chamokaneman
January 1st, 2007, 02:54 PM
I've rifle hunted for elk a couple different seasons unsuccessfully but this year was my first time bowhunting elk. I had most of the season off work (8-18 Sept) and was camping right at the edge of a wilderness area and hiking back in 2-3 miles every morning.The morning I got my elk I hiked the forest service trail in for about two miles to where it crossed a shallow draw. I had been seeing some fresh track and some fresh vegetation (elk are messy eaters:smile: ) so I was taking it real slow I happened to notice a little spring downhill from the trail and went down there to check it out--sure enough there was track. I stood and looked the draw over real well and didn't see anything so I decided to head up the draw to some meadows further up the mountain. Just at the very last second out of the corner of my eye I spotted some movement down the draw--one more instant and I wouldn't have seen anything.
I wasn't even sure if if what I'd seen was a calf elk or a deer but I looked down there about 125 yards and about 10 seconds later saw a cow pass through an opening. I took a knee right there in the trail, loaded an arrow and started looking harder. Next thing I know, I hear deadfall snapping off to my ten o'clock and a bull steps out headed from my left to right at 25 yards heading toward the spring I'd been looking at a few minutes before. He stepped behind a tree and I drew and released when he stepped out.
He went tearing off crashing through all kind of stuff. I took a look for blood in the immediate area and didn't find much and since I thought my hit was a little far back I waited about a hour before I went down the hill after him. Sure enough little to no blood but he made big footprints in the sandy/ashy soil. I followed the trail about 250 yards down the hill and found him tipped over dead in some rocks. He was a nice 4x3 bull (I thought I might have shot a new world record while I was sitting there for an hour waiting) and I'd hit him in the liver. Weird thing--the arrow had hit the liver straight broadside and then hit a rib or something on the opposite side and took a 90 degree left turn and angled back to the femoral artery on the inside of his ham. Double dead.
I was pretty stoked even 24 hours later when I finally had him all packed out solo.[IMG]
I wasn't even sure if if what I'd seen was a calf elk or a deer but I looked down there about 125 yards and about 10 seconds later saw a cow pass through an opening. I took a knee right there in the trail, loaded an arrow and started looking harder. Next thing I know, I hear deadfall snapping off to my ten o'clock and a bull steps out headed from my left to right at 25 yards heading toward the spring I'd been looking at a few minutes before. He stepped behind a tree and I drew and released when he stepped out.
He went tearing off crashing through all kind of stuff. I took a look for blood in the immediate area and didn't find much and since I thought my hit was a little far back I waited about a hour before I went down the hill after him. Sure enough little to no blood but he made big footprints in the sandy/ashy soil. I followed the trail about 250 yards down the hill and found him tipped over dead in some rocks. He was a nice 4x3 bull (I thought I might have shot a new world record while I was sitting there for an hour waiting) and I'd hit him in the liver. Weird thing--the arrow had hit the liver straight broadside and then hit a rib or something on the opposite side and took a 90 degree left turn and angled back to the femoral artery on the inside of his ham. Double dead.
I was pretty stoked even 24 hours later when I finally had him all packed out solo.[IMG]