E
elkholla
Guest
LAST EDITED ON Sep-05-07 AT 04:10PM (MST)[p]I posted this on the Utah DWR a few hours ago and they shut the forum down as many know. I thought that I would post it here for those of you that new me as "Duckholla" on the DWR Forum.
Enjoy Guys!!
This is on the Utah Wasatch LE Archery Hunt.
Friday the 30th I arrived at camp at 6PM. I unloaded the back of my truck and headed up to the area that I have been scouting. I have a tree stand hung over a wallow and that would be my destination for the night. Typically I would have been in the stand much earlier, but work made it a little hard to leave when I wanted. As I started into the area, I crossed through some open meadows and the wind was perfect. I decided that being as late as it was I would move extra slowly and quietly just incase the elk had started moving already...which turned out to be prophetic. As I made my way through the pines I began to descend into the area where the elk had been wallowing. I made my way through the deadfall as quietly as possible until I could see down in the wallows. As I got around a big pine I could see several animals in the wallowing area, one of which was a huge bull. (To be honest, I cannot even tell you what else was in the wallow. Once I saw that bull it was like 100% focus, and everything else was a blur.) When I first saw the elk I was about 90 yards or so and uphill. I kneeled down and slid my backpack off my back, I had to unzip it to get my range finder out just in case I was able to use it. Once I was ready, the stock was on. At this moment the bull laying down in the wallow sort of scraping the side of the wallow a little with his fronts.
I started down the hill side, step by step being as silent and as stealthy as I could. I had my harness on in preparation to get in my stand, and when I was at about the 50 yard mark I stepped over a fallen log and the little buckle on the front of my harness clanked together and made a little "ping" sound. That bull busted me so fast! Both eyes on me, he stood up and did not budge. I knew for sure that he had heard me. (Dang-it, another reason you should always shoot your bow in the accessories you will hunt with.) I had a mouth call in my mount and I just froze as he did. We both waited each other out. Wind was still perfect, and he was trying to catch and sort of scent or movement. After about 3-5 minutes, he started to raise his nose like they do right before they run off. He started to move forward in a trotting sort of motion and I cow called 3-4 times and stopped him. At this point I estimated that he was now about 80 yards or so. I walked in about 20 yards as he moved, and closed some very critical yardage as his head was looking the other way and he was making noise in his little 20-30 yard trot. When I cow called he stopped and looked back towards me. His whole demeanor changed. It went from unsure to curious. He turned and faced me at about 60 yards, and slowly started to come back. There was a HUGE pine tree between us preventing any kind of shot for me. This bull continued to move closer to me on the uphill side. He started to feed a little now, and still angling uphill, but still towards me. I was able to get the range finder out and range a tiny shooting lane that read 45 yards. (Very do-able for me, but about as far as I dare push it.) The window that I had to shoot through was a hole in the pine tree about 3 feet in diameter. The tree sat about 20 yards from me, and about 20 yards from him. As he started to approach the window I drew back, settled my pin in the window I had to shoot through, and waited. As his vitals appeared I very quietly let out a cow call and he stopped perfect. I let the arrow fly....
Now let me side step a little here. Since February I have been VERY dedicated to shooting at least 125 arrows everyday but Sunday. I shot several times at archery courses with similar situations that require you to pay attention to the arch of your arrow, and adjust when needed. I cannot tell you how much I really feel this paid off for me this year. In retrospect, I cannot even remember settling my correct pin; I cannot remember anchoring, or breathing or even seeing the pin. I drew, held on the bull when he entered the shooting window and let the arrow fly.
My arrow hit its mark perfectly. The bull did take a slight step as I touched off the arrow, but he was slightly quartering away from me, so it did not affect my shot too much, the arrow still got great penetration and entered the boiler room. The bull flinched real bad and turned and began to run back downhill. I cow called several times again and I stopped him again at about 100 yards from me. He looked back and stood there about 5 minutes. I kept thinking that he was going to go down, but he never did. Then he started to slowly walk away from me. I couldn't believe it. My shot was perfect! Looking through the binoculars I could see little spits of blood leaving the wound, but very little. I than began to worry that maybe his step did effect the arrow placement a little. So I slid my boots off, knocked another arrow and began to silently move downwind of him again in hopes that I could get another arrow in him. He kept about an 80 yard distance between us at all times. At one point I knelt down and watched him standing just inside the pines, and then he bedded down. My entry hole was on the opposite side of the bull so I could not see what was happening on that side. The bulls head was up, and he was just sitting there. I had a pretty clear area to stock closer and decided that I should attempt to put another arrow in him as I was concerned about my first arrow. I was able to close the distance to 40 yards which presented a difficult shot through pine limbs to hit his vitals. Again, my practicing paid off. I literally threaded the needle through a tiny shooting lane and buried my arrow exactly where I was aiming. My fletchings disappeared in the bull and made him stand up. The effects of the second arrow were almost immediate. He tried to take a few steps and was unable to do so. He stood there for about 1 minute and I heard him crash. I then backed out quickly. I returned to my boots and my backpack, jumped in my truck and went back to camp. I knew he was going nowhere, and with two arrows on both sides I was very confident that he would remain there.
