For the past two days I have been taking my wife out elk hunting. I have a muzzle loader cow tag so the focus was all on her archery tag. The first evening we stalked within 15 yards of a cow but unfortunately we could only see its head through the brush and it spooked before she could get a shot. After hunting the same place for the past ten years I knew exactly where they were headed. We ran a half mile and set up along the road that I knew they would come down. I quickly got impatient and we stood up to create a plan and all of a sudden they were walking right towards us. The lead cow walked within seven yards but never turned her head long enough for my wife to draw and they eventually spooked again.
The next morning we spotted the elk from the main road out in a clear cut but to get to it is about three quarters of a mile from where we park and the elk were quickly working towards the thick trees. We decided to make a run for it. After the exhausting sprint we were able to get within 30 yards but there were two many small jack firs in the way and the elk continued to quickly move out of the clear cut. 15 minutes later we had a spike walk up to us within 15 yards but unfortunately the only thing you cannot shoot in this unit is spikes and two points. We hiked a few miles back to where we saw the elk the night before and within 10 minutes could hear them in the very thick reprod. They were only about 20 yards off the road but we couldn't even see 5 yards. We could hear them talking and moving towards a spot where they commonly cross the road at so we made our way there and set up. Once again luck was not on our side. My wifes maximum range is 30 yards and the first thing that stepped out was a cow at about 45 yards. It finally saw us ad spooked back into the trees and out came the herd bull (6x6 or better) at 50 yards
(Why didn't I buy and archery tag). Twice more cows tried to cross the road but they either didn't stop long enough for a shot or they were to far.
Last night we spotted some elk from the main road in the exact same spot as the morning. We made the exact same sprint and then stalked within 30 yards of the elk that we could see. Three spikes (not legal) fed within a range of 30 -10 yards for the next 45 minutes and our legs were falling asleep
Finally I saw a few cows making there way down the hill towards the field and the spikes quickly followed. We quickly moved through the trees and sat just inside them next to the fence where they commonly feed. Of course over the next 30 minutes the only things within range were spikes and calves. Every time a cow started coming towards us a spike would try and chase her and she would head back away.
Light was fading fast and literally at the last minute of legal light a cow fed through my wifes shooting lane at 20 yards. She made a great shot but only got about 8-10 inches of arrow penetration which had me worried. After leaving it for two hours and asking people here for advise we went searching and within 250 yards we were able to find my wife's first elk and first archery kill. I was both jealous and very proud lol
This was a great way to start our second month of marriage.
