MountainSqwabler
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What a ride this elk hunt was. Ended up getting sicker than a dog 2 days before My hunt, but gave it my absolute all. First morning we were out we had bulls screaming all around us. Had a herd cross in front of us, but no shooters in sight. We wanted to get to a pinch point that the elk were funneling in from, so we got up from a spot we had been set up at and walked about 50 yards or so and ran across a well used trail. The guide was worried the bulls might come In on that trail. We back tracked super fast to get back into position, as the guide and my brother were tucking back into the brush I looked up and a bull had wandered right in on that trail which was about 70 yards at this point.....he had us pinned. He busted and ran off and the rest slowly followed.
Went back to camp after about an hour or so and relaxed for the day...hydrated and tried to get some rest to feel Even a little better. I had 0 energy the whole time. We got back out around 4 or 5 and were glassing over the valley we had been in and were trying to make a game plan. We decided we were going to head down to another little funnel that we thought the elk might be at. We didn't leave immediately because we hadn't heard any bugaling yet. Boom...a bull screams and he's enroute to where we were planning on going. We jumped up and headed that way. We got about 100 yards from where we wanted to be and we're in the middle of a sage flat that was about weist high and we say the elk moving right into where we had planned to be...no luck...80 yards or so out a really nice bull stepped out and walked right into where we wanted to be. Couldn't get a shot. We backed out and went back to camp.
Day two, we got up....I was in rough shape...u had not just no energy...but almost negative energy, I was really really struggling. It took all I could to not quit and get my gear on and out the door we went. We went back into that valley. Heard some bugaling when we got in and they were up above us some In the trees on this rocky hillside. We chased after one bull that sounded really raspy. As we were headed after him, we got about 150 yards out and the guide let out a mew and the bull screamed but still sounded like he was slowly making his way away. We booked it into about 100 yards, let out another mew and instantly....that bull screamed and you could hear he was headed right for us. We took a few steps back and got into place with the guide and my brother about 20 yards behind me. I kneeled down and got a nice shooting lane to about 30 yards. Within seconds this bull showed up, I drew back as soon as I saw motion. He walked between two bushes at 20 yards facing me, and I letter fly, buying all but about 4 or 5" of my arrow into him. Perfect THWACK. He turns and runs. Emotions fly and we knew it was a hard hit. We sit down and give him about an hour to die. We start tracking him and instantly start finding dinner plate sized blood pools with a ton of lung froth in them. Not just one or two spots like this...but 7 or 8. He's dumping blood. As we are tracking for about 100 yards we hear something get up and bust....it was him...he was still alive and we bumped him...****.....we sit down and give him another 2 hours. After that we start back up slowly and find where he was bedded...and after the bed there's one more good pool..but then the blood trail gets weaker. It didn't dissappear, he was still very easy to track...but not the amount that he was. We get a little skeptical and decide to give him alot more time. (Side not I shot him at 7:10am) we decided to sit again and wait until noon. 12 hits and we get after it. We follow his trail for about 200 more yards and the guide turns to me with a big smile and thumbs up and says he's dead, right there, points to him. We rush over to him and he was still nice and warm, hadn't bloated and wasn't stiff at all, we had given him just the perfect amount of time to die.
What an amazing hunt this was, I couldn't have asked for it to go any better other than me not being sick.
Went back to camp after about an hour or so and relaxed for the day...hydrated and tried to get some rest to feel Even a little better. I had 0 energy the whole time. We got back out around 4 or 5 and were glassing over the valley we had been in and were trying to make a game plan. We decided we were going to head down to another little funnel that we thought the elk might be at. We didn't leave immediately because we hadn't heard any bugaling yet. Boom...a bull screams and he's enroute to where we were planning on going. We jumped up and headed that way. We got about 100 yards from where we wanted to be and we're in the middle of a sage flat that was about weist high and we say the elk moving right into where we had planned to be...no luck...80 yards or so out a really nice bull stepped out and walked right into where we wanted to be. Couldn't get a shot. We backed out and went back to camp.
Day two, we got up....I was in rough shape...u had not just no energy...but almost negative energy, I was really really struggling. It took all I could to not quit and get my gear on and out the door we went. We went back into that valley. Heard some bugaling when we got in and they were up above us some In the trees on this rocky hillside. We chased after one bull that sounded really raspy. As we were headed after him, we got about 150 yards out and the guide let out a mew and the bull screamed but still sounded like he was slowly making his way away. We booked it into about 100 yards, let out another mew and instantly....that bull screamed and you could hear he was headed right for us. We took a few steps back and got into place with the guide and my brother about 20 yards behind me. I kneeled down and got a nice shooting lane to about 30 yards. Within seconds this bull showed up, I drew back as soon as I saw motion. He walked between two bushes at 20 yards facing me, and I letter fly, buying all but about 4 or 5" of my arrow into him. Perfect THWACK. He turns and runs. Emotions fly and we knew it was a hard hit. We sit down and give him about an hour to die. We start tracking him and instantly start finding dinner plate sized blood pools with a ton of lung froth in them. Not just one or two spots like this...but 7 or 8. He's dumping blood. As we are tracking for about 100 yards we hear something get up and bust....it was him...he was still alive and we bumped him...****.....we sit down and give him another 2 hours. After that we start back up slowly and find where he was bedded...and after the bed there's one more good pool..but then the blood trail gets weaker. It didn't dissappear, he was still very easy to track...but not the amount that he was. We get a little skeptical and decide to give him alot more time. (Side not I shot him at 7:10am) we decided to sit again and wait until noon. 12 hits and we get after it. We follow his trail for about 200 more yards and the guide turns to me with a big smile and thumbs up and says he's dead, right there, points to him. We rush over to him and he was still nice and warm, hadn't bloated and wasn't stiff at all, we had given him just the perfect amount of time to die.
What an amazing hunt this was, I couldn't have asked for it to go any better other than me not being sick.
