Your Move, Episode 1

[WapitiTalk1]

Hunting journal: Late September; archery elk partner hunt in SW Montana; 5th day of your 10 day hunt; bull only tag. Your partner (caller) is 35 yards to the front of this bull (yellow arrow) and you (the shooter) are at full draw on your knees, 20 yards in the direction of the red arrow. The bull is walking very slowly towards your buddy (caller) as you float your sight pin on the bull. If the bull travels 5 more yards towards the caller, his vitals will be covered by brush (from the shooter's position).

Your move. Are you shooting, not shooting, trying to stop the bull with an elk sound? What is your move?

Big Bull 1.jpg (26.92 KiB) Viewed 9365 times

Reminder that if you save the picture to your desktop and open in MS Paint, you'll be able to place a spot, X, or whatever on the critter before you save it back to a jpg and add the marked up pic with your post (if you decide to shoot).

[razorback]

Not the right angle for me. I'll let him keep walking toward the caller hoping to get more of his lungs exposed. If it happens before his vitals go behind brush=dead bull! If he gets behind brush before it's an ethical shot, I hope my buddy can close the deal!

[bowhunter04]

I'm waiting too. Not much margin for error. Still time to let it develop as razorback points out.

[msd1228]

Not the right angle for me. I'll let him keep walking toward the caller hoping to get more of his lungs exposed. If it happens before his vitals go behind brush=dead bull! If he gets behind brush before it's an ethical shot, I hope my buddy can close the deal!

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking. There's just something about a quartering to shot that I don't like, even at 20 yards. Full frontal - I'd take that shot 100/100 times, but I just don't like that quarter to position.

[Tigger]

I would be ready with a nervous grunt and would weigh the odds of stopping the bull in a better position vs my buddy (or me) getting a shot later on. that is a really tough call and I guess it really depends on what the terrain is like between the bull and the buddy. Also, it depends on if my buddy ate the last of the Mountain House the night before or saved some for me...

[huntfishtrap247]

I would also be waiting to see how it would develop in the next few steps, hoping he would turn just a few more degrees. At 20 yards its pretty easy to thread the needle as long as he opens up just a bit more.

[Rizzy]

Maybe give him a pop with my mouth and hope it turns him my way. If it does then stop him with a nervous grunt for a frontal shot.

[Glacier Country]

Not the right angle for me. I'll let him keep walking toward the caller hoping to get more of his lungs exposed. If it happens before his vitals go behind brush=dead bull! If he gets behind brush before it's an ethical shot, I hope my buddy can close the deal!

No shot yet... Razorback hit the nail on the head.

[ElkNut1]

Looking at the photo, it appears the elk is still walking towards the caller, his rear left leg is forward of his right & his front left leg is back of his right, also the low brush has a slight blur to it denoting movement when the photo was taken. I would let him continuing his slow walk toward the caller about 4'-5' & take him then straight up the leg 1/3 up from bottom of chest. I would not worry about stopping that bull with any elk sound at that 20yd distance unless he was at a fast walk, then it would be with a mid volume abrupt nervous grunt, since I'm already at full draw this is advantage hunter at this close range.

ElkNut1

[elkaholic]

The shot angle isn't good solet him keep walking. In a couple yards he should be at a good angle and I would hit him with a nervous grunt first, then my broad head . If I still wasn't able to get a shot hopefully either my buddy or I would have another opportunity.

[Swamp Buck]

If he is still walking I will probably let him keep walking for a more broadside shot.

If he freezes up and acts like he is going to bugger out I let him have it.

[Indian Summer]

That's such a nice bull I don't care what the angle is I'm flinging arrows.

Not!

Paul I'm surprised to hear your answer I thought for sure you'd like that spot Swamp Buck picked. Why not? You know I'm not a frontal or quartering to shooter but Swamp Bucks spot is pretty tempting at that range even to me.

Phantom.. why do you have to complicate things? Next time pick a photo of a raghorn bull.

[under H2O hunter]

I take that shot if the animal is stopped and not walking right where Swamp buck has the red dot. Now if the animal is moving and I know there is another clear shooting lane. I would wait. The reason I take this shot is that the left leg is back and your arrow is gonna penetrate through and come out just behind the right leg. Think of it like you would if the animal was quartered away. You would put the arrow behind the leg with it exiting out the other side in front of the leg, right? So why not the reverse?