I waited at camp for about 2 hours for my buddy to return. When he did we headed back up to locate my bull with flashlights. (I forgot to mention that we had befriended a sheep herder where we hunt. The week prior I had brought him some clothes and a coat that he needed pretty bad. We enjoyed a camp fire with him a few nights and offered him an occasional soda and hot dog or hamburger. He was in camp when my buddy returned and asked if he could accompany us to go find the elk. So the three of us left together. Long story short, our sheep herding friend actually located my bull. We sat together the three of us for about an hour and talked enjoying the bull. I decided that it would be better for me if I waited until the next day to clean and quarter this bull as it was pretty cold that night, and I did not want to leave a gut pile to attract the many bears in the area. So we returned to camp that night, and went to bed.
The next morning we retuned to find my bull untouched by any bears. We started the quartering job at 8AM and had him in the truck at about 10:30AM or so. (This is why you be kind to everyone you meet in the mountains. As we were about to start the mile hike back to the truck, our sheep herder friend came walking into the area with his horse and offered to carry out both hind quarters for us.) That saved our bacon! He was such a great help! I returned to camp and dropped everybody off and then came home Saturday to take care of the meat and the antlers.
It was an awesome experience. I cannot say enough how much practicing I put in with my bow, how much time I spent on the mountain scouting and how much effort I have exhausted to make this happen. It was not easy that is for sure but the payoff is extremely rewarding for me and now I have a trophy bull to hang on my wall, and an experience that I will never forget. Not to mention the lessons I have learned from this, which were many.
Enjoy!
This is the bull in pre-season scouting:
This is how we found him Friday night:
Here are a few more shots:
"Luck is often nothing more than preparation running into opportunity.?
-Some Smart Guy
Enjoy Guys!!
This is on the Utah Wasatch LE Archery Hunt.
Friday the 30th I arrived at camp at 6PM. I unloaded the back of my truck and headed up to the area that I have been scouting. I have a tree stand hung over a wallow and that would be my destination for the night. Typically I would have been in the stand much earlier, but work made it a little hard to leave when I wanted. As I started into the area, I crossed through some open meadows and the wind was perfect. I decided that being as late as it was I would move extra slowly and quietly just incase the elk had started moving already...which turned out to be prophetic. As I made my way through the pines I began to descend into the area where the elk had been wallowing. I made my way through the deadfall as quietly as possible until I could see down in the wallows. As I got around a big pine I could see several animals in the wallowing area, one of which was a huge bull. (To be honest, I cannot even tell you what else was in the wallow. Once I saw that bull it was like 100% focus, and everything else was a blur.) When I first saw the elk I was about 90 yards or so and uphill. I kneeled down and slid my backpack off my back, I had to unzip it to get my range finder out just in case I was able to use it. Once I was ready, the stock was on. At this moment the bull laying down in the wallow sort of scraping the side of the wallow a little with his fronts.
I started down the hill side, step by step being as silent and as stealthy as I could. I had my harness on in preparation to get in my stand, and when I was at about the 50 yard mark I stepped over a fallen log and the little buckle on the front of my harness clanked together and made a little "ping" sound. That bull busted me so fast! Both eyes on me, he stood up and did not budge. I knew for sure that he had heard me. (Dang-it, another reason you should always shoot your bow in the accessories you will hunt with.) I had a mouth call in my mount and I just froze as he did. We both waited each other out. Wind was still perfect, and he was trying to catch and sort of scent or movement. After about 3-5 minutes, he started to raise his nose like they do right before they run off. He started to move forward in a trotting sort of motion and I cow called 3-4 times and stopped him. At this point I estimated that he was now about 80 yards or so. I walked in about 20 yards as he moved, and closed some very critical yardage as his head was looking the other way and he was making noise in his little 20-30 yard trot. When I cow called he stopped and looked back towards me. His whole demeanor changed. It went from unsure to curious. He turned and faced me at about 60 yards, and slowly started to come back. There was a HUGE pine tree between us preventing any kind of shot for me. This bull continued to move closer to me on the uphill side. He started to feed a little now, and still angling uphill, but still towards me. I was able to get the range finder out and range a tiny shooting lane that read 45 yards. (Very do-able for me, but about as far as I dare push it.) The window that I had to shoot through was a hole in the pine tree about 3 feet in diameter. The tree sat about 20 yards from me, and about 20 yards from him. As he started to approach the window I drew back, settled my pin in the window I had to shoot through, and waited. As his vitals appeared I very quietly let out a cow call and he stopped perfect. I let the arrow fly....
