Sorry, I guess the last pic is kind of hard to see.
Anyway, after about a week of hunting we were finally able to narrow down a couple of spots where elk were traveling between bedding and feeding. We spent the next days shadowing herds and trying to knife in for a shot. It was kind of hard to do because every mature bull we saw had between 5-30 cows.
We were lucky enough to bed a herd one morning. We knew by the sound of his bugle he was big enough for us. We slipped out of there and came back that afternoon. What we found when we came back was better than anything I could have imagined. He was a 6x7 that we guessed would go around 370. He had fronts that stuck out past his nose before they curled up and about two feet of main beam past his fifth's. I have never seen anything like it! I belly crawled for about 150 yds and got within 50 yds of him and 30 yds from the closest cow. I layed in waiting for about an hour hoping he would get up to check his cows and wander close enough for a shot. At 30 minutes before dark the herd finally got up and started feeding away from me. Although I didn't get a shot I still feel blessed for being that close to such an impressive animal. I ended up getting back on this bull 2 days later and getting about 60 yds from him and his cows.
Finally, on the 11th day of our 12 day hunt we were back in our little area waiting for the elk to come up the mountain. We heard no bugles which was strange because we had the 3 mornings before. I decided to let out a couple of bugles and some cow talk hoping that a bull would think there was a herd up the mountain. I called and about 10 minutes later a spike showed up. He milled around at about 40 yds than looked behind him. Another spike, a raghorn, and this small 6x6 all came slipping into bow range. When the 6x6 stopped broadside at 30 yds, I let him have it. The shot looked good but maybe a little low. I immediatley cow called and they all stopped 50 yds from the shot. He started getting wobbly on the back end then layed down. 2 Minutes later I realized I had just taken my first elk.
Topic: My first elk! (Read 787 times)
