Wildest elk encounter

[Lefty]

Or two or three.
Maybe it was the night sitting in a wood box blind and a bull smacked the box after blowing snot on my face. Or the first bull I called in, charged in like a herd of elephants.
Or was it the day I had a bachelor bunch of 8 bulls stroll into the tank I was sitting at. Could have been the single bull with 54 cows and calves that ran around with his eyes rolling like a bronc with a bucking strap too tight. Or the herd of near 60 the gently walked past at 40 yards( at that time beyond my shooting distance) the bull just got bigger and bigger.
Lets hear them, there has got to be some better stories

[Swede]

That is a hard question, but I think it was the time my son and I had about 8-10 branch bulls checking our location out. My son's friend killed a bull there in the morning, and we got ours that evening.
Maybe it was the time I killed a branched bull very near to where another hunter was, while his wife was waiting for him less than 100 yards away. The other hunter tried to talk me into thinking the elk left the area. Olympushunt was about 3 years old at the time. It was a long time ago.

[Brendan]

My first year hunting. About 8-10 miles into a 15 mile day on my 6th day hunting. 2:00 in the afternoon coming down a dry, hot, open south facing slope. Temps in the mid to high 60's. Feeling sunburned, tired and blistered, feeling a little frustrated because obviously no Elk would be stupid enough to hang out here like me. Climb up over a rock as I'm descending down the hill to a cooler bottom, trip, and crash to the ground making a whole ton of noise. I'm swearing under my breath, ready to throw my bow, but little did I know - I'd come down to the head of a stream with a small, cool pocket of trees off to my right about 30 yards. That's when I heard a Big bugle, real close.

I froze trying to decide what to do, and it was too late. A BIG herd bull came strolling out of the trees straight at me, as I sat pinned in the open without an arrow on the string. 30 Yards, 20 Yards, 15 Yards, 10 Yards. Still coming straight at me. At this point, I figured he was going to walk right over me so started slowly moving my hand to get an arrow on the string and he froze. I got to see the confident king of the woods expression on his face change as he realized there was a hunter right in front of him. He whirled and took off FAST from a distance of less than 10 yards.

Biggest bull I've seen in the woods, closest bull I've seen, and definitely the coolest encounter. Just wish I'd had the presence of mind to quickly nock an arrow and come to full draw when I heard the bugle

[six]

Hard to pick just one.

Encounter #1

It was my very first elk encounter. After a 24 hour drive and a very restless nights sleep my partner and I heard a bugle as we were leaving camp for our first ever elk hunt. I ran for cover and my partner started cow calling. I literally though I was going to be ran over as branches were breaking and rocks were rolling down the hill. The bull ran up to the opposite side of a spruce tree I was hiding behind. He walked off to my left and caught my scent. Shooting lane was on the right.

Encounter #2

My partner and I called in a bull from 400 + yards away. He hung up at about 80 yards due to an unseen ditch he couldn’t cross. We had him so worked up he was bugling, raking trees, and pleasuring himself (I didn’t know they could do that).

Encounter #3

We got caught in a thunder and lightning storm. Soaking wet we went back to camp for some warm food and dry cloths. By the time we made it back to camp the sun was out. My soup had just started to boil when we heard a bugle. My partner said it as from the north so off we went. We went to where we thought it was and set up with some cow calling. We got no response so I left and went back toward camp. I thought the bugle was from the south anyway. I got back to camp and while I was standing by the truck I let out a bugle. I got an immediate response from where we had carried our camp too about 75 yards away. “holy $h!t he’s in our camp”. I knocked and arrow and hid behind the truck just as he stepped out of the tree line. With no time to range and it being the first elk I had ever shot at I set an arrow about a foot over his back. His tracks were 15 feet from our tent. Still the biggest bull I have ever seen.

[Tigger]

The first bull I called in that came in on the run. He, uh, wasn't real happy with me and it showed. He was kinda crabby if you ask me. But he got to within 12 yards of my buddy (but no shot opportunity). We relive that moment often.

