Part 2 Of Back Country Elk Hunt

[Kessler10]

Let me tee this story up by saying thanks to who now is become a friend of mine Saddlesore (Vince) for all his help and advice for this hunt. Could not have done it without him. As well as many others on this site, to many to name them all (Joe, Brenden, Trav, Rory, Elknut, etc)

3rd morning of my hunt with my cousin (cousin was not carrying a bow, just there to help and hunt with his camera).
Spent the morning working the higher meadows and listening. ran into one bull glunking on the other side of some trees but could not pull him away.
Made our way to just above a nice drainage. Let out a location bugle. got a very faint response that sounded far off. Looked at my cousin and said we will come back later for that one, he is way over there, but we know where he is. this was about 930AM. but Figured we would hang tight and see if I could get him to keep bulging back. He did. I then decided to maybe get a bit more aggressive with my bugle and see what happens. I put my locator diaphram away and brought out "the reaper" and let out an angry challenge bugle. this time he bugled back and it did sound a bit closer, but still away off. Sat for another 5 minutes bugling back at each other until finally I was certain he was getting closer. I stripped down to the bare essentials, used some cover scent, looked at my cousin and said "this bull is coming, this is it"

My strategy was to move slowly toward the bugle, and let out a challenge bugle about every hundred yards, to show this bull I was not afraid of him and was willing to fight it out. hoping this would get him angry and want to come find me at any cost.
This meant we had to dip into the north facing slop which I knew was a bedding area. I did not want to go to deep into that area so moved very slowly toward the bugle. We started getting into thicker stuff and I knew shooting lanes will be a problem if we kept going. All the sudden the loudest bugle i have ever heard interrupted my internal strategy planning. Knew he was coming in quick and had closed the last 1/4 mile quickly. My cousin did not know how to call so I told him to get behind me and start raking a tree. I walked up about 20 yards to try to find the best shooting lanes when I saw him about 80 yards away through the tree closing the distance. My cousin started raking.

the bull took the high ground and showed himself to me at about 40 yards away (30 feet above me) His vitals behind a tree (again) but I had a good look at his rack and face. He was looking hard for that bull he just came over a mile to fight and could not find him. He was looking in the direction of my cousin raking the tree.

He then did something Ill never forget. He started moving his head up and down and side to side very slowly and methodically, like he was racking a tree, but he wasn't raking a tree. He was showing off his head gear to the potential challenger ( i assume this is what he was doing). he then let out a furious bugle that was more of a series of grunt and chuckles. I saw the whole thing. His nostrils flared with each grunt/chuckle, puff of breath followed each one. He was frustrated he could not find this bull he thought he was coming to fight. I was at full draw assuming he would take a couple more steps and I would of had about a 40 yard clear broadside shot.

He then turned straight around and went back the way he came. I immediately let me bow down and grabbed my bugle and tried to emulate what he just did (glunk and chuckle). Tried pointing it the other direction to make it sound further off. Right after I did that he turned right around and came right back to the place he was standing before. this time i did not draw. He Looked around for a bit and started coming down to my level. he was walking at me at about 20 yards. i drew my bow as he was walking down and had his head down. He came to 17 yards and stood behind a dead tree broadside. the only thing this tree was covering up was the middle of his vitals. He stopped at looked right at me at full draw. I felt it was now or never.

I could either hold tight and hope he would keep walking which would give me a clear shot......or try to sneak my arrow just over the deadfall tree and if placed right would hit the upper part of his vitals. I choose to let one go. It stuck right into the 5 inch deadfall tree. 2 inches higher and I have no doubt I would of had a dead bull. He spooked and I could not get him to stop again. I feel like subconsciously I aimed lower than needed as i alwasy train myself to aim for the middle of his vitals. And that was right where this deadfall branch/tree was laying.

