Elkwhisper
Well-known member
Wow! What a weekend!
After filling my antelope tag, earlier in the week I finally had my chance to get out to elk camp with the boys. Family and work commitments kept me from making it out to chase bugling bulls until this Friday. But when we showed up, the "SHOW" was in full force. First night out we had at least 20 bulls going nuts in one big bowl. They were screaming and running around like crazy all the way into the night. Passed a few easy shots on cows / calves that night (extra tag), and had one pretty decent opportunity at a nice 6x6.... maybe like 260". It was a bull I would have been happy with, but with all the commotion going on, I decided to hold out and see if one of the bigger ones my present an opportunity The night ended without an arrow being flung.
We picked up right where we left off in the morning and got right into the middle of them, way before daylight. The big group of probably 200 elk seemed to have split up in the night into 3 separate herds. We got in front of the herd that was in the best spot wind wise, and did some calling. I had a 5x6 come into 20 yards, and I came to full draw, but decided to let him walk because I could see the 6x7 herd bull a few hundred yards off and slowly feeding my way. After the 5x6 bugled his way all the way back to 5 yards of Mike, I had a little 4x5 rake a tree at 67 yards for like 10 minutes. Then he came trotting right at me yelling like he was the baddest bull on the planet, and plop right into the wallow I was sitting 10 yards from. He flopped around covered himself in mud, throwing sludge into the air that was landing pretty close to me. It was pretty exciting, as I was trying not to move an inch, but still keeping an eye on the big boy. When the little guy put his head down in the mud, I chirped a cow call at the big boy. The little guy came charging up the bank right at me, and barely veered around me at like 3 yards. He followed the other bull up the hill bugling. A little wind swirl then put an end to any hope I had on the big boy. Later that morning we got another big sounding bull to sound off from his bed a couple miles away, and I worked in on him while Mike kept calling. I ended up hitting a wall of cows between me and the bull, and when they started to spook, I cut my losses and punched my antlerless tag with a tasty little calf.
Saturday night was kind of a bust, as we just could not get the elk to come our way. Lots of bugling bulls all around, but no close encounters.
Sunday morning was a lot cooler and we did here some bugles early, but it seemed as if the big group of elk had split up some more, and the bigger bulls had each grabbed cows and headed opposite directions. About 7:30 we finally got an answer from a bull we named "The Dinosaur" His bugle consisted of the deepest, nastiest growl / roar I have ever heard come out of an elk. No high notes, just growl. Ben and I made a move on him, but ended up loosing the race to the fence line, and the Dinosaur made it back into the neighbors ranch, before we could make it happen. Once we decided the jig was up, I showed Ben right where I had been standing when I killed my first bull out there. I was standing EXACTLY on the X, of where I was when I shot that bull, and I was kind of telling Ben, that we had cow called from right here, and a bull answered from over there........ As I said that and pointed, a bull answered from the same spot. I cow called back and here he came at a dead run..... slamming on the brakes at 20 yards facing me head on. Deja Vu all over again..... I couldn't draw my bow it happened so fast. As he turned to go away, I drew and he stopped. I guessed that he had made it out to 30 yards so I tried to put the 30 on him and let it rip..... In hindsight I rushed that shot, and come to find out he was only like17 yards away, which meant that when he first ran in he was closer to 10 yards than 20. At any rate, I was down an arrow. He ran out further and cow call stopped him. I got a solid range on him and sent a second arrow his way. We heard it hit and from what I could see I thought I had punched the 10 ring on him, I really had no time to size this bull up, but with it being the last morning of our hunt, and the coolness of shooting another bull in the EXACT same spot, was more than I could handle and I let him have it. We backed out and went back for Mike. We came back about 45 minutes later and found the arrow...... Good blood, but it looked like penetration got stopped by the offside shoulder. Then the bull stood up and started slooooooowly walking away. Blood was pouring out if the bottom of his chest, right in the crease, but the hit looked a little low, but we all thought it had to be in the heart. How was this bull still moving? We watched him stand in one spot for like 15 minutes hoping he would lay back down, but he never did. I went back and grabbed my bow and made a big circle on him. Long....crazy .... story short, I got another arrow in him at 50 yards. He ran aways and tipped over. Then got back up and took off again. I knew he was hurt bad and wanted to get this over with quickly for his sake. I snuck up on him to 30 yards in a Christmas tree jungle and tried to put my last arrow in him. A deflection off a stick left me standing eye to eye with a wounded bull with no arrows left. Adrenalin took over at that point..... and let's just say things got western and between a big log and some hand to hand combat I got the job finished.
So my streak continues. 3 tags punched this week with just my buck tag and a couple of doe tags left to go. I have my eye on a pretty good mule deer that might just cap off a great season for me. In all my years of hunting I have never been able to tag my elk, deer and antelope all with a bow.....but this is the year. Come hell or high water I am going to get it done. Good luck to all of you with tags still in your pockets!
