I shot a cow elk last Friday, my first big game kill with a bow. I'm pretty stoked!
I had just picked up my tag on Thursday and had been seeing lots of out-of-towners and some out-of-staters at the usual spots. I decided on Thursday night that I'd try a draw that looked promising, but had no roads or trails going up it. If nothing else, it would be good recon hike for a future hunt.
I got to the trailhead before first light and hiked 30 min in the dark. The mouth of the draw had a lot of domestic sheep sign - in other words it looked like a wasteland. But I continued, knowing that the best looking elk country was 3 miles in. I still hunted in, jumping a few deer and took some solace knowing that if I didn't see any elk. I might be able to fill my deer tag.
I bugled a couple times in the course of the 3 miles, but didn't get any replies. All I was looking for was a locator bugle to let me know there were elk in the area. Then as I approached the head of canyon the terrain began to transition to classic high mountain elk habitat. I dropped down into the valley bottom and began to see some recent sign. I continued to work up canyon, into the wind, still hunting when I began to hear the squirrels chirping, a lot. Then I heard hooves. I cow called twice and the sound of hooves got louder.
I was behind a cluster of alpine fir and realized I needed to get into position fast. I moved the frontside, stood next to small lodgepole and cow called one more time while the sound of hooves had grown louder and louder. Then, 25 yards out, coming down the hill on a faint game trail were 2 cows moving at trot, right at me! In my periphery I could see more movement of the rest of the heard, but I was absolutely focused on this first cow. When she was at 10 yards I drew and the motion caused her to veer slightly away from me (she was headed right at me). When she pulled up broadside I released... and she continued her trot, picking up the pace a bit and crashing through the woods below. I cow called and she stopped in a clearing and looked back uphill at me 30 yards away, then tipped over.
When I released I watched the arrow disappear into her like a hot knife in butter. But then I could still see my fletching just before she crashed through the woods, temporarily out of site. A wave a panic came over me as I thought I might have hit her square in the shoulder. And when she tipped over I thought for sure she was going to get right back up. I watched her for a bit through the trees, but my view wasn't great. I quietly crept around to a better angle and by that time it was all over. I watched for a few more minutes and detected no movement, no breathing and crept in to confirm she had expired. I knelt beside her, placed my hand on her neck and and gave thanks for her sacrifice.
Retracing her blood trail to the point of impact, I found the broadhead half of my arrow 5 yards off to the side, confirming a complete pass through. Then found the fletching half of my arrow, with blood up to the feathers, 15 yards down her direction of travel. The shot was a double lung and heart shot at 3 yards or less. She had snapped the shaft during her stride, while the broadhead had continued to pierce and pass through to the bushes on the other side.
It was 8:30 am and I had a dead cow 3 miles in from my car and had to work the following day. A quick calculation and I knew I could get her out on my own, but it was going to take a lot of work, probably into the night. I decided to run up the mountain in hopes of getting cell service and asking for help. In an hour I was back at the kill, starting the butchering with 2 strong friends coming in at mid day to help carry. We managed to get all the meat out between the 3 of us in 1 load each (but my hamstrings have been sore for days!). I got back into town in time to buy ice, change my clothes, wash the blood off my hands and pick up my daughter from school! We a tenderloin on the grill that night and toasted the great wapiti that will feed us for the next year.
In conclusion, not only do I feel very grateful, I feel very lucky... in many ways. I'm lucky to have filled my tag on the first day out, a day after buying it! (Although I want to hunt more!) I'm lucky in the sense that I (like so many other successful hunters can agree) was in the right place at the right time. The heard was moving towards me, for once, and everything was in my favor - wind and shadows. I'm lucky to have friends that will drop what they are doing and help me pack a heavy dead animal out of the woods! Upon further scrutiny of my shot, I feel very lucky to have had such a well placed shot on a moving animal. Had you asked me prior to this experience if I would take a shot on a moving animal, I would have said without hesitation, no. But something was different that day. I was moving as if being directed. I wasn't thinking specifically about what to do. I was simply doing. I took a shot at a moving animal that was literally less than 3 yards away. The draw, follow through and release was like pointing an arrow with an elk on the end of it. Looking closely at my arrow, snapped in 2 by, I presume her leg as she strode by, I could have very easily hit her leg rather than missed it... Would I take another shot at a moving animal? No. And I feel very fortunate to have had the good out come that I did. She was down and it was over 30 seconds after she had come into my view.
Bow: Schafer Silvertip Take Down Longbow 60# @ 30"
Arrow: GT Blem 400
Broadhead: 200 gr Grizzly Stik
Location: Somewhere out West where others weren't that day.
Topic: My First Big Game Bow Kill (Read 1657 times)
