I worked hard for this cow. It started by scouting at least 200 days in the area. I love hiking in the mountains, so i'm not sure I can call that part hard.
I'm a still hunter, and pretty much stick to timber areas. I could have had results the first day if I hunted with an inline or CF. The limited range of the PRB and open sights made it much more of a challenge. 70 yds might not sound like close, but it's not easy to sneak up on a cow. They don't do stupid things like a bull in the rut. It took me 8 days of hard hunting to get in position for the shot. I must have passed up at least 10 shots I wasn't comfortable with.
My dad taught me to enjoy the hunt. It's not the meat, or the kill. It's how you get it. For me, that means it has to be hard for me. If it was easy, I would have got bored and gave up hunting a long time ago.
I guess I took the long way of saying. Yes, I tracked the animals a lot. (before the kill)