First elk with a bow. Story included. And picture...kind of (look down posts)

[jechicdr]

I moved from Washington to Iowa about 14 years ago to attend graduate school.  I picked up hunting with a muzzleloader as well as with the bow when I was living in Iowa where you had the option of hunting whitetails with a firearm (either shotgun or muzzleloader) and a bow.  The first year in Iowa I returned to Washington to hunt a special cow permit I drew for the Blues over Christmas break.  I lucked out and filled that tag on the first day.  I wasn’t able to hunt elk again until my 4th year when I took a trip to Montana for a combination deer/elk tag.  That was my first pack in hunt.  I filled both tags with a 4 x 5 bull and a 4 x 5 mule deer.  Both those elk were carried to their ultimate destinations in my faithful Geo Metro.  Of course that is a different story.  After school, I spent 4 years in North Carolina before moving back to Washington.

I started hunting elk with my bow the second year after I moved to Spokane Washington.  The first year back, I dabbled in the northeast corner with my rifle, but failed to see enough elk to make it worthwhile repeating.  My first year bow hunting, I got drawn for Malaga cow tag.  I spent a week chasing elk, and on the last day almost came close to connecting.  The next year, I spent in Bumping with several close encounters.  I came back the next year, but that was when regulations were changed to spike only and only managed to see 2 spikes, but none within bow range.  Last year, I made the move to Little Naches.  That was the year when high temperatures the first week made hunting tough, though I was still able to squeeze out a few close encounters.

Well, this year started out with the special draw.  A cow permit opened up in Bumping, so I applied for that as well as Colockum cow as second choice and waited for the results to come in.  I went to the WDFW website and it said I was drawn for Colockum cow.  Everyone said it should be a chip shot (or as much of a chip shot as hunting goes).  I bought all the appropriate maps from MyTopo.com.  I located my possible target areas based on areas I had seen elk before and some target areas I had not ever been before but looked like an elk might hold up in that area.  Got a few pointers from some of the folks from hunting-washington.com and was all ready to hunt the Colockum after a trip to scout.

Prior to my scouting trip, I get my permit in the mail and it says Bumping cow.  I went back to the website and confirmed that it said Bumping cow.  Well, I wasn't too disappointed.  Bumping was my first choice.  So I convert my scouting trip to a trip with the family out to Rimrock Lake and for one of the days we tried to make the hike up the mountain.  Well the family pooped out before we actually crested the ridge, so I never actually made it to my hunting grounds.  Never got another chance to make the trip up there, though planned on coming back in a couple weekends.  Between work and family, it just didn't work out.  No big deal though.  Had never hunted that area without seeing elk nearly every day.

Was on call the weekend before opening day so didn't get out to the trail-head until noon the day before season opener.  I've got my Mathews Z7 with a quiver holding 5 arrows tipped with Muzzy Phantom 150 grain broad-heads and 2 arrows tipped with Judo tips for any grouse that may show themselves.  I shoot each arrow to prove to myself the bow will hit what I'm aiming at.  I made a few minor adjustments.  I shot the Judo tipped arrows and at 20 yards they are hitting about 2 inches left of the broad-heads.  Note to self...when shooting grouse aim slightly right.  Packed a week worth of Mountain House and clothes into the pack with the usual camp necessities.  I think that pack weighs in at about 70 lbs (well the scale says closer to 90).  My plan is to return at the end of the week for more food and clean clothes if nothing materializes.  It's only about 2.5 mile hike in, but mostly uphill.  I get to my campsite while it is still light and set up camp, strip off sweaty cloths and give the body a quick "bath" in various scent eliminating products.  I activate my Spot Messenger to send my location to my wife and friends.  I call my wife (1 bar of cell coverage) to let her know I made it up without having a heart attack.  I get to bed early that night after snacking on a couple of pepperoni sticks and a Snickers bar.  After that, didn't really feel like cooking a meal for dinner.  So I was off to bed with plans on waking up early.  I fell asleep to bulls bugling in 4 different areas around my camp.

