My lost elk opportunity that's been bugging me. Pro input requested.

[huntingbaldguy]

I'm going to explain a scenario i had in early archery elk, and i hope it will help me shed some light on what i should have done in the moment.  I have a couple ideas after having quite a bit of time to think it over and beat myself up about it, so i'll set the stage and hope someone can give me something i haven't thought of yet.

So our last day hunting early archery elk, we happened upon a good herd.  There were 3 bulls and at least 6 cows, and 2-3 calves.  The location of the herd surprised us.  I didn't have a plan in place for it and my improvisation was poor at best.  The below graphic shows the setup. 

As you can see by the wind, if we move much farther north on our approach, we get winded and they are gone.  We are exposed, as are the elk at this point.  They didn't know we were there.  My first thought was i needed to get down to the right and try to get down wind of them.  The area that shows elevation loss is completely open though, as it was a clear cut from w/in the last year.  The area west of the road is thick timber.  I felt like if i tried that i would spook them, so my second thought was to get down on the road east of our location and try to come at them from the north.  This plan seemed like the best at the time, but i was worried that in the 10 to 15 or so minutes it would have taken, someone else would come spook them.  My third idea was to be patient and wait for them to enter the timber to the northwest of them, as it seemed logical they would be heading there, but the road goes both ways and i've seen people approach us from the north on it.  At that point someone could have been in position to take one of them, or spook them.  If they were in the timber, i could approach from behind them and maybe pull a satellite or if lucky, the herd bull.

So as i was thinking about all of this, my wife is asking what we are going to do.  I was kind of frozen.  We were 150 yards out from them and i knew we couldn't get closer on the road.  She presented an idea to fall back a bit south and into the timber on the left, and start calling.  I knew we weren't close enough for this, but i agreed to it.  I took position behind a stump, 150 yards out.  I probably should have said, first, you need to cow call.  I assumed she knew it, we watched a lot of elk calling tutorials together and this was prevalent in many if not all of them.  As a result of me not mentioning it, her first call from 200 yards was a challenge.  While it was a good sounding challenge, the herd bull was not going to fight anyone today.  He ran up to his front satellite bull, barked something, and up into the timber he led the cows, with his rear satellite herding them up the hill.  The herd bull crept into the timber and hung about 30 yards inside, staring our way until his herd had a head start, then took off after them.  At that point we all know the story, no way you're going to catch a herd that will go 300 ft of elevation in minutes while you're huffing and puffing trying to keep up.  We found where they exited the timber and went toward a lot of reprod.  We tried to call them throughout the rest of the day but they wouldn't talk back.  We even tracked them all the way til the end of the day into the nastiest stuff you could never get a shot off in. 

I guess in the end i'm just looking to learn from this, and maybe it will help someone else learn as well.  Any input is appreciated.

[RadSav]

Well first of all I would remind you that you can't get the bull every time.  Some situations, behaviors and conditions just put the odds too much in the elks favor.  So you may very well have done the best you could given the obstacles at hand.  Sometimes you just have to accept that you will never know if something else would have worked.



At 150 yards you are close!  Even at 200 yards you are close.  I try never to start a challenge bugle at this distance.  Sure if you have already let it be known you are in the area.  But an aggressive first contact at such close distance has seldom produced for me.  I like a soft introduction.  Usually starting with very soft mews, then louder mews and maybe even a hyper estrus.  Then a bugle if you do not get the response you are looking for.  You were lucky you could see and read the behavior as you progress.  Take advantage of that and build interest before picking a fight.  Sounds like you had a good idea to do so, just weren't on the same page as your wife.  It happens!

This year in Utah I carried a Primos Hyper Lip that has the barrel completely sealed off except for three holes maybe 1/16".  It is an extremely quiet call.  One morning I heard a bull splashing in a wallow at least 500 yards away.  I hit that quiet call five times to see what kind of response I would get.  My visibility down the skid road I was walking was just under 300 yards.  Before I had a chance to get another call off the lanyard the 5X5 bull was full speed running right down the middle of the skid.  Still dripping wet from being in the wallow.  As he ran by me he passed about 12 inches from the end of my arrow.  He then stopped 20 yards past me and looked around.  He then came back passing within 3 feet of my arrow and went 40 yards before stopping to look around.  Finally getting a sniff of human and trotting away.

Not only did that bull hear my soft calls from over 500 yards away, he had my location hammered to within 20 yards.  Had I been hunting in Washington he would have been a dead elk!  But just imagine what would have happened if I challenged him immediately?  He wasn't the big boy on the mountain.  Not even in the top six bulls on that hillside.  If I had gotten aggressive right from the start I'm not sure I would have ever seen him let alone have my best experience of the hunt.  12" from the end of your arrow is really freakin cool!!

