I just returned from a ten day, self-guided, public land elk hunt in Southern Idaho and had to do a little bragging! My partner and I had been taking turns setting up and calling this bull for one and one-half days, but he would never get into range. On the morning of the 8th day, we were again chasing this bull and it was my turn as the shooter. This bull would continually move away from cow calls, but came almost immediately to a bugle.
He started to circle around to my partner who was about 100 yards behind me and I had to cow call to him to turn him back toward me. He came in looking for the stray cow and stood at fifteen yards for ten minutes in the wide open except for a single pine which was coincidentally located over his shoulder.
He finally took the two steps forward and I was able to take the shot. The bull was quartered slightly toward me and the arrow went through the rear of the near shoulder blade, took out both lungs and buried in the off-side. He started to run and I called to him immediately. He stopped, then walked away slowly.
Six minutes later, I heard him coughing and falling on a log. When I found him, he'd only traveled 60 yards, but I was amazed at how long he lived. If he had decided to run, it wouldn't have been much fun trying to find him.
The bull's teeth were worn down to the gums from age. He rough green scored 365 & 5/8". The main beams were 61" and the inside spread was 44".
The bow was a Robertson Vision Falcon, 68# @ 29" and the arrow was a Beeman .340 Max 4 HD with a 100 grain brass insert and 150 grain RazorCap. Total arrow weight was 610 grains.
I haven't stopped smiling since 9/22/05!!!
Topic: 2005 Idaho Elk (Read 5584 times)