[Glacier Country]

IMO you do not have a frontal shot on this bull. To be able to take the frontal you really would want his whole hind end to be way to the left of where it is at this moment. To take the frontal shot, I really want an angle that will allow me to be able to take out the diaphragm. I would aim where swamp buck put his red dot but I want my arrow to be angled more toward his off side hip and this pose doesn't offer that angle. So for me I am waiting. I think you will be able to shoot him where Elknut said, up the leg in a couple steps anyhow. I'm not going to rush it. This is a position where he is not really frontal enough and not broadside enough either. I'm going to let things unfold and hope for a better shot angle.

Troy glaciercountryhuntingcalls.com

[Gselkhunter]

Cow call to stop and dead.

[ishy]

I'd be passing atleast those few more steps before he hits the brush to improve the angle. He's locked on the caller, so I'm not pushing it. That quartering front shot is offly iffy to begin with and moving adds to any difficulty exponentially, if you go in front of the heart you are probably only going to hit one lung and "IF" lethal it'll be a very long tracking job. UnderH2O going behing both shoulders is a completely different path than in front of one and behind the other.

[Wapiti]

Elk are darn tough animals and you don't want to be the guy wishing you waited for a better shot after spending hours tracking this wounded elk !!

I've been there and done that and it's the worst feeling in the world !!! I think back to the one that got away from me every season. My shot was tight right behind the shoulder at about the same angle !! My shot was 5 yards and I thought it was perfect !

I would wait personally !!

Trav

[Swamp Buck]

If you try to shoot this elk behind the shoulder in this pic you will never find it. Nothing you will hit but liver and guts. If you put it where I have the dot you will get lung and heart and/or a bunch of blood pumping arteries and veins. Dead bull in 100 yards. I would only take this shot at low yardage, 20 and under. Again only if he is froze up and looking like he is gunna take off. I would wait for the broadside shot if he was still slowly working toward the caller.

[BrentLaBere]

Swamp,
Not questioning your shooting skills whatsoever, but I will respectfully disagree with you on that shot.
I dont think you have a chance at hitting any lung with the angle the bull is standing at. For me to be comfortable shooting this elk he has to turn towards me or towards the caller. I like where you placed the red dot, just not the angle of the bull.

[Swamp Buck]

Indeed I took this same shot at the bull in my photo. Died in 100 yards. Heart and Lung. Best blood trail ever.

In this diagram, I went with the orange line.

shots.JPG (23.96 KiB) Viewed 9132 times

[Elkduds]

How close does the orange line come to the front of that shoulderblade? Looks pretty tight. When that skeleton elk steps forward, that shoulderblade goes forward along the ribcage as well, so the margin of missing the shoulderblade gets really tight or disappears altogether. Each of us knows how accurate we are in stable situations (I hope!). For me, adding up the uncontollable variables make me conservative in shot selection. If the red dot were 2" lower I'd like it better. But I'd still wait for the broadside.

[Bow4me]

I see a lot of you would like a frontal shot. I need some help with this one because I have been told not to shoot in the chest for lack of penetration. Is this true? As far as the shot goes I would feel pretty confident at 20 yards and in my experience shoot when you get a chance because you may not get another one. But that's just a Arkansas hillbilly that only gets about 5 days to get the job done.

[Toby]

I'm going to wait, if I dont get a good angle I will give a little nervous grunt, if I still don't get a good angle, I'll pass.

[jmez]

I would shoot it right where Swamp put the dot. That is a good shot at close range. Should take out the great vessels at the top of the heart and offside lung.

The shoulder blade actually moves back when an animal advances its leg forward. It comes forward as the leg goes back.

As to frontal shots, IMO it is a good shot if you know the anatomy and are comfortable with the range. They don't go far when you hit them right from the front.

[Heartwood]

I would let him take the next few steps , then try to stop him with a NG. hoping that he stops with his left leg forward. Then i'd shoot 1/3 up back of front leg. If he stopped in an unfavorable position i would let him spook then try to stop him again as he is leaving ( hopfully there are some shooting lanes where he came in because when he leaves he probably will be slightly quartering away.) Always note how he came in because there is a good chance he will leave on the same route with a better angle for a shot. I have had bulls come in with a bad angle and been able to stop them on the way out. Somtimes it works, somtimes not. Learned that from the Nut himself.