2021 EAST ELK RAFFLE!!! Video added 9/28

[Ridgerunner]

Awesome bull, cant wait for more pics and the story.

[Rainier10]

Thursday was supposed to be my first real hard day of hunting but I still had some work to get done so I could leave for a couple weeks. I finished that up and headed east at 1pm. Arrived at cabin and went to check game cameras on my property. There was a huge 6x6 with 30 cows. I just drove on by. Went back to the cabin and my buddies were going nuts. “ You should shoot that bull he is huge.” They talked me into making a play. We got geared up but by the time we got to him he had moved his cows to a spot that was just not good for calling or stalking. I said I can hunt this bull anytime I want. Let’s go to the DNR and see what’s up there.

We get to a good glassing spot and immediately see elk and a couple of good ones. It’s 6pm and they are over an hour away so we had a plan for the morning.

Friday morning we get up at four, gear up and start hiking in. It’s eerily quite on the hike to where we last saw them the night before but just as we get there we hear a bugle. And then another and another and another. Pretty soon we figure there are eight different bulls sounding off. As we start to setup for one another one bugles down wind from us.  We move so that if that bull comes in we don’t get winded. We set up again and a different bulls sounds off with the wind wrong again but the others are sounding off also.  I am about as laser focused as a goldfish and keep switching what bull to go after.

After an hour of indecision we finally decide to just go for it and let the chips fall where they may. A nice six by comes in covered in mud and jet black antlers, great bull but he won’t come close enough for a shot and can’t see the decoy to bring in him. He walks away.

Right at 8am everything shuts off and I mean everything. There were birds going nuts when we got there. I assumed on somebody’s gut pile and carcass. We never actually checked it out. We did a huge loop calling trying to a response and nothing. I was ready to head back to the cabin and all of a sudden the birds were back on the carcass. At that point we realized something had the scared the birds off and that probably pushed the elk out as well. They didn’t go silent they moved on.

We started hiking and calling. Found some elky areas with a little bit of rubs.

[Rainier10]

Rubs

[Rainier10]

We keep moving get a response. We get closer and there are five bulls going nuts in a heavily timbered basin. We set up and start calling. I see one satellite bull walking around a really nice bull raking a tree. I set my bow down to take a look with my binocs. He is a great bull I need to move to him while his is preoccupied with ripping this tree out of the ground. Drop the binocs and there is a small 6x6 broadside at fifty yards. I slowly pick up my bow. My buddy is still calling. They bull walks to forty yards and I draw just to get the feel of the pins on a bull again. God it feels great but no way am I ending this now.

I let the bow down. The elk is relieved that we are friends and walks in to 12 yards. Walks right past me and says hi to my buddy and then walks off.

The other bulls are slowly moving out of the basin. Which one do we follow. We decide to follow two bulls that went to the right.

It’s now noon and we set up again. I move forward and downhill. A bull is just growling at our bugles and I assume he is in his bed. I finally see a very nice 6 in his bed and assume that’s the bull until the bull answers and the six I was watching didn’t budge. I scan the woods but can’t find the bull that is answering. The cow calls from my buddy are getting pretty crazy so I assume he is trying to get my attention. I’ve dropped down too far to see him so I hike back out.

I get to him and he has calf at 20 yards going nuts and 170 yards on the other side a 370 plus bull screaming at him. It was elk I was hearing up there not him.

The bull starts destroying a tree so I move right at him. I close the gap but can’t get closer than 70 yards and all goes quiet. I step out and see him standing broadside at 70. Too far of a shot. He starts to walk and I cow call. My buddy moved the decoy behind me and the bull turns around. He wants to come but just won’t. He turns to go, I cow call at 80 yards and he turns and come back to 70 bugles and give the tree one more lashing then he walks away bugling the entire time.

That bugling gets the one that was bedded pissed off and it sounds like he is up and moving. I hike back to my buddy. The bedded bull is behind him. First he asks why I didn’t just shoot that bull. He thought I was closer than 70. I said never mind that let’s make a move on this guy he sounds huge.

