The morning of August 29th found me boarding a plane with my bow and a cooler full of solo backpacking gear. 24 hours later, I was perched on a glassing knob in Idaho watching the sun come up on their mule deer opener. For the next week, I would spend hours watching deer meander through the brushy hillsides, but was only able to turn up 1 buck that made my heart rush. As luck would have it, as I was began my descent on the buck, a group of elk hunters let him get a good whiff of them and he was gone. The one constant all week were the elk though! Their bugles would echo through the valleys below me. My mistake for not picking up an elk tag. Despite seeing hundreds of mule deer, I just wasn’t able to make it happen on the type of buck I was after. I returned to Illinois for 6 days before it was time to return to the mountains. On the morning of the 12th, me and my friend Kyle left for our elk trip. 23 hours later we arrived. Kyle drew a controlled hunt, so his tag was our primary focus,but our early arrival allowed me to sneak in a day of hunting......I bought the elk tag this go around......but the elk had vacated the area where I had seen them a week prior. We did have a run in with a chocolate phase sow black bear and her cub, as they are very thick in this area, as I actually had several encounters during my deer hunt. The next morning, we make the drive to where Kyle’s tag is good for and get our base camp set up. The next morning, we hit the same timber patch that I killed my bull from last year, but we only find a lone cow. Day 2, we find a few bulls in the afternoon, but they are on private ground and we can only watch. Day 3, September 17th....1 year to the day that Kyle called my bull in for me in this very tag. We hike into a new area that morning and we are greeted with bugles as we hit the ridge. A small 6x6 bull is leading a few cows up the hill, as another bull we never see bugles below us. We parallel the 6point up the ridge when a 3rd bull fires off. It’s kind of a circus for the next 30 minutes as we try to slip into position, but all the bulls evaded us. The morning excitement delayed us from getting to our intended spot until around 10:30. Once there, I send a bugle echoing through the timbered bottoms and immediately get a response. The shuffle begins, as we cover nearly a mile in 20 minutes. I think we’re close, Kyle says the bull is up the hill. I let a couple soft cow calls out, and the bull fires off right in front of us. Instinct, excitement, or something triggers inside of me as I grab Kyle by his backpack and shove him and tell him to “F***** GO”. Instantly the bull is ready to roll. We exchange bugles on top of each other as he gets to 60 yards in front of Kyle and let’s one rip. I respond with as much intensity as I can muster and it drags the bull into 30 yards for a sharp quartering away shot. I hear Kyle stop the bull, his bow go off, and the arrow connect. I start calling, and it stops the bull 80 yards away. He never takes another step. Kyle goes down and puts his hands on his 6x6 bull. We get to work on the bull, and get all the meat deboned and hung in game bags. We each take a hind and front quarter in our pack that night for the 3.5 mile hike back to the road. I hike another mile to get the truck, and we find a road to drive into for the next morning that only makes it a 2 mile hike. The next day, I take out the backstraps, loins, and grinding meat, and Kyle packs out his rack and cape. We spend the night at a buddies house close by drinking and eating grilled backstrap. The next morning, we push our sore legs back up the hill and backpack into an area as it’s my turn to hunt again. We instantly get on a giant 6x6 bull, but he is wise to our calls and nails out. At last light, we get a 5x5 raghorn bull worked up, but he comes in with not enough light left. The following day is filled with elk in the morning, bulls that don’t want to work, and people on dirt bikes. Day 3 of my hunt we sleep in, drink a bunch of coffee, and go hunt around noon. Kyle spots a couple cows and a spike, and with time running out, I make up my mind to go after them. I make a big loop to get the thermals in my favor and start my descent on the herd. I tip toe along and about 50 yards away I see elk butts running away from me. I just start running with them, and when I get into the timber, I let out some loud cow calls. I know they didn’t see or smell me, but likely just heard me. I push along slowly and hear something walk below me. There stands a cow down the hill. I make a small move to get i to position and can only see her head. I range her at 42 yards and as she steps forward I put an arrow in her last rib and it comes out her neck. She is dead in mere seconds, and just like that we are done. We get the meat back to camp in 1 pretty heavy trip and we’re fast asleep. The next day, our buddy hikes in and finds us, and between the 3 of us, we get the meat and all our camping gear back to the truck. Another night of beer, backstraps, and meat cutting ensues, as the sun sets on another great trip out west. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Congratulations on your beautiful elk. That’s an awesome story and some really hard hunting but totally worth the work. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
very cool, thanks. I almost pulled the trigger on the IWs, but then I ran across TT A-tacs on sale- 3 for the price of 1 IW. I could not pass that up.
They are pricey, but I was very impressed. I did have an arrow pop out of my TightSpot one night walking back with my bow on my pack, so that is a pretty crappy way to lose a $30 broadhead. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yea, that's a bummer! Price doesn't bother me when it comes to quality! I currently shoot both Solid Boradheads and VPA's, both ends of the spectrum there lol.
