Tree Saddle Bull

[Elkhunttoo]

Im not sure how many people have ever shot a bull elk out of a DIY (do it yourself) Tree Saddle but im now on that list.

I ended up getting last week from Wednesday through Saturday off. I have two man tree stands i was planning on sitting. One is in a saddle and one on water. i planned on sitting the saddle for the AM and the water in the PM. Wednesday morning in the saddle i could hear a bull "grunting" out on the sage brush side on the mountain. There is a few bedding areas on that side with some small timber and aspen spots and i could tell he was getting farther away from me and probable going to one of those areas and would not be working his way up to me. That was the only thing i heard until Saturday morning. On Friday when i got to the water i had deer all around the water and an cow elk had been to the water around 6am but in the dark. At least i knew there was an elk on the mountain and it made that sit a little more entertaining.

My wife (Jessica) came up Friday night and we woke up early Saturday to be in the stand by shooting light. We were about 10 minutes behind schedule. When my wife is with me she sits in the stand in the saddle and i have a diy tree saddle that is about 120-150 yards away on some traveling trails on the timbered side of the mountain. When i got in my saddle that morning i was compilating my $40-50 buck i had saved by making my own tree saddle instead of buying a nice comfortable one. I was thinking to myself "buy once cry once"...instead i get to cry for a few hours at a time in my semi-comfortable (at best) home made thingy i put together. My wife had called me on the radio only a few minutes into our sit and told me she could hear the same grunting bull i had heard a few days before and that he was chuckling every 10 minutes or so with lots of grunts and some glunking. i had seen a fresh elk track on the trail between my wife and i when i was walking over to my stand in the morning. My wife hearing the bull and me seeing the fresh track had me feeling good about elk starting to move more into the area. I was pondering how i didnt really like my set up and that i needed to move trees. I had decided that around 10, i would get down and look at the shooting lanes for a tree that i felt would be better positioned for the season. At 0856 i heard a bugle from out in front of me and down below my wife. With this bugle i figured maybe we needed to stay in our stands a bit longer that morning.

Around 9:20 a heard some loud braking behind me that could only mean one thing. Elk were coming my way....I grabbed my bow and tried to position myself as fast as i could to where i could shoot. Once again i had to cuss myself because of my diy saddle is just harder to move in. About 20 seconds after i heard braking i could see the first cow come into view. She is about 25 yards behind me and to my left. She is on a trail that is going to put her about 8-10 yards from me on my left. This is the closest of the trails to me and the main trail. Than i see the second cow, than a calf, then nothing. They are coming at a trot but slow to a walk when the first cows gets paralleled to me. About this time i see a bull come into view trotting on the next trail up that is about 20 yards from me. He turns and starts towards the cows. I think is what had happened was this was a younger bull and feeling the rut he was just pushing these cows. As he started towards the cows i have the thought. "if they stay on this trail they will go right to Jessica" ...."do i let them pass by and hope they go to her or do i try and shoot" ....Ultimately in that short short amount of a second or so i decided i needed to try and take a shot because they might take one of the several other trails and not go by her. I gave 3 loud cow calls with just my mouth, The bull locked up faster then i thought he would. I was already at full draw. When the bull locked up he quartered to me way more than i thought he would. "Oh No" maybe he his going to my Jessica. In a brief moment i put my pin in front of the shoulder and thought maybe i have room, then i put it right behind the shoulder and felt i had plenty of room to tuck it in and SMACK...When they are only12-13 yards away it doesnt take the arrow long to get there. I watched the arrow burry all the way in...........I have to go for a bit but i will get back to this story in a bit

[Swede]

Dang! We always get those commercial breaks just when the story gets intense. This is going to be a two-soda pop story. I will get another and be ready.

[Elkhunttoo]

Alright Im back....

I started cow calling immediately after the shot. As i watched the arrow i knew instantly that this bull was hit good. he jumped and went a few steps and then started walking/trotting until i couldnt see him any more. He was heading strait towards Jessica. From the sound i didnt think he quite made it to her when i heard him go down. My wife came on the radio and said "nice shot!" I asked if she saw him and she said when he got to her she came to full draw not knowing what all had happened. She had heard my cow calls and some braking and that was all she knew at the time. So, she was at full draw when the bull got to her. She said she could see his whole side was blood and the he was going down. The bull stumbled into the trees right by her and went down. This made the tracking job super easy. I got down from my stand and followed the bulls tracks over to my wife anyway just to see what the trail was like. It was good blood and easy to follow. When i got to my wife we talked for a bit. She had debated if she should have shot him or not but where she could see he was going down she decided not too. Then we made our way down to the bull. The rest of the day was spent braking the bull down and getting the entire carcass as far away from the stand as we could. It was a great day in the elk woods and we cant wait to get back up there and hopefully my wife can have an opportunity also.

[Elkhunttoo]

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[Elkhunttoo]

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I’m still in my stand point right where he was at. You can see his tracks by my finger

[Elkhunttoo]

On a side note i have to give a shout out to Montec M3 broadheads. I still have the exact same set up as i had 2 years ago when i shot the big bull at 23 yards with the hybrid broadhead. 2 years ago the bull i shot was standing completely broadside to me and ever so slightly quartered away. I only got about 5-6 inches of penetration. The bull lived just fine which was a blessing, but he should've been a dead bull with a quick recovery.

The bull this year my broadhead had one blade go through the shoulder blade, broke a rib on the entre side, and broke a rib on the exit. Same bow, same arrow, only a different head. Of course there are there are thousands of other factors and i get that. But this was conformation for me that i will always use a good solid fixed blade broadhead.

[Swede]

Excellent story Elkhunt. In case you are interested; where I hunt it is pretty easy to get a bear over the gut pile of your elk.