Opening morning comes and I'm up at 4:30 a.m., early enough to slip 1/2 cup of water into the Mountain House granola and blueberries for breakfast.  I finish up at 5:00 a.m. and start out from camp.  I'm carrying my fanny pack with mostly empty Camel Back and my Katydyn water filter (drank most of my water coming up the mountain) knowing that there were a few watering holes along the way to replenish the resources.

A third of a mile from camp, I heard the first twig snap and an elk is moving in from the right.  I still haven't seen the animal yet but figure it's about 40-50 yards in and I maneuvered to be downwind of where I thought it might cross.  I hear more snaps to the left of the trail and look over.  That was all it took for the elk on the right to crash back into the forest barking at me in a way only a bull would bark.  I guess he was closer than 40-50 yards.  I move forward, focusing my attention to the left where I heard the next potential candidate.  I catch a large brown patch of a cow about 70 yards away though an opening in a stance that seemed to convey alertness.  All this time the bull continued to bark.  Well, that was a bust.  I moved on.  I veered off the trail and stopped at a clearing with a small pond and lots of elk sign to see if anyone would step out.  I got bored after about an hour, figuring the elk were probably bedded or getting ready to, so I took a game trail into the woods that I knew came out at the next clearing with a larger pond.  At the larger pond, filled my water bag and then made my way back to the main tail.  A big bull could be heard bugling in the forest to the left after getting back on the trail.  After about 2 miles along the trail, decided to head off into the woods again.  After dropping off a ridge to a third water hole, I headed into the dark forest to see if there were any straggling cows that had not gotten to their beds yet.  I climbed up onto the ridge and started heading back to the main trail.  Elk jumping off their beds put me on the ready again.  I cow called, hoping to settle them down enough to get in close for a shot.  I managed to spot them twice before they finally got tired of listening to me but still not getting a shot opportunity.  I get back on the trail and head back to camp for a little mid day nap.  I head out in the evening to a favorite ambush spot close to camp and wait till sunset before heading back to camp.  No elk standing in any of the clearings along the way back either.

Next day, I wake at 5:30.  No time for breakfast if I want to get out and see any of the morning elk.  I stick to the main trail, hoping to get past the clearings to the dark woods where a lot of time elk can be caught on the way to their bedding areas.  Along the way, familiar snapping of twigs, but this time moving away from the trail through brush that is too thick to follow.  I push on.  I get to the ridge before the 3rd watering hole and I hear the snap, this time very very close.  I nock an arrow but don't have time to make myself less conspicuous when a head comes out of the forest, followed by the first half of her shoulder.  She looks at me, knowing that something isn't quite right.  We stand there staring at each other for a little while until one of her herd mates comes up behind her, forcing her to make a decision.  She jumps back into the woods and the small herd move away and comes out onto the trail just around the corner.  Once again, I’m busted.  I drop down off the ridge, looking down at all the new hoof prints in the trail.  I'm about to start heading up the other side of the bowl when I think to myself...”What if there is a few stragglers?”  I turn around and start backtracking.  As I look up, a large cow is barreling down the trail toward me, likely trying to catch up with her pals.  She spots me and quickly exits the trail downhill and further ahead her calf runs back up the ridge.  I walk back up to the top of the ridge and set up just off the trail about 20 yards and wait.  Nothing happens.  I head back to camp.  On the way I spot 2 grouse sitting in the trail  I pull out my Judo tip and take aim (a little to the right), fire, and the arrow goes a little to the right.  The grouse doesn't move.  I pull the second arrow out of the quiver, aim dead on, fire, feathers fly...but so does the bird right up into the tree.  I retrieve my arrows and bird is still sitting in the tree.  I back up and put the bird in front of the trunk of the tree (so when my arrow passes through the bird, it will hit the tree and stop as opposed to flying 100 yards through the air never to be found again).  I reload, pull back, fire, and arrow goes underneath it's feet and sticks into the trunk  (note to self...when firing at 6 yards, use 30 yard pin instead of 20).  Next shot, I step back to 11 yards (20 yard pin) and impale the bird.  It slides down the arrow and falls to the ground and starts slowly walking away.  "Are you serious?!"  Now both arrows are stuck in the tree about 10 feet off the ground.  I shimmy up and easily pull one of the arrows from the tree, the other...the Judo tip is stuck and I have to unscrew the arrow.  I drop to the ground and finish off the bird with one last shot.  I clean the bird, and tuck it away for lunch.  That evening, I set up on the first watering hole with the wallow.  A little 5 x 5 raghorn plays around in the meadow for some time before heading back up into the woods.

