Primal Tech + Wyoming = ELK!!!

[Crittergetter]

Hey guys, I’m still in Wyoming and will be home on Sunday but figured I’d go ahead and get this story started.
This hunt has been in the making for about 6 years now. Been trying to draw a decent tag for that long and finally got one. After several discussions with my brother I decided to buy an additional cow tag as well because I knew I’d shoot the first legal animal that I had in range since I’ve never killed an elk with a bow.

I flew into Casper Wyoming on the 13th and was picked up by my brother. I immediately could tell he wasn’t feeling well. He said he had a slight head cold but was fine. We made our way into Sheridan a couple hours later and started preparing to leave out on Saturday. Only hiccup was my niece was getting married on Saturday morning! My brother was none to happy about her chosen dates and told he we would be leaving as soon as the ceremony and activities were over! Lol
We finally got on the road about 2 pm Saturday afternoon and made the 7 hour drive to the trail head we would be taking into our hunting area. That night we stayed in the sleeping quarters of the horse trailer.

[Crittergetter]

Sunday morning couldn’t come quick enough! We were up at daylight getting the horses fed and started sorting through our gear trying to decide what we could take and what we could leave. I did a quick check of the weather forecast for the week and it looked perfect. Low to mid 60’s during the day and low 30’s at night with only a slight chance of rain on Tuesday.


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[Crittergetter]

So I threw in a couple pairs of thermals and a couple light jackets along with my rain gear. I only had the one pair of boots that I was wearing because I was limited on space in my carry on. ( I had shipped my bow and accessories the week before) .
As I started assembling my bow I quickly realized this would have been a perfect time to have one of my 4 piece bows because I could not find my Allen wrench!! Luckily my brother had one in his truck that fit or I would have really been scrambling!!
With That crises adverted we did a last minute check of our gear and started the pack in!! Bow in hand!!


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[Crittergetter]

We made our way to the spot my brother had selected after a few hours. I promised my brother I would not disclose the location of our hunt because he has spent years scouting and hunting to find this location. So here is as close of a hint I can give!


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[Crittergetter]

Didn’t take long to get camp set up as I was eager to do a quick scout of the area.
My brother wasn’t feeling all that well but was in good spirits so we selected an area to start our search! One thing I noticed right off was that this area was perfect for bow hunting!! Lots of cover, not very rugged terrain and plenty of natural resources for the critters! Lots of small clearings (parks), lots of water holes, and plenty of cover for the animals. They could literally never leave the area and have every thing they need until winter sets in! We even had a perfect location to hobble the horses right by camp with plenty of grass and a watering hole!


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[Crittergetter]

We pointed our noses into the wind and started an evening scout/hunt! After a mile or so with very little fresh sign we found ourselves on a hillside overlooking a small park and decided to wait out the afternoon in hopes the elk would start bugling as it got closer to dark. All the while I can tell my brother is getting worse and I started getting a slight tickle in my throat! Dang it!
Nothing else to do but relax and enjoy the awesome weather!


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[Crittergetter]

Death dealer in her element!!


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[Crittergetter]

The afternoon slowly faded into evening without a single bugle. Maybe it’s the warm weather?
We made our way back to camp at dark and threw together a quick dinner. Neither of us are very picky so whatever is easiest is usually what’s on the menu! Lol


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[Crittergetter]

As we settled into bed I heard my first bugle Of the trip! It wasn’t very far at all and sounded like it was in a small park that was only about 1/4 mile from camp! 
And he had some competition and they talked back and forth most of the night!!
Oh yeah!!!!!
Monday morning we were up at first light and skipped breakfast because the bulls were still talking!
We started working our way in their direction. About a 1/4 mile from camp we find fresh sign on a knoll positioned between 2 small mountain parks. The elk had been crossing this ridge back and forth all night!
My brother gave out a bugle and immediately got an answer!!
The bull was a Little ways off and he kept screaming out but it sounded like from multiple locations. Pretty sure he’s a Herd bull rounding up his cows!! So we gave pursuit!! We would call every few hundred yards and he would answer but still headed away so we picked up the pace. After about a mile or so we could tell we actually gained on him when he bugled and you could hear the low growl in his voice. We were headed down into some dark timber and the wind was perfect so I Told my brother I was going to get to a certain clump of trees and when I did he would bugle!
I had only gone about 30 yards or so when I heard some limbs break just on the other side of the trees I was trying to get to so I froze and motioned for my brother to call.
He called and I immediately see horns coming through the timber! This huge majestic 6x6 bull emerges from the timber in full view! Is this really happening? Is this about to go down? It was almost to Surreal!! All I could do was stand there and look at him as he is facing me straight on at 48 yards. ( I ranged it after the fact)
He freezes and looks in my brother direction looking for the bull that’s been pestering him! After about 15-20 seconds and him not seeing anything he turns and walks back down into the timber and forever out of my dreams!!  Had I made it to the spot I wanted I would have had about a 25 yard shot!! I was heart broken and ecstatic at the same time!!!   


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[Kopper1013]

 

[GCook]

Randy I do have a data limit . . .

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[kennyb]

Great story Critter-keep it coming!! Lol
 

[Crittergetter]

After a quick discussion we decided not to pursue farther. It was only the first full day and we didn’t want to blow the elk out of the area. So we decided to drop off the north east side and scout around the edge of one of the parks to look for a good trail to set on for the afternoon and try to intercept the elk coming back out of the bottom on their way to feed in the evening.  It didn’t take long to find a well used trail with lots of fresh tracks. I marked it in my gps and we slipped out of the area for mid day.  We went back to camp for a quick mid morning breakfast of powdered eggs (actually not bad at all!), bacon  burritos! We then went to the lake that was only a couple hundred yards for camp to collect water for the eve and next day. This would be our source for water for the duration of our stay. We used a combination of a uv pen and a sawyer filter for drinking water. I will say it is better than any tap water I’ve ever had!!


