2017 Utah Manti archery elk

bowhunter82

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I had planned on 5-7 years to draw the Utah archery Manti elk tag. I put in this with 2 points with zero expectations to draw, I should have know better as my wife and several friends and family have drawn with less than the necessary points. I was rewarded with a credit card charge at the end of May showing I had drawn.My summer plans quickly changed to scouting and preparing for my hunt. We have hunted the Manti for years and have an area that we know well and have hunted and taken several bulls in the past. Starting Memorial day I spent 9 straight weekends exploring new areas. I had my go to areas that I didn't need to scouting a whole lot.

Throughout the summer turned up multiple bulls that I would be ecstatic to harvest. I knew that come the middle to end of August they bull would begin to move towards their rutting grounds. The great thing about drawing an LE tag is you know have a great excuse to sped all your free time scouting and living on the mountain;)

The end of July I was laid off from my job so I was left with no job and a LE tag to focus on. Luckily I found a job fairly quickly and decided that I would start my new job post elk hunt. I planned on taking the last 16 days to focus on my hunt.I spent the first 6 days of the Utah archery hunt focusing on mule deer, thats another story that didn't end as well as my elk hunt.

I arrived August 31st knowing I had a week till it got exciting and that what I was going to be putting in some leg work as the bulls don't usually get going till the second week of September. I spent the first few days checking my cameras and getting a feel for where I was going to focus my time. As usual goes I found myself hunting the areas I know well and waiting for the bulls to get fired up.As the week rolled on I had a couple opportunities that I passed up hoping for a better bull. The second weekend of the hunt I had a few friends coming down to help, I went out on Thursday September 7th to an area we had seen the biggest bulls throughout he summer with no luck of turning up a good bull. My cousin Dave arrived that Thursday night late and quickly ran out a ridge we have hunted for years but I hadn't spent much time out during the summer only to find multiplier bulls bugling.

We made a game plan to drop in on the bull he figured was the best bull in the area. We made a game plan and woke early the next morning to get into the elk. As we worked our way into position early the next morning we had our friends communicating from across the canyon. The target bull had winding us and moved across canyon, we began to hike towards another bull that was bugling and found ourselves 400-500 yards off the ridge we had originally hiked out. After 3-4 hours of disappointments and poor wind direction we decided to hike out and come back in the evening with a better wind direction.

The morning had basically come to an end as the wind was blowing our scent towards all the bulls that we still bugling so we called it a morning and were on our way out when we hear what I would describe as a "pathetic" bugle from directly on top of the ridge we were headed towards. The first thought we had was "Oh man!! what a horrible bugle" we knew it was from a hunter. We briefly stopped and decided it was a hunter and continued direct towards the "bugle" as we approached another 100 yards we heard another bugle that instantly had us excited as it sounded legit!! Within 10 seconds we see elk on the ridge line followed by another bugle. It was a unique 60 seconds going from "hunter" to "oh #####" that's an actual bull! I moved up another 100 yards cautiously watching the cows but could never lay eyes on the bull as he bugled. My cousin Dave lightly cow called as I moved closer to the bull and his cows, I was probably 400-500 yards from the elk when I finally laid eyes on the bull during a bugle. We began to bugle at the bull attempting to piss him off and bring him towards us, over the next 5 minutes we realized he wasn't going to come close enough. I decided at this point to cow call to try and entice his cows, immediatly his cows responded and we began a back and forth to entice the cows towards us. After 2-3 minutes I finally got a couple cows and calfs to come towards us which began all the cows and calfs to single file directly toward us.

It was at this moment as the cows and calfs moved within 200 yards that the bull had enough and became very agitated. He immediately bugled but by that point his herd was coming to us, He flipped like a light switch and got pissed off and immediately followed his ladies. This was the first time that I had a clear view of him and could really get a good look at him. At first sight I immediate saw the mass he carried all the way to his ends and decided that I would happily notch my tag on this bull.

His cows had moved to within 15 yards as i hunkered down in the open with nothing but a few stray bushed for cover. Dave perfectly timed a bugle as his cows came to 30 yards which enraged him and just pulled him in even closer. He was 100 yards and I had finally decided that I would be happy with him, I dropped my binos and got my release ready! He slowly moved into range looking for the other bull that had stolen his cows, I drew my bow at roughly 70 yards. My heart was unexpectantly steady but I had already been drawn for 60 seconds, he came to 30 yards and stopped behind the only tree within 100 yards. I thought "of course" I held trying not to move as a bull I had only dreamed of harvesting sat 30 yards away trying to find the culprit of the bugle. He held still for what felt like 10 minutes but in reality was only another 30 seconds, I sat there at full draw with my pin settled having not had the time to range him but KNOWING that I just needed him to take 2 more steps.



I've shot elk with my bow but this was a different feeling having a mature bull within reach, after what seemed like an eternity his cows had moved off and that was al I needed to have him move from behind the tree that hindered my shot. He spun and presented me with a 25 yard broadside shot, I honesty was shaking by this point since I had been down for 2+ minutes. I squeezed the trigger on my release and saw what I thought was 15+ inches of my arrow out of him and instantly thought "oh ****" I hit him forward and hit the scapula and only had minimal penetration:( My cousin Dave after hunkering down and calling for 10+ minutes without being able to fully see what transpired jumped up and yelled In celebration!!! I shushed him thinking I had placed a poor shot, by that time we heard a crash within 30 yards of where I shot him which gave me more hope than I initially had.Dave was confident in what he saw with the bull crashing so soon after the shot but I wanted to be sure so we gave him 30 minutes.

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Those 30 minutes were spent pep talking myself through the shot and what we thought had occurred. By the time we walked up to the spot he had been we found the arrow with blood almost to the vanes, it was at this point that I began to feel good. We didn't even blood trail him because we had seen the area we heard him crash. We slowly worked towards where we saw him first crash. Those 50 yards seemed SO much longer, we came around a bush and there he was!!!

All the hours and nights and time away from home shooting my bow and practicing had paid off with a perfect heart shot. He only went 50-60 yard and expired instantly!

That moment was surreal, I was ecstatic as I had my cousin Dave who has been like a brother to me was there to share this experiance. I walked upon what wasn't that biggest bull on the mountain but what was all I could have dreamed of!!!

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Awesome heavy bull!!!!

Where did you end up hitting him? How much penetration did you get? Did you get lungs or heart?


Traditional >>>------->
 
Great job! You know you just started a new job cycle...I was let go in July and couldn't find another job till October. Brilliant!
 
>Awesome heavy bull!!!!
>
>Where did you end up hitting
>him? How much penetration did
>you get? Did you get
>lungs or heart?
>
>
>Traditional >>>------->


I ended up with a perfect heart shot. My arrow penetrated and hit the opposite shoulder
 

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