slim9300
WKR
This year the elk opener was a day I will never forget. The elk were bugling on August 31st in one of my 'honey holes' as I put them to bed, only to find the morning of Sept. 1st dead silent even with lots of coaxing (figures). We switched gears for the evening hunt after seeing quite a few decent bulls through the spotting scope that morning but no shooters.
The evening hunt left us walking into a decommissioned logging road in absolutely perfect elk country. I have been scouting this unit for 10 days over the summer and I never saw any bulls in this part of the area, but I was confident they were there in strength (I hoped).
The road that we wanted to walk out only goes about 3 miles before it ends, and we left about 90 minutes before last light. About half an hour before last light, we were about 1/2 mile from the end of the road system. Imagine a giant meadowed and alpine timber basin to our left (400 yards across), and a very steep ridge of the same type of cover to our right. I spotted a bull feeding below the road 40 yards and about 150 yards away from us. As I watched the bull through my binos I placed his score at a minimum of 330" gross, but probably bigger since his body size made his antlers deceiving. (My self proclaimed minimum bull for the tag that I drew is 330") It is very hard to judge elk in this unit due to their bodies being 30% larger than any Rocky Mountain elk. A mature bull up there runs 900-1000 lbs. on the hoof (and have been killed bigger than that). As I sized up the bull, another giant bodied and even older bull walks out from behind a tree next to the bull. He is only a 290-300" 6x5, but he is a true monarch of the mountains. His belly hung very low and his coat was nearly white. I figured he was at least 8-9 years old and over 1000 lbs.
So we gave it a few minutes and waited for the bulls to feed behind a few trees and get out of sight, and we boogied down the road to ambush the big guy. At what I figured was 80 yards, I deployed the Poison Arrow decoy and nocked an arrow. I had Scott hang back 30 yards as I snuck in. When I was almost even with the bull's last location on the road, I hear a "psssssssttt." And turn to look at Scott who is holding up his hands in the shape of antlers. I was really pissed because I was worried he was going to blow my chance at the big boy over something that wasn't a shooter, but as soon as I saw his face I realized he wasn't sure if it was big enough or not. I snuck back to Scott and looked up the slope at a beautiful 6x6 bull with great fronts and even better backs feeding broadside (for a WA bull at least). At 80 yards it took some seriously figuring to come up with 310" but that's all I could come up with. Not a shooter. As soon as I came to this realization, the bull looked at us and froze. I snapped a few terrible pics as my hands shook like leaves. After a few seconds he started to walk away and move down toward the other two bulls. Oh no you don't! I literally ran down the road 30 yards to make sure he saw I was cutting him off. Once I got there, I looked up at him now 59 yards away and standing broadside. There were two 5x5's and a cow above him about 30 yards also staring at me. I practiced drawing my bow and just looked at him in awe. After about 60 seconds I started wondering why this bull was so dumb, then I realized he was fixated on my decoy. Eventually he trotted away and up. Thank God (not that it ended up mattering in the end).
As soon as he moved I remembered I was on a mission to kill the big bull and snuck another 20 or so yards down the road listening for the lower bulls. After a few seconds I spotted the 6x5 at 30 yards feeding. And I could hear the big bull raking a tree 20 yards further and right under the road. I snuck in to about 8 yards of the bull and I could hear him walking through the creek bed tank trap that ran up to, and across the road. He was about to walk to 4 yards and I was going to kill him. I drew my bow and as I started to see his antler tips, I felt something that made me sick. The wind on the back of my neck. The evening thermals had switched from going up, to now heading down the mountain. The bull stopped and started raking again but then his breathing became louder and he froze in his tracks. If I could have moved and shot him, I would have, but it was far too thick. As he ran I took off down the road and cow called with all my might. Once I reached a opening and could see below me, I watched the big bull trot into the timber at 80 yards and the old 6x5 just stood there confused at 60 yards.
I have been itching to use my new decoy all summer and wondering if it would give me more time in certain situations. Well, now I have my answer. I will never elk hunt without it on my quiver.