EW
After filling my antelope tag, earlier in the week I finally had my chance to get out to elk camp with the boys. Family and work commitments kept me from making it out to chase bugling bulls until this Friday. But when we showed up, the "SHOW" was in full force. First night out we had at least 20 bulls going nuts in one big bowl. They were screaming and running around like crazy all the way into the night. Passed a few easy shots on cows / calves that night (extra tag), and had one pretty decent opportunity at a nice 6x6.... maybe like 260". It was a bull I would have been happy with, but with all the commotion going on, I decided to hold out and see if one of the bigger ones my present an opportunity The night ended without an arrow being flung.
We picked up right where we left off in the morning and got right into the middle of them, way before daylight. The big group of probably 200 elk seemed to have split up in the night into 3 separate herds. We got in front of the herd that was in the best spot wind wise, and did some calling. I had a 5x6 come into 20 yards, and I came to full draw, but decided to let him walk because I could see the 6x7 herd bull a few hundred yards off and slowly feeding my way. After the 5x6 bugled his way all the way back to 5 yards of Mike, I had a little 4x5 rake a tree at 67 yards for like 10 minutes. Then he came trotting right at me yelling like he was the baddest bull on the planet, and plop right into the wallow I was sitting 10 yards from. He flopped around covered himself in mud, throwing sludge into the air that was landing pretty close to me. It was pretty exciting, as I was trying not to move an inch, but still keeping an eye on the big boy. When the little guy put his head down in the mud, I chirped a cow call at the big boy. The little guy came charging up the bank right at me, and barely veered around me at like 3 yards. He followed the other bull up the hill bugling. A little wind swirl then put an end to any hope I had on the big boy. Later that morning we got another big sounding bull to sound off from his bed a couple miles away, and I worked in on him while Mike kept calling. I ended up hitting a wall of cows between me and the bull, and when they started to spook, I cut my losses and punched my antlerless tag with a tasty little calf.
Saturday night was kind of a bust, as we just could not get the elk to come our way. Lots of bugling bulls all around, but no close encounters.
Sunday morning was a lot cooler and we did here some bugles early, but it seemed as if the big group of elk had split up some more, and the bigger bulls had each grabbed cows and headed opposite directions. About 7:30 we finally got an answer from a bull we named "The Dinosaur" His bugle consisted of the deepest, nastiest growl / roar I have ever heard come out of an elk. No high notes, just growl. Ben and I made a move on him, but ended up loosing the race to the fence line, and the Dinosaur made it back into the neighbors ranch, before we could make it happen. Once we decided the jig was up, I showed Ben right where I had been standing when I killed my first bull out there. I was standing EXACTLY on the X, of where I was when I shot that bull, and I was kind of telling Ben, that we had cow called from right here, and a bull answered from over there........ As I said that and pointed, a bull answered from the same spot. I cow called back and here he came at a dead run..... slamming on the brakes at 20 yards facing me head on. Deja Vu all over again..... I couldn't draw my bow it happened so fast. As he turned to go away, I drew and he stopped. I guessed that he had made it out to 30 yards so I tried to put the 30 on him and let it rip..... In hindsight I rushed that shot, and come to find out he was only like17 yards away, which meant that when he first ran in he was closer to 10 yards than 20. At any rate, I was down an arrow. He ran out further and cow call stopped him. I got a solid range on him and sent a second arrow his way. We heard it hit and from what I could see I thought I had punched the 10 ring on him, I really had no time to size this bull up, but with it being the last morning of our hunt, and the coolness of shooting another bull in the EXACT same spot, was more than I could handle and I let him have it. We backed out and went back for Mike. We came back about 45 minutes later and found the arrow...... Good blood, but it looked like penetration got stopped by the offside shoulder. Then the bull stood up and started slooooooowly walking away. Blood was pouring out if the bottom of his chest, right in the crease, but the hit looked a little low, but we all thought it had to be in the heart. How was this bull still moving? We watched him stand in one spot for like 15 minutes hoping he would lay back down, but he never did. I went back and grabbed my bow and made a big circle on him. Long....crazy .... story short, I got another arrow in him at 50 yards. He ran aways and tipped over. Then got back up and took off again. I knew he was hurt bad and wanted to get this over with quickly for his sake. I snuck up on him to 30 yards in a Christmas tree jungle and tried to put my last arrow in him. A deflection off a stick left me standing eye to eye with a wounded bull with no arrows left. Adrenalin took over at that point..... and let's just say things got western and between a big log and some hand to hand combat I got the job finished.
So my streak continues. 3 tags punched this week with just my buck tag and a couple of doe tags left to go. I have my eye on a pretty good mule deer that might just cap off a great season for me. In all my years of hunting I have never been able to tag my elk, deer and antelope all with a bow.....but this is the year. Come hell or high water I am going to get it done. Good luck to all of you with tags still in your pockets!
EW
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