Now let me side step a little here. Since February I have been VERY dedicated to shooting at least 125 arrows everyday but Sunday. I shot several times at archery courses with similar situations that require you to pay attention to the arch of your arrow, and adjust when needed. I cannot tell you how much I really feel this paid off for me this year. In retrospect, I cannot even remember settling my correct pin; I cannot remember anchoring, or breathing or even seeing the pin. I drew, held on the bull when he entered the shooting window and let the arrow fly.
My arrow hit its mark perfectly. The bull did take a slight step as I touched off the arrow, but he was slightly quartering away from me, so it did not affect my shot too much, the arrow still got great penetration and entered the boiler room. The bull flinched real bad and turned and began to run back downhill. I cow called several times again and I stopped him again at about 100 yards from me. He looked back and stood there about 5 minutes. I kept thinking that he was going to go down, but he never did. Then he started to slowly walk away from me. I couldn't believe it. My shot was perfect! Looking through the binoculars I could see little spits of blood leaving the wound, but very little. I than began to worry that maybe his step did effect the arrow placement a little. So I slid my boots off, knocked another arrow and began to silently move downwind of him again in hopes that I could get another arrow in him. He kept about an 80 yard distance between us at all times. At one point I knelt down and watched him standing just inside the pines, and then he bedded down. My entry hole was on the opposite side of the bull so I could not see what was happening on that side. The bulls head was up, and he was just sitting there. I had a pretty clear area to stock closer and decided that I should attempt to put another arrow in him as I was concerned about my first arrow. I was able to close the distance to 40 yards which presented a difficult shot through pine limbs to hit his vitals. Again, my practicing paid off. I literally threaded the needle through a tiny shooting lane and buried my arrow exactly where I was aiming. My fletchings disappeared in the bull and made him stand up. The effects of the second arrow were almost immediate. He tried to take a few steps and was unable to do so. He stood there for about 1 minute and I heard him crash. I then backed out quickly. I returned to my boots and my backpack, jumped in my truck and went back to camp. I knew he was going nowhere, and with two arrows on both sides I was very confident that he would remain there.
I waited at camp for about 2 hours for my buddy to return. When he did we headed back up to locate my bull with flashlights. (I forgot to mention that we had befriended a sheep herder where we hunt. The week prior I had brought him some clothes and a coat that he needed pretty bad. We enjoyed a camp fire with him a few nights and offered him an occasional soda and hot dog or hamburger. He was in camp when my buddy returned and asked if he could accompany us to go find the elk. So the three of us left together. Long story short, our sheep herding friend actually located my bull. We sat together the three of us for about an hour and talked enjoying the bull. I decided that it would be better for me if I waited until the next day to clean and quarter this bull as it was pretty cold that night, and I did not want to leave a gut pile to attract the many bears in the area. So we returned to camp that night, and went to bed.
The next morning we retuned to find my bull untouched by any bears. We started the quartering job at 8AM and had him in the truck at about 10:30AM or so. (This is why you be kind to everyone you meet in the mountains. As we were about to start the mile hike back to the truck, our sheep herder friend came walking into the area with his horse and offered to carry out both hind quarters for us.) That saved our bacon! He was such a great help! I returned to camp and dropped everybody off and then came home Saturday to take care of the meat and the antlers.
It was an awesome experience. I cannot say enough how much practicing I put in with my bow, how much time I spent on the mountain scouting and how much effort I have exhausted to make this happen. It was not easy that is for sure but the payoff is extremely rewarding for me and now I have a trophy bull to hang on my wall, and an experience that I will never forget. Not to mention the lessons I have learned from this, which were many.
Enjoy!
This is the bull in pre-season scouting:
This is how we found him Friday night:
Here are a few more shots:
"Luck is often nothing more than preparation running into opportunity.?
-Some Smart Guy
