Just back from the wild west! Wow is all I can say, I’ll never miss a year of elk hunting again. Can’t believe it took me 25 years to figure that one out!
It went down pretty short and sweet! Morning one, we mixed it up with them on the ground and couldn’t coax a pair of bulls from their cows. They were screaming their heads off at about 150 yards but the wind was swirling up a storm and didn’t want to push them. From what the guys told me down there is whatever you do, don’t bump elk because often times they don’t go a couple hundred yards and stop like deer, they go miles before stopping.
First night we were told there was a lot of activity over a waterhole, and with 85 degree temps at 7,500 feet, it was a different kind of hot! We were getting dropped off at a windmill stand overlooking a stock tank, a pond and a couple wallows. Cresting the hill in the truck at about 3pm, 5 or six cows busted out of the pond. Great start.
We elected to head there anyways. As we were climbing in, there were bulls bugling over the hill in front of us. Things were pretty quite for a couple hours, before a glassed 8 or 10 cows and a good looking bull about 2,500 yards away on a ridge separated by nothing but a flat short grass prairie. It was way too far away to get me excited but fun to see elk none the less.
Just as I finished glassing the back group, a 6×6 came sauntering through the PJs. He was young but still a solid elk. Nice backs, but lacked mass. He wouldn’t cross the fence to the water hole electing to wallow at 80 yards. At this point the wind was whipping pretty good. I knew I could put a pretty good hit at him but with the wind, I didn’t want to take the chance. A spike then came up and followed the fence right to the stock tank, less than 5 yards away. You could hear him drinking, right down wind of us. Thankfully they aren’t quite as sharp as the whitetail, otherwise the gig would be up!
Matt looked behind me, and sure enough that bull I’d glassed way off was pushing his cows to the water. This is when I began to get nervous! I thought he’d come right downwind to the stock tank but thankfully he pushed his cows to the waterhole upwind.
Now this stand was a special something. It was made for 1 guy, not nearly enough room for a cameraman and a shooter. All I had was a 7″ gap between the plywood and the rebar supports of the windmill to shoot between. The notch that was cut out for the shooter was occupied by the camera. He crossed diagonally at 30 yards but had his heart set on chasing off the other two bulls.
I thought he was gone forever, I was pretty bummed. Sure enough after chasing the two other bulls off, he turned on a dime, roughed up a few trees and came back. Hopped the fence and joined his cows at 30 yards right in front of me.
At this point, I was standing and ready with matt crouched down in front of me running the camera. I was resting my bow on his shoulder as his legs were surely asleep.
I drew without the elk being any the wiser. Settled the pin and let one fly. It was a perfect shot as the elk ran off with a little beam of light centered right in his lungs. After running for a couple hundred yards into the short grass flat, he tumbled!
It was the most intense hunt I’ve ever been on, and I’ll beg borrow and steal to hunt those animals every year! The other thing was I was shocked at was the shear size of them, what a magnificent creature!
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