I've been dreaming of arrowing an elk for as long as I've been bowhunting. Last year was the first time I was fortunate enough to go on an elk hunt, and even though I ate tag soup, camping in the wilderness amongst the bugles and bears was an awesome adventure that I couldn't wait to experience again. Like many who elk hunt, I began planning a 2012 elk hunt on the long drive home from the 2011 hunt.
After a long winter, spring came around it was time to put in for the draws in Arizona and New Mexico. We decided to use an outfitter this year for two main reasons: 1) The new tag allocation in New Mexico really hurt the odds of a non-resident drawing. Using an outfitter would increase our odds of drawing a tag significantly and 2) I wanted to learn as much about elk hunting as possible in order to use that knowledge in future years. I had never been on a guided hunt of any sort before, so it was a new experience for me, to be sure.
I was unsuccessful in Arizona (no big surprise), but received an email from NMDGF which informed me that I had drawn a tag for my second choice: Unit 17, Sept 11-18. I was pumped! The rest of the summer passed very slowly as I diligently prepared for the hunt. I wanted to be sure I'd be ready when the moment came, so I practiced shooting nearly every day.
Finally, the time came. My loving wife (TBH screen name 'elf feet'), who joined me on this adventure, and I began traveling west a few days before our hunt with great anticipation. We arrived in camp around noon the day before our season started. We met our guide (Josh) and he let us know that he had seen some nice bulls, including a 6x7 that he estimated would score around 330" or so.
We went to the area where he had seen the 6x7 the first morning and, sure enough, we saw him and his harem of about nine cows within ten minutes. We worked hard and traveled many miles, but were never able to get closer than 450 yards. We watched them bed down around 8:15 and didn't want to push them so we backed out and planned to come back the following morning. Here's a picture of me giving chase (and wishing I would've taken getting into shape more seriously!)
The evening's hunt was a wash- literally! Heavy rains came and the hunting was slow- and wet!
The following morning we again were after the 6x7. We hiked a few steep miles and reached the top of a peak where we planned to listen for bugles and glass the ridges in order to find the herd. We looked and listened for an hour without any luck. The elk had completely abandoned that drainage system!
That evening we went to a new area and began glassing the countryside looking for elk after climbing atop a dome shaped knob in the middle of a drainage system. We looked for an hour when Josh declared that he was going to the top of the next ridge over to look. He instructed me to cow-call if I spotted an elk. "Any elk?? Any single elk?" was my response. He said "yes, ANY elk". Ok, whatever. Elf feet and I continued to glass ridge after ridge and, after about another 20 minutes, I spotted an elk- about three or four miles away!! It was a bull, I could see his frame in the sun, but couldn't tell anything about him. He was working his way towards us, but he was so far away that I didn't bother calling for our guide. I randomly looked directly below us and couldn't believe what I saw- A giant bull!! I could see that he was with at least three cows, and that his fronts were enormous! I cow called and Josh, who was a mile away, came immediately. I was shocked when he showed up within five minutes, dripping in sweat. He saw the bull and agreed that he was a giant. The bull was on the backside of a ridge 480 yards from us. We put a stalk on and got to within 80 yards and began calling. Two satellite bulls came charging in to within 30 yards, but I passed on both of them in hopes of getting the herd bull. He was bugling back at us, but wouldn't commit and hung-up at about 60 yards. It was getting dark so we backed out and planned to be after him the next morning. We knew he was big, but didn't know just how big yet.
A cold front blew through that evening. It rained all night and into the following morning. The roads were wet and it was chilly- I hoped the change in weather would make the elk become more vocal. We arrived in the area early with the idea of listening for bugles and then going after them. We were disappointed when we didn't hear anything for an hour. We started working the tops of the ridges- looking and listening. We saw a few elk, and called in a decent bull to about 15 yards. The thought of shooting that bull never crossed my mind- I was committed to finding that herd bull. We kept looking and the cold north wind kept blowing and the rain kept falling. We finally herd a bugle just a few ridges over. We climbed and climbed and finally- there he was, four miles from where we saw him the night before!
We quickly realized that he was much bigger than we thought. We got a good look at him and we both estimated that he was over 400". An INCREDIBLE bull. He was at the base of two ridges and had to go up one of the two. We traveled a mile or so and got in position to call him in. Our guide hit his call and he immediately answered and began coming towards us. He got to about 80 yards and hung up once again. To this point, we had only used cow calls in our attempts to lure him in. Josh took out his tube and hit him with a challenge bugle. The big bull went completely silent. We couldn't see him and didn't know what happened. We realized he was gone and contemplated our next step.
