I got a my first bull elk yesterday. He's not a bad one, especially for the 'Wetside.' He's a 5X4, although you can't see the fifth point on the left antler in the picture.
I was hunting with a new hunting partner in his 'secret spot,' and he sent me down a ridge where he'd seen elk the day before. I was sneaking through the woods when suddenly I see this guy standing behind two pine trees, offering me a textbook broadside shot at sixty yards. I pulled up and saw brow tines and fired. I didn't feel good about the shot at all, thinking that it went too far back - a gut shot. The bull took off and ran.
I followed, expecting a blood trail, and I followed where I thought he went. As I came up over a small gulley only seventy yards from where I first saw him, he was standing there facing away from me. He turned his head back to look at me, and I planted one right in his neck, dropping him on the spot.
The first shot was actually a good shot, getting him right in the liver.
