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Lil-Rokslider
I’ve learned a lot reading different posts here on Rokslide so I wanted to pass on a thank you to the community and share a success story.
After a few years of waiting and hunting general units, I pulled a limited entry elk permit in Montana this year. Day 6 of the hunt I got lucky and snuck in on this bull bedded with a cow and calf. I was still hunting my way down a long ridge running roughly east to west. The morning started with fog so thick I couldn't see over 100 yards, but by the afternoon the fog blew out and it turned into a nice, almost sunny day. Late afternoon I was working my way along this ridge, glassing into benches and timber on either side as I went. I had a strong NW wind in my face so conditions were perfect. Around 6 PM I spotted a cow nearly asleep on a bench roughly 80 yards below me. I could only see her and I moved into 70 yards pretty quick, then I got to the point of the hillside that I could easily sneak down. A few more minutes go by and I was in to 50 yards and glassing all around as I went. You never see a cow bedded by herself so I was searching every few steps, looking for the rest of the herd that I just knew had to be with her.
I was doing one of these looks through my binoculars when I caught movement in the far left side of my view. I could tell right away it was a bull, and a good one at that bedded within 10 yards of the cow. Now I had a decision to make, I could either sneak in on this cow who was oblivious to my existence and get an easy 30 yard shot, or I wait for the bull to get up and see if he'll give me a shot. I decided that with a couple days left to hunt and the wind in my face I would wait for the bull. I dropped my backpack and kept moving in on the elk, which were almost directly below me on the bench. Keep in mind this is one of those north facing hillsides, so steep you can't really stand so I'm sitting on my butt and sliding along as I go.
Maybe 10 minutes later I'm within 32 yards of the cow and 43 yards from the bull, but the bull is bedded behind a tangle of brush and deadfall trees. After watching them for a while longer, maybe another 10 minutes, the bull stands up. Just as he gets up a calf that I hadn't noticed before bolts out of her bed and trots about 20 yards beyond the cow. Now I know at least 3 elk are down there. The bull immediately moves over to the cow and kicks her out of bed. He seems to have one thing on his mind but the cow wasn't having it and nudges him away. The cow starts to feed up the draw and to my right, still unaware that I'm within striking distance. She eventually gives me another broadside shot at 35 yards, but at this point all of my focus is on the bull and trying to calm myself down while he feeds below me. He could have gone one of fifteen different directions when he stood up, but he starts to feed the same direction the cow and calf did. He continues to move closer to me and I'm getting ranges of 28, then 26, then 25 yards, all the while I'm focusing on staying calm so I can make the shot if it happens.
I notice a shooting lane about 7-8 feet wide, just the size of a mature bull elk, roughly 5 yards in front of the bull's assumed travel path. I start making my way to a spot where I'll have a shot once the bull gets to that window. I had to cover 12-15 feet to get in position, all with multiple elk within 60 yards of me and a mature bull inside 25 yards. As I'm moving over I'm thinking in the back of my head, "I know this cow is around here somewhere." I had lost sight of her a minute before. I had 2 feet to move to be in position when the cow comes around a patch of brush and she is looking my direction. At this point the bull is still moving toward the shooting window, but has stopped behind a tree to feed. I know I have to move now or I'll miss my chance for a shot. I wait until the cow seems to lose interest in me and I slide over the last 2 feet. Now the cow's eyes are locked on me again, but I have an arrow knocked, I'm in position to shoot, and I'm ranging the ground of the trail the bull is headed down. 23 yards to where I think he'll pass by, which should put his body at 21 yards at this steep downhill angle.
He is a few feet from the window and begins to move. The cow is still watching me intently but I know it's now or never. I have to draw or else this opportunity will slip through my fingers. The bull's head emerges from behind a big fir tree and he is almost in position so I draw. As I draw he takes his last 2 steps and he's now centered in the shooting window, completely broadside. At this point the cow's eyes are about to pop out of their sockets, her head is reared back and she's about to bolt. The bull sees her looking at me and whips his head up to see me at full draw. I keep holding telling myself, "lower, lower, lower..." knowing I need to hold my pin low. I touch the trigger and see the arrow fly true and hit the bull just high, but perfect for this angle. Clean lung hit.