We start to make our move and a cow steps out. As we are talking about how to change our approach she beds down and out steps mister big. My buddy cos calls and he looks right at us. Then another cow walks by and he turns his attention to her. We watch him for a bit and I’m kicking myself for not having the gun. Then I bring myself back to reality. This is what you wanted, a great bull in the rut with your bow, suck it up buttercup make this happen.

[Rainier10]

I make my move, they are feeding away from us and we start calling. A freaking spike comes in from the other side of them and the big bull is not going to have that. He his chasing the spike all over. He is 100 yards from his cows. I have to move. Big loop around the cows and I come in right at his cows. They have me pinned. I was trying to get below them and above the bull but they had moved down as I was making my move.

We’ll time to make lemons out of lemon aid. My buddy bugles and starts thrashing the trees. The bull comes screaming back but stays on the other side of the cows. They start moving towards the bull. As he is herding them up and bugling back at my buddy I make another move, I have to get above and in front of them. I hustle 40 yards as they slowly walk. I see a cow coming through the trees at 90 then the bull. I need to get closer. I move fast as they walk slow. I get to 80 and the bull steps out, too far. He walks out of sight and I move again. The entire time Micah is following behind and bugling trying to keep the bulls attention. It helps because I really put the coals to it as Micah is bugling and as the bull is returning bugles. This chase and game of cat and mouse goes on for three hours. I get to 79,60&50 yards but something is wrong with every shot. Too far, wrong angle, too much brush, too out of breath to take the shot or just not enough to time to get the shot off.

What a fricking rollercoaster. The highs of closing the distance, the low of know shot followed by the high of catching up again each time getting closer knowing it’s gonna happen.

Finally after three hours we get into the thickest timber yet. He is screaming, I can literally feel the vibration in my chest. I have to be within 20 yards and I just can’t see anything it is so thick. I am exhausted and he walks away.

Micah catches up to me and we discuss what to do next. He is below us in a huge drainage. It’s now just after four o’clock. We have been going hard all day. No break, no midday nap. I’m exhausted. We figure we are at least two hours from the truck if not more.

A bull bugles above us and walks by with three cows. Another bull bugles behind us away from the truck and two bugle in between us and the truck. No brainer, head towards the bugles and the truck. I tell Micah, it’s been a great day let’s check these bull out on the way out, get some dinner a good nights rest and get after it Saturday. My wife and other buddy Kenny had been texting us all day about elk around the cabin. “Get over the hunt and come kill one of these”. Maybe I will just shoot one of those, I am pretty tired. I did have a great day of action. Let’s get out of here and see what bulls are at the cabin.

[Ridgerunner]

Man what a day!!!

[Rainier10]

As we get Dione closer to the truck and the bugles we have a choice to make the bulls are on two different fingers, we choose the one closer to the truck. We cow call and both bulls go nuts. We are right in between them. We cow call again and they bugle again, both getting closer. I tell micah this will be a great end to the day but I’m not shooting.

He says get to that tree and get ready. I didn’t know this at the time but he saw the bull closer to the truck. I move up, he cow calls and the bull rips off a bugle. He is right in front of me at 70 yards. I can see his antlers and it is go time. I’m picking shooting lanes and ranging trees.

He gets to 50 still no shot and rips off a bugle. There is only one way for him to go that I get a 30-40 yard shot and he is moviving towards it. I’m ranging and re ranging. He is covered in grey mud his antlers too. I can see that he is a good bull and at least a 7x7.

He has hung up at 45 yards and trying to pick a lane thru blow down. The wind hits my back. Oh no this can’t happen. He starts to walk through the path I need him to. As his head goes behind a tree on his way to the spot I draw. He steps out at 40 yards facing right at me and let’s off a bugle. I can see 3/4 of his chest. My pin is steady just right of the sternum. Turn for the love of god turn to your left!!!

