encounter kill ratio

[foxvalley]

Just curious to see how many elk encounters,under 100 yds, that you have, before you kill one. As a general rule,on average.

[Lefty]

100 yards !!!
three years
elk 139 : 1
Bulls 25:1
6x6 bulls 8:1

one cow kill
2; 6x6 arrow release
At least the elk Ive seen

[foxvalley]

100 yards !!!
three years
elk 139 : 1
Bulls 25:1
6x6 bulls 8:1

one cow kill
2; 6x6 arrow release
At least the elk Ive seen

Ok, maybe 100 yds is too general. How about under 60 yards,and only elk that you are either calling to,or sneaking in on, an encounter where you are actually hunting them. ie. close calls.

[shooter21]

Under 60 is good cause its a potential kill.Last year i passed around 10 legal bulls just let them walk messed up at least 6 encounters on shooter bulls .And who know how many spikes and cows i called in at least 3 solo spikes and cows well over 50 in range .And this was my first year to eat tag soup lol Got greedy wanting a big bull !

[Lefty]

The first year I hunted; 3 years ago I had a herd of 54 pass buy at 45-55 yards , I could have picked and chose any I wanted to shoot,.. But I was limiting my shots to closer than that Hmm the three big bulls peeled off before they got to me All shootable for most guys and for me too now
A 6x6 at 11 yards and all his 4girl friends , I had a cow and a calf I really could have touched them( next time I will)

The next year I restricted my self I had a herd of 8 bulls ,.. lets just say I had a bad case of too close to too many big bulls,.. a good hunter with composure could have put any of them on the ground18-35 yards
Next encounter 3 cows 12-17 yards,.. after the kill hauling out the cow I jumped two 330 plus bulls Jumped at 25 yards first dstop was at 35
Last year a herd walked by,.. I was ready to shoot the last cow and waited and messed up on the bull All 53 yards and under a calf at 13, cow at 14
So counting encounters instread of elk

5 encounter in three years ,
One shot cow (two arrows because I could
One letdown on a 6x6 27 yards when it turned. clear shot was gone
Shot at a 11 yards hit the G5 and main beam
And last year I sent an arrow low,. mis-used my pin

[MTLongdraw]

Last year was my first year bow hunting elk. 1st encounter was with a 5 point bull. We bugled him off the hill and he stopped and looked us in the eyes at about 50 yards. I was so amazed at how they can pin point you three minutes after your last bugle. Then he walked to 32 yards and stopped with his vitals behind a tree. I wouldn't shoot because all I had was a shoulder blade. My wifes uncle shot him at 29 yards, I was 5 feet to his left and 3 yards behind. It's crazy what a few feet can do in bow hunting. It really is a game of inches.

My second encounter was a spot and stalk issue. I was by myself. I had spotted two elk that appeared to be butting heads from about a mile away. When I got down there all I saw was a lone cow walking right at me. Then all of a sudden I started hearing loud squeels. After waiting a few minutes the cow never showed herself. Thinking I was seeing things and that they were cows I started telling myself I was going to take a cow if I could get a shot. As I started looking through the timber with my binos I saw horns. Then out of the bottom of my glasses as I went to take them down I saw the horns go down and heard the squeel again. I looked up once again to see two bulls butting heads. At this time I was in a small patch of timber and they were in the open grass ridges on the outskirts of it. Those two bulls were in a full out battle and it was an incredible sight. I got down to 21 yards before they busted me. I needed to make my way around 1 tree for the clear shot. I guess I needed them to stop moving back and forth too. They would cover about 10 yards at a time as they pushed and shoved. As I started to draw back they busted me, stopped fighting, and ran to about 45 yards. They stopped and looked back but all I had was a neck shot as they had crested the ridge and started downhill. The cows were still there at about 55 yard with no idea what was going on. If I had to have that over again I think I could have done things more patient and possibly had a different outcome, but all I know is that was an amazing specticle. I had a hard time even composing myself a little bit.

I still don't understand why two bulls would fight when their are two cows standing 30 yards away

Then about an hour later I was bugling again trying to catch up with the two that had just ran. I was getting a response from what sounded like a heard bull ( I could hear lots of cows too). Then as soon as the bugling started it stopped and I heard crashing timber coming right to me. I set up on a timbered ridge and waited. Next thing I knew it was behind me then down below me. I turned around to see a black flash sprint below me. Still to this day I think it was a wolf. That would have been a heck of trophy with a bow....

This ends my story.

At this point I will consider myself 0 for 5

[foxvalley]

We usually have 1 encounter, on average, in the morning, as the elk seem to using the same ereas every year. About every other day we will have an evening encounter going back down to camp. We always seem to be limited on time when this happens. Last year I had about 7 encounters,pulled my bow back once.No shots. 7 encounters 0 elk. Two years ago, the first year with the compounds, we had about 5 encounters and killed 2 bulls.