All three elk go tearing up the draw and I eventually lose sight of the elk in the brush. I see the cow and calf emerge 150 yards further up the draw and eventually disappear again in the timber heading up the ridge. I then hear a crash maybe 80-100 yards away and hear the bull take a few long loud breaths. Then everything is quiet. I side hill another 20 yards over until I have a commanding view of the drainage and I see antlers sticking out of a patch of trees and brush 80 yards below me. He is completely still. I watch the bull through my binoculars and after 20 minutes of seeing no movement I know he's done.
Thinking back on the shot, the crash, and the long breaths, he was dead within a minute or two. I texted my wife, brother, and a couple close friends then walked back to get my backpack and go down to see the bull. I shot him around 6:40 PM and finally had him caped out, quartered, and hanging in the tree just after midnight. I got the first load out to the pickup around 2 AM, had a dehydrated meal, then napped for a couple hours. I woke up just before daybreak on Friday, September 13th and hiked back in to start shuttling more meat to the pickup. The bull died 1.8 miles from my pickup as the crow flies, but due to terrain and how wet the ground was I had to hike roughly 2.2 miles one way to get him out, 4.4 miles roundtrip. All told with 5 trips to the bull and back I put on over 20 miles that day shuttling meat, bone, hide, and antlers back to my pickup. I didn't have the last load out until just before sundown on Friday. He was a big bull and yielded 200 lbs of clean, boned out meat. I found a processor nearby to cut and wrap the meat and dropped the head and cape off at a reputable taxidermist that a few people recommended. My wife talked me into the full shoulder mount so I couldn't argue with her, right?
This was my third archery elk hunt but the first that resulted in a notched tag at the end of the hunt. Solo, public land, DIY. It was an amazing week out in Montana.
After a few years of waiting and hunting general units, I pulled a limited entry elk permit in Montana this year. Day 6 of the hunt I got lucky and snuck in on this bull bedded with a cow and calf. I was still hunting my way down a long ridge running roughly east to west. The morning started with fog so thick I couldn't see over 100 yards, but by the afternoon the fog blew out and it turned into a nice, almost sunny day. Late afternoon I was working my way along this ridge, glassing into benches and timber on either side as I went. I had a strong NW wind in my face so conditions were perfect. Around 6 PM I spotted a cow nearly asleep on a bench roughly 80 yards below me. I could only see her and I moved into 70 yards pretty quick, then I got to the point of the hillside that I could easily sneak down. A few more minutes go by and I was in to 50 yards and glassing all around as I went. You never see a cow bedded by herself so I was searching every few steps, looking for the rest of the herd that I just knew had to be with her.
I was doing one of these looks through my binoculars when I caught movement in the far left side of my view. I could tell right away it was a bull, and a good one at that bedded within 10 yards of the cow. Now I had a decision to make, I could either sneak in on this cow who was oblivious to my existence and get an easy 30 yard shot, or I wait for the bull to get up and see if he'll give me a shot. I decided that with a couple days left to hunt and the wind in my face I would wait for the bull. I dropped my backpack and kept moving in on the elk, which were almost directly below me on the bench. Keep in mind this is one of those north facing hillsides, so steep you can't really stand so I'm sitting on my butt and sliding along as I go.
