Amazing Elk Hunt Story.......

[backwoods_boy]

Don’t Try This At Elk Camp!
Posted by Mike Cox and filed in Elk, From the Outfitter, Hunting

Don’t try this at Elk Camp!

By Justin Aamodt – Outfitter and Guide

Burns, Oregon

As the bull swung his head around to charge, his nostrils flared and his eyes, “his eyes were coal black and looking right through me”..
At nine A.M. I turned my radio on to check in with the other guides. It was a rare opportunity that several of us guides got to hunt together, let alone on one of the private ranches. I asked if anybody was having any luck, Dave answered back, “I stuck a bull, and I hit him good, he shouldn’t go far”. We all have Garmin Rhino radios so I headed for his location. When I got to Dave I could tell he was pretty excited and confident this would be a short tracking job. He showed us where he was and where the bull was when he shot, about thirty yards, a simple “chip shot” for Dave. Dave said, “the arrow went in right behind the front shoulder pretty low, he thought it might be a heart shot”. Sure enough where the bull was standing there was blood and about eight inches of the fletching end of the arrow covered in blood. No need for the hound dog on this one. Ya right! The blood was pretty good for about eighty yards then one small puddle and it was very sparse, every twenty yards or so we would find a speck, then at about a hundred and fifty yards the blood stopped completely.
The area we were hunting has a huge amount of ground foliage and pine needles so it’s extremely difficult to follow just tracks. We spent the next several hours trying to find the direction this bull went. We radioed Nikki and had her bring Dixie (the old hound dog). When using a dog for blood trailing in Oregon, it’s illegal to carry a weapon. Dixie and I went back to the beginning of the blood trail and started, she was on the scent. Problem was when she got to the end of the blood trail where we had all been walking around she got confused and lost the trail so we decided to make a big circle and see what she could find. After she treed three squirrels I was getting a little tired of being drug around the forest, so we headed back to the pickup. We were walking past this pine reprod patch when she made a sudden lunge to go into it. Like I said three squirrels were enough for me, I pulled on her leash and we left.
We all decided to go back to camp and have some lunch. After lunch I changed into a blue t-shirt and my tennis shoes. Dave was still confident he made a good shot. The only thing that concerned me was the bull came running in with about ten cows because something had spooked them. When Dave drew his bow the bull was about twenty yards away. Then the bull jumped and spun giving Dave the thirty yard broad side shot. This meant the bull was alert and nervous when Dave shot.
Only Dave and I went back after lunch, we decided to use the GPS’s and just grid the area. Dave and I figured if we found the bull he would be dead so Dave left his bow in the truck. Now it was about nine and a half hours after the shot and we were walking down in the bottom of a draw and I asked God to please give us a sign. Just let us know if the bulls OK, dead, the direction he went, anything. Fifteen minutes later, well that’s when things got interesting.
Dave and I started into the small reprod patch, I didn’t realize it at the time but it was the same one Dixie tried to get me to go into earlier. As we entered the reprod we heard something running to our left, we both jumped back and ran around to see what it was. Just a mule deer doe, I went back to where I was when I heard the noise and entered the reprod patch. I stepped over a log about two feet high with my left foot. Then I stepped over it with my right foot and looked to my left and laying there facing me with his head up, eyes wide open with nothing between us, was the six point bull. Now you might wonder what goes through a man’s mind when he finds himself in this situation. The first thing that happened was a cold, scared chill went all the way down my spine. Then I thought, well you dummy you asked God for a sign. Pretty big sign huh?
I could hear Dave getting farther away from me, I didn’t know what the bull would do if I hollered so I gently said, Dave, no reply and the bull didn’t move, louder I said it again, Dave. This time he heard me, I said “go get your bow”, and Dave replied “what?” Louder I said “mark the spot and go get your bow”. It was at that instant that Dave realized I had found the bull, I swear Dave was punching the buttons on his GPS so fast and hard I could hear him from forty yards away (now that I think about it; the noise was probably my heart POUNDING!). Then after he had finished marking our location, he took off running for the truck and his bow.
The bull still only three feet away with nothing between us but air, started to grind his teeth, yes grind his teeth and I mean loud. I was once told elk grind their teeth when they are irritated. It didn’t make me feel any better knowing that the bull was irritated. I figured I had better move and get some trees between the bull and I and from where I was standing; (right in front of him) I couldn’t see any injuries on the bull. I decided to take about three steps to my right; this would put three small pines between us and give me a look at the bulls left side. The bull was shot on his right side but I couldn’t go that way as it was too thick with reprod. As I started to move the bull decided he would stand up, so I moved quicker. The bull got up very slowly, first his hind legs then the fronts. I could tell he was pretty stove up; he was stiff and he moving very slowly. This did give me time to look at the bulls left side to see if there were any wounds, nothing, not a scratch; there wasn’t even any blood where he had been laying. When the bull got all the way up he turned and faced me.
