Those Darn Bulls! Encounter # 1

[ElkNut1]

Well, to date we've had quite a few encounters mostly with herd bulls. There are a couple Satellites as well but I'll focus on ones that come to mind first & what the outcome was. Hopefully ones can appreciate what we all go through everyear in the elkwoods, especially newer ones. (grin) I already shared the story where my son accidentally pulled the trigger on his release at a bull called into 15 yards & the story he finally tagged a 6-point! So here's another!

Encounter # 1 - Running At The Bull!

I believe this one was on Sept 3rd. We had left at 1/2 hour before daylight & started straight up the mountain, near daylight we heard a distant bugle well above us, this encouraged us to push harder & with more eagerness! (grin) The bull was well over a 1/4 mile away & was heading to his bedding area which was unknown to us. It was light at this time around 6:30 a.m. - We continued on up the mountain without hearing that bull again, we had no idea which way he had gone so started side-hilling towards the north east as we picked up some fairly fresh elk tracks, it appeared to be 4-6 animals. It was a drizzly day so fresher tracks were easier to tell that the older rained in ones. As we side-hilled we would give off a location bugle every 1/4 mile or so in an effort to receive a response from a bull. Around 10:30 a.m. we hit paydirt & received a response from aprox 600 yards away, it sounds like a good bull. The mountainside is very steep with an occasional bench & heavily timbered as well as very brushy with willow & alder thickets. When elk are in those thickets it's a real pain trying to get them out or or getting to them by busting through the thickets yourself.

We moved forward side-hilling towards the bugle, the bull bugled a 2nd time on his own helping us with the needed direction. After 400 yards or so of covering ground as quickly as we could we hit the great wall of china! (grin) The dreaded alder/willow thickets that are unbelievably thick! They are 8' to 12' high & grow inches apart for those that are not familiar with them, nearly un-penetrable. The last thing we wanted was to go through it, there is really no getting around them either as they are unending up & down once you hit these thickets. We decided to call to the bull from there to see his attitude, if we could get him going with bugling then switch to cow calls then it would be worth a shot! We did just that! After a solid minute of sporadic cow mews & whines we finally got him to bugle them, this is not unusual early season.

Now that we had his attention we decided to cow call our way to him, this was a 200 yard feat that we've never done before with such a great distance & the noise we'd make in our efforts to get to him. We sounded like a derailed train going through that god awful thicket. It took us nearly 20 minutes to cover the 200 yards, fortunately the bull was bugling & chuckling regularly as we kept up the cow calling & moving so slow his way. We needed the direction too as you cannot see anything in this stuff, it was only the bulls sound that guided us towards him. We were giving him what he was asking for, he wanted the cows to come to him!

As we neared his sound we saw the thicket was ending & getting more open, I was shooter this day so nocked an arrow before exiting but still keeping a bit of cover for concealment, I gave two low mews, the bull screamed a bugle in my face at what I estimated to be 30 yards from my ears, I felt this was it & this running at the bull was going to work again! Once I heard the bugle I had his sound pegged, I stepped out ready for the arrow to fly & the first thing I see is a cow, then another & another, all 3 were standing in front of my hard earned prize! He was standing behind all 3 in all his 6 point glory! It was a standoff for about 30 full seconds then the lead cow started moving quickly away in side-hill fashion away from me, the other two followed on cue as did the bull never giving me a shot in the mix. I tried stopping him just for a second with a loud cow whine, he didn't buy it for a second! (grin) He walked right out of my life!

We had executed everything perfectly including monitoring the wind, I thought we had him dead to rights! Oh well that's elk hunting, you win some & lose some! (grin) It was a memory builder for sure!

ElkNut1

[powderhogg01]

that would be so exciting. Today I was working my way over the backside of a mountain which I suspected some elk to be on the other side of. I had to go all the way around the mountain(no easy feat) in order to get the wind in my favor to slip into to where I suspected the elk to be. As I approached the saddle I found a series of 4 elk beds, they were warm to the touch, despite being in the shade for at least an hour, this told me they were close. I dropped to my knee and let out the softest cow chirp my imaka da bull crazy call could muster and was immediately responded by a vulgar scream in my face. I hurried and knocked an arrow, no sooner had I got it on the string I saw the tines coming my way through the pines. Thinking "today is the day" I range the opening he is heading to at 20 yards. He steps into the "doorway" I had seconds ago ranged and gives me the worst angle possible. ALL SHOULDER. he sat at this funky angle and never allowed me a chance, the wind kicked up the wrong way and he was gone as fast as he had come. I figured since the wind would be in my favor on the other side of the saddle I pursued, giving chase I let out a bugle just on the other side, he responded but I could tell he had already covered ground and I would never catch up.. I headed to the truck feeling a little more confident in my calling. If the wind had not swirled I feel very good that bull would have stepped out looking my me and would have given up a good shot.

[Lefty]

These stories are always a good way for me to experience learning opportunities.
Thanks

[Charina]

Those darn cows! Great plan, bad luck of positioning. Exciting stuff.

[ElkNut1]

Thanks guys! Yes that's why it's great to share encounters on the Forum, all can prosper by them even if they pick up just one small tip bit from our stories!

powderhogg01--great info & encounter there, that sure would still get this old heart pumping! (grin) Thanks!

ElkNut1