First elk bowhunt-story.....
02-23-2003, 06:03 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cut Bank MT USA
Posts: 50
First elk bowhunt-story.....
Elk hunt 02
It was September 13, and my dad and I were on my first bowhunt for elk. We were hunting the Sweet Grass Hills of north-central Montana. We were there and on our way through the timber before the sun came up. We walked along the side of the hill on the main butte, listening and watching for elk. We had gone about a mile when we came over a hill and overlooked a huge valley, surrounded by the buttes to our left and in front of us, and to our right was the open prairie. Down below us about 400 yards was a cabin the landowner owned, and standing within 100 feet of it was about 30 head of elk. We crouched down and watched them feed slowly into the timber. We went wide around to the left, making our way partially up the butte, then coming back down behind the elk, hoping to cut them off on their way up into the butte. We knew there was a bull in there because we heard a few bugles on our way to get in position. When we finally got there, they were gone and we decided to leave them alone and not go push them out of their bedding area. We sat down and glassed for a while, hoping to see some other elk. After only a few minutes I spotted another herd of probably 25 elk, grazing slowly across an open hillside on the butte directly across from us. They were over a mile away and making their way into the timber, so we just watched them. There were two bulls in the herd, one really nice 6 by 6, and a smaller 5 by 5. They bedded down on a hillside in the shade, and seemed to be staying there. I looked around them and thought that if we circled behind the elk and came over the hill from the other side, and crept slowly down above them, I would probably be in a good position for a shot. My dad reluctantly agreed, because to get there we had to go over 2 miles of steep hills and draws. We finally arrived on the other side, and the wind was in our faces, everything was perfect, except one thing. We had went too far to the right of them, and they were another 200 yards to our left. We didn’t realize that then and kept going along the other side. I was walking above my dad, trying to be as quiet as I could because I thought the elk were just over the hill, when he motioned me down. “There’s 40 head of elk right over that little hill in that bowl ahead of us, just stay put they’re acting like they smell us,” my dad said. Sure enough, the wind was at our back and before I could get a good look at them they were gone and cresting the next hill. I was really disappointed, and mad that we had blown our chance. My dad however, seemed to think that they were a different herd of elk, and that the herd we had seen grazing on the hillside was still bedded in the timber. I knew that it was the same herd, but agreed to go check the other side just to make sure. I walked up to the top of the ridge, and noticing I was too far over, began walking back to my right. The whole time I was thinking how dumb my dad was to think that there was that many elk in this little area. I finally reached the spot directly above them and strolled down into the timber, not carefully at all, because I knew that there was no elk here! I came to the edge of the timber and looked down into the clearing where they had been, and much to my surprise, scattered in front of me was 30 elk struggling to get up and find out what had interrupted their sleep. The whole herd was within 40 yards of me, and I quickly scanned for the bull but couldn’t find him! Before I could get my bow up, the whole herd bolted to my left, and disappeared into the timber. I had worked hard to get here and I wasn’t going to give up, so I took off running. They were in the patch of timber only 50 yards below me, running parallel to me across the side of the hill. I put in my diaphram call as I ran and began cow calling. The whole herd stopped running when I called and that gave me time to get ahead of them. The timber ended and there was huge open meadow up ahead. I reached the edge of the timber, knocked an arrow, attached my release, and waited for the elk to come by. A few elk were already out in the meadow, and I could hear the rest of them coming. I drew back my bow, and watched a few cows and calves run by in front of me just out of range. Then, out came the big bull, and he was only 30 yards away. I cow called as he came out and he stopped broadside to look at me. Now that is a perfect situation and theres no way to miss! But I was tired, my adrenaline was going, and I was shaking so bad I could hardly settle my pin on his body. The bull turned his head and I knew I didn’t have much time so I flipped the release hurriedly, and watched as my arrow sailed past him without even touching him. He took off with the rest of the herd and I knew I’d blown my chance. I was mad at myself for getting so nervous and not calming down to make a good shot. I knocked another arrow, hoping for a shot at the other bull, but passed by as I was attaching my release. The whole herd, minus a few stragglers was standing in the middle of the meadow, well out of range, looking at me. I was now hoping for a shot at a cow. Finally, a lone cow came out of the timber and I called once to stop him. I drew my bow back, took a slow breath, calmed down, aimed, and slowly squeezed the release. I knew before I shot that it was good because this time I had actually taken my time and done everything right. I watched the arrow hit its mark, low, behind the shoulder and pass completely through. The herd took off running and the cow tried to follow but only made it 20 yards then collapsed. It was a perfect heart shot and I had finally done it. I was really excited, even though it was a cow, and set down my bow and pack, and ran back to tell my dad about it. He was really happy for me, and couldn’t believe I had got an elk on my first time out. It was a great day, but the fun ended when I made the shot, because from the top of this butte, it was a long way to the truck. All the dragging was worth it though, and it was one of the best hunts I’ve ever had. On top of getting my elk that Saturday, the next day I went out bowhunting for antelope with a friend, and arrowed a 15 inch buck. I would say that’s a pretty good start to bow hunting. Next year, I’m getting a bull…hopefully.
