What an incredible adventure we had in Arizona last week. My buddy Cody is a hunting maniac and invited me along to call and help fill his archery bull elk tag. For three days we put half-marathon numbers of miles under our boots pounding ridges and valleys, calling frequently looking for that one bull that wanted to party. On day 1 we called in several bulls and almost got it done on a huge bull. The morning of day 2 was fruitless, until in a last ditch effort we located this (possibly the same) bull in the same spot as the bull from the previous day. We made a brilliant wind play and got in his bedroom. I did my best pissed-off elk impression bugling aggressively and raking trees to draw him into 30 yards, and Cody made a beautiful shot, threading the arrow between two trees. We were ecstatic. Unfortunately, we think the arrow deflected off a rib and only took out one lung along with hitting heart and liver. Elk can run a LONG way on one lung and the blood trail was sparse to say the least. We searched for over 4 hours with no sign of a dead bull, though our recollection of the shot said he should be dead. The ultimate high became the ultimate low as we came to believe this elk was possibly only wounded and would never be seen again. The next day we trudged on, looking for another bull while simultaneously looking for our wounded bull, but morale was low. Even if we did find him, the meat would likely be spoiled. Morale spiked again though when our new friend Andrew Larson, a selfless man I describe as AZ elk hunting Jesus, messaged us to say he found our bull one ridge over. He had ran about a mile from where he was shot and died in a small ravine where it was quite cool and shaded. We almost literally jumped off one mountain and sprinted up another to go meet him and recover the bull. Miraculously all the meat seemed to be still good! He couldn't have died in a better place under these circumstances. We ended the third day packing him out to camp and are now headed home loaded down heavy with several hundred pounds of some of the best meat on the planet. What a rollercoaster of emotions this was. It'll be an adventure I'll never forget and I plan on coming back to Arizona as soon as i can. Lots more pictures to follow.
