Best Hunt of my life

[Fullabull]

Well, it has taken me five years and a lot of lessons and learning but I finally harvested my first bull elk with a bow. This was also the best hunt I have ever been on with my father. He is 69 now and I was very proud of him getting around walking as much as he did. My goal was to try and get him an elk as he will only be able to do this for so long. He has come with me every year but one while living here in WA but he only started archery hunting with me the last two years (before he would just go along).

We have been hunting the Lewis River unit every year and have had at least one opportunity each year but it just never worked out. This year, I really took time to listen to Elknut’s teachings and it made the difference.

We arrived in camp on the 12th and started hunting Saturday morning. The heat was awful and we didn’t hear or see a thing all weekend. Both Monday and Tuesday were 90 degree days also so we stayed in camp after our morning hunts until evening. On Monday morning I decided we would walk a trail that was about 3 miles long and ended at a small lake. We called but nothing was happening. When we arrived at the lake, we stopped for a rest and I let out a few cow calls, I immediately heard something coming through the trees and told my father to set up. I ran back into the trees behind him and started cow calling and making noise. A small bull came to within 15 yds of my father, he is still new to this so he made a rookie mistake and didn’t have his bow in an upright position so he could just draw and shoot. He had his bow sideways and had to turn it before drawing, when he did the bull caught the motion and bolted (lesson #1 learned). It was here at the lake that we learned another important lesson, elk are not deer and don’t care about how much noise you make as long as you sound like an elk. While I was trying to call the bull my father saw back to him I was making all kinds of noise and cow sounds when I heard another bull give me a lazy reply from the hill behind me. I kept up the calling hoping my father would move into position for this bull. The next thing I knew the bull was at the bottom of the hill and was starting to get upset at me not coming to his bugles and chuckles. I was hoping at this point that my father would start calling so I could now make a sneak on the bull but he stayed quiet (old deer hunting habit). So I decided to try and sneak up on him after making a couple more cow calls. He must have seen or smelled something and moved off quietly. We discussed the situation and how we would handle it the next time (lesson #2 learned).

Monday evening I decided to hunt and area I found the last time I was there. But as we turned a corner on the road we were walking we saw that it had been logged over the last year…..arg! Well, we decided to move towards the bottom of the clear cut and see if we could get any response from the creek bottom or other side of the canyon which was not accessible other then by a not so fun hike. We began calling and using different sounds to see if a bull would respond to something. It took about half an hour before I got a response from a bull about a quarter mile away up the other side of the canyon. He started to move down the other side and would respond to my calling so I knew he was a lone bull. When he finally reached the bottom, all of a sudden I heard another hunter coming up the creek bottom trying to call our bull towards him. I could tell the bull was getting confused by the way he was responding. The hunter was trying to do the same calls I was doing but he did not have one thing I did which I new the bull liked, my single reed hyper call. I started in with that and immediately the bull responded and I could hear branches snapping as he came up our side of the creek. We were probably set up about a 100 yrds up in the clear cut and I had a decoy set up a little ways behind me. My father was back behind that. When I saw the bull for the first time I could see he was at least a nice 5x5. He came up just into the clear cut and let out a nice bugle and chuckle. He then looked around for the cow that was so hot for him… That’s when I realized I should have run down closer to the tree line! The bull moved back and forth a few times and I tried some soft calls to get him to look my way in hopes he would see the decoy and come a runnin. I could tell he was getting nervous, then he just turned and disappeared back to the safety of the timber (lesson #3 learned).

