Hey y'all - I know it's been a minute since I've posted (sorry! life ya know?) but I had to share that I got my first archery elk on Tuesday! 5 seasons of archery, over a decade of elk hunting - this has truly been the fulfilling of a lifelong dream.
Last pic is my face finding the down bull. Longer story of the hunt is...husband shot a cow on day 1 at 8am. We spent the next 2 days trying to find her and concluded it was likely a shoulder blade shot after looking extensively at every possible exit from the blood trail. Pretty bummed and not feeling great about wounding an animal. Meanwhile the zone was insanely elky and wildly vocal. Husband has never been a great caller but on our drive out we listened to the most recent Hunttalk on hunting the rut this week (every discussion of a calling setup husband would say "well Corey and Randy said....") so he decided having lost his cow that he wanted to get better at calling and perfect the setup.
Despite being “in em” this hunt continued to be a comedy of errors. Monday morning ON A TRAIL a blade of tall grass got under my bowstring and the string derailed off the cams. So tail between my legs I hiked back to the car, drove an hour to town, got the bow fixed, and managed to hike back in for an evening hunt.
So 930am on Day 4 (Tuesday) we heard em screaming on a ridge. I was ahead, husband unit 50yds behind. We initially blew out a few animals but still a bull left - lots of cow calling seemed to keep this bull interested. The shooting lanes were tight and I was worried he'd wind me before coming in as the thermals were pretty swirly that morning. Well "Felix" came in to a challenge bugle to about 15 yards and I took a shot - it was beautiful broadside/pause opportunity. The wait after the shot I was heartsick that I wounded an animal given our experience at the beginning of the hunt. After a bit of searching I found him and I could not be more relieved.
I'm stoked, the freezer is full, my legs are tired, and I'm glad it's still grouse season!
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