Do you have any stories to share?
It was September 13, and my dad and I were on my first bowhunt for elk. We were hunting the Sweet Grass Hills of north-central Montana. We were there and on our way through the timber before the sun came up. We walked along the side of the hill on the main butte, listening and watching for elk. We had gone about a mile when we came over a hill and overlooked a huge valley, surrounded by the buttes to our left and in front of us, and to our right was the open prairie. Down below us about 400 yards was a cabin the landowner owned, and standing within 100 feet of it was about 30 head of elk. We crouched down and watched them feed slowly into the timber. We went wide around to the left, making our way partially up the butte, then coming back down behind the elk, hoping to cut them off on their way up into the butte. We knew there was a bull in there because we heard a few bugles on our way to get in position. When we finally got there, they were gone and we decided to leave them alone and not go push them out of their bedding area. We sat down and glassed for a while, hoping to see some other elk. After only a few minutes I spotted another herd of probably 25 elk, grazing slowly across an open hillside on the butte directly across from us. They were over a mile away and making their way into the timber, so we just watched them. There were two bulls in the herd, one really nice 6 by 6, and a smaller 5 by 5. They bedded down on a hillside in the shade, and seemed to be staying there. I looked around them and thought that if we circled behind the elk and came over the hill from the other side, and crept slowly down above them, I would probably be in a good position for a shot. My dad reluctantly agreed, because to get there we had to go over 2 miles of steep hills and draws. We finally arrived on the other side, and the wind was in our faces, everything was perfect, except one thing. We had went too far to the right of them, and they were another 200 yards to our left. We didn’t realize that then and kept going along the other side. I was walking above my dad, trying to be as quiet as I could because I thought the elk were just over the hill, when he motioned me down. “There’s 40 head of elk right over that little hill in that bowl ahead of us, just stay put they’re acting like they smell us,” my dad said. Sure enough, the wind was at our back and before I could get a good look at them they were gone and cresting the next hill. I was really disappointed, and mad that we had blown our chance. My dad however, seemed to think that they were a different herd of elk, and that the herd we had seen grazing on the hillside was still bedded in the timber. I knew that it was the same herd, but agreed to go check the other side just to make sure. I walked up to the top of the ridge, and noticing I was too far over, began walking back to my right. The whole time I was thinking how dumb my dad was to think that there was that many elk in this little area. I finally reached the spot directly above them and strolled down into the timber, not carefully at all, because I knew that there was no elk here! I came to the edge of the timber and looked down into the clearing where they had been, and much to my surprise, scattered in front of me was 30 elk struggling to get up and find out what had interrupted their sleep. The whole herd was within 40 yards of me, and I quickly scanned for the bull but couldn’t find him! Before I could get my bow up, the whole herd bolted to my left, and disappeared into the timber. I had worked hard to get here and I wasn’t going to give up, so I took off running. They were in the patch of timber only 50 yards below me, running parallel to me across the side of the hill. I put in my diaphram call as I ran and began cow calling. The whole herd stopped running when I called and that gave me time to get ahead of them. The timber ended and there was huge open meadow up ahead. I reached the edge of the timber, knocked an arrow, attached my release, and waited for the elk to come by. A few elk were already out in the meadow, and I could hear the rest of them coming. I drew back my bow, and watched a few cows and calves run by in front of me just out of range. Then, out came the big bull, and he was only 30 yards away. I cow called as he came out and he stopped broadside to look at me. Now that is a perfect situation and theres no way to miss! But I was tired, my adrenaline was going, and I was shaking so bad I could hardly settle my pin on his body. The bull turned his head and I knew I didn’t have much time so I flipped the release hurriedly, and watched as my arrow sailed past him without even touching him. He took off with the rest of the herd and I knew I’d blown my chance. I was mad at myself for getting so nervous and not calming down to make a good shot. I knocked another arrow, hoping for a shot at the other bull, but passed by as I was attaching my release. The whole herd, minus a few stragglers was standing in the middle of the meadow, well out of range, looking at me. I was now hoping for a shot at a cow. Finally, a lone cow came out of the timber and I called once to stop him. I drew my bow back, took a slow breath, calmed down, aimed, and slowly squeezed the release. I knew before I shot that it was good because this time I had actually taken my time and done everything right. I watched the arrow hit its mark, low, behind the shoulder and pass completely through. The herd took off running and the cow tried to follow but only made it 20 yards then collapsed. It was a perfect heart shot and I had finally done it. I was really excited, even though it was a cow, and set down my bow and pack, and ran back to tell my dad about it. He was really happy for me, and couldn’t believe I had got an elk on my first time out. It was a great day, but the fun ended when I made the shot, because from the top of this butte, it was a long way to the truck. All the dragging was worth it though, and it was one of the best hunts I’ve ever had. On top of getting my elk that Saturday, the next day I went out bowhunting for antelope with a friend, and arrowed a 15 inch buck. I would say that’s a pretty good start to bow hunting. Next year, I’m getting a bull…hopefully.