We decided we would peek over one more ridge before calling it a morning. We made a pretty steep climb and found elk heaven when we reached the top. The big bull, his harem of 18 cows and six satellite bulls were all on the ridge facing us. The bulls were bugling their heads off, two satellites were fighting, cows were chirping- it was awesome! Here's a picture of a few of the elk in that group from atop the ridge we were on:
They all eventually bedded down on a bench about 650 yards from us and we had a decision to make: Stay with them all day or go back to camp for lunch? We decided to stay right there on top of that ridge and watch them all day. When they got up that evening we'd be in position to get a shot at a nearby pinch point.
We stayed right there on top of that ridge for hours, just watching elk do absolutely nothing. It did give us an opportunity to admire just how big that bull was. He had everything- mass, tine length, spread- he was perfect. Here's a picture of him from 648 yards, and even at this distance you can tell that he's a giant!
Another bull would occasionally bugle from just below us as we waited. I didn't think much of it, and neither did Josh. But we got bored as the hours passed. Elf feet was taking a cowboy nap on the backside of the ridge. Josh was fighting sleep. I was milling around, stretching my legs and taking pictures. The bull below us bugled again- this time closer than ever. Josh said that he was going to see if he could lay eyes on him. Five minutes later I hear this "psst".... I looked to see Josh motioning me to come towards him, and to bring my bow! I moved stealthily down the backside of the ridge and got to Josh, where he asked me just to take a look at the bull to see what I think. I put my binoculars up and saw a nice whale's tail and said "lets do this!"...
The bull was below us and walking away from us. We needed to get down near the same elevation as him before calling in order to give ourselves the best chance of success. The ridge was mostly barren and didn't offer much cover. We crouched and slowly made our way towards two juniper trees halfway between us and the bull. He was walking away from us as we were sneaking down the ridge. We reached the two trees and Josh cow called. The bull stopped in his tracks, turned and bugled! The big herd bull, who was now only 400 yards away, answered the bugle and then all the other satellite bulls started to bugle. It was 1:15 in the afternoon and the whole canyon came alive!! The bull we were calling to was coming straight at me, bugling the whole time... (And all the other bulls in the drainage system were bugling, too) 105 yards, 70 yards, 54 yards... he was coming! Finally he came in and stopped directly on the other side of the tree I was behind... He was facing me and let out two ear piercing bugles. The hair on my neck was standing up and my heart was racing...
The bull starting walking right towards me. He bugled one more time and I took the opportunity to draw my bow. I would need to make a quick shot once he cleared the tree I was behind because he would bust me otherwise.
He was walking AND quartering towards me when I touched off my release. I would never recommend taking a shot on an animal doing either of those- not to mention both, but it was the only chance I had. I waited for the left leg to swing forward, put my pin as close to the shoulder as I could, and let the arrow fly. He was 11 yards away when the arrow hit him. The only reason I took the shot is because he was so close. I wouldn't have taken a walking, quartering-to shot at an animal much further than that. The Smoke Ramcat did its job and the blood trail was incredible, starting within two steps of where he was shot. Here's the first blood, two steps after the arrow hit him:
The bull ran exactly 1/10th of a mile before expiring.
This picture kind of shows what the ridge looked like. There are two juniper trees above the back end of my arrow... I was hiding behind the juniper tree to the left of my knock. (The bull came between the tree I was behind and the juniper to the right of it, directly behind the blazer vanes)... Josh was calling from behind the junipers above my right shoulder.
My first elk!!!
This Stic knife handled the job with ease!!
He was down at 1:20, but we didn't get back to camp until after midnight. It was the most difficult pack-out I could ever imagine. Seven miles of very steep inclines, slick rock and heavy hindquarters made for a miserable few hours.
I'll always wonder what might of been if I would've passed him and continued to hunt the herd bull. But the opportunity to harvest this bull at only 11 yards was too good to pass up. We could have chased the herd bull for weeks without getting an opportunity, and I'm happy with the bull I harvested. What's funny is that Josh and I both estimated the bull to be around 315", but his actual score is 346 1/4". I guess looking at a bull that was over 400" for three or four hours made my bull appear smaller than he really was. All in all he's a great first elk, and I couldn't be happier!
I also want to thank elf feet for being such a good hunting buddy. We hiked miles upon miles and encountered thousands of feet in elevation change every day. We endured 4:00am alarm clocks, cold winds and heavy rains. She was without a shower for five days. And, despite suffering from some serious allergies, she never complained or slowed us down. She even packed out the skull/antlers for us! I'm a little biased, but I think she looks pretty good for a girl who hasn't showered in five days and who has just spent the last ten hours packing out an elk!!