He won’t do it. He knows something is wrong. I release the arrow, 70 pound bow, super heavy full metal jacket arrow with 125 grain thunder head sinks into his chest right where I was aiming. 14” of arrow sticking out. He runs to the left, Micah cow calls and he stops at 50 yards broadside. Get another arrow in him quick.

Arrow on and he walks away before I can draw. He stops at 70 facing away. By the time I range him no shot he is gone.

It’s 6:15. The arrow is buried in his chest. It’s going to rain tonight. Why did I take that shot? Why didn’t I wait for broadside or just let him walk? Maybe it’s deep enough. Maybe it will work out.

I need to give him time. I don’t have time. Why did I take that shot?!

[Rainier10]

Micah comes up. He is concerned with the arrow depth. We watch it back on video, now I’m concerned. We have to start looking there is not going to be much blood. One hole and it is surrounded by thick neck hair. I go to the spot he was standing when I shot. Nothing but I can follow his tracks. Slow walking scanning everywhere sinking feeling in my gut as I’m not finding any blood after forty yards.

Why did I take that shot?!

Ten more yards of nothing and then I finally find blood.

[Rainier10]

And it is great bubbly blood. I’m into a lung and that arrow being halfway in is just slicing and dicing with every movement. I’m feeling better but these are tough animals. I need to find him tonight and he may be bedded. I don’t want to jump him so it is slow going.

[Rainier10]

From here the trail looked like this so it was easy to follow and keep scanning ahead. The only problem was he was going uphill, not a good sign but the blood trail was easy to follow. Basically a 2” wide continuous line of blood.

[Rainier10]

Another 20 yards of this solid bloodline and I was feeling pretty good. Micah was feeling great because he had already seen the bull laying dead in front of us. From the first blood he had only gone another 200 feet.

It was a great shot, totally did the trick. Why did I take that shot?! What a rollercoaster.

I was so excited. The monkey was off my back from 2017. I had hunted hard and killed a great bull with my bow.

Get my tag notched, take s bunch of photos and now the real work begins.

No way are we getting this out tonight, it’s 7:30 and light is fading.

Call Kenny and he want ms to come get it it tonight. We send him a pin from onX and start processing.

3 1/2 hours later Kenny and his 15 year old son Colby get to us with with their bullpacs and water for us. I have been cramping like crazy and need the water to get out. I am crazy concerned that it took the 3 1/2 hours to get to us. We are farther from the truck than I thought.

We load my pack first. Head and cape. I didn’t trust myself in the dark to take the hide off the head and I left plenty of hide behind the shoulder to give me options for mounting it.

First attempt didn’t work load was too far away from my body. Second attempt got the load close enough but the darn antlers were too big and dragging the ground. Third attempt worked but the antlers were pointed up, super awkward but it it what it is. Micah took a ton of meat, Kenny took a little less and Colby took a little less.

We weighed the packs when we got out, Micah’s was 123, mine was 116, Kenny’s was 90 and Colby’s was 55.

I had one trekking pole aim one hand and my bow in the other. Thank god for trekking poles and Colby. Those darn antlers hung up on every branch and tree I walked by. Colby would help get me unstuck from the branches. The trees sucked because they totally stopped to and pull you back. Every time we stopped for a break Colby would help each of us stand up again. He was a huge help.

The rain started somewhere around midnight or one with howling wind. The wind would blow the antlers around and the rain and constant banging of the antlers into stuff loosened up my load making it just brutal to carry.

With 1.5 miles to go Micah slipped on a wet rock and landed face first on the rocks.

Blood everywhere but he had a first aid kit. We cleaned him up and dropped 50 pounds of his load at a tree. That’s what we went back in for later that morning.

We finally made it to the truck at 3:45 am. Got to the cabin, ate a quick bite and got to bed.

[Rainier10]

This is the last spot the bull stopped before going another ten yards and tipping over.

[kirkl]

Great story!

[Rainier10]

Here come the pics.

[Rainier10]

.