Hail Mary

[307]

It's that time of year... Last day of archery elk. I had a nock failure on a bull 8 days ago, cut my string, bull ran off... I also decided that I was too high in elevation, lots of old sign, little fresh.

So, on the last day, I'm headed into a new area with nearly zero beta, as a couple of my areas are currently on fire. It will take some divine intervention or a really dumb elk at this point...

Why do we do this again???

 

[SteveCNJ]

Good luck!

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[FlyGuy]

Get after it! Sometimes these make for the best stories!

(I mean, usually they don’t. But sometimes...). Hahaha!

I wish I was there with you! I’m back to normal life and already dreaming about next September! Use it all up man!


You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[SBAHunts]

It's that time of year... Last day of archery elk. I had a nock failure on a bull 8 days ago, cut my string, bull ran off... I also decided that I was too high in elevation, lots of old sign, little fresh.

So, on the last day, I'm headed into a new area with nearly zero beta, as a couple of my areas are currently on fire. It will take some divine intervention or a really dumb elk at this point...

Why do we do this again???

the trill of the hunt is why and the exhilaration of success is why we do it.

 

[4rcgoat]

Embrace the SUCK!!!!!

 

[AaronMColeman]

Why does that plan always work in the videos, and never in real life.

Hunting Shows: "it was the last day of the hunt so we decided to move over to another ridge we hadn't had a chance to scout yet." Lots of drama. Dead bull.

Real Life: "It was the last day of the hunt. We went home empty handed."

 

[307]

Don't you put that evil on me @AaronMColeman!!!

 

[AaronMColeman]

Don't you put that evil on me @AaronMColeman!!!

Ha. Well I wish you the best. I’m using my last day of archery tomorrow too. Every day in archery I’ve had a bull within 200y. Once rifle opens that’ll turn into 2000y.

I wish all the 307s the best of luck

 

[nettereo16]

Saturday was our last day in WY. Hiking out to the truck we heard a bugle and figured it musta been another hunter as we were pretty frustrated at that point. He bugled again and sounded real so we dropped packs and went at him. Called him to 40 yards but he saw us try to move up (he was closer than we realized..)

Almost the fairy tale ending!! Good luck!!

 

[AaronMColeman]

Don't you put that evil on me @AaronMColeman!!!

Also, I’m trying the same move in the morning

I hope they hold on for one more day until Thursday. I’ve gotten rifle distance of ok bulls every day.

 

[Lark Bunting]

I was with @atfrith two years ago, last weekend of the season in an OTC unit when we got on to a herd. We had them within earshot for hours moving along the mountain. Late that evening we knew we were dang close and rounded a corner and what do you know, a stragling cow was staring right at us. 30 minutes later we started breaking her down and hanging game bags downhill. First load back to camp by 9:00 and a good dinner and plenty of drinks. Next morning, we went back in to get the last two loads. It was a pretty cool feeling to be packing meat on the last day of archery elk season.

It doesn't always work out but it's pretty sweet when it does!

 

[dble07]

I drove 7.5 hrs after work to hunt the last day of archery season on a tag I drew in 2016 after having already spent a week in the unit 10 days prior. Got on a bull at early that ended up busting me after the wind switched. Climbed out of the drainage I had chased that bull into and sat on the ridge wallowing in my own self-pity. Thought for sure my season was done.

As I sat there I thought I kept hearing a distant bugle. You know, the one that is so faint that it doesn't seem real and even if it was you have no idea where it's coming from. To top it off, it didn't even sound like 98 percent of the elk bugles I've ever heard. Sounded more like a yodel than a bugle.

I sat there for almost an hour trying to make out where this bugle/yodel was coming from. With nothing to lose I decided to drop into the 1000+ ft basin on the other side of the ridge I was on. 600 ft into this basin I stopped and listened for probably 30 minutes. I heard absolutely nothing. This sound I had been hearing at least every 30 minutes had now completely stopped. Wth. Suddenly I see 4 gobblers walking across this little meadow. Did I just get suckered into dropping down into this basin by some damn turkeys with a speech impediment?

Completely disgusted and confused I climbed back out the basin. As I sat on the ridge trying to catch my breath I heard that damn tormenting bugle again. Where the hell is this sound coming from.

Walked half a mile down the ridge and dropped a little ways down into a little bowl. Sound disappeared again. Wth

Back at the original spot where I always heard the sound coming from, I heard it again. By now it's getting later in the afternoon and there is only one direction I haven't went, west. At the end of the ridge I was on to the west was a plateau that was about half a mile squared and 400 ft above the ridge. I had dismissed elk being on this plateau because it was basically surrounded cliffs on 3 sides.

With my day and season hours from ending I climbed to the top of the plateau. What I heard when I reached the top still blows my mind. It was absolute elk insanity!! Apparently the yodeler had just the right pitch that his bugle carried further thatln the other bulls up there which allowed me to hear only him from the ridge below. These elk had been having a rut fest up here all day. I'm not sure how many bulls were up there because they were running around to the point I couldn't keep track but I saw 6 bulls at one time chasing probably 40 cows in 7 acre meadow and several more in the timber surrounding the meadow screaming at any one time. I literally heard hundreds of bugles over the next hour or so. Bulls screaming over bulls, screaming over bulls. Just mind blowing. I spent the next hour trying to kill the yodeler which happened to be by far the biggest bull of the group. I put him somewhere around 370.

