greekarcher

FYI !

First of all, i'm truely sorry to hear about your trip.

But, I just hunted with sage mountain this fall on a bowhunt for elk and it was amazing!
We didn't not hunt the cobb ranch. So i can not respond to your horrible experience there
but i can tell you about my experience with cal and renee and their wonderful guides.

It was 3 of us and we split up between 2 properties. both properties were over 20,000 acres each.

myself and one my friends were both hunting with compounds and were placed with a 2 young guides
on their ranch near the stucky ranch. the other friend was shooting traditional. So he was placed with a guide who was hunting on an amazing
ranch just 45 mins from ours. All of us had a first class experience all of us had shots 30 yards or closer. I've never seen this
much action in my life....non stop breathtaking action.

At the end of our hunt we had one bull dead and unfortunetly (truth be told) 2 wounded bulls which we never found and not without
a tremendous effort from all. luckly I got to fulfill a life dream of getting my first bull with a bow. he wasn't a giant (nice 5X5)but for me he was a dream come true... 25 yards double lung...thank god, he didn't go 40 yards. It was a clean, close and accurate shot. I had a much bigger bull than that at 40 yards broadside and decided to wait it out which really hurt me later when I realized that was my only shot. but hey man thats hunting. that next morning i had 2 shooter bulls with in 30 yards. You have to pick your moments just make sure they are truely within your kill zone and abilities. 45 yards for elk is not ethical for me. If you don't hit these animals perfect...especially with a bow you're in for a rude awaking. they are not easy to drop, they have tremendous power and heart. they require at least both lungs. Trust me I witnessed my buddies hunt and his shot placement (too close to the shoulder) was one i will never forget, we thought we had him 100% sure after tracking him for 3 miles.. we soon realized how "dead on" you have to be.

So having said that I can understand why a guide would be second guessing a 45 yard shot.

But that's not to say that most people feel totally confident taking a 45 yarder on a big boned. 800lb, elk.

not me. i've seen what happens with slightly off the mark shots.

And for the record both my friend's hunts were over once they wounded their animals and trust me they totally agreed with cal
But cal was cool enough to put us on some decent whitetail hunting after that heartache. Which helped everyones spirits.

we had a blast I totally recommend sage mountain outfitters.
especially if you want to see big bulls up close.

thought i should say something