Hot day, elk tagged

[ouchfoss]

   So I'm not sure how everone else's season has been going but mine was getting to point where it almost seemed like a waste of time to get out in the woods and try and find where some elk might be or might have been. I saw an elk in middle of road on opening morning in the dark when I was on the way to one of my spots way up the hills but after waiting for daylight and going after where that elk went, I never caught up with the herd and they ended up going into no mans land in a nasty canyon. Aside from that elk, I never saw or heard one all season til yesterday.
    After a long morning hunt in the nasty heat and not seeing anything, I headed home yesterday around noon and figured I'd call it a day until the heat died down in the evening. I got to thinking about it and there was a spot last year where I had a trail cam and I ended up getting pictures of a decent 5x5 that was playing around that zone at about midday on one of the hottest days last year. Its in a kinda thick area that's hard to do much walking into but it seems to always get elk moving thru it during the rut every year and I figured it couldn't hurt to do a quick walk-in hunt in the middle of the day and see what there is for sign and maybe come back around evening time for some calling if there is anything fresh, or who knows, maybe bump a bull who likes to play in 90 degree heat!
   So I get up there and sure enough, there is sign some fresh herd and cow sign but it was within the last 3 or 4 days. I started following the tracks and sign and got up to a little knob against a hill that's at the beginning of where the brushy, thick stuff kinda starts and so I got set up and rested for a few minutes and then let out a few cow chirps. Seemed like about a minute afterward, I hear something a ways off that almost sounded like a high pitched squirrel freak out (they were cutting cones EVERYWHERE up there) and I started kinda questioning myself about whether that was a elk or a squirrel.
   I waited for another five minutes or so and was about ready to walk back to the truck and I let out one more cow chirp and about ten seconds later, a bull lets loose with a nice beautiful bugle about 150 yards out towards where the "squirrel" sounds came from. At this point I am all adrenalined up and ready for the bull to hopefully show up into the only real shooting lane zone that is around and after another five minutes or so of not hearing anything, I let out another few cow chirps and he bugles back instantly about 50 yards away in the brush in front of me. Then I start seeing the tips of his antlers poking up thru the salmon berries as he is getting closer and when he gets to about 30 yards I can see his whole body broadside as he is about the come out the brush. I draw back and get ready for him to make the last 10 feet into the shooting lane and then he stops right in the middle of a spot full of salmon berry bushes and starts sniffing the air and looking all around him. I have no shot and I'm at full draw and I am standing out right in the open with nothing around me and after about three minutes I get to the point where I cant hold my bow anymore and I try to let it down as slowly as possible without spooking him and then my arrow pops off my string, clinks against the riser and falls on the ground. I thought for sure he heard and saw this whole thing happen and I was done for but he was actually just slowly turning around as this was all happening and somehow he never witnessed any of it.
   Now he's walking away real slow back into the brush crap and I'm thinking that more than likely, that was my only chance and he gonna go back into the brush and probably smell me at some point and then head back into the hills and I'll never see him again. As he is walking away I let out a few more cow chirps and he doesn't make a sound or anything and I can hear him getting farther and farther away from me. I give it another 5 minutes or so and decide to let out some more cow chirps and be a little more "playful" and longer with the way they sound and he answers back with a nice bugle about 100 yards away plus I hear him raking up brush quite a bit as well. Then I'm thinking he obviously still doesn't know I'm a hunter and I still got a chance of calling him back in so I walk up and get set up closer to the trail he first came in on and let out some more playful cow chirps. Then he screams one more time and comes back my direction again, this time at a good pace just plowing thru the bushes and he gets about 20 yards from me in a perfect shooting lane staring straight at me. This happened so quick that I didn't get my bow drawn til he was staring right at me (I drew it REAL slow) and after a few seconds I decided I was gonna take the straight on frontal neck shot and when I released, arrow went right where I wanted and he turned and ran for probably 30 yards and then stopped. I remembered all the times I have heard about people saying to cow chirp right after the shot and it will actually keep the bull from wanting to run to the next county and so I did, nonstop for a minute or so and I could hear him walking real slow in the brush until and I heard what sounded like a crash in the bushes and then silence.
   I figured I would give him time and try not to push him at all so I got back out of the woods and got ahold of my dad and explained the situation and after a hour of so he went back up there with me and and helped me find him. He went probably 60 yards total. After his first little run after the shot, he bled like crazy and didn't go much further and from what the bloodtrail shows, he started coming back my direction again! I would like to say that the cow chirping after the shot probably played a roll in him not really going anywhere but who knows, I'll make sure I try that technique on my next elk, cant hurt.
   I'm thinking he's probably a little bigger than P&Y minimum, maybe 230ish? He didn't have a huge frame but he was super healthy and I'm guessing he was in the 7-800 lb range. Oh, and the clothes you see me wearing in the picture? That was what I was wearing when I called him! After my morning hunt, my camo was absolutely soaked in sweat so I figured I might as well hunt comfy if I plan to hunt in the heat.  (And you can flame me all ya want for my shot placement, but I have been very productive with this shot over the years  ). Anyhow, I am super happy and very thankful for such an awesome god-given blessing and I am looking forward to the sausage and steak. Thank you Hunt-Wa members for all the comment so far! Very much appreciated.    

[zackmioli]

Way to go! That's a great bull and a great write up!

[sumbeech66]

Good job man!!!

[HUNT-HARD]

  Great write up!!

[grundy53]

Great bull! Nice work!

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[Bullkllr]

Great bull! Thanks for sharing.

[RaffleMule]

Nice work!   That's a great looking Queets bull.......

[Bulldozer77]

Great story. Way to get it done in this heat!!! Awesome

[grundy53]

Love the picture with your leg on the horns. That is awesome!

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[billythekidrock]

Not a bad bull for a one legged sob!..

LOL! Congrats Jesse.

[deerhunter_98520]

Great story! Awsome bull!

[cvandervort]

Man, love the write-up! Congrats, and thanks for the teaser...gearing up for the high hunt...hope I have some cooler weather than you did!

[Skyvalhunter]

Good job way to get it done. How hard was it to pack that elk out with one of your legs hanging on the horns?

[Maligator]

Awesome bull and really nice write up  Congrats and it just goes to show ya that perseverance pays off!

[Widgeondeke]

Nice boot.
The bull is okay also.

Wayn to stick with it and finish. CONGRATS !!!