My Early Archery Bull

TerynItUp

Active Member
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609
As many of you may know, I have had terrible luck in the NM draw process over the last few years. This year, however, I was more than excited to finally get the opportunity to hunt the elk woods in September. And to make it even sweeter, my Dad (who also drew) and my brother would be right along with me.

After the results came out, like many others I was already getting mentally and physically prepared for my hunt. Gear checks, working out, shooting my bow, scouting, and calming down my wife was basically how my summer went.

My scouting was probably a little bit different from everyone elses as I mostly focused on becoming more familiar with the areas that I planned on hunting. I know these spots hold elk year after year so I really wanted to make sure I knew all the ins and outs of the unit for ease of access and to help understand what a bull may be doing just by me knowing the lay of the land. Every trip to my unit this summer found me fighting rain at one point or another which I was very happy about. Plenty of feed and water in my go to spots.

Well the opening weekend found my dad and I scouting the day before the 1st in a spot that we can usually find elk. It was a warm morning which turned into a very warm day pretty quickly. Right out of the truck we had a bull bugling below us as we made our way up the creek to the wilderness fence. We left him alone in hopes of getting a peek at him the next morning. The rest of the day found us slowly walking and listening for any elk talk. With a good comfort feeling, we decided that would be where we started.

I am lucky to have a trooper for a wife so opening morning, my old man, my WIFE (crazy I know) and myself headed back into the same spot we were day before. Unfortunately, someone else had the jump on us and about 20 min into our hike we ran into a pickup parked at the wilderness boundary. We backed out and headed in a different direction to stay out of their hair. That morning was very uneventful, we heard a distant bugle and had a chance at a cow (which my wife said I should have taken) but other than that, nothing. The afternoon played out the same, we went to a different area that held tons of sign but weren't able to turn up a bull. Monday morning, the three of us headed out again and the whole day was no different from the opener. Elk hunters and heat, we decided to head back to camp and get things ready to head back to work for the week.

My brother flew in from Houston on Thursday and after a half day of work on Friday, we were off, eagerly anticipating the evening hunt. Time was short that evening so we hunted right from camp on the ridge above us where we had found plenty of sign during scouting. About an hour before dark, we jumped an elk out of its bed in the oak brush. I wasn't sure but I thought I could hear antlers hitting branches as he boogied out of their. I immediately cow called to slow it down knowing that the wind was in our favor. I hear the elk stop and start to make its way back to us. As it is coming in, I can see antlers making their way toward me but it turned out to be a young raggy bull. Now I was by no means looking for a huge bull on this hunt but I had a goal to kill a healthy mature bull. The rag horn stood in front of me at 12 yards for a minute or two begging me to shoot him but I just couldn't do it.

The next morning, we decided to head into the wilderness to an area we have had many exciting encounters in. It is about a 45 minute hike at a steady incline to where we like to start listening for bugles. Immediately, we heard a bugle that was fairly close and we were off. As we quietly worked our way into him, we found ourselves in the middle of about 20 moo cows that took a liking to us. As we tried to get in on the bull, all the cows were in hot pursuit behind us with a cow bell making plenty of noise for our bull to hear. I finally had enough and with a well placed rock to the rear and quick sprint right at em, the were headed the other direction. Unfortunately the bull had shut up.

So we continued making our way further into the wilderness when all hell broke loose South of us in a creek drainage. It sounded like 5 or 6 bulls wanted to see who could be the loudest. With all the racket, we made a very aggressive approach into them keeping the wind in our face. After 10 minutes of high tailing it right in the middle of em, we made a game plan. Within 100 yards, we could hear what we assumed to be a herd bull gathering his cows. Both the cows and the bull were making lots of noise so we set up on the edge of a gorgeous meadow. My dad and brother were about 60 yards behind me and my old man made some sweet sounds on the cow call and in his grunt tube. I thought I knew where the bull would come from and I needed to make a move. If I stayed put the sun would be right in my face so I made a mad dash about 75 yards across the other side of the meadow trying to make it before the bull. He bugles and is still not making his way in to us so I thought I made it over there in time. As I am huffing and puffing, I see movement out of the corner of my eye. A satellite bull has quietly snuck in to see what this pretty sounding cow looked like. He had me pegged. He was standing behind a tree looking right at me when I ranged him at 38 yards. At this time, my dad and brother had no clue he was there, my dad bugled and he took his eyes off of me and made two steps our from behind the tree towards my dad when I drew back. I settled my pin where I wanted it and slowly squeezed. My arrow flew great and hit the mark true. I thought I could see my fletchings buried in his side so I knew I got good penetration. He busted out of there and 25 seconds later we heard a very loud crash in the deadfall he took off into.

We gave him 45 minutes or so before we started looking for blood. Unbelievably, there was none to be found and I was getting nervous. While looking for blood I find my arrow laying 5 yards behind where he stood when I shot.
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The arrow was covered in blood which helped settle my nerves. We continued to look for blood but could not find anything. So I decided to head to where we heard the loud crash. I said a quick prayer asking the Lord to guide my feet and within 5 minutes I found my bull.
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Turns out he was bleeding good but he ran off so fast that the bleeding didnt start till later.
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After a few tough packout trips we had him off the mountain and didnt lose any meat even with the warm temps.

Well the rest of the hunt was WET. It seemed like the rain never quit and made things very difficult for us. We could never seal the deal for my dad but had several close calls and made some lasting memories.

I cant thank my wife enough for letting me spend a week in the woods with my dad and brother. It was hunt I will never forget. He is not a big bull but he will always hold a very fond spot in my memory book.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Hunt Hard. Shoot Straight. Kill Clean. Apologize to No One.
 
Congrats on your bull! It's always heart wrenching not finding blood shortly after where you shot the animal, but he painted the forest after that!! Nice shot
JB
 
Sweet, sounds like a great time with the family.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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