Do you have any stories to share?
02-23-2003, 07:46 PM
#3
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: McCall Idaho USA
Posts: 753
RE: First elk bowhunt-story.....
NICE WORK
Now you' re hooked for life, you know what this means don' t you, when it' s time for you to get married, the month of Sept. is out.LOL.
This is what we need on this site, more stories like this, especially the youth, great job young man, and to your father.
elknut1
Now you' re hooked for life, you know what this means don' t you, when it' s time for you to get married, the month of Sept. is out.LOL.
This is what we need on this site, more stories like this, especially the youth, great job young man, and to your father.
elknut1
02-24-2003, 07:43 AM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Misenheimer NC USA
Posts: 59
RE: First elk bowhunt-story.....
That was a great story. I' ve been waiting for someone to write something like that. I enjoy reading stories that get you excited and wanting to get out there and do some hunting. I have a story almost similar to that. Back when I was 13 and had never killed an elk with my bow. I was shooting 45 pounds out of my old hoyt. I had 1816 arrows tipped with razor sharp rocky mountain broadheads. I had been hunting quite a few times before and been close but had not gotten a bull yet. It was early morning, just bright enough to shoot and my dad let off a bugle. A bull answered about 200 yards away. We started to go in after him to get as close as we could. We got to about 100 yards and by now my dad and the bull are in a pretty good bugling match and I had stayed back. About five minutes had gone by and I heard another bull making noise off to the right of where my dad was. I decided to try and get closer to that bull. I had snuck right into the path of a nice 6x6, and was crouched behind a rock waiting and sure enough he walked right to me about 20 yards away. My heart was about to beat out of my chest. I had the bow back and was shaking so bad I could hardly get the pin to stay on his body. Needless to say the arrow went over the bulls back by about two feet. The bull ran about 20 yrds and turned around coming back I shot another arrow not even close. The bull was going back and forth grabbing cows and kept passing in front of me. By the time he was done I had no arrows left in my quiver and hadn' t come with in two feet of the bull. My dad finally came back from his encounter and had a big laugh about me shooting all my arrows and not being able to find one of them. He said he had almost gotten a shot but the bull just wouldn' t give him a good shot. My dad ended up giving me a couple of his arrows so we could keep hunting. I could hit out to about 20yrds with his arrows. We ended up getting into another bull and this time we stayed together. My dad ended up calling a 6x6 in with bugles and just copying what ever the bull was saying. We were just waiting for the bull to take a couple more steps around a rock and my dad was going to shoot. As soon as the bull walked out he went to far and my dad had to lean around a tree and when he did his arrow fell off his string(at full draw) and bounced down his arm. He looked at me in disbelief and said shoot him. So I drew back my bow and released, right into the crease. A perfect heart shot. I had a good laugh about him that time. It was amazing I wasn' t nearly as nervous with him standing next to me. The bull ended up going about 75yrds and piling up. My first bull and it' s a 6x6. One of the best day' s I can remember. By the way that was the last day of the season and we didn' t end up getting out of there until way after dark. You can see this bull at www.elknut.com go to the photo gallery. The first bull Paul II is standing next to. We went and got friends to help us pack it out.
Lets hear some more stories!!!!
BowElkDwn
Lets hear some more stories!!!!
BowElkDwn
02-24-2003, 10:07 PM
#9
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: ca
Posts: 86
RE: First elk bowhunt-story.....
First elk that i ever shot as is my most memorable. We had been hunting hard for four days hot september weather and did not hear a single bull, did not know much about elk hunting so was spending most of our time still hunting. Was hunting along heading home for the day was pretty much done. all of a sudden i was among a herd of about 10 they just stood up all around me, still can' t believe that i never saw them until they stood. we just looked at each other till i realized that this is what i was looking for slowly drew on the bull 20 yards quartering away on a bench a little higher than me what a perfect shot. This elk hunting thing is easy, ha ha picked the spot concentrated let loose. Bam next thing i see is pink fletching hitting the spot wow. i can' t belive i have just hit a bull elk these elk aren' t that hard to hunt my mind was racing my partner was close and snuck over to me and we quietly celebrated he had seen the whole thing go down. we waited probably only 2 minutes but seemed like forever crept over to where the bull was found my arrow immediately only it was shattered from the outsert to the nock Strange! No blood or flesh Even STRANGER! back at the nock amongst the shreds of carbon fiber was a patch of elk hair. WE eventually figured out that i hit a piece of brush flipped the arrow and shattered it and the fletch end slapped the elk on the side. Of course my partner found this funny i on the other hand took awhile to see the humor in it. But it will always be at the top of my hunting memories. Probably cuz that arrow is mounted on its own placque in my den so i see it everyday
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
bristowboy_20
Whitetail Deer Hunting
16
11-26-2007 04:32 PM
