What was your best day archery elk hunting?

[cnelk]

Mine was in 2003.
Me and 2 buddies hiked in about 4-5 miles one morning.
One buddy arrowed a raghorn first thing. As we waited for it to expire, we did some cow calling and here came a cow.
I smoked her at 32yds. She turned and we heard her fall. We went and gutted her, then went and found the raghorn and gutted him.
My other buddy said 'I want to shoot one..."
So we hiked about 1/2 mile and I called in another raghorn for him. It was his first.

In an hour and a half we shot 3 elk

It took 2 days to pack all that meat outta there...

 

[trophyhill]

so far my best day was my first encounter with an elk in sept of '08. my first elk hunt and first bow hunt i knew nothing about calling. on the 10th of sept i finally had some action. i called in a screamin herd bull to about 15 yards. though i never had a shot at that monster, i did draw my bow several times on him. after he thrashed a tree and walked off screamin thru the dark timber, i walked off the mountain with a smile on my face after i stopped shaking. i have been addicted ever since. that truly was a great day. it changed my outlook on mule deer hunting as well. i have hunted them with bow and arrow ever since too.

 

[gil_wy]

Sept. 4, 2004... Took my brother Travis along on a hunt.... In 2 1/2 hours we called in 8 bulls, 2 of which came within 10 feet of Travis... The last bull ended up being a 378 2/8" bull that died jumping over the log my brother was hiding behind!!!

 

[mattstanton]

opening morning 2010. had a 6x6 come in running and screaming to my calls at first light. could not get a shot and as he walked away I called a little more and just about got ran over by a little raghorn busting through the brush behind me! All this in the first hour of daylight the opening day!

 

[Swede]

I think it was 2009, when on opening morning my young friend Tim got his first elk while hunting with my son. It was a 4x5 bull, he shot with a bow on opening morning. After spending the morning getting it out and into the back of the pickup, Tim and Luke took the bull to the meat locker in town. That afternoon, over some voices of doubt and scepticism, I convinced Luke to return with me to the same two tree stands in a small basin where we each arrowed our own 5x5 bulls. I think that incident brought an end to the idea that there is the "scent of death in the air", that will keep game away from an area. Just work quietly and git-er-done. I just wonder if we had more tags if we could have got more elk in that basin the next day.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

October 2008, I took my Dad on his first backcountry rifle hunt. Did not get anything, but it was an awesome time.

 

[diggerson]

Still haven't killed an elk yet with a bow, only been bow hunting them a few seasons, but last season had my first real encounter with a bull. Came across a spindly 6x6 with 5 cows/calves, buglling his head off at first light. I couldn't get into position to intercept as they started to leave the area for their bedding area. However, I was pretty confident I knew where there bedding area was. The wind was right for me to pursue and dog them. The bull and I traded bugles and I kept track of them, as they headed right where I thought they would. Got into the red zone, 65 yds from the bull, but no shot. Made a rookie mistake in getting impatient and one of the cows caught my movement as I tried to cut more distance. Game over, but to date, the closest I've ever been...

 

[thebugler]

If you have hunted elk for very many seasons, then you know about how every now and then you have a day that's magical! September 23/2007 My son Austin was 10 years old and finally big enough to go on his first backcountry elk hunt. First thing that morning he told me how he would help me "drag out" an elk if we got one. Boy was he in for a surprise! After hunting through a light drizzle most of the day we had heard many bulls and called in a couple, but no shots were fired due to the brushy nature of the country. About 30 mins before dark we had three bulls going crazy below us. A nice 5pt came into 20 yards but no shot was available, so he left once he didnt see the elk that had making all the calls. Then a bull that had been bugling his head off the whole time came stomping up the hill to us. I shot him at five yards and he died after a short dash. After soaking it all in next to the dead bull, Austin said " I dont think we can drag this one out Dad"! And we didnt. After several trips up the hill the next day(which was Austin's birthday), we were done.

Since then Austin has grown up a bunch and is now tagging bulls of his own. Those hunts have rivaled my personal best day just by the shear pride a father gets from passing it on

 

[a3dhunter]

I think it was opening morning of 2005, saw 4 legal bulls within 50 yards in 4 hours.
Things were happening so fast I didn't know what to do, but it sure let me learn to always be ready. An elk can seemingly come out of nowhere!