[Chad924]

For an easterner the way I hunt nearly every encounter seems to be just a bit crazy but one sticks out over the rest. It was 2011 and my third trip out all diy archer elk in CO and on the third day I was calling for my partner as I had tagged out early on a rainy dreary day with little visibility when we got a bull a little ticked when I bugled a little close to him and his cows. Being green and not sure what to do we chased him hard crashing through the windfall after him. Thinking he had gotten away from us I locate bugled and looked up at about 80 yards and a small 4 point came running straight at me. Luckily by chance the shooter was downwinfnof me and I just was on all fours in ther weeds then the bull stopped just a few feet from me and the shooter couldn't shoot because he would have been shooting right at me the bull got nervous and busted outta there. Still kinda on cloud 9 we were just taking it all in for a total of 20 seconds and we heard another bugled out 1/4 mile away or so and quickly headed outta there after him. As we closed the distance we heard a calf mewing every breath just down below a rock cliff that we were on top of and quickly realized the bull was under the cliff too. The wind was blowing from the bull straight up the cliff so I thought we was in a good position to make a play so we quickly ran down the top of the cliff where it started to peter out and I set the shooter right at the end of the cliff and I moved off just 10 yards right behind him. I told Jamie if that calf comes in and he wanted to whack it that's fine but if he lets it go by him I'm gonna run it off cause I didn't want it in between us jacking things up.

Again the wind wa sblowing straight up the cliff so there was no chance the elk could smell us from below the cliff so I screamed off a bugle and instantly the bull (less than 100 yards) instantly sounded off but this calf was coming in making more noise than I had ever imagined and as soon as it came by Jamie at 5 yards and was on the bench I was on I ran straight at it to get it away from our action as fast as possible. When the bull heard this other bull (me) running this calf round he saw red and it didn't take long to figure out what was about to happen. With Jamie ready and no possible way for this bull to circle downwind (unless it could climb rock cliff) he was going to pop out at 10 yards from the shooter and I was close enough to see the shot as well. As I could hear the rocks rolling beneath the Bulls feet I saw Jamie draw and to my surprise he was aiming out the rock cliff and he shot. What the hell just happened I thought as I heard the bull crashing away. Quickly I went to the shooter and got the scoop and this bull had decided there was no way he was going to come in upwind decided he was going to go straight up the cliff near vertical to get downwind of me. Jamie was caught off guard and in a bad spot and tried to squeeze an arrow through a small tree at the bull at 10 yards and was certain he hit it but uncertain of the shot. As we were setting there I decided to run back for the top of the cliff 300 yards or so to get our packs and when I got up there a bull sounded off from below the cliff. I instantly eased out to edge of the cliff and could see the bull below the cliff and could tell he was a little ill from the shot. I ran back down to get my partner and we snuck up to where I was when I last saw him hoping for another shot and he was still there bugling once in every minute or so. Once were there the range was 70 yard line of sight so Jamie made another shot as the bull was sneaking away and he got a good him that time.

I leaned then that a bull will circle down wind of a caller at almost any cost and since then that instinct has gotten a few bulls killed that I have been part of. That was an awesome hunt and I could tell several other stories that to me were nearly as exciting. When u call these bulls in you better get ready for something interesting to happen sadly the bull wins as much as we do but what a sport and it has me going back nearly yearly.

[N2mywake]

We've had some intense hunts but for me it was my first bull in 2009. It was our last day of the hunt, we did a rough hike pre-daylight trying to get my dad setup on a bull. He wanted to stop 3/4 of the way to the top and wait for us, we convinced him to press on. We got into a herd at first light but couldn't get the herd bull in range before he started taking his cows away from us. We thought all was lost. I convinced by dad and buddy to try to keep him bugling and I gave pursuit down the mountain moving every time I could hear him sound off at their calls. During the decent I was able to slide between the bulls and the cows (the cows being downwind ) that was a game changer. Once I realized I started frantically cow calling and pulled a sat 5x5 bull in to 10 yards broadside. He took 2 steps and fell. Dad and John said when they heard my ML go off it sounded miles away, I had gone near a mile from where I started. I can't describe that feeling other than it ruined me. that pack job though...