Now I’m 6’3” and this old bull and I were standing eye to eye, still only three feet apart. He was still irritated and grinding his teeth, but at least now there were those three small pines between us. I could have reached out and slapped his face we were so close. The bull had a different idea though and started marking his territory by squirting urine right at me. Now I’ve seen bulls do this when they bugle during the rut and they are trying to attract cows but I don’t think this bull was trying to attract anything.
People have asked me “why didn’t you just get out of there and leave the bull alone. My answer has always been, “first of all, I wasn’t scared one bit, well after the first couple of seconds anyway. I figured, if the bull was going to charge he would have done it by now and secondly I felt if I did move the bull would leave. Now where he was standing and as stove up as he was, he couldn’t turn around and leave but he could walk forward and leave. Now by this time I had pretty much come to the conclusion this bull had been shot in the stomach because of how stove up he was. I knew if the bull did take off we would never find him because he wouldn’t leave a blood trail”. This gave me a really bad idea!
If this bull takes off, I decided I should try to give us a blood trail. Well I didn’t have a bow; I didn’t have a pistol, (even though it’s legal to carry one in Oregon now during archery season) all I had, was a folding, belt clip, Benchmade knife with a 3 inch blade. Not a lot to work with here. I looked down at my tennis shoes and there was a dried up stick about six feet long right next to my foot. Can you see where this is going? With the bull still standing three feet away grinding his teeth (by now he was starting to foam at the mouth a little from all the grinding going on), I decided to squat down to the stick. I slowly moved down and began to unlace my tennis shoe; I pulled the lace, grabbed the stick and slowly stood back up. I took the lace and made a slip knot in one end and put it around the knife and the stick. Then I pulled it tight, I put the slip knot under the belt clip and began to put several wraps around the knife and stick, then I finished it up with several half knots to hold it tight. Now seriously, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to kill this bull but if he did try to leave hopefully I could give us a good blood trail. So I stood there with this primitive weapon at the ready just in case he tried to leave.
The bull finally quit squirting at me and grinding his teeth when he heard something back behind him. Then he turned his head to the left and when he did I leaned over and looked at his right side to see just where he had been hit, no blood, no hole, no wound! OK I have to admit, this made me a little nervous. The bull slowly turned back and looked me in the eyes. About then I could hear Dave running back, I hollered, “Dave”. I now know the word “Dave” also irritates elk as he started grinding his teeth again. I asked, “Can you see him”. No he replied so I stuck my six foot stick up in the air and waived it around. Can you see this? I said, go to your left. Finally Dave got into position and said, “I can see him”. So I told Dave “you have to let me know before you shoot because I’ve got to get out of here. Dave simply answered OK and at that point the bull decided he was going to try to turn around and leave. This is where I should have just said, “There he goes” but I didn’t.
I figured if the bull turned to go and I stuck him with my knife he would just leave faster, I was WRONG!!! As the bull backed his right side into the thick trees he turned his head to the left and I stabbed the stick for the bulls mid section. Thank God I’m a better shot with a bow than I am with a spear because the knife came to a sudden stop when it hit the bulls shoulder. This apparently does more than just irritate elk! The bull swung his head around to charge, his nostrils flared and his eyes; his eyes were coal black and looking right through me. He lowered his head and lunged at me, I was trying to back peddle but with no shoe lace I wasn’t covering much ground. The bull hit the three small pines and pushed them back into me. At this point I was between the bull’s antlers and as I looked down his eye guards were within inches of my stomach. The bull backed up, still looking right at me. Dave said what are you doing? I just hollered, “SHOOT THAT SOB”!!! I continued backing up to about ten feet when Dave said “I’m gonna shoot”. I said, “I’m ready” and the arrow slammed the bull right behind the shoulder. I instantly saw blood where the arrow had hit the bull.
This is not the end of the story. The arrow did penetrate the bulls hide but when it hit a rib the arrow bounced off the bull like it had hit a brick wall, making a funny vibrating noise all the way to the ground. The bull just flinched slightly and looked down at the arrow then snapped his head back at me and I thought, “Here we go again”! The bull just looked back in Dave’s direction and I asked Dave “was that a blunt? Dave Said (as calm as could be) “nope, that was my judo”. In all the excitement Dave had mistakenly grabbed his grouse arrow (a Judo tip). I said, “You’re going to have to shoot him again”, probably with a little haste in my voice. Dave anchored down and put another arrow right through the lungs, the bull whirled around, leaned up against the three small trees that may have saved my life and within seconds the bull had expired.
Now you have got to be wondering, where was the bull hit? As Dave released the arrow, true to its mark, the nervous and alert bull, whirled to its left, the arrow entered the bull from the rear, on the inside of his right rear leg about ten inches above his knee. The arrow missed the main artery and exited out of the front of the leg and then penetrated into the stomach, stopping just before the diaphragm.
This wasn’t the first time I had stuck a live elk with my knife, and if I’m ever put in that type of a situation again, I’m sure I’ll do it again. I know I walked away a lucky man that day, I wasn’t dead and WOW what an experience……

