It was around 4:00 p.m. when I heard the first bugle above me as I was sitting in my ground blind that I’d composed of deadfall and juniper branches. The blind is near the end of three major game trails that come down off the mountain and lead into a large U-shaped clear cut. The block is divided in the middle by a wide band of trees.  
 
A few minutes later, I heard a second bugle off to my left and almost immediately it was answered by a third bull to my right.

During the past three weeks, I had come to recognize each bull’s unique bugle and before opening day, I had seen two of the bulls. They were both heavy and wide with five points each and both had a small herd of cows that they were guarding closely. I hadn’t seen the third bull yet but he had a very unique off-key, squeaky sounding bugle. The area I was hunting in Alberta is a six points or better zone.

It was warm and still on this October afternoon and the sun was casting long shadows on the game trails above me as it dropped lower on the mountain. I was sitting there enjoying the scene, kind of lost in the stillness and the solitude when suddenly, almost out of thin air, a cow appeared above me on the trail. She kept coming straight towards me until finally, at less than 30 yards she stopped in a clump of bush between us and started feeding. I was stuck in an awkward position and had to freeze like a mannequin as she had come a little too close for comfort.

Then I heard the squeaky, off-key bugle above her and knew it was the bull I hadn’t seen yet. He quickly came down through the timber weaving in and out trying to close the gap. One minute his head was down sniffing the ground and the next it was up in the air catching the cow’s scent. There was too much going on for me to count his points but from what I could see of the overall size of the rack, I guessed he might be a four or five point.

He followed the cow right into the thick clump of bush, sniffed her rump and mounted her as she stood perfectly still for him. It was incredible to watch them at that short distance but I felt a bit like a Peeping Tom.

I was twisted all sideways while I witnessed their love making but I finally had to try and straighten out my body. Without creating too much movement, I slightly turned to my left and from the corner of my eye I was startled to see a second cow staring straight at me. Our eyes met, she let out a loud alarm bark and I was BUSTED! They all thundered back up the mountain and that was the end of that.

A week passed before I was able to get back out hunting but when Thursday finally came, I was in my blind before first light waiting for the elk to come up out of the cut block from feeding all night.

Erna Reuther with her six-point bull elk.

The first bugle I heard was at 7:45 way off in the distance and I knew right away it was the same bull I’d watched breed the cow by the squeaky, off-key ending of his bugle. The sun was just starting to come onto the empty clearing and its warmth created a soft, foggy blanket over the frozen grasses as the steam rose. It created a mystical sight. Then, out of the hazy band of trees a cow appeared on the far edge of the cut block. Slowly and cautiously, one step at a time with ears forward and eyes searching for danger, she made her way across the clearing directly in front of me. She was about 75 yards away and I could see the steam coming from her nostrils as she passed by.

There were no more bugles but a few moments later, a parade of seven cows and calves appeared and one by one they stepped out in single file, following the lead cow. What a perfect situation this could be if a legal bull was to come out behind them. All I could do was hope and wait.

For what seemed like an hour—but was probably only about five minutes—it got very still and the block was empty. Then, from behind the trees and exactly where the cows had come out, I heard the squeaky bugle and my heart sank. When the bull finally appeared at the edge of the clearing I got my binoculars on him and I couldn’t believe my eyes! I was thrilled and very excited to see that the bull I believed was a four or five point, was actually a nice smaller six point! He stood there briefly sniffing the air and looking around and then he calmly walked out following the cows.

There was plenty of time to get ready for my shot before the bull would be directly in front of me and I quietly thanked the elk god’s for my good fortune as I clicked off the safety, rested my 270 on my left knee and waited.

When the bull got directly in front of me, I aimed at his chest and squeezed the trigger. He jumped and then ran a very short distance to the edge of the clearing and collapsed. I waited for a few minutes before going over to him and start the field dressing.

As I was working on the bull, in my mind I was re-living the events of the morning and thinking that this couldn’t have been a more perfect hunt. Then my daydream was abruptly interrupted and brought back to reality by a bugle very close behind me. I slowly turned my head to see 20 or more cows and a large five point bull, scattered and running throughout the cut block towards the three game trails behind me. I sat motionless as they kept coming and passing by me on both sides, some as close as 40 yards away. I felt like I was in the middle of an action movie.

This was a fantastic and unexpected ending to my perfect elk hunt. ■

Erna lives in Calgary but spends part of the winter in Makawao, Maui hunting Axis deer.She enjoys writing, hunting, running and riding her motorcycle.

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