My First Archery Elk

[Vandal 44]

Congrats on your elk, nicely done

 

[HOT ROD]

Congrats on a nice bull

 

[Studd muffin]

Great job, maybe one day I'll get fortunate enough to take something like that. Congrats

 

[Wyo307]

Thank you everyone! He really isn't anything special to me, especially with what I have seen in there this year and what I have pictures of from this year. I am happy with him but in my eyes he isn't much of a trophy. I really wasn't planning on killing an elk this year just because we don't need the meat but when they give you the opportunity who am I not to take it lol. I am looking forward to having some more steaks though. Once again thank you everyone for the kind words.

 

[Jarrod Renaud]

great job man! Gosh, can't wait to get in the woods

 

[screamin6x6]

Nice bull. Congrats.

 

[Matthoek21]

I sure would be happy with him! Congrats

 

[Gkalk1]

very nice congrats

 

[Redmech]

Awesome animal, I hope I can kill one as nice in a few weeks.

 

[Barty1970]

A right Royal 6x6...cracking bull; any more of the story?

 

[Wyo307]

A right Royal 6x6...cracking bull; any more of the story?

Okay here is a short version of the story:

My dad and I went up Friday afternoon to our elk camp which is about 4 miles in from the trail head to meet up with my buddy his dad and his cousin that had went in on Wednesday. Within a few hours of getting to camp we had a nice 6x6 bugling back at us coming in. I ranged him at 62 yards which is about the farthest I would shoot an elk at with my bow but he didn't stop to give me the chance. This bull also had a dozen or so cows with him, a smaller 5x6, and a spike. He continued up the hill then I was able to turn him (by calling) and was bringing him right into my buddy when the wind swirled and hit our back. He smelled us turned around and walked off bugling the whole time. It is still amazing every time you get that close to one of those things especially when they are all fired up like that.

The next morning (Saturday) my dad and I went one way and everyone else went to where we had been the night before. Dad and I ended up making a nice loop and saw 7 cows, a spike, and a 5x5 but were unable to get close enough for a shot. We also saw a handful of small bucks, does and fawns (this is our deer area as well). We ended up getting into some nasty downfall timber towards the end of our loop which really wore my dad out so we took our time and went back to camp. Once we got to camp we learned that the other group had seen a huge 6x6 bull out in the open but there was no way to get close to him because of the lack of cover between them so they were all wanting to get back in there and get him. We decided to eat and then took a nap/relaxed for a few hours before deciding to head back out. They were all going back after the bull they had seen that morning so my dad and I decided to go up into a drainage that we know holds a lot of elk and has a bunch of wallows in it. Anyways we made our way up the bottom of that drainage really slowly making sure not to blow anything out. It was still a little early for the elk to be talking (about 5pm). As we approached the spot where we wanted to turn up the hill we noticed that the wind was a little wrong so we were going to have to sneak by underneath where we wanted to get to along the creek then loop up the hill and come back down into the wallow we wanted to get to so that we had the wind in our face. We were about 150 yards past where we had initially wanted to turn up the hill when we came across a new wallow that had been used that day. We decided to set up and call for a minute to see if we couldn't draw one off the hill before going up and risk spooking them before we got to where we needed to. We pretty much know that this hillside has elk on it from experience and our trail camera was set on the wallow that we were trying to get to all year. That camera by the way had 17 different bulls on it in late August but no pictures of my bull. So I got dad down into a decent position where he had some good shooting lanes and could see two different wallows, I backed up the hill just to where I could barely see the first wallow and sat down. I cow called a few times and then waited to see what would happen and almost instantly you could hear something coming off the ridge towards us although it never called back to us. After a few minutes I couldn't hear anything moving anymore so I cow called a couple more times and then I ranged everything in front of me just so I had some references and nocked an arrow just in case. I started to hear something moving once again on the hill above us but this time it seemed to be closer. A few minutes later out of nowhere I saw antlers coming out of the trees in front of me. I drew my bow as he stepped into the open and then he took a few steps towards me and paused just long enough for me to let it fly. Conveniently where he paused was directly in front of my 50 yard reference marker. I took a quartering to me shot (which I don't like to do but it was a slight quarter) and just as I released he took another step which sent the shot a little high and back from where I would have liked it. After I released and heard that nice WHOOOOWAAAAPPPP sound then he took off and ran into the trees past my dad. The tree crashing lasted maybe 5-10 seconds then it was quiet. I gathered my stuff up and walked across the meadow to where he had been standing an met my dad there. He said that he never even knew an elk was there all he saw was an arrow go flying across the meadow next to him. When I shot my dad was actually closer to it than I was. Anyways we gave him a half hour or so and started the tracking process. The blood trail was not very good and at times would go away for 20 yards or so. I was starting to second guess my shot when my dad was up above me and said THERE HE IS! I quickly ran up to him and sure enough through the trees there he was laying in a steep hillside. He had only made it about 100 yards before piling up. As we walked up to him I realized he was a smaller 6 point which surprised me because when I shot I could have sworn that he was just a 5 point but I don't really care much especially for my first one with a bow.