BULL The team.jpg (116.72 KiB) Viewed 6668 times

[olympushunt]

Olympushunt was about 3 years old at the time. It was a long time ago.

Hey! What are you trying to say! I'm not THAT old yet.
Ya...I remember all those bulls that came in that evening. That was pretty cool. There are too many wild stories to recount. The time we were camping in our tent and 3 or 4 bulls were lighting off in the middle of the night and I was close to opening the tent door and yelling "SHUT UP!!! A GUY CAN"T GET ANY SLEEP AROUND HERE!" Or the time Swede you missed the old road deck after dark and ended up being late getting back to the rig. I was concerned as you are not ever late getting back and it was an hour past dark, so I went to the edge of the canyon to bugle hoping to get a response from you. I figured I could rip a bugle louder than holler your name. I blasted that canyon with a bugle....and got like 4 bulls lighting off. DOH! One of my favorite crazies was when we left to go hunt Friday after you got off work. I was just a kid and was prone to asking kid type questions. We got to our destination well after dark and we decided to just pull off the side road we were on and throw the sleeping bags out on the ground forgoing the tent. It was just a wide spot in the road but we laid down and proceeded to try and sleep. I was excited and asked Swede...."How far away do you think the nearest elk is? A mile? 10 miles???? A dumb kid question but I had no longer finished my sentence when a whole herd of elk came running down the road deck a few feet away. Swede in his typical dry fashion just utters...."Does that answer your question?" lol.....I don't think I slept a wink that night.

[Swede]

I remember those days too Oly. Good times for sure. I don't know if you remember the next question you asked me as we lay in our sleeping bags on the old closed road that night. "Do elk see in the dark?" They were close and moving our way fast.
We all have asked the "dumb" questions. Really the only questions that are dumb are the ones a person keeps asking again and again. That was never Oly's problem. Oly's questions were simple back then and could be handled with ease. Now they are too complicated, so I just say, "That is such a dumb question even your mother knows the answer, and she is no hunter." "Now go to sleep."

[olympushunt]

I remember those days too Oly. Good times for sure. I don't know if you remember the next question you asked me as we lay in our sleeping bags on the old closed road that night. "Do elk see in the dark?" They were close and moving our way fast.
We all have asked the "dumb" questions. Really the only questions that are dumb are the ones a person keeps asking again and again. That was never Oly's problem. Oly's questions were simple back then and could be handled with ease. Now they are too complicated, so I just say, "That is such a dumb question even your mother knows the answer, and she is no hunter." "Now go to sleep."

Ah....the wise words one can only hear from his dad. lol

[Elkduds]

1982ish, northwest of Gunnison, a mid-Sept afternoon. My coworker PJ has an archery elk tag. I'm toting my 12 gauge, after grouse. He is over yonder somewhere while I walk along a cow trail between patches of dense lodgepole. I hear a squeaky bugle in the timber patch ahead. Where's PJ? I whistle softly, hoping he will show up. Instead the bull strolls out of the timber, 80 yards ahead, coming along the same trail I'm walking.

I step behind a tree, and attempt a lame mouth bugle. "OuuuuweEE uh uh uh." The raghorn squeals back and closes the gap between us faster. I realize I've never been this close to an elk, and this one is just about in my lap. Where the hell is PJ, can't he hear all this? I whistle loud through my fingers. The bull stops @ 10 yds, between me and the clearing he just crossed. @ some point I got a nose full of pungent, haircurling musk, a smell I've never forgotten. In fact,now I spend every fall trying to get another nosefull.