Tuesday evening was our night to remember. I took my father to a clear cut that no one seems to go to very often and I set him up on one side and I set up on the other. Both sides have creeks so elk could come up from either side. After about 45 minutes of calling I got a response from the timber over on my fathers side of the clear cut. The bull worked his way to the bottom of the creek and I tried to move to call him towards my father but he just stood his ground down in the creek bottom. I motioned to my father to start moving towards the bull. As I called to stay in contact with the bull and give my father time to get there through the clear cut I realized the bull was starting to move up the creek and away from my father. Decision time, I could see that my father was having a hard time moving through the clear cut due to all the crap they leave laying in them. I decided I could cut the distance quickly by running along the logging road over to the clear cut area above the bull. I was there in a few minutes and found a good spot to let the bull know his honey was now closer and waiting for him to arrive (see lesson #3 above). As soon as I called to him I could hear him making his way up from the creek bottom. Then it got real quiet for a minute and I couldn’t figure out what happened. I moved up on my knees to see a little better and noticed the bull standing looking my direction off to my right. He did not see me and started moving along the tree line in my direction. When he got to some downed logs that I had previously ranged at 28 yards I was ready. I came to full draw and placed my 30 yrd pin on his chest. Well, I didn’t take into consideration that he was down hill enough to effect my aiming point. The arrow went directly over his back (lesson #4 quickly learned). My father had seen me move so he started to move a little behind me and to my left (see lesson #2 above). He called at just the right time to take the bulls attention from trying to see where that funny sound came from and I was able to knock another arrow. The bull then moved about 10 more yards to his left and slightly down hill. I called to him when he reached the next opening and this time I compensated correctly as my arrow struck home. He jumped and moved about 15 yrds before turning to go back down into the creek, I called to him and he stopped. I could tell he was hit hard as he just stood there looking forward. I could not see where my arrow had hit because he was now facing the other way. I did not want this to turn into an ugly hunt where I wait for him to fall and lose him because I didn’t take another shot. I knocked another arrow and hit him solid again. This time he jumped about 10 yrds just to the timbers edge. I called again and I heard that wonderful sound of an elk hitting the ground!!!  I found both arrows had gone through the heart so the second shot was not necessary (but still glad I took it). Just then I stood up and my father was coming over the hill behind me. I asked if he heard the bull crash, he did not know exactly where I was so he didn’t see or hear anything but was still ecstatic that we had taken our first elk while archery hunting. We got back to camp at 3am with all the meat and had a glass of wine and slice of French bread to celebrate then crashed…

We spent the rest of the week trying to get him an elk but just couldn’t make it happen. We got responses from a bull on just about every hunt and had a couple that we called back and forth with but we could tell they had cows and were not going to come our way. The terrain was to much for my father to go down into and go get them but we still had a blast trying to call them in. My father is even more hooked now and with god’s blessing will return with me next year.

Sorry for the long story but it was the best hunt of my 48 years I have had with my father and I had to share it.

Thanks for reading,

Fulla


First pic is of my bull and me, it was dark and the camera wasn't working right but at least I got one good one.
Second pic of my father on the trail to the lake.
Third pic is one of the creek bottoms we hunted.
Fourth pic is my father after sitting to long in the forest, he took some of that hanging moss and put it all over his head.
Last pic is what I called the JuJu bones, we found them in camp and I said we had to shake them for luck....guess it worked!

Hope this works...

[GoldTip]

Congrats on a great hunt and well told story, thanks for sharing.

[Broken Arrow]

great story....makes me miss my dad even more! Thanks for sharing and great job!

[foambeetle]

that's what it is all about right there - - great story and to be able to do it with your Dad, priceless!  thanks for sharing and congrats

... and the moss-beard pic is great, too

[fluentvoo]

Great story, congrats! Thanks for sharing.

[h2ofwl4]

Great job and great story!!

[robb92]

Congrats!!! Good story and thanks for posting it!

[X-Force]

Congrats on the bull. the story was more than enjoyable. I love the pic of your dad and his moss beard.

[bucklucky]

SWEET!

[DeKuma]

We have some great stories written on here and this is definitely one of them!

[jimkirk]

congratulations on the bull but more importantly on harvesting the memory of a lifetime!

[bowsandhose]

very nice congrats

[jae]

Thanks for the great story, and congratulations on a fantastic Rosevelt!

[hard hunter]

Great story and a beautiful elk..I like the pics too

[backwoods_boy]

Very awesome...
great job!
nice elk
cant wait for a chance at mine!
RIMROCK!!!