2023 What Should you Do? Episode #3

[WapitiTalk1]

Location: Somewhere in the elk woods.
Hunt: Solo archery hunt. Tag: Any bull.
Date/Time: 10 September; 0900.

Situation: Well, that wasn’t the smartest thing to do, here he comes! Backing up to 30 minutes ago, you head in on an old blown up, gated road that you’ve hunted before. It’s not a real big area but it does hold elk on occasion. You’ve stopped a few times to throw out a few cow calls and one locator bugle earlier to see if anybody is home but no responses. No fresh sign on the way in, haven’t heard anything, and its starting to appear that there aren’t any elk in here today. Maybe its time to back out of here and hit another spot you know of. As you approach the end of the old road, at the farthest reaches of the are… you decide to turn back but first, a few cow calls. You step off the downhill side of the old road, have good cover to your backside, listen for a few minutes, bow in your hand (no arrow nocked) and you give two cow calls with your diaphragm. At first you hear something moving through the reprod above you and….. here he comes! Wind is as shown, hunter is 30 yards in the direction of the yellow arrow.
What should or do you do at this point?

I know it's tough to answer without being there and knowing all the variables; this is just a medium to offer suggestions and share some ideas. Back on topic.... Here he comes!

[HntnFsh]

With that bull I would start shaking, then either freeze and not shoot, or blow my shot horribly!

[brew]

No arrow knocked may be an issue but with that amount of cover could be done before he sees you.  If there is enough reprod between you two knock and draw.  He's coming fast

[Bullkllr]

After soiling myself, I really don't know. 

I've found myself in a handful of similar situations (not quite that size of bull, mind you) and have yet to get an arrow off.  If you move, he'll whirl and run; if you call he'll pin you exactly. Had much better success with a partner in those scenarios. Maybe just freeze and wait and see if he moves w/o winding me and see if something develops from there, but low% expectation there.

[Fidelk]

Great photo.....the bull looks serious......I'm running.

[Stein]

With that bull I would start shaking, then either freeze and not shoot, or blow my shot horribly!

   Hopefully I didn't forget to turn the GoPro on.

I would likely draw and hope either for a perfect frontal or if he's not headed straight at me hope he passes for a broadside.  A bark would stop him in either scenario.  But, neither seem very likely.

Most likely, I'm thinking he's going to short stop, quartering towards with no shot judging from the picture and arrows.  He knows where the call came from and isn't likely to come all the way without seeing his lady.  If that happens, my bag of tricks is pretty much empty...

[Shawn Ryan]

All the above. Hopefully, Brew's idea works.

Another option would be to do nothing, hoping that when he leaves, he hasn't winded me, and I'll get another, better, opportunity.

[blackveltbowhunter]

Since i hear him coming, i am already getting nocked. With the wind and current angle of the bull,  im going to make a bold play and draw now, hoping to startle the bull prior to him hitting my wind at 10 yards and blowing out. If im lucky he will stop midstride in a good angle for a frontal at ez yardage, if not odds are good he will stop and get antsy offering a good angle. If he swaps ends i will bark or cow call hoping for a quartered away angle. All seem like better odds than continuing his current path of travel, if he keeps trucking i might get lucky at point blank range, but i feel my odds are low if he keeps heading current direction with no pause.

[jasnt]

Since i hear him coming, i am already getting nocked. With the wind and current angle of the bull,  im going to make a bold play and draw now, hoping to startle the bull prior to him hitting my wind at 10 yards and blowing out. If im lucky he will stop midstride in a good angle for a frontal at ez yardage, if not odds are good he will stop and get antsy offering a good angle. If he swaps ends i will bark or cow call hoping for a quartered away angle. All seem like better odds than continuing his current path of travel, if he keeps trucking i might get lucky at point blank range, but i feel my odds are low if he keeps heading current direction with no pause.

    If I can even hold it together enough to get a arrow knocked. 

[coachcw]

you cant kill him without an arrow , gently knock and draw . if he freezes cow call like crazy and drill that frontal shot . Been there done that.

[Pathfinder101]

It's a Washington State bull.  He's safe.  I haven't been able to draw the tag to kill him for 21 years.  This year is no different...  Most likely scenario:  Let him go by and hope a spike is following him...