DBear
New member
I headed out to the Grand Mesa the week before smoke pole this year to go after the ol' Wapiti with my bow. This was my fourth trip to the same area. I have been close, at full draw; however, I had never let an arrow fly. With the big 4-0 approaching I take this hunt each year as a kick in the rear to get off the couch and go do something. This year I did some hiking but I also implemented the 20/10 routine at lunch everyday at work. I ran up and down 20 flights of stairs as fast as I could go and followed that with 10 sun salutations (yes that is a YOGA move and 'no', my favorite food isn't granola......just trying to keep my flexibility up and prevent injury)
The trip started out great with the rental car company giving us a 2014 Chevy Silverado 4x4 with 14 miles on it for 300 bucks for a week to take Elk Hunting! With all of the rain, it got broken in and was an awesome vehicle! When I hit the high country this year, the altitude did not bother me and my legs felt great! However, the air was silent with no bulls bugling in a place that they are always talking. It was raining a ton! We made a move to a new area and were instantly in cow calls, but they all would hang up out of range. On the third day, we got a big response to calls and a cow started running straight for us. I had enough time to nock an arrow pull back and shoot as she was moving swiftly towards where we called. I instantly knew I put a TERRIBLE shot on her and got that feeling of 'how did that happen'. It was really far back.....why hadn't I stopped her before I shot? I grabbed my partner and went to the impact sight. The trail was being sprayed 7 feet wide on each side of her tracks with blood that looked pink with bubbles in it. I told my buddy, 'it was an awful shot and I had a first hand view of how far back it was, I may have gotten lucky and hit an artery, but I don't want to push her'. That is when I looked up and saw the rain clouds bearing down on us again. I knew I wouldn't have chance with the storm coming in. I decided to go slow and track her with an arrow ready to fly. Eighty yards into the tracking my buddy said "there she is!" I pulled my bow up and he said 'no, she is dead'. She had only gone 100 yards. After four years, the same feelings I have had since I was a kid hunting with my Dad in the good old Indiana kicked in....excitement, sadness, respect for nature. As we got to looking at the elk, my buddy says "looks like you have yourself an "ELK SAMPLER', yup it was a calf. It turns out that I was fortunate and hit her femoral artery. I do NOT think this is an ethical shot and was a poor execution of a good shot by me. I am happy that it did hit her there and she didn't suffer. I went to work with help from Randy's gutless method video and had her in our packs within 90 minutes. We were able to take her out in one trip.
I was happy to finally have elk meat to take home. Now, I had to make sure that it was going to be ready to go to bring back on the plane. I had it processed, frozen and put it in a cooler. All was well until I hit baggage claim at Charlotte airport and my gear and the meat did not make it! Long frustrating-story short....I got the meat and gear 24 hours after I had landed and 36 hours after it was out of the freezer and it was 95% frozen solid! I couldn't believe it. Looking forward to some good eats from my ELK SAMPLER!
The trip started out great with the rental car company giving us a 2014 Chevy Silverado 4x4 with 14 miles on it for 300 bucks for a week to take Elk Hunting! With all of the rain, it got broken in and was an awesome vehicle! When I hit the high country this year, the altitude did not bother me and my legs felt great! However, the air was silent with no bulls bugling in a place that they are always talking. It was raining a ton! We made a move to a new area and were instantly in cow calls, but they all would hang up out of range. On the third day, we got a big response to calls and a cow started running straight for us. I had enough time to nock an arrow pull back and shoot as she was moving swiftly towards where we called. I instantly knew I put a TERRIBLE shot on her and got that feeling of 'how did that happen'. It was really far back.....why hadn't I stopped her before I shot? I grabbed my partner and went to the impact sight. The trail was being sprayed 7 feet wide on each side of her tracks with blood that looked pink with bubbles in it. I told my buddy, 'it was an awful shot and I had a first hand view of how far back it was, I may have gotten lucky and hit an artery, but I don't want to push her'. That is when I looked up and saw the rain clouds bearing down on us again. I knew I wouldn't have chance with the storm coming in. I decided to go slow and track her with an arrow ready to fly. Eighty yards into the tracking my buddy said "there she is!" I pulled my bow up and he said 'no, she is dead'. She had only gone 100 yards. After four years, the same feelings I have had since I was a kid hunting with my Dad in the good old Indiana kicked in....excitement, sadness, respect for nature. As we got to looking at the elk, my buddy says "looks like you have yourself an "ELK SAMPLER', yup it was a calf. It turns out that I was fortunate and hit her femoral artery. I do NOT think this is an ethical shot and was a poor execution of a good shot by me. I am happy that it did hit her there and she didn't suffer. I went to work with help from Randy's gutless method video and had her in our packs within 90 minutes. We were able to take her out in one trip.
I was happy to finally have elk meat to take home. Now, I had to make sure that it was going to be ready to go to bring back on the plane. I had it processed, frozen and put it in a cooler. All was well until I hit baggage claim at Charlotte airport and my gear and the meat did not make it! Long frustrating-story short....I got the meat and gear 24 hours after I had landed and 36 hours after it was out of the freezer and it was 95% frozen solid! I couldn't believe it. Looking forward to some good eats from my ELK SAMPLER!
