the middle. I am 60 yards from them at this point? Shortly after the photo I can see the big bull but do not quite have a clean shot.

At current count I could have arrowed 2 good bulls easily within 30 yards and never had a clean shot at the biggest bull from 23 yards. A stellar start to the morning after only 1.5 miles of chasing down this herd.

After the one bull came in and went back to the herd, I cow call and bugle and get two hot bugled (one more of a deep growl) responses from elk I cannot see perhaps 150 yds to my right. I cow call again and see a shooter bull coming in at 80 yards. wide, big fronts, big thirds that define his width. I get set and as he goes around a juniper at 35 yards I draw and await his entering a 10 foot gap to left of the tree. He slowly edgs into the gap and then quickly squirts through. Could not get the shot off and away he goes in into the herd. The other nearest elk are still 40-50 yards out in the thicker stuff. I am looking at cows and they are looking at me as all this transpires. Missed opportunity!

I wait a couple minutes then give my best harrased, pissed, cow call and dinker bull bugle and get a fast response from I presume that 2nd bull that had called from my right. ( I don't really know how to call per se, but sure have a ball trying and it seems to work often enough). Quickly I see him coming in and sure enough he is plenty big enough, I am ready to pull the string.

Again I set up and predict his path and shot lanes, I expect a 20-30 yard shot. well he comes in front of the juniper the other bull passed behind and is in the clear. I am rushing to shoot before he hits the next patch of trees and he does not see me. He is more like 17 yards and I let fly on this down hill shot across sage brush.

Thrilling morning hunt!!
Looks like a great place to shoot a bull right there...

This has been a great follow and you've done a really good job of capturing the thrill of being right in the herd's kitchen so I hope there was some true emergency - like your dead bull jumped off of the butcher block and ran around, goring little kids, and setting fires - that caused you to stop writing and sharing pictures FIVE hours ago. Not cool.

Some of us only drew for quail this year and maybe squeezed in a couple of days trying to help a fellow Hunt Talker tag a big AZ bull before we were herded back to work so that one day we might be able to hunt. In other words, out with it K!

I let loose an arrow on the gimme shot, 17 or so yards. Clipped sage and arrow goes high. never missed an elk at 20 yards before. OUCH!!!

I was too hunkered down and rushed it and did not think it all through. Great looking bull with good size on everything. big fronts and great thirds which don't see a lot here. While I am major league bummed and had this been a normal hunt I would be distraught and figure I blew my one chance. But I still have a crazed herd right there. Only the bull I missed knew something was amiss.

The end of the end

By now the herd has shifted position a bit to the west, nothing major, just the circus recentering a couple hundred yards to the west among the chaos.

With some elk still around I mark my spot and leave the arrow retrieval for later and start slipping toward the best sounding bugles.

I go about a 150 yards in somewhat sparce pinon juniper mixed into sage and hear a great growly sounding bull 80? yards away in thicker stuff.

The wind is good. I remind myself to focus and rely on my practice to actually think through the things you account for to make a good shot. Then I slip in 20 more yards and set up with arrow knocked standing in front of a pinon tree. Let out a cow call directed behind me. The bull lets out a bugle on top of my call and I hear branches breaking. Next thing I see is the bull coming right at me at a walking pace. when he is at about 40 and still head on but a bit to my right and passing a really big pinon tree, I draw. He never stops but is moving slowly when he reaches what I guess to be 20 yards and is broadside. I aim tracking him as he cleared the last tree, pick my spot high center lung and let fly the 2nd time in 30 minutes...

Thwack!! Looks double lung but not a passthrough. At impact the bull, not knowing what happened nor from where, turns and runs right 'at' me. Before I can piss my pants he is "on" me arms length away and moving fast. I think I dove backwards to get out of the way AFTER he was by me but my brain was trying to get my body moving a lot sooner. It was a blur but I recall seeing his eyes on me as he passed like maybe he saw me. And recall his horns were damn close.

Anyway I am on the ground and looking the way he ran to see him cross a small creek at a run 60 yards away and lose site of him right after he crosses he creek Wow that was a thrill. I collect myself and start mentally marking shot placement, less than ideal arrow penetration, and exactly where I last saw him.

There 10 feet from me is the tail end of my arrow that snapped off as he ran by. Lots of blood on the arrow fragment and none on the ground. What the?

I sit down and make myself mark the time and try to calm myself. Meanwhile the herd is still rutting like crazy, mostly on hillslope right above where the bull just ran toward. I know I have a dead bull as there was no confusion on exactly where I hit on shoulder and the penetration for sure drilled one lung and I think both. Yet there was no blood trail except a few droplets I see 35 or so yards from where I was standing at the shot and 50-60 from where he stood when shot. .

Waited an hour and started trailing. I find no blood on other side of the creek. This is a concern and a surprise. The herd mostly ignoes the guy stooping and kneeling looking for blood fairly in the open in sporadic cover.

Finally I think why not climb the slope the rutting elk are on and glass back down into the area? I gain 80 feet or so of elevation and in a minute or two see a nice rack gleaming in the sun, laid over sideways. Pulled up the binocs and sure enough, there is my bull 100 yards from me. He had travelled 130'or so yards and actually climbed 20 feet of elevation before collapsing. No kick marks in the dirt so presume he dropped in his tracks at that point.

Here is the bull I hung my tag on after 9 hunting days.

Awesome! Way to regroup and make it happen. Congrats

What a freakin' story! I couldn't make up a better story if you paid me!

Thank you for sharing and congrats on a great hunt and an awesome bull.

Congratulations! Awesome read and photography! Great bull!

Thanks for taking us along on the hunt!
Great looking Bull especially the fronts!

Very, very nice!

Great bull! Thanks for taking us along with you. Absolutely incredible experience.

That is such a great write up KHunter. Congrats on an outstanding bull. Best play by play I have read in a long time.

Oh my....definitely worth holding out for that one. You wrung that tag and 9 days out dry. Congrats.

Awesome bull, great thread. Thanks for taking us along. Congrats

Great thread. What a bull. Congrats on the hard work paying off.

Thanks for sharing that awesome experience

That sounds like the hunt of a lifetime. Congratulations and that's for taking us along!!

noharleyyet said:

Oh my....definitely worth holding out for that one. You wrung that tag and 9 days out dry. Congrats.

Click to expand...

Always the intent. after the first 8 day stretch I was a sleep deprived, physically wrung out wreck back home. And loving it.

finished boiling the skull as well as my recent antelope skull last night.

Tonight I have a great old friend coming to town who is 75 and has killed a number of things with his recurve bow but never an elk. He does not get around quite as
well as he did back when we started hnting together in 1995 but still has the desire. He was going to go up and hunt some pretty steep country solo a few hours from here. I offered maybe he could come here instead and we could hunt one of my local honey holes where I pulled out a few bulls in late Septemebr in past years when the priority hunts around the west were over. I save this spot exclusively for archery season's end and it is usually stuffed with elk of the raghorn to 300 inch top end class variety. Have not prescouted so we shall see. it can be a walk in the park to get to the elk if they are following the usual plan. :hump:

Very much looking forward to being the quasi guide and having a whole lot of fun without any of the stress of holding the tag in my pocket and seeing if we can get something done. Should be a nice change. I could pick up an OTC tag here in Colo but this will be way more fun than hunting for myself. Setting up camp is changing the sheets in the guest room for him