After a long winter, spring came around it was time to put in for the draws in Arizona and New Mexico. We decided to use an outfitter this year for two main reasons: 1) The new tag allocation in New Mexico really hurt the odds of a non-resident drawing. Using an outfitter would increase our odds of drawing a tag significantly and 2) I wanted to learn as much about elk hunting as possible in order to use that knowledge in future years. I had never been on a guided hunt of any sort before, so it was a new experience for me, to be sure.
I was unsuccessful in Arizona (no big surprise), but received an email from NMDGF which informed me that I had drawn a tag for my second choice: Unit 17, Sept 11-18. I was pumped! The rest of the summer passed very slowly as I diligently prepared for the hunt. I wanted to be sure I'd be ready when the moment came, so I practiced shooting nearly every day.
Finally, the time came. My loving wife (TBH screen name 'elf feet'), who joined me on this adventure, and I began traveling west a few days before our hunt with great anticipation. We arrived in camp around noon the day before our season started. We met our guide (Josh) and he let us know that he had seen some nice bulls, including a 6x7 that he estimated would score around 330" or so.
We went to the area where he had seen the 6x7 the first morning and, sure enough, we saw him and his harem of about nine cows within ten minutes. We worked hard and traveled many miles, but were never able to get closer than 450 yards. We watched them bed down around 8:15 and didn't want to push them so we backed out and planned to come back the following morning. Here's a picture of me giving chase (and wishing I would've taken getting into shape more seriously!)
The evening's hunt was a wash- literally! Heavy rains came and the hunting was slow- and wet!
The following morning we again were after the 6x7. We hiked a few steep miles and reached the top of a peak where we planned to listen for bugles and glass the ridges in order to find the herd. We looked and listened for an hour without any luck. The elk had completely abandoned that drainage system!
That evening we went to a new area and began glassing the countryside looking for elk after climbing atop a dome shaped knob in the middle of a drainage system. We looked for an hour when Josh declared that he was going to the top of the next ridge over to look. He instructed me to cow-call if I spotted an elk. "Any elk?? Any single elk?" was my response. He said "yes, ANY elk". Ok, whatever. Elf feet and I continued to glass ridge after ridge and, after about another 20 minutes, I spotted an elk- about three or four miles away!! It was a bull, I could see his frame in the sun, but couldn't tell anything about him. He was working his way towards us, but he was so far away that I didn't bother calling for our guide. I randomly looked directly below us and couldn't believe what I saw- A giant bull!! I could see that he was with at least three cows, and that his fronts were enormous! I cow called and Josh, who was a mile away, came immediately. I was shocked when he showed up within five minutes, dripping in sweat. He saw the bull and agreed that he was a giant. The bull was on the backside of a ridge 480 yards from us. We put a stalk on and got to within 80 yards and began calling. Two satellite bulls came charging in to within 30 yards, but I passed on both of them in hopes of getting the herd bull. He was bugling back at us, but wouldn't commit and hung-up at about 60 yards. It was getting dark so we backed out and planned to be after him the next morning. We knew he was big, but didn't know just how big yet.
A cold front blew through that evening. It rained all night and into the following morning. The roads were wet and it was chilly- I hoped the change in weather would make the elk become more vocal. We arrived in the area early with the idea of listening for bugles and then going after them. We were disappointed when we didn't hear anything for an hour. We started working the tops of the ridges- looking and listening. We saw a few elk, and called in a decent bull to about 15 yards. The thought of shooting that bull never crossed my mind- I was committed to finding that herd bull. We kept looking and the cold north wind kept blowing and the rain kept falling. We finally herd a bugle just a few ridges over. We climbed and climbed and finally- there he was, four miles from where we saw him the night before!
We quickly realized that he was much bigger than we thought. We got a good look at him and we both estimated that he was over 400". An INCREDIBLE bull. He was at the base of two ridges and had to go up one of the two. We traveled a mile or so and got in position to call him in. Our guide hit his call and he immediately answered and began coming towards us. He got to about 80 yards and hung up once again. To this point, we had only used cow calls in our attempts to lure him in. Josh took out his tube and hit him with a challenge bugle. The big bull went completely silent. We couldn't see him and didn't know what happened. We realized he was gone and contemplated our next step.