A few high fives and hugs with my dad and then we started in on the work. On elk we don't gut them we just cut quarters off then back straps and tenderloins which we did fairly easily with the exception of every time we tried to adjust him he would slide further and further down the hill. Once everything was taken care of we started to haul each piece down to the creek by where I had shot him so that we could hang it in a tree for the night to hopefully keep it away from the bears. This bull had an amazing amount of fat on him, probably 2" on his rump which made the hind quarters over 70 lbs each. We had just gotten all of the quarters down and were back up loading the back straps into my dad's pack when I heard a stick break above us and when I looked up there were 3 cows staring at us at 20 yards. They turned around and walked back the way they had come from (back towards the wallow we had initially wanted to get to) and then shortly after that another bull started bugling on the ridge just above us. I looked at my dad and said lets go double up! We dropped down underneath him and set up to start calling at him. I got him all worked up but he was refusing to come down to us. It was obvious that he was in the wallow that we were initially going to and he had some cows with him too because you could hear them calling back and forth. We didn't have enough time to make it there before we lost shooting light so we just let him be and decided we could be back in the morning to try to get him. Then we went back down to where the quarters were laying and hung them in some trees by this time we were using our headlamps for light. Once all of that was done we loaded our packs up and made our way back down the 1.5 miles or so to camp. Some celebrating took place that night passing around the whisky bottle and then we ate dinner and crashed out. My dad and I had decided that we were too tired to get back up before daylight to go chase the one that was still screaming up there so my buddy and his cousin decided to go try it for us.

The next morning as their alarm went off you could here elk bugling off in the distance so they made short work of getting up and heading out. After they left you could hear them playing with them in the distance as I was trying to fall back asleep. They ended up getting busted by a cow that morning which screwed them up for the rest of the hunt. By the time they got back to camp the rest of us were sitting around eating breakfast and drinking coffee which they joined in on gladly. We decided that everyone would be going out that day (they had planned on staying one more day) and then we started to break camp a bit. Determined what all needed to come out and what could stay and started to make a pile. I got my stuff taken care of quickly then decided that I would start cutting on the elk head to try to save me some weight on the way out since it would be on my back the whole way. I plan on doing a European mount myself with this one so I wanted to save the whole skull but I was able to ditch the skin, lower jaw, tongue, a bunch of meat, ect. All in all a half hour of cutting saved me 15 pounds or so, time well spent. Once everyone else had gotten their stuff situated we saddled the two horses that we had up there and my buddy and I made our way back to where the quarters were hanging. I was surprised that nothing had touched them overnight, especially since we have picture of a bear from a couple weeks ago not more than a quarter mile from where they were. Anyways we put them in the saddle panniers tied them up so they were secure and led the horses back down to camp. Once at camp we put on what everyone was bringing out and loaded our packs up. Then we started our 4 mile trek back out to the trail head. I thought we did fairly well since everyone (including my dad and my buddy's dad) were loaded down and we made it out in only an hour and forty minutes. My pack for the walk out was upwards of 65 pounds once you added up all of my clothes, left over food, spotting scope, tripod, water, and the head. Which I was surprised how well the Kuiu Ultra 6000 handled it. All in all it was a fun weekend and those memories will last a lifetime, especially since my dad was there to experience it with me.

 

[hobbes]

Congrats!

 

[sasquatch]

congrats

 

[SchillerTime]

That's the moment we archers await...! Great job!

 

[DEHusker]

Total congrats. Anyone who has taken an elk with a bow realizes what a MAASSIVE accomplishment it is. Cow, spike, or 380" monster it is all tough. Again, congrats!!