What Should You Do, Number ?? (lost track)

[WapitiTalk1]

You've followed what you believe to be a nice bull since daylight. It's now late morning, 23 September, of the second to the last day of your southern Montana archery elk hunt. The bull has bugled regularly, seemingly moving with his small herd to bed down somewhere up the mountain side. You've kept well off to the left side for the past hour, anticipating the thermals would soon change and start carrying your scent uphill to the elk. Finally, the elk seem to bed and you start a slow stalk, on the same elevation, using available terrain and foliage for concealment. As you cautiously rise up on your knees and peer over a small rise, you see a very nice bull bedded 30ish yards dead ahead. You are to the left where the yellow arrow points and have a clear shooting lane. There are five or six cows on the other side of the bull from you where the red arrow points. Several cows are bedded but a few are standing. At that moment when you’re digesting the information, a smaller bull a hundred yards or so below the herd bugles and the bedded bull cuts him off with a nasty warning. The cows you see also look down the hill. With the information you have at this point, what should/would you do to try to put a bull to bed for good?

Bedded Bull.jpg (29.83 KiB) Viewed 6555 times

[otcWill]

30 yards? I'm drawing, hit him with a nervous grunt and stick him when he stands. Unless I've got a shot already. I've got no problem shooting an elk in its bed given the opportunity. Not a situation to over think. Time to act

[tdiesel]

Kinda agree with OTC 30 yards I am very confident of where my arrow is going and with that close leg forward I'm gonna plug him in his bed into off side shoulder he won't go far

[cnelk]

Piece 'o cake. Thats the situation we practice for.

I shot the below bull in his bed.
The key to success on that day was I had arrow nocked while slipping thru the timber.
Saw him bedded at 12yds, drew and stuck him.
He struggled to get up and I stuck him again.
He never got up

[GetemDuck]

If I'm over his left side where the yellow arrow is, then I will be pulling a second arrow from my quiver so I can quickly reload after the first arrow sinks in. From the location of the yellow arrow I can hit his vitals where he lays and he will never have a clue what hit him he will stand and offer a nice second shot if needed. I have take deer while bedded just shoot lower then normal and they normally never get up but if the elk does I'll be ready

[>>>---WW---->]

I'm not against shooting one on the bed either. But this just looks like a bad angle to me. I have all the time in the world. Sooner or later the bull will get up to check his cows for estrus. They have a habit of doing that during the rut. If not that, the other bull you mentined may just tick him off enough to make him stand. Either way I'm ready. No need to push it.

[elkmtngear]

I'm seeing the bull as quartering to the side where the yellow arrow is pointing. I would not take that shot.

I'm with the "nervous grunt" crowd. Chances seem better to get a good shot angle if he stands up to investigate.

It sounds like a "transition wind" situation (which usually means "swirly"), so I wouldn't want to chance waiting it out for him to tend his cows.

Oh yeah, and of course, I would have "slipped in" with my decoy deployed, so I would be ahead of it, and try to direct my bark back toward it

[Swede]

That bull is so old and sinewy that you would have to floss your teeth for an hour after chewing on even a backstrap. He has been run hard and put away wet so much lately you could not pound a knife into a steak off him. Look for a shot at one of the fat cows he has been caring for. Otherwise shoot the satellite if you can get an opportunity.

[WapitiTalk1]

That bull is so old and sinewy that you would have to floss your teeth for an hour after chewing on even a backstrap. He has been run hard and put away wet so much lately you could not pound a knife into a steak off him. Look for a shot at one of the fat cows he has been caring for. Otherwise shoot the satellite if you can get an opportunity.

LOL, was waiting for someone to mention the raggedy condition of that old guy (should have guessed it would be Swede) It may be just a few hundred pounds of jerky and stew meat but man, that is a nice old white tipped rack. OK, it's a three point or better bull area.. Are you still gonna take your chances with the satellite?

[Swede]

Phantom16: I was just trying to divert your attention so I could get a decent shot at him. I wouldn't want you in the way hyperventilating.

[JJ Overkill]

im having a hard time really seeing the bull from the point of the arrow, I cant really figure out what that far side would look like, but if it turned out I had a good quartering to shot, im taking it. but for an honest answer I don't know for sure right now. if I didn't have the shot I wanted id probably sit tight and wait for him to get up, unless I was forced to make a play.

[WapitiTalk1]

Phantom16: I was just trying to divert your attention so I could get a decent shot at him. I wouldn't want you in the way hyperventilating.

I thought, just for a second, that elkmtngear had deployed his new prototype that getemduck spotted in one of cnelk's picture threads. That would make anybody hyperventilate in the elk woods ..

Anyone else? Would you do anything differently than what was offered in this situation?

[RockChucker30]

If I've got a shot, I'm shooting. If I don't have a shot but can reposition to get a shot while staying out of sight and be silent and quick, I'd do that. If neither of those seem like good options then I'd give a nervous grunt to try to get him to stand.

Reasoning:

A bird in the hand....if you've got a shot don't risk losing it by waiting for him to stand or trying to force him to stand. If you don't have a shot but can move to a place where you will without the cows seeing you then do it (especially since they're all looking off the hill at the satellite). If neither of those will work then force him to stand before the wind swirls, but you risk him moving fast and facing you head on, then you're in a pickle.