We decided we would peek over one more ridge before calling it a morning. We made a pretty steep climb and found elk heaven when we reached the top. The big bull, his harem of 18 cows and six satellite bulls were all on the ridge facing us. The bulls were bugling their heads off, two satellites were fighting, cows were chirping- it was awesome! Here's a picture of a few of the elk in that group from atop the ridge we were on:
They all eventually bedded down on a bench about 650 yards from us and we had a decision to make: Stay with them all day or go back to camp for lunch? We decided to stay right there on top of that ridge and watch them all day. When they got up that evening we'd be in position to get a shot at a nearby pinch point.
We stayed right there on top of that ridge for hours, just watching elk do absolutely nothing. It did give us an opportunity to admire just how big that bull was. He had everything- mass, tine length, spread- he was perfect. Here's a picture of him from 648 yards, and even at this distance you can tell that he's a giant!
Another bull would occasionally bugle from just below us as we waited. I didn't think much of it, and neither did Josh. But we got bored as the hours passed. Elf feet was taking a cowboy nap on the backside of the ridge. Josh was fighting sleep. I was milling around, stretching my legs and taking pictures. The bull below us bugled again- this time closer than ever. Josh said that he was going to see if he could lay eyes on him. Five minutes later I hear this "psst".... I looked to see Josh motioning me to come towards him, and to bring my bow! I moved stealthily down the backside of the ridge and got to Josh, where he asked me just to take a look at the bull to see what I think. I put my binoculars up and saw a nice whale's tail and said "lets do this!"...
The bull was below us and walking away from us. We needed to get down near the same elevation as him before calling in order to give ourselves the best chance of success. The ridge was mostly barren and didn't offer much cover. We crouched and slowly made our way towards two juniper trees halfway between us and the bull. He was walking away from us as we were sneaking down the ridge. We reached the two trees and Josh cow called. The bull stopped in his tracks, turned and bugled! The big herd bull, who was now only 400 yards away, answered the bugle and then all the other satellite bulls started to bugle. It was 1:15 in the afternoon and the whole canyon came alive!! The bull we were calling to was coming straight at me, bugling the whole time... (And all the other bulls in the drainage system were bugling, too) 105 yards, 70 yards, 54 yards... he was coming! Finally he came in and stopped directly on the other side of the tree I was behind... He was facing me and let out two ear piercing bugles. The hair on my neck was standing up and my heart was racing...
The bull starting walking right towards me. He bugled one more time and I took the opportunity to draw my bow. I would need to make a quick shot once he cleared the tree I was behind because he would bust me otherwise.
He was walking AND quartering towards me when I touched off my release. I would never recommend taking a shot on an animal doing either of those- not to mention both, but it was the only chance I had. I waited for the left leg to swing forward, put my pin as close to the shoulder as I could, and let the arrow fly. He was 11 yards away when the arrow hit him. The only reason I took the shot is because he was so close. I wouldn't have taken a walking, quartering-to shot at an animal much further than that. The Smoke Ramcat did its job and the blood trail was incredible, starting within two steps of where he was shot. Here's the first blood, two steps after the arrow hit him:
The bull ran exactly 1/10th of a mile before expiring.
This picture kind of shows what the ridge looked like. There are two juniper trees above the back end of my arrow... I was hiding behind the juniper tree to the left of my knock. (The bull came between the tree I was behind and the juniper to the right of it, directly behind the blazer vanes)... Josh was calling from behind the junipers above my right shoulder.
My first elk!!!
This Stic knife handled the job with ease!!
He was down at 1:20, but we didn't get back to camp until after midnight. It was the most difficult pack-out I could ever imagine. Seven miles of very steep inclines, slick rock and heavy hindquarters made for a miserable few hours.
I'll always wonder what might of been if I would've passed him and continued to hunt the herd bull. But the opportunity to harvest this bull at only 11 yards was too good to pass up. We could have chased the herd bull for weeks without getting an opportunity, and I'm happy with the bull I harvested. What's funny is that Josh and I both estimated the bull to be around 315", but his actual score is 346 1/4". I guess looking at a bull that was over 400" for three or four hours made my bull appear smaller than he really was. All in all he's a great first elk, and I couldn't be happier!
I also want to thank elf feet for being such a good hunting buddy. We hiked miles upon miles and encountered thousands of feet in elevation change every day. We endured 4:00am alarm clocks, cold winds and heavy rains. She was without a shower for five days. And, despite suffering from some serious allergies, she never complained or slowed us down. She even packed out the skull/antlers for us! I'm a little biased, but I think she looks pretty good for a girl who hasn't showered in five days and who has just spent the last ten hours packing out an elk!!
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