[GoldTip]

Interesting story.

[Wile E. Hunter]

Jeepers.... That quiver's looking mighty bare....

[MichaelJ]

*censored*...

[backwoods_boy]

 

[bowhunterforever]

  Thats a crazy story. Sounds kinda fake though

[hunterofelk]

Lucky Dave didn't shoot his partner.  The author has stuck live elk before this story?  That is some aggressive elk hunting.  Myself, I think I would have walked away until Dave came back with his bow.  Reminds me of a story I think a guy named Bill Butler told about cutting a bulls throat because he ran out of ammo.  The story was don't-do-this-at-elk-camp, also.

[spikehunter]

So, i must have missed it but what is the arrow pointing to in the pic ? by the way i call it interesting/b.s also

[backwoods_boy]

http://northwestoutdoorsports.com/2010/01/dont-try-this-at-elk-camp/

[norsepeak]

I'd buy this story, had a very similar experiece with a clients wounded bull two years ago...very exciting

[MichaelJ]

I have a hard time with the guy kneeling down to unlace his boot, and make a spear with a bull less than 3' away from him...  Especially by that picture of him with the bull, yeah its thick but its not THAT thick to not allow the guy an escape route... Just my 

Michael

[vanhornhunter]

I've met that guy.He guides for Battle Creek.

[littlemac]

So, i must have missed it but what is the arrow pointing to in the pic ? by the way i call it interesting/b.s also

footnote from the linked story below the pic with the white arrow:

photo by author: White arrow shows the tree the author stood behind, note the rub mark. Pictured with his bull is Dave, who made the original shot and  who got excited and shot it with a judo point. AKA “Judo Jarski”

[littlemac]

I believe him, ever been two feet away from a black bear?  Crazy things happen out in the woods.

Figured I'd get a pic of him before he ate me.

[Ranger91298]

3' is that all, shoot I was 4" from a big ol' cow elk in a dead run... Great story regardless of the legitimacy...