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[Crittergetter]

That afternoon we slipped back into the area where we found the trail and picked a good location to set up for the evening. I had a good log to sit on with good cover on all sides and about a 20 yard shot to the trail. I had practiced all summer out to 40 yards and felt completely comfortable on anything inside of 30 yards so this 20 yards was in my wheel house!
My brother was positioned in some brush about 7-8 yards behind me.
After only about 15 minutes I thought I heard a cow call. I asked my brother if he heard it and he said there is a local bird that sounds a lot like a cow when we immediately hear another, and then several more and we soon see movement below us. A whole herd was coming out of the bottom more to our right through a slight saddle. I look at my brother and he is motioning for me to turn more to my right as they were taking a different trail. He lets out a soft cow call and all heck broke loose! The lead cows run straight at us and literally straight at my brother!!! He didn’t have time to do anything except lay down and try to become invisible!! The first cow runs by him on a dead run at less than 5 feet!!
As I turn I come to full draw as the second cow pauses about 15 feet from my brother and about 6-7 yards from me. He is more to my right and the cow is straight in front of me so I was comfortable taking the shot and picked my spot and let it go!!
The timing was Perfect and the arrow hit her right in her arm pit as she stepped forward and broke her off side shoulder. Perfect heart shot! She collapsed as she tried to run and then got back up and took off following the lead cow!!
It got A little confusing for a few seconds as we had more cows running around in different directions. The main group stayed farther down as they realized something wasn’t right and soon retreated into the timber. We never saw the herd bull.
About 30 seconds go by and we are giving each other thumbs ups and saying how perfect the shot was when all of a sudden it starts to hail! And it hailed it’s butt off for about 15 minutes then turned into a light rain. ( I have a video but can’t seem to post it) I wasn’t to concerned because I felt confident my cow would be close!!
As soon as we could we started looking for blood but we didn’t find a single drop!! We continued to search the immediate area until dark in hopes to at least find my arrow with lighted nock or something but we never found anything!!
And it continued to rain as the temps dropped!!


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[KAZ]

 

[Soonerlongbow]

 

[Crittergetter]

We made our way back to camp in the dark. Which can be a little intimidating in grizzly country! But I had my grown man teddy bear on my side. Aka - SW500!! It helps you feel a little better but still nerve wracking!
I had that kicked in the gut feeling and don’t even eat super before turning in for the night. As I crawled into my sleeping bag I felt something wet. There was a puddle of water under my bag! The tent had a leak! My brother has had this tent for several years and never had a single leak in all kinds of nasty weather! But somehow since last season it had developed a leak!  I knew I was in for a long night! I wore every layer I had and used one of his extra jackets to lay on and it helped but it was a long cold mostly sleepless night!
Tuesday morning comes and with it more rain and cold temps! We waited around for full daylight before heading back in to look for my cow. We cautiously approach the area Incase there were any bears around and decided we would stay together while we searched. We spent the better part of the morning and into the day canvassing the entire area. We grid searched, circled back, searched near and far, and ran every possible scenario we could think of to no avail! We never found a single drop of blood or sign of my arrow or anything!! It is a total mystery that I have absolutely no idea or explanation for! My cow was no where to be found! Here is a pic I took of the area during a brief break in the weather.

[Crittergetter]

With afternoon approaching we headed back to camp to regroup and dry out my only pair of boots which were now soaked! When we got back to camp I went to the tent to get some dry socks and realized that we had a serious problem! We had multiple leaks in the tent and anything that was touching the floor was soaking wet!! We knew the only choice we had was to stay at camp and try to dry out our gear. The rain was starting to let up and the forecast was calling for cold temps but no more rain. So We improvised a clothes line over the fire and sat around the rest of the evening trying to get dry and warm!


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[Crittergetter]

All the while my brother is consistently getting more and more sick! He was coughing a lot and getting really congested. I was really concerned and even mentioned pulling out for a few days for him to recover but he wasn’t hearing any of it!!
As the evening approached I decided to take a quick walk just to see what I could see. I didn’t think about getting my boots wet again! That night I again wore every layer I had to bed and surprisingly I stayed rather warm.
With the break in the weather The elk started bugling again after dark and continued their chorus throughout he night into early morning.
When Wednesday morning came I was in high spirits despite loosing my cow the day before. I knew I still had a tag left and was full of determination!
I grabbed my boots and realized they were frozen solid!!! I had to force my feet into them a knew it was gonna suck for a little while. But the skies were clear and temps were supposed to be warmer!
We decided to head back to the knoll which I nicknamed “elk rock” to check for fresh sign.
I tried to talk my bro into staying at camp because at this point he could barely walk a few yards without having to stop and catch his breath. The man was SICK!!!! I have never known anyone as mentally tough as him and he pushed on despite my attempts to convince him otherwise.
So that is the way we hunted our way to elk rock. Stopping every few yards for him to catch his breath and I’d scan ahead. A still hunters dream! Lol
By the time we made it to elk rock the sun was high and temps were warm so we decided to just sit there for a few hours and soak up the warmth and give my brother a chance to rest. We ended up staying there for most of the day laying around and napping in the warm sunshine! It felt sooooo good after the previous couple days!! I took the opportunity to take my boots off and let them and my feet dry out.


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[Hackbow]

Wake up and get to typin', ya slacker!