Oops......

[WapitiTalk1]

Every elk encounter is different and to be successful in a developing situation which results in a shot being taken, mistakes must be kept to a bare bones minimum. Please share one of those "oops" moments you experienced this year that if avoided, could have ended up with a shot being taken. Here's one of mine from the SEP 2016 season:

My buddy and I were moving down a long, semi flat ridge right at daylight. The strategy here (one of our tried and tested hunts) was to work down the ridge and listen for unsolicited bull chatter from either side, down in one of the two draws. Once we heard verbal confirmation that there was a bull(s) in either draw, we'd continue to move down the 1/2 mile ridge to a small saddle and drop down low into the vocal bull(s) draw, and work our way up to the singer and put a play on him/them. On this particular morning, we heard at least one bull to the draw on our right on the far side, just up off the creek bottom. Down the ridge we went silently to the drop off point but before we dumped down into the draw to start working our way up, a bull started screaming just above and beyond us up on a small hill, just past the saddle. Sweet, he's uphill from us! We moved pretty quickly to get into position just a bit on this side of the small hill. As we quickly moved to get into a good position, the bull hollered at least two or three more times. As I set up as the caller, I motioned to Joe to move up to just this side of the hilltop. Last thing I told him was "be ready, this may happen very fast"! Less than a minute later, just after I saw my buddy nock an arrow and glance back at me with the "let's do this" face, I started belting out some really whiny cow noises. Well, the herd bull just on the other side of the hilltop (perhaps 60 yards) came unglued and came off his handful of cows in my direction within a matter of seconds, which would put him smack dab in front of Joe. I looked up and Joe had moved towards the vocal bull, just a bit which turned out to be just a bit too far. Joe had barely crested the hill which in turn sent his scent flowing downhill right into the incoming bull's snout. In less than 2 minutes from setup to "crash, crash, crash", the bull had came in on a string, shown himself to Joe, Joe had drawn back, and the bull had caught his scent. Oops moment here? Always, always, always work the wind

[Swede]

I had a cow elk down hill from me about 30 yards. It had stopped and was looking up toward the spring near my tree stand. I stood up and she just froze. I stayed still and waited. She continued to look uphill. Soon she turned and left. I had moved at the wrong time. It is possible that she caught a little scent of me that morning as the diurnal winds were still going down slope.

[Tigger]

just before dark, we threw out some bugles at our turnaround spot in the bottom of a big valley. a few minutes later a bull answered from up high on the mountain. We had moved away, but hustled back to our spot and I threw out some whiny cow calls. He was coming down the mountain to us! He chuckled a few times so we decided to move towards him a little. It was super thick and super steep. My 2 buddies were out front and unbeknownst to me, they kind of hit a dead end. I climbed up a little further and soon I found myself right next to them. He locked up just out of our vision at about 25 yards! If I would have stayed back, I think I could have called him right in to them!

[Heartwood]

Ok, here is one that I still can't believe happened. I was dogging a large herd and had already had two sat. bulls sneak in behind me to cow calls. No shot ops. there.
I was close to the edge of the herd when another sat. bull (respectable 6 point) stole a cow and was pushing her my way. I nocked an arrow hastily and without looking down at my bow as I estimated the range to where I thought my shot would be. Sure enough, the bull held his line and was about to step right into my pre-selected spot. I drew without him seeing movement and as I anchored I saw that I had somehow cocked my drop away rest with the arrow stuck between the rest and riser! @#$%@@# When I let down to fix this #$@%%^ mess the bull saw movement and bolted. I drew again and stopped him with a nervous grunt but he only offered a poor angle for a shot. I did shoot a bull that day and was happy to have some meat for the freezer on the last day I had to hunt. The six point would have been much nicer but any bull I harvest deserves all the respect I can muster. I was also very happy to have my good friend Twinkieman help in giving said bull a free backpack ride to the trailhead. When we went in that evening to pack, Twinkieman came soooo close to taking the herd bull but a spike blew the whole deal. Anyway, that is my story of things gone wrong but it still came out alright.

[Brendan]

Moving below a bedding area in the morning - let out a location bugle and had a bull respond maybe 500 yards away. Began working in closer and got to a point where I thought I was in heavy enough cover, and it looked like I might have difficulty getting closer to where I thought he was - so started with some whiny cow calling. Bull was "interested" but then everything went quiet.

What I didn't know - the area in front of me was a small ridge elevated above me, with the bull (I think) on the other side. The bull had come to the top of that rise and was looking down into the area where I was for evidence of the cow. Not hearing anything for 10-15 minutes, I made the choice to begin creeping closer. Bull was watching, saw me, whirled and took off. And he was a PIG.

In retrospect: I needed to be closer before I started my cow calling. He had elevation on me, and the area I was in was more open than I'd thought - so he could sit back waiting to see the cow. I guess I just need to get better at closing the distance quickly and quietly as I've dealt with my share of "hang ups".

[Brendan]

Second one from me from Wyoming this year. I also had something similar happen to me in Montana in 2014.

Mid to late afternoon I'm sitting in a creek bottom field on a log, listening to a bull growl and bugle on and off on a steep, thick, nasty north facing slope on the other side of a creek. I'm trying to figure out if he has cows, or it's a lone bull just sounding off as the rut was really picking up. I'm trying to figure out how the hell I could get up there and work my way in. My pack is off, my bow is next to me leaning against the log, no arrow nocked, and I decide to let out a couple cow calls to see if I could get the bull interested in coming over.

Well, it worked. I hear crashing as a small bull comes out of the woods and through the stream heading my way. And I wasn't ready. Scrambled to get an arrow nocked, range a tree real quickly and came to full draw as he came in to 24 yards frontal. Would have been an easy shot for me if I was more ready and calm, but with the surprise and the adrenaline, I couldn't get my pin steady. He saw me flinch and bolted.

If you're going to call - you have to be ready and assume a bull could come in at any minute. It might be your only chance so you better be ready to make the most of it.

[Swede]

You guys really make me feel better about my mistakes.