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I’ve been bowhunting elk for six years now and have had tons of encounters but never could seal the deal on a bull with stick and string. I’ve been hunting hard this season with no luck. The elk have been quiet for the majority of the early season with limited encounters. That brings us to yesterday morning.
My alarm went off at 4:30 am, as it has for almost every day since bow opener (work’s been slow). It was quite a feat to get my arse and my girlfriend’s out of bed. We got on the road and arrived at our spot with time to spare.
Just as I went to close the truck door, someone drove up the road, past my truck, and then down the trail. Within feet of my truck, they smiled as they passed. Well, there goes the morning plan. We bailed into the truck and motored off to a backup spot I had, arriving about 20 minutes after legal light. All I can think is, “This is going swimmingly.”
We get out and head down the trail to a place I like to call from. As we stop, I realize we can hear something incredibly loud in the distance. I listen and realize it’s a drilling rig freshly planted just across the valley. I’m about ready to throw my calls into the bush and head home but what the hell, may as well give a few calls and see if anything is left in the area. I give a couple mews on the cow call and bang there’s a bull a few hundred yards into the bush, and he’s fired up! We dive off the quad trail and keep him talking. Every time I mew, he’s screaming louder and coming faster.
We get to a small clearing and set up. I call one more time and he screams and enters the clearing. He comes straight in and stops at 8 yards, face on, staring at us. I was at full draw by this time. I put the pin on the spot between his neck and collarbone and let a slick trick tipped FMJ fly. I watch as it buries to the knock and he tears out. We gave him a half hour and started poking around for a blood trail. After 35 yards, we find a large pool of frothy blood. After that, it’s a blood trail a blind person could follow. One hundred yards later, we came upon a spot he fell on his face with about 4 inches of arrow laying in about a gallon of blood. We looked left and there he was. We had him out by 4:00 and at the butchers by 6:30.
Now that my bull was taken care of, my girlfriend was hoping we could sneak out for the last hour of daylight. We were already close to a spot I had and figured, “Why not?” I explained to her that it was 27 degrees and we didn’t have much time but she was insistent. She’d taken the day off and wanted to get out for one last bowhunt before rifle season opened on Wednesday.
We get to where I want to head in and it’s hotter than the hubs of hell. There’s someone in the bush where we want to park and we pass three trucks coming out of the road we were headed down. We head in anyways and just kind of enjoy the walk. I’m enjoying not carrying a bow and just being designated caller. Once we walk about 400 yards down the quad trail, we stop and do a little calling, as it’s already getting dark. Instantly there’s what sounds like a cow calling in the bush in front of us and she won’t shut up. I figure there might be a bull near her so I keep calling. Whatever has her revved up is getting her close in a hurry, crashing and mewing her head off.
Still on the quad trail, we squat down on the edge and wait to see what appears. Suddenly, a young 5x5 bull, mewing his head off is coming straight at us. He stops at the edge of the trail and stares towards us but can’t see anything. Then he spooks and takes off. Amanda’s at full draw and I cow call to stop him, He stops at 38 yards, quartering away, and looks back. Before I can give her the yardage, she has an arrow in him. He takes off while I cow call to slow him down. Then we hear a crash and some kicking.
We go back to the truck to get flag tape and return 20 minutes later with flashlights. We get on blood instantly but it’s really dark so I was worried about the shot not being lethal. We’re both silent, thinking the worst has happened. The blood trail gets less easy to follow, finally drying up. There’s a bull bugling in the darkness and cows crashing bush all around us, so we just sit and listen for a few minutes. I begin walking down the trail the bull was headed, making another 20 yards, and something catches my eye. “There he is!” He was lying there, stone dead.
What an amazing feeling! Both of us have been hunting for a number of years and today, we both got out first big game animal with a bow! Being able to experience it with someone you love is amazing. She gutted him herself and we had him out of the bush by 1:00 am. We were home and in bed by 2:00. What a day! ■
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