My brother and I drew a pretty good archery only unit this past year. On the second day of the hunt I had the best hunt I have ever had..
I thought I was screwed after the first night of hunting, walking back to camp, somehow my GPS got hung on some brush down in a deep ravine and came out of my pocket. I spent 4 hours the morning of the second day looking for it. Not finding it, I went back to camp and tried to get my Iphone maps/gps to at least mark points and save gps coordinates. I finally got it to work and headed out.
I was headed for an area about 2 miles south of our camp that I went into on the first day. It was full of fresh elk sign, I knew I needed to be in there at some point during the trip knowing the elk would be back.. At about 1.5 miles at 3 pm I hear a bull bugle right were I was planning on going. He kept sounding off and letting me know where he was. I knew I needed to be right in the middle of them. I snuck in to about 100 yards and got where I wanted to be. I got set up and here come 3 cows right by me at 30 yards. Behind them I see a giant 6 point hot on their tail but on the other side of a small creek. He gets about 50 yards away behind some small pines and bugles right in my face. He looses interest in the cows that ran off and walks back in the direction he came from.
I am on the other side of the creek that separates us, he is sort of above me and I can barely see the top of his rack.
He walks towards me a bit, then goes from right to left at 60 yards. Then he made his mistake, he lays down facing awaym not 50 yards away from me on the other side of the creek. With the deep creek blocking his view , I nock an arrow. I sneak through the creek and up the hill towards him. I get pretty close and can still only see his rack. I range it at 35 yards. I draw back and walk up the hill to see him laying down sort of quartering away. I anchor, settle in burry the 30 yard pin on the back of his ribs and let it fly. He takes off and I hear him crash a short distance away..
60 yards later I walk up to this..
The arrow exited perfectly killing him in seconds. It was 5 pm now, so I got to work on him caping, and breaking him down.. I hauled his backstraps out and met my brother at camp. We hiked back to him and got him completely out by 1 am that morning.. It was a hunt i will never forget, and i couldn't be more blessed with a bull like this for my first elk.
I green scored him at 310"
I got him mounted up before all the deer started rolling in..
I thought I was screwed after the first night of hunting, walking back to camp, somehow my GPS got hung on some brush down in a deep ravine and came out of my pocket. I spent 4 hours the morning of the second day looking for it. Not finding it, I went back to camp and tried to get my Iphone maps/gps to at least mark points and save gps coordinates. I finally got it to work and headed out.
I was headed for an area about 2 miles south of our camp that I went into on the first day. It was full of fresh elk sign, I knew I needed to be in there at some point during the trip knowing the elk would be back.. At about 1.5 miles at 3 pm I hear a bull bugle right were I was planning on going. He kept sounding off and letting me know where he was. I knew I needed to be right in the middle of them. I snuck in to about 100 yards and got where I wanted to be. I got set up and here come 3 cows right by me at 30 yards. Behind them I see a giant 6 point hot on their tail but on the other side of a small creek. He gets about 50 yards away behind some small pines and bugles right in my face. He looses interest in the cows that ran off and walks back in the direction he came from.
I am on the other side of the creek that separates us, he is sort of above me and I can barely see the top of his rack.
He walks towards me a bit, then goes from right to left at 60 yards. Then he made his mistake, he lays down facing awaym not 50 yards away from me on the other side of the creek. With the deep creek blocking his view , I nock an arrow. I sneak through the creek and up the hill towards him. I get pretty close and can still only see his rack. I range it at 35 yards. I draw back and walk up the hill to see him laying down sort of quartering away. I anchor, settle in burry the 30 yard pin on the back of his ribs and let it fly. He takes off and I hear him crash a short distance away..
60 yards later I walk up to this..
The arrow exited perfectly killing him in seconds. It was 5 pm now, so I got to work on him caping, and breaking him down.. I hauled his backstraps out and met my brother at camp. We hiked back to him and got him completely out by 1 am that morning.. It was a hunt i will never forget, and i couldn't be more blessed with a bull like this for my first elk.
I green scored him at 310"
I got him mounted up before all the deer started rolling in..