Here's a couple really crappy pics of the bull I passed and one of me shooting with the Poison Arrow Decoy at a 3d shoot.
The evening hunt left us walking into a decommissioned logging road in absolutely perfect elk country. I have been scouting this unit for 10 days over the summer and I never saw any bulls in this part of the area, but I was confident they were there in strength (I hoped).
The road that we wanted to walk out only goes about 3 miles before it ends, and we left about 90 minutes before last light. About half an hour before last light, we were about 1/2 mile from the end of the road system. Imagine a giant meadowed and alpine timber basin to our left (400 yards across), and a very steep ridge of the same type of cover to our right. I spotted a bull feeding below the road 40 yards and about 150 yards away from us. As I watched the bull through my binos I placed his score at a minimum of 330" gross, but probably bigger since his body size made his antlers deceiving. (My self proclaimed minimum bull for the tag that I drew is 330") It is very hard to judge elk in this unit due to their bodies being 30% larger than any Rocky Mountain elk. A mature bull up there runs 900-1000 lbs. on the hoof (and have been killed bigger than that). As I sized up the bull, another giant bodied and even older bull walks out from behind a tree next to the bull. He is only a 290-300" 6x5, but he is a true monarch of the mountains. His belly hung very low and his coat was nearly white. I figured he was at least 8-9 years old and over 1000 lbs. So we gave it a few minutes and waited for the bulls to feed behind a few trees and get out of sight, and we boogied down the road to ambush the big guy. At what I figured was 80 yards, I deployed the Poison Arrow decoy and nocked an arrow. I had Scott hang back 30 yards as I snuck in. When I was almost even with the bull's last location on the road, I hear a "psssssssttt." And turn to look at Scott who is holding up his hands in the shape of antlers. I was really pissed because I was worried he was going to blow my chance at the big boy over something that wasn't a shooter, but as soon as I saw his face I realized he wasn't sure if it was big enough or not. I snuck back to Scott and looked up the slope at a beautiful 6x6 bull with great fronts and even better backs feeding broadside (for a WA bull at least). At 80 yards it took some seriously figuring to come up with 310" but that's all I could come up with. Not a shooter. As soon as I came to this realization, the bull looked at us and froze. I snapped a few terrible pics as my hands shook like leaves. After a few seconds he started to walk away and move down toward the other two bulls. Oh no you don't! I literally ran down the road 30 yards to make sure he saw I was cutting him off. Once I got there, I looked up at him now 59 yards away and standing broadside. There were two 5x5's and a cow above him about 30 yards also staring at me. I practiced drawing my bow and just looked at him in awe. After about 60 seconds I started wondering why this bull was so dumb, then I realized he was fixated on my decoy. Eventually he trotted away and up. Thank God (not that it ended up mattering in the end).
As soon as he moved I remembered I was on a mission to kill the big bull and snuck another 20 or so yards down the road listening for the lower bulls. After a few seconds I spotted the 6x5 at 30 yards feeding. And I could hear the big bull raking a tree 20 yards further and right under the road. I snuck in to about 8 yards of the bull and I could hear him walking through the creek bed tank trap that ran up to, and across the road. He was about to walk to 4 yards and I was going to kill him.
I drew my bow and as I started to see his antler tips, I felt something that made me sick. The wind on the back of my neck. The evening thermals had switched from going up, to now heading down the mountain. The bull stopped and started raking again but then his breathing became louder and he froze in his tracks. If I could have moved and shot him, I would have, but it was far too thick. As he ran I took off down the road and cow called with all my might. Once I reached a opening and could see below me, I watched the big bull trot into the timber at 80 yards and the old 6x5 just stood there confused at 60 yards. I have been itching to use my new decoy all summer and wondering if it would give me more time in certain situations. Well, now I have my answer. I will never elk hunt without it on my quiver.
Here's a couple really crappy pics of the bull I passed and one of me shooting with the Poison Arrow Decoy at a 3d shoot.
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