back country
WKR
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2014
- Messages
- 611
This is my wife and I's first season bowhunting, so we both have been practicing a lot all summer and both got OTC elk tags here in our home state of UT. The bow season has been underway for about a week already around here and I've been out a few times already by myself with no luck so far. I had elk come in one night, but they didn't present me with a shot. Actually opening morning of bow season found us at my wife's grandmothers funeral, so it wasn't quite the joyous season opener that she'd been looking forward to.
We'd asked my parents who live close if they could watch our 3-year old for a night so we could get out together this past friday/saturday. They agreed, we got her dropped off nearly at the time we were planning in order to be able to head into the mountains and hunt the evening, spend the night, and hunt all next day and come out after dark.
I'd planned for us to go sit a water hole I've had a trail camera on for a little while and that has been having a good amount of elk activity, and it also has a ground blind a little ways up from the hole that would be perfect for both of us to sit in. But, when we got up there, there was already a car parked at the trail head. Such is public land hunting. I knew there was another water hole on the other side of the road but had heard that for whatever reason it just didn't get near the elk traffic that the hole did that we had planned to go to but was now occupied. It was starting to get late and other good spots I knew of were enough of a drive and hike away that I didn't know if we'd make it in time, plus some of them are well known elk spots too so it was a gamble as well if we'd find other people there or not. I had noticed a four-wheeler parked on the side of the road where this other supposedly 'lower traffic' water hole was, but if they'd indeed parked there to hunt that hole, they'd parked an unnecessarily long ways away up the road from it. Running out of daylight and options, I decided to creep in slow by myself just to see if anyone was indeed sitting that hole. I went real slow and quiet and scanned everywhere with my binos, not wanting to ruin someone's hunt, although I felt pretty confident the 4-wheeler was parked too far away for the hunter to be here at this hole. One I was sure there was no one there, I noticed a moo cow down getting water. I thought great even if we sit here we're only going to see cattle. I decided to shoo the cow away and go get my wife and come sit the water hole. My wife was pretty anxious about the whole thing, having never hunted before, so I knew she was going to be ok with doing pretty much anything.
Once we got back in there and got settled in a little spot behind some bushes, we began our sit. About an hour into it, I heard some branches break and noticed an elk through the trees, but initially I thought I saw a big rack of antlers and that it was a branched bull, and our unit is spike only. I thought even though we wouldn't be able to shoot, it would still be awesome for her to see an elk up close. Once the elk came out of the trees near the water, it was obvious it was a cow! Things were getting real now, as this was something we could harvest! I wanted to be as sure as possible it was a dry cow before we got serious about shooting, so we waited for quite some time to make sure no calf was going to wander in behind it. I looked and my wife and mouthed 'me or you?' and she looked at me with that look and mouthed 'me!' The cow milled around the water hole, and I know she knew something (us) was up in the bushes because she kept looking up our way and pausing, but every time she'd go back to drinking. My wife even drew back when she was broadside and drinking only to have her take a couple steps and turn towards us, ruining the shot opportunity, and keep drinking, so she was stuck at full draw. I could tell after a bit her arms were getting tired and she finally had to let down, and the cow saw the movement, but seemed undeterred. I had ranged the cow at 22.8 yards, well within her skill and comfort zone, and once the cow turned and gave her a quartering-away shot, she let her arrow fly. It was a perfect lung shot. The cow took off a little way up the hill, did a half loop to the left, and started to wobble and then toppled over. She didn't even go 30 yards! We were both in shock of what had just happened. I had honestly thought that our 'hunting' trip was going to be more of just a camping trip, but boy was I wrong! Sometimes it is great to be wrong
After some pictures, lots of hugs, and a few tears of joy, we got to work taking care of her. It took us two trips to get all the meat out as she only had a camelbak with a few bottles of water, a sweater, and some snacks in it. We ended up getting home and getting the meat on ice by around 2 am. What a whirlwind of an evening, with an outcome that we were each hoping for but honestly not expecting at all! I'm so happy I got to share this experience with her, and it motivates me even more to get back out and get my own.
Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone. It can happen anywhere at any time, you just have to get out there!
We'd asked my parents who live close if they could watch our 3-year old for a night so we could get out together this past friday/saturday. They agreed, we got her dropped off nearly at the time we were planning in order to be able to head into the mountains and hunt the evening, spend the night, and hunt all next day and come out after dark.
I'd planned for us to go sit a water hole I've had a trail camera on for a little while and that has been having a good amount of elk activity, and it also has a ground blind a little ways up from the hole that would be perfect for both of us to sit in. But, when we got up there, there was already a car parked at the trail head. Such is public land hunting. I knew there was another water hole on the other side of the road but had heard that for whatever reason it just didn't get near the elk traffic that the hole did that we had planned to go to but was now occupied. It was starting to get late and other good spots I knew of were enough of a drive and hike away that I didn't know if we'd make it in time, plus some of them are well known elk spots too so it was a gamble as well if we'd find other people there or not. I had noticed a four-wheeler parked on the side of the road where this other supposedly 'lower traffic' water hole was, but if they'd indeed parked there to hunt that hole, they'd parked an unnecessarily long ways away up the road from it. Running out of daylight and options, I decided to creep in slow by myself just to see if anyone was indeed sitting that hole. I went real slow and quiet and scanned everywhere with my binos, not wanting to ruin someone's hunt, although I felt pretty confident the 4-wheeler was parked too far away for the hunter to be here at this hole. One I was sure there was no one there, I noticed a moo cow down getting water. I thought great even if we sit here we're only going to see cattle. I decided to shoo the cow away and go get my wife and come sit the water hole. My wife was pretty anxious about the whole thing, having never hunted before, so I knew she was going to be ok with doing pretty much anything.
Once we got back in there and got settled in a little spot behind some bushes, we began our sit. About an hour into it, I heard some branches break and noticed an elk through the trees, but initially I thought I saw a big rack of antlers and that it was a branched bull, and our unit is spike only. I thought even though we wouldn't be able to shoot, it would still be awesome for her to see an elk up close. Once the elk came out of the trees near the water, it was obvious it was a cow! Things were getting real now, as this was something we could harvest! I wanted to be as sure as possible it was a dry cow before we got serious about shooting, so we waited for quite some time to make sure no calf was going to wander in behind it. I looked and my wife and mouthed 'me or you?' and she looked at me with that look and mouthed 'me!' The cow milled around the water hole, and I know she knew something (us) was up in the bushes because she kept looking up our way and pausing, but every time she'd go back to drinking. My wife even drew back when she was broadside and drinking only to have her take a couple steps and turn towards us, ruining the shot opportunity, and keep drinking, so she was stuck at full draw. I could tell after a bit her arms were getting tired and she finally had to let down, and the cow saw the movement, but seemed undeterred. I had ranged the cow at 22.8 yards, well within her skill and comfort zone, and once the cow turned and gave her a quartering-away shot, she let her arrow fly. It was a perfect lung shot. The cow took off a little way up the hill, did a half loop to the left, and started to wobble and then toppled over. She didn't even go 30 yards! We were both in shock of what had just happened. I had honestly thought that our 'hunting' trip was going to be more of just a camping trip, but boy was I wrong! Sometimes it is great to be wrong
After some pictures, lots of hugs, and a few tears of joy, we got to work taking care of her. It took us two trips to get all the meat out as she only had a camelbak with a few bottles of water, a sweater, and some snacks in it. We ended up getting home and getting the meat on ice by around 2 am. What a whirlwind of an evening, with an outcome that we were each hoping for but honestly not expecting at all! I'm so happy I got to share this experience with her, and it motivates me even more to get back out and get my own.
Thanks for reading, and good luck to everyone. It can happen anywhere at any time, you just have to get out there!
Last edited:
