Well, the Lord was gracious to me this year and allowed me to harvest a nice spike bull. This is my second year bowhunting and my first elk, and now I really understand why elk hunting is so awesome. I took him up in the Naneum on day 2 around 4:30 pm at 50 yards. Walked into a large stand of timber after a long hike and found a herd of about 30-40 elk with probably 6 shootable spikes. Made my way around the outside, spooking pretty much every elk back into the timber as they all seemed to be on the outside edges looking out. Found a nice spot to sneak in to after about an hour of waiting and started calling. I heard a loud thump come from behind me only to find a calf that had pounced and landed around 30 yards behind me along with the most glorious spike I have ever seen...') He stared strait at me for about 5 minutes then walked back behind some rocks. All I could see was the tips of his antlers so I kept an eye on him while he moved about. After about 20-30 minutes of a game of calling him in and gaining better cover, he finally bolted out and came strait towards me at about 50 yards. He then turned completely broadside to his right and started eating a tree! I drew back and took the shot and heard a loud sickening sound we have all heard. The loud thwack of an arrow hitting a tree. I literally dropped my head and thought I just screwed up the best shot at getting an elk I would get. After 15 minutes, I decided to retreive my arrow from the tree. I was having trouble finding it due to the range, but I noticed it about 15 yards from where the elk was standing sticking out of a log burried in the ground...with blood on it!!!!! I was ecstatic. After half an hour of trying to find blood trails in the dry grass, I found him about 50 yards from where I last saw him. It was a double pass through high double lung shot. Man, I love my FMJ's and Shuttle T's! It was probably the most exciting moment of my life, next to getting married:) Pack out wasn't too bad, 2.5 miles, mostly uphill for the first out, and then my buddy helped me get it off the hill to my truck which was much closer, around a half mile. Got it all bundled up and hauled in around 6 1/2 hours. It was a great week of hunting. Although we didn't get my buddy a bull, we still saw probably 80-100 elk and 9 or 10 monster bulls. We got onto a hillside and called in 2 6x6 bulls in within 10 yards of my buddy and had a 7x7 come in at 100 yards. What a cool, cool way to spend a week. Thanks all for the great advice you gave me with all my annoying questions. It was all used to the utmost.