Maybe 10 minutes later I'm within 32 yards of the cow and 43 yards from the bull, but the bull is bedded behind a tangle of brush and deadfall trees. After watching them for a while longer, maybe another 10 minutes, the bull stands up. Just as he gets up a calf that I hadn't noticed before bolts out of her bed and trots about 20 yards beyond the cow. Now I know at least 3 elk are down there. The bull immediately moves over to the cow and kicks her out of bed. He seems to have one thing on his mind but the cow wasn't having it and nudges him away. The cow starts to feed up the draw and to my right, still unaware that I'm within striking distance. She eventually gives me another broadside shot at 35 yards, but at this point all of my focus is on the bull and trying to calm myself down while he feeds below me. He could have gone one of fifteen different directions when he stood up, but he starts to feed the same direction the cow and calf did. He continues to move closer to me and I'm getting ranges of 28, then 26, then 25 yards, all the while I'm focusing on staying calm so I can make the shot if it happens.
I notice a shooting lane about 7-8 feet wide, just the size of a mature bull elk, roughly 5 yards in front of the bull's assumed travel path. I start making my way to a spot where I'll have a shot once the bull gets to that window. I had to cover 12-15 feet to get in position, all with multiple elk within 60 yards of me and a mature bull inside 25 yards. As I'm moving over I'm thinking in the back of my head, "I know this cow is around here somewhere." I had lost sight of her a minute before. I had 2 feet to move to be in position when the cow comes around a patch of brush and she is looking my direction. At this point the bull is still moving toward the shooting window, but has stopped behind a tree to feed. I know I have to move now or I'll miss my chance for a shot. I wait until the cow seems to lose interest in me and I slide over the last 2 feet. Now the cow's eyes are locked on me again, but I have an arrow knocked, I'm in position to shoot, and I'm ranging the ground of the trail the bull is headed down. 23 yards to where I think he'll pass by, which should put his body at 21 yards at this steep downhill angle.
He is a few feet from the window and begins to move. The cow is still watching me intently but I know it's now or never. I have to draw or else this opportunity will slip through my fingers. The bull's head emerges from behind a big fir tree and he is almost in position so I draw. As I draw he takes his last 2 steps and he's now centered in the shooting window, completely broadside. At this point the cow's eyes are about to pop out of their sockets, her head is reared back and she's about to bolt. The bull sees her looking at me and whips his head up to see me at full draw. I keep holding telling myself, "lower, lower, lower..." knowing I need to hold my pin low. I touch the trigger and see the arrow fly true and hit the bull just high, but perfect for this angle. Clean lung hit.
All three elk go tearing up the draw and I eventually lose sight of the elk in the brush. I see the cow and calf emerge 150 yards further up the draw and eventually disappear again in the timber heading up the ridge. I then hear a crash maybe 80-100 yards away and hear the bull take a few long loud breaths. Then everything is quiet. I side hill another 20 yards over until I have a commanding view of the drainage and I see antlers sticking out of a patch of trees and brush 80 yards below me. He is completely still. I watch the bull through my binoculars and after 20 minutes of seeing no movement I know he's done.
Thinking back on the shot, the crash, and the long breaths, he was dead within a minute or two. I texted my wife, brother, and a couple close friends then walked back to get my backpack and go down to see the bull. I shot him around 6:40 PM and finally had him caped out, quartered, and hanging in the tree just after midnight. I got the first load out to the pickup around 2 AM, had a dehydrated meal, then napped for a couple hours. I woke up just before daybreak on Friday, September 13th and hiked back in to start shuttling more meat to the pickup. The bull died 1.8 miles from my pickup as the crow flies, but due to terrain and how wet the ground was I had to hike roughly 2.2 miles one way to get him out, 4.4 miles roundtrip. All told with 5 trips to the bull and back I put on over 20 miles that day shuttling meat, bone, hide, and antlers back to my pickup. I didn't have the last load out until just before sundown on Friday. He was a big bull and yielded 200 lbs of clean, boned out meat. I found a processor nearby to cut and wrap the meat and dropped the head and cape off at a reputable taxidermist that a few people recommended. My wife talked me into the full shoulder mount so I couldn't argue with her, right?
This was my third archery elk hunt but the first that resulted in a notched tag at the end of the hunt. Solo, public land, DIY. It was an amazing week out in Montana.
Nice.