Morning arrives again, this time I wake up at 6 a.m.  I think..."Before long, I'll be waking up at 10".  I head out to my familiar ridge without any sign of lingering elk near the trail.  I head out on the ridge hoping to catch a bedded elk.  In the distance, I hear the familiar bugle of a bull elk.  No elk are bedded on the ridge today.  Looks like today is going to be a bust.  I drop down off the ridge into the bowl I started walking down the first day.  I come down to some very thick brush and start walking down along the edge.  I hear the bugle, now closer and then very quickly I hear the breaking of berry bushes that make up the bulk of the thick cover below.  I look up and see an elk jump completely out of the brush and then drop down out of sight as it lands back in the thick brush, probably jumping a downed log only to be seen for a brief moment.  I quickly kneel down by a downed log pull out my rangefinder.  I manage to range a tree at 30 yards just as an elk comes down in the same vicinity.  I draw as she passes behind a tree and she walks behind the tree I had just ranged.  I fire and I watch the arrow hit lower than I was anticipating.  The cow jumps and runs down a ways out of sight.  I creep up as the rest of the herd passes by about 50 yards out.  I retrieve my clean arrow...except for the dirt and bark.  I head back up to my spot and range...OK she was maybe 10 yards behind the tree I had ranged.  Looking down the valley, I spot antlers about a 100 yards away and a large cow in his vicinity.  The rest of the herd will be clearing the brush and heading his direction shortly, so I start walking down toward the bull.  I spot the first few cows coming out and walking toward him and range them at 70 yards.  When they pass out of sight, I quickly cover the distance to where they came out and shortly after, I hear the familiar twigs cracking.  I spy ears over the top of the brush...but they hang up for a bite to eat.  The elk are about 20 yards away and everything I could potentially range is within 20 yards so I don't even pull out the rangefinder this time.  Finally the cow walks out.  She's further out than I expected her to be but figure she can't be more than 30 yards out and walking right to left.  I draw and put both my 20 and 30 yard pins on her vitals, moving the pins forward somewhat onto her shoulder since she is still walking.  When I fired, the arrow went through the shoulder about 2 inches higher than where my 20 yard pin was sitting.  Come to find out she was only 16 yards away which would explain the 2 inches high, and at 16 yards, did not need nearly the lead I gave her.  Still, should be a lethal shot.  She jumped and moved forward about 20 yards and then stopped.  I waited for what seemed like an eternity (about a minute) for her to drop...but she didn't.  I stepped forward just as couple more cows walked out and looked at me.  I was looking at a 1 foot wide window between 2 trees at a beautiful quartering away shot.  I ranged her at 29 yards, drew, laid the 30 yard pin on the point of her shoulder and released.  She ran 40 yards and dropped.  It was about 10:30 a.m. and I quickly set to work skinning and quartering her.  Both arrow’s entrance and exit wound should have been lethal, but the first was high and probably only hit one lung.  The opposite shoulder blade didn't stop either cut on contact broad head.  I used a modified gutless method (I modified it as I went).  I skinned one side to the spine and removed the left quarters.  I then laid the skin back down, rolled her over and did the same for the right quarters.  At that point, I rolled her onto her belly and removed the backstrap.  I started to remove the tenderloins, but the distended belly was pushing tight on them, making exposure difficult, so I opened up the belly and let the intestines extrude through the hole.  This created a lot more exposure to make the final cuts to remove the tenderloins.  I laid out the skin in the shade of some large old growth trees, planning the path of the sun to take advantage of the shade that would be provided until evening.  I laid out the tenderloins and backstrap on the skin and set the quarters up against the tree to allow the air to circulate around them.  The game bags and rope were back at camp.  I turned on my Thermacell and placed it in the vicinity thinking it might help keep the number of bugs in the area down.  I made a beeline for the main trail (only 250 yards away) and headed back to camp.  At camp, I called the wife and got the number for Pacific Crest Outfitters and called them for a pack out (only $400.00 for a big game pack out).  I trekked back to the elk with my pack, game bags, rope, water and snacks.  Hauled them up to the trail and hung them up in trees near the trail to be picked up by the horses the next day.  That night it got pretty chilly and finished off the cooling process for the quarters.  I packed up camp and headed back down the mountain after giving clear instructions to the outfitters about the location of the elk.  I had a Rimrock burger for lunch as the outfitters were heading up to pick up the quarters.  I went into Yakima and bought a couple of large coolers and ice.  I tried fishing Tim's pond and managed to catch 2 2 inch bluegills before heading back up to Rimrock for second Lunch.  After that, I headed up to the Indian Creek Corral and arrived just as they were getting back.  Meat was still cool to touch and I put them in the coolers over 8 bags of ice.

