Fowl Play
WKR
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2016
- Messages
- 522
Due to a series of friends not drawing and family obligations, I wound up solo this year. Missed the campfire talk with good friends, but did allow me to hunt harder. 6 days of close encounters, lessons learned, applying them, and a little luck — paid off.
Finally got a day where I had a consistent strong wind midday. Used the opportunity to hike over 8 miles and call allot. The rut seemed to peak, die off, but today it was on again! Almost used my tag on a cow that came bounding in to a yard. I was tired and beat down and just wanted to fill the freezer at this point. But she was just moving too quick (bounding in at 15+ mph) and only provided a frontal shot, I drew, but did not fire.
At 1pm I let out a series of cow calls and immediately got a bugle. Very close. I sprinted downwind 50 yards and set up where I had a 30 yard shooting lane. Sure enough he did exactly what the other bulls I learned from did. Circling downwind to catch my scent. I saw him coming up the hill, several cows in tow. As he walked behind a tree at 20 yards, I drew. He saw me, stopped suddenly and shuddered a bit. He’s now frozen staring me down at 20 yards, completely broadside, only issue is there was a very small sapling completely covering his vitals (prob 1/2” trunk) — I wanted him to take one more step, but I didn’t get it. In a split second I evaluated my situation, he’s about to bolt, there’s a sapling, but it’s right against his body and he’s at 20 yards. I picked out what looked to be the thinnest branch of the sapling and released. Broadhead cut the branch in half and plunged 16” into the boiler house. In a whirlwind it’s over.
I watch him run 60 yards out of sight. I mark my shot location, take a picture from my shot location, mark up that picture with where he was standing and last position I saw him at. I backed out and gave him an hour. I was confident in my shot placement as I saw my arrow sticking out. But was concerned about finding him.
An hour later I returned and there is very little blood. I spend about 45 min trying to blood trail him but with the light fading I decided to start grid searching. I was very thankful to have the picture to reference on last position I saw him. From that picture and my last point on the blood trail I got a line to follow. I walked 400 yards, nothing. Cut 50 yards over and started making another line back uphill. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him laying there. Such a rewarding end to this hunt. Packout was brutal and may take a week for my legs to recover. Freezer is officially full!
Finally got a day where I had a consistent strong wind midday. Used the opportunity to hike over 8 miles and call allot. The rut seemed to peak, die off, but today it was on again! Almost used my tag on a cow that came bounding in to a yard. I was tired and beat down and just wanted to fill the freezer at this point. But she was just moving too quick (bounding in at 15+ mph) and only provided a frontal shot, I drew, but did not fire.
At 1pm I let out a series of cow calls and immediately got a bugle. Very close. I sprinted downwind 50 yards and set up where I had a 30 yard shooting lane. Sure enough he did exactly what the other bulls I learned from did. Circling downwind to catch my scent. I saw him coming up the hill, several cows in tow. As he walked behind a tree at 20 yards, I drew. He saw me, stopped suddenly and shuddered a bit. He’s now frozen staring me down at 20 yards, completely broadside, only issue is there was a very small sapling completely covering his vitals (prob 1/2” trunk) — I wanted him to take one more step, but I didn’t get it. In a split second I evaluated my situation, he’s about to bolt, there’s a sapling, but it’s right against his body and he’s at 20 yards. I picked out what looked to be the thinnest branch of the sapling and released. Broadhead cut the branch in half and plunged 16” into the boiler house. In a whirlwind it’s over.
I watch him run 60 yards out of sight. I mark my shot location, take a picture from my shot location, mark up that picture with where he was standing and last position I saw him at. I backed out and gave him an hour. I was confident in my shot placement as I saw my arrow sticking out. But was concerned about finding him.
An hour later I returned and there is very little blood. I spend about 45 min trying to blood trail him but with the light fading I decided to start grid searching. I was very thankful to have the picture to reference on last position I saw him. From that picture and my last point on the blood trail I got a line to follow. I walked 400 yards, nothing. Cut 50 yards over and started making another line back uphill. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him laying there. Such a rewarding end to this hunt. Packout was brutal and may take a week for my legs to recover. Freezer is officially full!