The wind there was horrible.  95% of the time the wind was at my back.  I felt I could have walked in a circle every day and not once got the wind in my face.  So I played the odds and got lucky a few times.  Unfortunately those times were when bulls less than I wanted were there.  But it proved that sometimes you can make something out of almost nothing by sounding and thinking like an elk.

I'm not going to tell you this would have for certainly worked in your situation.  You may very well have had success if the temperament of the bull was favorable.  But with three bulls in that herd I myself would have proceeded with a little more caution.  To me three bulls is a sign that there was no dominant bull there.  Definitely not an aggressive dominant bull.  When I see that I almost always try "sexy and willing" before I try "raging anger".  But I fail more than I succeed...so

I try never to see failure in the elk woods as failure.  It is always a chance to figure out what doesn't work in that situation and season.  Maybe two weeks later it would have worked like a charm.  But you learned that in that same place, same time, same situation next year you might try a different approach.  That is a successful learning experience in my mind!  Disappointing, but nothing too upsetting when you see failures first hand. 

Takes one heck of a lot of those failures to get as smart as me...DOH!! 

[huntingbaldguy]

I'm almost positive the guy i'm referencing as the herd bull was a 6x6.  The smaller satellite up front was a 5x and the guy taking up the rear was a 4x.  From what i saw even up to the point they spooked and he took charge, he was the dominant.  I watched the little guy at the rear sniff a cows back side and the big boy barked at him.  We were there for a good 10 minutes watching them while slowly creeping forward.  We started about 300 yards out and got to 150, so we got that far.  I do look at it as a learning experience.  It was quite the sight to see.  Unfortunately my wife didn't get to see much of it so she wasn't able to react accordingly as she was calling.  That's another thing we need to work on as well.  I feel like if we had a do over i'd have tagged a bull that day.  Ain't no teacher like experience, not even Cory Jacobsen. lol

[elkrack]

Here's some pro advice( ) dont beat your self up over a great experience. The only thing to change is making sure your on the same page. Getting to watch the elks reactions was success!

[fillthefreezer]

i am far from a pro, but i like the topic and where youre going with it. i will post what i would have done and open myself to critique as well.

i would have begun cow calling immediately, hoping to get a bugle or chuckle out of the herd bull. although this is less important as you can see, and know where they are, as opposed to the usual of just being able to hear him. i would fall back and into the W timber, and begin working north. cow calling every 50ft or so. utmost discipline on the wind and hope to get the shooter to under 50yds. find a lane. now set him up. i have found out the hard way that outside of that, any bulls sounds will make him round them up and leave the county.

[EyeTooth]

Hi Huntingbaldguy,
I'm no pro either. Sorry. I have been in similar situations though, and the first, and most important thing that I was able to notice about your experience was the pressure you felt to hurry because of someone possibly coming from the other direction on the road. Outside pressure is a bummer. The combination of the excitement of seeing elk, (bulls too), and having to hurry because of other people doesn't usually lead to the desired outcome. If a guy could just get an elk or a herd that he knows he has to himself, he can make a better plan. Elk hunting with a bow is full of close calls, and shoulda, woulda, coulda's that keep us wondering what we can do differently the next time.  You and your wife were in a tight spot there, and did the best you could. What else is cool is that you are picking it apart to plan for a better next hunt! Good luck! I hope the situation you're presented with next time allows you more time.

[jstone]

This is part of learning how to hunt. I had that happen to me before BUT the elk were about 50 yards through the trees. I thought if I called the bull would get mad and come try to kick my butt. He just grabbed his cows and ran. So if they are calm and you can get down wind of them, any way you can I just sneak in. I don't call unless its a cow call. Hot cow. I have had more success being sneaky with the wind in my favor and sneaking in. I shot a true spike during archery  this year out of a herd of 50 or so elk. Things can and will go wrong just think about the situation and what was around you and what you could do better next time. Archery hunting alone has made me a much better hunter. Good Luck.... Just remember you never stop learning.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Got to within 150yrds of elk undetected is success! Good work!   

[lamrith]

Sounds like you did best you could with terrain, environment and knowledge you had onsite.  I would love to get that close to them during hunting season!

Backing up to get better wind/concealement and calling could have probably made the difference.  150yrds is close and calling works with elk much farther away than that.  Maybe check out "Elknut" on youtube and the forums.  Those guys really take apart elk vocalizations and explain how they talk to each other.  I am thinking maybe some cow/calf calling in the right sequence with the caller behind the shooter might have lured that group in closer for you and right past the shooter.

[kentrek]

Depending on the cover, I'd consider getting to that draw just before the elk and hope that the cooler air there will cause the currents to go more east..then play the wind from there. Like stated above being able to watch them is a huge advantage in reading there mood, so starting off slow would be ideal..if they didn't respond I'd figure an option to get ahead of them..or go find different elk

I'm sure there's much more to the situation but that's what this amateur would try which is all a guy can do