Headed home and got home at about 9 p.m.  For 2 days was cutting up elk.  Ended up with 50 lbs of cross the grain steaks, 3 lbs of "skirt" steak, 3 lbs of "stew" meat (steaks that are too small to be called "steaks"), 3 lbs of jerky, and 16 lbs of ground elk.

Not bad for my first elk with a bow.

I still have my multi-season deer tag as well as a second deer tag yet to fill, so my hunting adventured are not quite over yet.

[jechicdr]

Sorry...no pictures.

[mfswallace]

didn't happen...

[smitty8202]

how do u have no pictures of your first elk with a bow?

[iRem]

 Great write up!

[SniperDanWA]

Very thorough write up.  I certainly enjoyed reading it.  Congrats on the hunt and the success.  I only hope it is that like that for me.  Seems like every time I get out there they don't stick around, they bolt.  Well, your freezer is loaded and you have your meat.  Enjoy the rest of your hunt.

[jechicdr]

how do u have no pictures of your first elk with a bow?

I bought a camera specifically for taking with me hunting.  Usually see a few nice bulls that would be nice to have pictures of.  First day, when I pulled it out thinking a bugling elk might come out in the clearing I was watching and turned it on...it played a little tune.  Well, that is not going to work to take pictures of live elk.  Did not think about the fact that I might actually kill an elk and be able to take pictures, so I left it at camp.

[sebek556]

  congrats man,

[ShirtGuy77]

didn't happen...

Literally laughed out loud

[jechicdr]

Okay, I do have some pictures.  This is a hind quarter (about a third of the meat).  Add one more like it, throw in a front set of shoulders, backstrap, and tenderloins and you have a figure that runs about 75 lbs of lean meat (all gristle and tendons removed).  Breaks down into 50 lbs of cross the grain steaks, 3 lbs of "skirt" steak, 3 lbs of "stew" meat (steaks that are too small to be called "steaks"), 3 lbs of jerky (also cut across grain.  Can be used for stir fry or jerky), and 16 lbs of ground elk.

[PlateauNDN]

didn't happen...

Literally laughed out loud

    great now I got monster all over my keyboard.   good write up and thanks for sharing.   pics look 

[Stick em]

  Great job grabbin' one with a bow. Sounds like you really had a full hunt and were rewarded well. I commend you for doing the cutting yourself. That's some good eating

[BowBender87]

man you dont waste anytime cuttin it up! I let mine hang for atleast a week in a cooler this time of year!  Nice job!

[SemperFidelis97]

Nice write up man thanks for sharing the stories are always better with more details.

[Curly]