NE Bull, First Elk

[Jonathan_S]

On Sept 3rd I managed to call in a young bull in the NE.  It was pouring down rain and about 6:15 p.m.  He saw my movement from 120 yards in the timber and got suspicious so I gave it a few minutes of hiding behind a tree before I cow called and got him into 60 yards.  He stopped in some jack-pines and I had no shot so I cow called again and he ran past me at 3-4 feet   

I couldn't get him to stop running so I just released and hit him way too far back.  Tougher to hit vitals at 1 yard than at 30     Anyway, he never really identified me or what happened and he jogged/walked off in the pouring rain so I trailed him by sight and waited for him to bed down.  He bedded down after about 5 minutes and I stalked to within 15 yards and put one through the vitals.  He never got up.

He's an odd bull for certain but he is my first and I was proud to take a NE Bull as my first elk.  I apologize for a lack of pictures but it was raining insanely hard and lenses were foggy/too dark and it was just not in the cards.

I need to give a SHOUT-OUT here to Broken Arrow and his buddies.  The best guys I've ever hunted with and they can break down an elk in 30 minutes.  Without them I would have been quartering and packing an elk for hours into the night. 

[jackelope]

Congrats man. Some good eats there.
I've got a couple bulls  on my cameras that are wierd like that.

[elkoholic1]

    congrats!!!!

[rover758]

WTG!!!!

[jrebel]

Cool elk...congrats.

[gaddy]

that's a great conversation piece there. I can hear it now, you cant believe how many I let walk before I found this guy with character    congrats!

[boneaddict]

Nicely done!

[Woodchuck]

Very cool, congrats. 

[MLBowhunting]

Very nice bull.

[Yelper Guy]

Good job! You'll never forget that hunt.

[Jonathan_S]

Thanks everyone, yeah he has some weird character.  It's tough to tell from the picture how knobby and gnarly his bases are for such a small elk.  Not your normal 1.5 yr old elk appearance-wise.

[KFhunter]

Thanks everyone, yeah he has some weird character.  It's tough to tell from the picture how knobby and gnarly his bases are for such a small elk.  Not your normal 1.5 yr old elk appearance-wise.

  

[jasnt]

I would be very happy to get a bull like that in the NE. Some day I'll get these elk figured out or I'll get lucky lol

[CAMPMEAT]

Nice and even in velvet...

[Jonathan_S]

I would be very happy to get a bull like that in the NE. Some day I'll get these elk figured out or I'll get lucky lol

Well I'd say I'm far from figuring them out.