I couldn't close the deal on the yodeler. He zigged when I zagged. Had him at 110 yards several times. Light was fading fast. I mean, I had like 5 minutes of legal light left on the last day of the season. I needed to decide was I going to eat my tag or shoot any bull that walked within range. With 2 minutes of legal light left and the giant yodeler screaming at 105 yards a 5 point walked by at 55 yards and I decided I liked eating elk more than my tag. When I shot the whole herd only ran to the other side of the meadow I assume because of all the chaos they never really heard my bow. The bull I shot went in the middle of the herd and bedded down. Not knowing how good of a hit I had and figuring he would probably lay there and die as long as the heard stayed I decided to back out. I had enough service to call my girlfriend as I started my way back to the pickup. I put her on speaker and she could hear all the elk still screaming through the phone.
I recovered my bull the next morning at first light laying 50 yards from where I had last saw him.

Moral of this extremely long story:
get out there, get after it, tommorow could be the greatest day you'll ever have in the elk woods.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[OeauxMy]

Perseverance, Perseverance, Perseverance
Best of luck

 

[FlyGuy]

I drove 7.5 hrs after work to hunt the last day of archery season on a tag I drew in 2016 after having already spent a week in the unit 10 days prior. Got on a bull at early that ended up busting me after the wind switched. Climbed out of the drainage I had chased that bull into and sat on the ridge wallowing in my own self-pity. Thought for sure my season was done.

As I sat there I thought I kept hearing a distant bugle. You know, the one that is so faint that it doesn't seem real and even if it was you have no idea where it's coming from. To top it off, it didn't even sound like 98 percent of the elk bugles I've ever heard. Sounded more like a yodel than a bugle.

I sat there for almost an hour trying to make out where this bugle/yodel was coming from. With nothing to lose I decided to drop into the 1000+ ft basin on the other side of the ridge I was on. 600 ft into this basin I stopped and listened for probably 30 minutes. I heard absolutely nothing. This sound I had been hearing at least every 30 minutes had now completely stopped. Wth. Suddenly I see 4 gobblers walking across this little meadow. Did I just get suckered into dropping down into this basin by some damn turkeys with a speech impediment?

Completely disgusted and confused I climbed back out the basin. As I sat on the ridge trying to catch my breath I heard that damn tormenting bugle again. Where the hell is this sound coming from.

Walked half a mile down the ridge and dropped a little ways down into a little bowl. Sound disappeared again. Wth

Back at the original spot where I always heard the sound coming from, I heard it again. By now it's getting later in the afternoon and there is only one direction I haven't went, west. At the end of the ridge I was on to the west was a plateau that was about half a mile squared and 400 ft above the ridge. I had dismissed elk being on this plateau because it was basically surrounded cliffs on 3 sides.

With my day and season hours from ending I climbed to the top of the plateau. What I heard when I reached the top still blows my mind. It was absolute elk insanity!! Apparently the yodeler had just the right pitch that his bugle carried further thatln the other bulls up there which allowed me to hear only him from the ridge below. These elk had been having a rut fest up here all day. I'm not sure how many bulls were up there because they were running around to the point I couldn't keep track but I saw 6 bulls at one time chasing probably 40 cows in 7 acre meadow and several more in the timber surrounding the meadow screaming at any one time. I literally heard hundreds of bugles over the next hour or so. Bulls screaming over bulls, screaming over bulls. Just mind blowing. I spent the next hour trying to kill the yodeler which happened to be by far the biggest bull of the group. I put him somewhere around 370.

I couldn't close the deal on the yodeler. He zigged when I zagged. Had him at 110 yards several times. Light was fading fast. I mean, I had like 5 minutes of legal light left on the last day of the season. I needed to decide was I going to eat my tag or shoot any bull that walked within range. With 2 minutes of legal light left and the giant yodeler screaming at 105 yards a 5 point walked by at 55 yards and I decided I liked eating elk more than my tag. When I shot the whole herd only ran to the other side of the meadow I assume because of all the chaos they never really heard my bow. The bull I shot went in the middle of the herd and bedded down. Not knowing how good of a hit I had and figuring he would probably lay there and die as long as the heard stayed I decided to back out. I had enough service to call my girlfriend as I started my way back to the pickup. I put her on speaker and she could hear all the elk still screaming through the phone.
I recovered my bull the next morning at first light laying 50 yards from where I had last saw him.

Moral of this extremely long story:
get out there, get after it, tommorow could be the greatest day you'll ever have in the elk woods.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Great story!!!


You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[Dave_]

Hang in there. Shot my bull this year 15 minutes before sunset on my last day, after deciding to stay an extra half day longer than planned. Very little bugling so I still hunted an area I knew they were transitioning through. Good luck!

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[FlyGuy]

curious how this turned out? (I mean, I think I know, but...)