Shoot or No Shot 2019 - Episode #3

[WapitiTalk1]

Date/Time: Early October, 2019/4:40 PM
Location: Somewhere in the elk woods
Hunt Pressure Status: Minimal
Hunt: Solo hunt today
Tag: Smoke Pole (ML) Season; 3 point or better bull.

A fine bit of working the wind and a quiet approach has gotten you to this point, approximately 70 yards from where you see the bull now (H for hunter)! You first heard the bull bugle when you were several hundred yards back down the hillside below this meadow (meadow is a small one, perhaps 70X80 yards). Once you got within 75 yards of the meadow, you could hear cows mewing on the other side of the meadow, well into the timber; the bull had seemed to have gone silent at this point. At the edge of the meadow where you sit now, you pause for just a second to plan your move and from the right, on the other side of the meadow, you hear rustling and see this bull coming out of the brush, trotting from right to left, quickly covering 15-20 yards in the opening. Up comes the smoke pole to your shoulder just as the bull turns and does what he's doing now. From where you now stand with rifle to shoulder, it is all public land for several miles in all directions. Yes, you're packing your trusty Elknut Chuckler tube and your calls. What do you think your move should be at this place in time to possibly bring an elk home for dinner?

H - hunter location; C - cows (no visual, just heard them); W - wind direction.



If you're shooting, save the picture to your desktop and open in MS Paint, then place a spot, X, or whatever on the critter before you save it back to a jpg or png and add the marked up pic with your post.

[CoryTDF]

Wait for a shot on the other side of the fence.

[Shawn Ryan]

Ditto.

[Crunchy]

Boom

[flyfishWA]

If I thought I wouldn't get a shot on the other side of the fence, then boom

[Dan-o]

I followed Crunchy from camp (head lights off) into his honey hole and actually shot it right out from underneath him.

He was pissed at first, but I'm a nice enough guy that he ended up gutting it and packing most of it out for me.

At least that's my input.

[duckmen1]

My thought on the shot is you start pulling the trigger trying to hit that spot. But during your reaction time of actually pulling the trigger and the shot travel time as well as the  bull moving during that jump is most all will make a bad shot. You have open sites and 70 yards out with a bull jumping the fence. No way i would be shooting till he is on all 4s.

[Stein]

So the question is whether a person would take a shot at a moving elk jumping over a fence with a bow? 

Yeah, I'll wait a second and see how he lands.

[Crunchy]

Says muzzleloader in the narrative

[chester]

I’d take the same shot as crunchy and spend the next day fixing the fence after the bull landed on it 

[Stein]

My bad.  I'll still wait, the pic looks tempting but it doesn't take an elk a 1/4 second to get over the fence - provided they clear the top strand.

[j_h_nimrod]

Wind and all is in my favor, I’d probably have a diaphragm call in an be able to do a mew stopping him when he lands, turning him broadside or quartering to. If he keeps going I might do a rush to close distance, but with cows close maybe a quick stalk. At 75 yards I am pretty much right on and if he gives me a 0.1 second I’d take a shot on that good bull at that distance.
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In reality I would probably be looking the wrong direction, hear him land, try to turn and blow my reed and stop him, get bull fever and flub a shot, then sit there crying.  Then I would come to reality and chase the bull down and stab it ala pig hunting

[Crunchy]

Oh if we are talking reality spent 30 minutes and stalked up to 75 yards and finally got to a point a clear shot.  I kneel down to rest my muzzleloader on a stump.  Just then the wind shifts, and off and running the bulls goes.

[Stein]

Wind and all is in my favor, I’d probably have a diaphragm call in an be able to do a mew stopping him when he lands, turning him broadside or quartering to. If he keeps going I might do a rush to close distance, but with cows close maybe a quick stalk. At 75 yards I am pretty much right on and if he gives me a 0.1 second I’d take a shot on that good bull at that distance.
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In reality I would probably be looking the wrong direction, hear him land, try to turn and blow my reed and stop him, get bull fever and flub a shot, then sit there crying.  Then I would come to reality and chase the bull down and stab it ala pig hunting

Sounds like me except instead of flubbing the shot I would get a "click" and then spend the next hour figuring out why I thought muzzie season was a good idea.

[CoryTDF]

Already said I would wait but if I did have to shoot this is where I would hold. Bull is moving and it is a ML so going to have to lead the shot a bit.