PowellSixO
Lil-Rokslider
I've killed a few elk with my rifle, one being a nice bull that went on the wall. I've been apart of dozens of other rifle bulls killed, and cows killed. I've been apart of several archery bulls killed, and I've even had an archery bull tag myself about 10 years ago (Scouted 35 days, hunted 14, and went home with tag soup). Hunting elk with a bow is no easy feat. I scouted 15 weekends before my hunt this year. I also spent a full week scouting the week before my hunt. I then hunted hard for 13 days. On day 13 I finally was able to achieve the hardest thing I've ever done hunting........ Kill a bull with my bow. With all the scouting I did, finding elk was never a problem. I had plan A-Z, and then some. I was in elk every day of the hunt. The big problem was me. I was always able to screw it up some how. Lol. I've never been a super patient man. Well with every day that passed, I learned that patience is a very important tool to the elk hunter. I had opportunities every day of the hunt (most of which I blew), and opportunities at bulls much bigger than the one I ultimately killed. I had a standard of a mature 6x6 bull, score not being a factor. On day 6 of the hunt, I was able to make a shot on a very nice 315ish bull. He came in quartered to me, and I fought the urge to take the shot at 30 yards. He knew something was up, turned and started walking away. At the 40 yard mark, he was perfectly quartered away, and I took the shot. I hit exactly where I wanted. He took off like a bat out of hell, ran into a tree, and pulled the arrow. After tracking him for 400 yards, the blood was gone. My heart sunk. We backed out overnight, and began the search the next morning. After crawling on our hands and knees for another 200 yards, we lost all blood. We spent 2 and a half days searching for that bull, and I never found him. My only conclusion is, that I hit him a little too far forward, and only got one lung. I hope with all my heart, that bull made it. I spent the next half a day thinking about calling the hunt, or continuing on with it. I finally decided that I would continue hunting that area in hopes of finding that bull alive, or dead, and that I would only take another shot if it was a for sure thing. Once again I was on elk every day, and had more and more encounters. I had to stop myself from a few nice opportunities, on nice 6x6 bulls. I still wasn't over hitting the first bull. Fast forward to day 13. I get up a little bit late, but get into a spot that was close to camp, and had been abandoned by the rest of the other hunters. I hear 3 bulls going crazy, and I spent 2 hours shadowing the group, keeping the wind right, and the elk close. I finally get to where I can feel the bugles in my chest, and I can see elk feet. I let out a call, and my bull came running in like it was possessed. He ran in so fast, he actually over shot me by 9 yards. He was now quartered away, and only at 9 yards. I figured this was as good as it was going to get. I settled my pin 2 inches low, knowing my arrow would hit high at that distance, and sent one right through his heart. He ran less than 40 yards, got the shaky legs, and went over. 10 seconds later a 330 bull that I'd been after, comes walking right past me at a whopping 12 yards. He stops, he bugles, he pisses, he walks over to my bull, he barks at him a few times, and then he walks off like nothing happened. Every hair on my body was standing up!!! This will go down as one of my absolute favorite hunts!! It will go down as one of the hardest hunts (physically and emotionally) I've been apart of. It is also one of the proudest hunts I've ever been on. While I passed on bigger bulls, and saw much bigger bulls, I'm super pround of the little 5x5 I was able to harvest this year. I feel horrible about the one that got away, but I learned from it. ELk are big targets, but they're tough targets, and you have to be careful about your shot. While the kill zone is big, if you don't hit it right, you're doing yourself and the elk no favors. I could have left that bit out of my story, but it happened, and I wanted to be completely honest about my trip. I have a knew respect for how tough these animals are. Anyways, enough of my jabbering. Sorry for the photos, but I was solo, so I didn't have anyone to take them for me. I even had to do a selfie. Ugggg. 