I spent 10 min within 50 yards of this bull. When I stepped out from behind my tree when he was 10 feet away, ready to shoot him in the face if he charged. I doubted he would, but he was that close. He stopped and smelled me, but didn't bolt. He slowly turned and started back the way he came. I resumed whistling and called PJ by name. No reply. When the raghorn crossed the clearing and was entering his timber patch, I gave another mouth bugle. He wheeled on his heels and came charging back @ me. He began crisscrossing the clearing between us. I thought he was challenging me, later I learned he was trying to catch my scent. I worked the bull like a yo-yo, calling him back to my timber patch, then hollering for PJ while he strutted back and forth across the clearing. PJ didn't show til sunset, the bull strolled off toward other bugles back among the golden aspens, and elk forever replaced deer as my autumn fixation that afternoon.

[ishy]

I think my favorite was in late September, I was hunting solo in a new area. I wasn't impressed and was just contemplating back to my truck to make another spot before dark. I decided to eat and bugle before making tracks, sure enough I got a response fairly close. After the usual bantering he decided to head my way. I was on a little logged knoll with little around except a couple trees and a small bush about my height right in front of me. He was just a little 2x3, and came out of the trees and just kept heading right at me (knowing today about the frontal shot this would have ended different). 50, 40, 30, 10...he walks right up to the bush that I am behind and bugles and proceeds to let the little bush have it. My heart is beyond jumping out my chest and I can't belief he isn't hearing it or my breathing. I figure if he goes to my left I should have a split second to draw while he's behind the trees. After he's had his fill of the bush he goes left and I start to draw. As soon as I do I notice more resistance than normal and I see a twig caught in my bottom cam and let down and try to get drawn as quickly as possible. A cow has now come out and watching my movement begins to bark. The bull runs and I try to stop him with a mew, and it stops him but not at a good angle. Not the ending we all hope for, but one of my favorite times in the woods for sure.

[CurlyTail]

Second year Elk Huning. The first year had multiple close encounters, and frequent Elk sightings, but no shot opportunities - My partner and I had about convinced ourselves that shooting and Elk with a bow was darn near impossible.

Opening day, we were up most of the night discussing strategy, mostly - would we shoot a cow, or hold out for a bull. We decided to shoot first legal Elk.

Bumped a Black Bear with 3 cubs in the dark on the way up the mountain. Bumped 2 raghorn Bulls as well.

Got to our spot , a saddle and natural pinch point , and set down. On the ground not 5 feet from me was a perfect condition 6 point shed - a good omen for sure. And my first shed!

Not 20 minutes had passed when two cow elk crossed the pass - on the far side from us and out of range. We moved to the center of the pass (getting smarter). Gave a couple soft call cows - answered by cows below us. Up the trail comes two nice cows. They cross in front of us perfectly at 30 yards, and my partner comes to full draw ; At that moment I hear hoof beats of a large herd getting close. I whisper urgently "don't shoot!", just as he releases his arrow at the cow elk (first legal Elk per our midnight discussion), and drills it dead center in the heart. His first Elk! His first animal with a bow!

10 seconds later, a 320ish Herd Bull, comes over the rise, and watches the cow Elk drop and roll a couple of somersaults downhill. A herd of 30+ cows, calves, spikes, and raghorns then stampede through the pass not 10 yards from our location. As the big herd bull passes, I cow call, and he stops and stares at us , broadside and no more than 10 yards away for at least 10 seconds, before crossing the pass with the others. No shot as I did not have a permit, and my partner had just filled his.

In a brief moment we felt multiple emotions - elation, anguish, awe, disappointment - in quick succession. And I have had "Elk fever" ever since. Took us newbies 3 hours to skin and quarter this cow, and 3 trips of get the meat out - the most painful fun we had ever experienced. All those emotions faded quickly except the elation and the awe which persist in my brain years later. That was a wild introduction to Elk hunting.