smarandr
Well-known member
My archery elk hunting adventures are now in its fourth year, and finally, lady luck has decided to smile.
On the first day, way up high in the deep dark timber, and miles from the closest road, I jumped a four-point raghorn out of his bed. Having never killed an elk, or killed anything with my bow for that matter, I quickly decided this was a bull worth taking. He started to trot off so I cow called to him. This little guy was so love sick that my crappy calling was the equivalent of Kate Upton whispering sweet nothings into his ear, because as long as I would give him the occasional mew or chirp he would never stray more than 40 yards away from me. I know he could see me and hear me moving around, but because the wind was coming up the mountain, and I was above him, he could never scent me.
Finally after about 20 minutes he stepped into a spot that gave me a clear shot at his vitals amongst some of the thickest crap I've ever been in. It was a tight shot with about an eight inch gap between a dual stumped tree, but I figured this was about as good as it was ever going to get up in there. I drew down, let an arrow fly, and then I heard the thud. It was pure elation until an instant later I heard the twang of my arrow vibrating in the tree just inches in front of him.
Amazingly enough getting shot at still wasn't enough to spook the bull as long as I kept up my Kate impression. So, we kept at it for another 10 or 15 minutes until the wind shifted and he made me for what I really was. He then trotted off never to be seen again.
By the time I got back to camp it was getting dark. So, I was just sitting down admiring the full moon and contemplating what I was going to fix for dinner when my brother-in-law rolled into camp. Before I could tell him about what had happened to me, he says that he's got a big cow down. He tells me that he thinks that she's hit pretty good, and that she's "bedded" down on an abandoned logging road. However, since it was dark he couldn't see her anymore, and didn't want to disturb her with a light and have her run off again. So, he decided to leave her to expire during the night and we'd go get her first thing in the morning.
First thing in the morning we're "hiking" in (turns out the old logging road is only about 200 yards away from an in-use forest service road) to the kill site and notice a big black something-or-other where the elk is supposed to be. As we get closer it turns out that it's the biggest black bear I've ever seen. His belly is hanging so low that it has to be bald from getting scraped on everything. After a bunch of hollering and arm waving we finally convinced the bear that the elk was ours and he grudgingly faded into the woods. He must have just got on the kill because he only had the head buried and a small hole chewed in her abdominal cavity.
We got the elk all cut up without further incident, and short of having her die on the forest service road, I don't think there's ever been an easier pack out. I shiver to think about what a tough haul it would have been to get the raghorn I'd missed out, so I was glad my brother-in-law essentially got his on the road.
Sorry, no hero shots, but hero shots with cow elk aren't all that interesting anyway
. However, I do have some pretty cool trail cam videos taken in the same drainage as where my brother-in law got his elk. I tried to upload them, but they wouldn't work on the site, so here's the YouTube links. One's of a pretty decent bull, and the other is of a wolf.
http://youtu.be/Ps_8eZcoE4w
http://youtu.be/7J7Yr1BruXE
I also got a couple of panoramas that my phone took on top of that big hike I took.
On the first day, way up high in the deep dark timber, and miles from the closest road, I jumped a four-point raghorn out of his bed. Having never killed an elk, or killed anything with my bow for that matter, I quickly decided this was a bull worth taking. He started to trot off so I cow called to him. This little guy was so love sick that my crappy calling was the equivalent of Kate Upton whispering sweet nothings into his ear, because as long as I would give him the occasional mew or chirp he would never stray more than 40 yards away from me. I know he could see me and hear me moving around, but because the wind was coming up the mountain, and I was above him, he could never scent me.
Finally after about 20 minutes he stepped into a spot that gave me a clear shot at his vitals amongst some of the thickest crap I've ever been in. It was a tight shot with about an eight inch gap between a dual stumped tree, but I figured this was about as good as it was ever going to get up in there. I drew down, let an arrow fly, and then I heard the thud. It was pure elation until an instant later I heard the twang of my arrow vibrating in the tree just inches in front of him.
Amazingly enough getting shot at still wasn't enough to spook the bull as long as I kept up my Kate impression. So, we kept at it for another 10 or 15 minutes until the wind shifted and he made me for what I really was. He then trotted off never to be seen again.
By the time I got back to camp it was getting dark. So, I was just sitting down admiring the full moon and contemplating what I was going to fix for dinner when my brother-in-law rolled into camp. Before I could tell him about what had happened to me, he says that he's got a big cow down. He tells me that he thinks that she's hit pretty good, and that she's "bedded" down on an abandoned logging road. However, since it was dark he couldn't see her anymore, and didn't want to disturb her with a light and have her run off again. So, he decided to leave her to expire during the night and we'd go get her first thing in the morning.
First thing in the morning we're "hiking" in (turns out the old logging road is only about 200 yards away from an in-use forest service road) to the kill site and notice a big black something-or-other where the elk is supposed to be. As we get closer it turns out that it's the biggest black bear I've ever seen. His belly is hanging so low that it has to be bald from getting scraped on everything. After a bunch of hollering and arm waving we finally convinced the bear that the elk was ours and he grudgingly faded into the woods. He must have just got on the kill because he only had the head buried and a small hole chewed in her abdominal cavity.
We got the elk all cut up without further incident, and short of having her die on the forest service road, I don't think there's ever been an easier pack out. I shiver to think about what a tough haul it would have been to get the raghorn I'd missed out, so I was glad my brother-in-law essentially got his on the road.
Sorry, no hero shots, but hero shots with cow elk aren't all that interesting anyway
. However, I do have some pretty cool trail cam videos taken in the same drainage as where my brother-in law got his elk. I tried to upload them, but they wouldn't work on the site, so here's the YouTube links. One's of a pretty decent bull, and the other is of a wolf.http://youtu.be/Ps_8eZcoE4w
http://youtu.be/7J7Yr1BruXE
I also got a couple of panoramas that my phone took on top of that big hike I took.
