Rat Fink
Member
I had a fun little elk hunt yesterday. One of my buddies joined me in a new area for a one day scout/hunt and to call for me. We headed into an area where I camped 4 years ago one time and saw some elk. I couldn't find the side road in the dark Saturday night so I just picked a random new road and drove up to a small pass between two ridges and pulled off at a flat spot to level the camper. We slept on the mountain hoping to hear some bugles but with the warm night and 9 other camps down off the main road the elk were silent.
In the morning we planned to just hike some trails listening for bugles and then go after them. Well we covered some ground but never even heard a spike squeal. We found a nice place to glass for miles below us and did that for about 20 minutes. We spotted a good bull and his cows about 2.5 miles away and thought about going back to the truck and driving over their way and hunting them. I looked to my left and on a ridge about 600 yards over was a lone bull.
We watched him for a few minutes and figured out he was dropping into the drainage below us so we scrambled down the hill and got in front of him. I setup to shoot and my buddy dropped back behind me to call. After a few cow calls I heard some hooves hitting logs up on the hill above me as he approached completely silent. A few seconds later I see a bull running towards me. My buddy calls some more and the elk stops to look for the "cow" behind some trees at about 80 yards so I draw my bow. It's a damn good thing that I drew when I did because that bull sprinted right at me and closed the gap in just a couple seconds. I cow called him at 12 yards to stop him quartering towards me and swung my bow to the right and centered my pin in his shoulder just behind the V. At the shot he spun and I saw the arrow had full penetration exiting just in front of the opposite hind quarter and hung up on the fletching. At that angle I knew I had at least one lung and the liver.
He ran back in the direction he came from and I began cow calling frantically, stopping him about 60 yards out where he got jello legs and took a nose dive. It happened really fast and I got a little shaky after the shot. It felt good to have a bull down.
We spent the rest of the day boning and packing elk in the hot temperatures. I haven't heard a bugle yet this year and I punched my tag. I'm kinda saddened that I probably won't get to hear a bugle this year but I'm not complaining about my silent bull.
In the morning we planned to just hike some trails listening for bugles and then go after them. Well we covered some ground but never even heard a spike squeal. We found a nice place to glass for miles below us and did that for about 20 minutes. We spotted a good bull and his cows about 2.5 miles away and thought about going back to the truck and driving over their way and hunting them. I looked to my left and on a ridge about 600 yards over was a lone bull.
We watched him for a few minutes and figured out he was dropping into the drainage below us so we scrambled down the hill and got in front of him. I setup to shoot and my buddy dropped back behind me to call. After a few cow calls I heard some hooves hitting logs up on the hill above me as he approached completely silent. A few seconds later I see a bull running towards me. My buddy calls some more and the elk stops to look for the "cow" behind some trees at about 80 yards so I draw my bow. It's a damn good thing that I drew when I did because that bull sprinted right at me and closed the gap in just a couple seconds. I cow called him at 12 yards to stop him quartering towards me and swung my bow to the right and centered my pin in his shoulder just behind the V. At the shot he spun and I saw the arrow had full penetration exiting just in front of the opposite hind quarter and hung up on the fletching. At that angle I knew I had at least one lung and the liver.
He ran back in the direction he came from and I began cow calling frantically, stopping him about 60 yards out where he got jello legs and took a nose dive. It happened really fast and I got a little shaky after the shot. It felt good to have a bull down.
We spent the rest of the day boning and packing elk in the hot temperatures. I haven't heard a bugle yet this year and I punched my tag. I'm kinda saddened that I probably won't get to hear a bugle this year but I'm not complaining about my silent bull.