I could not believe what I had just witnessed. on one hand I felt a sense of accomplishment. I had been planning this trip for 9 months. Trained, practiced, put my gear together, hiked my ass off to get back to this spot and all that preparation paid off. this was literally my first DIY back country archery elk hunt.
I proved to myself I could do it and could call in a bull to shooting range. i started calling this bull when he was so far away i could barely here his bugle. to think about that part I was proud. and I am not saying this to brag or to say I am some awesome caller. I just practiced at my house and listened to videos and advice on this forum. that was it. then it actually worked out in the field. I was almost more surprised than proud

then the feeling of failure came over me as well as I could not close the deal and put my arrow where it needed to be. So many emotions. But I will say for me (and my cousin) it was an encounter we will never ever forget. And a memory that will live forever in our minds.

Of course the question of what i could have done differently alwasy comes up. Happy to listen to any of your ideas. Should i have maybe just stayed put when I first heard the bugle and he would have came right to me? the advantage to this is I could of had a much better setup in terms of shooting lanes. But my thought was I wanted this bull to know i was moving toward him. Should i have not bugled that last time when he walked away? Was he maybe just going to circle around and come in from another angle to try and find the bull he was looking for? Should i have not shot and waited to see if he would keep gong? My fear here was he was looking at me at 17 yards and with my bow drawn my thought was he would stare me down until i could not hold my bow anymore.
Again happy to here what you guys might of done differently to help me on future hunts. After this close encounter i am even more motivated than ever to close the deal on my next hunt!

[Timber]

Sounds like an awesome hunt! Always seems that one obstacle glues to their vital area...........

[saddlesore]

Awesome write up and even more, the encounter.Wish I could have been there.

About the only thing that could of worked maybe was a popping grunt Or whatever that call is that says step out and show yourself) to get him to step out, but that would have had to come from your cousin since you were at full draw.Too bad he couldn't call.

Luke,you will remember that encounter long after you have stuck a few more, and knowing your perseverance, you will.
As one of my buddies says:God and bad news. Bad news ,I missed a bull. Good news ,I missed a bull. He really hates the work after the shot. You got all the fun in without the work of packing one out.

Way to go buddy.

PS, I am leaving this Friday for a Muzzle Loader deer hunt out east. Won't be back until at least next Wednesday.Then leave the following Wednesday for a10 day rifle bull hunt down in the Gunnison area, but further north than you were

[T.B.]

I have no clue what you could have done differently but thanks for sharing your elk adventure . Its actually a hunting story that helps me in my own thirst to get better at chasing these critters. Thanks

[JKaboom]

Fantastic story; thanks for sharing!!

[Tigger]

My only thought is something that goofed us up a few times this year. He expected to see an elk where your cousin was raking. The key point is....he thought he should be able to see it. Same with us, bulls would hang up just out of range. I think the key is getting the caller (raker) just a wee bit further away from the shooter. I am going to post up a thread on this topic and hopefully we can all learn how to set up better!

[TurkeyBowMaster]

Congrats on what sounds like a perfect hunt! Sometimes we feel forced to take chances. I had a similar experience on the bull I killed 2 years ago. I had to aim over a limb and aim high on the bull, plus the shot was almost quartering to me. I aimed as low as I felt would clear the limb yet much higher on the bull than I would have liked. The arrow cleared the limb, went through the shoulderblade, which extends further back the higher you hit and the arrow went just under the spine...the void as some people would think. The bull went 30 yards and piled up and the broadhead passed through the bull and exited about 4 ribs up from the last rib. Had I hit the limb, I would have been singing the blues. Sometimes chances pay off.

As far as what you could have done....practice those shots. Make limbs out of cardboard and put them in between you and the target. Practice shooting through brush and limbs when stump shooting. Shooting through clean air is not practice...it is repetition. Learn to utilize proper practice as it applies to hunting.

As far as staying put, you really don't know if the bull would have came into the more open setup...I would have said if he came that far he probably would have came all the way in and you would have had better opportunity to get a quality shot off in the open area.