IdahoLadyHunter
New member
Well, I filled my freezer this year and got to cross two items off my bucket list: first archery deer (and first archery kill), and first elk.
Second day of opening weekend for archery, in an area my husband and I call "deer country," I actually walked up on this guy as he was grazing. How he didn't see or hear me, I have no idea, but I didn't want to move and spook him so I held still as what seemed like twenty minutes as he came closer and closer to me. I didn't have a shot right away as he was behind a small tree. My husband, who was behind me and on the other side of a hill, did not know I was there waiting on this deer. He came up behind me and saw what was going on. The deer also saw him, but couldn't make out what he was, so it finally went back to grazing. When it finally turned it's head, I was able to pick up my bow and get ready to draw. It looked at me, then back to the ground. I knew this deer was getting nervous and I didn't have much time. Plus, he was now about eight yards from me, and I didn't want him coming any closer. My first lite fusion camo sure proved itself. I finally drew back and he saw the movement and looked at me. It seemed like forever as I went through all the checks in my head ("ok, am I actually looking through my peep, is my bow level, am I on the first pin on my sight?"), then I let go. It was a perfect shot (and should be at eight yards). I double-lunged him and he ran about 30 yards, spraying blood, before he fell. He was done and I just sat down on the log next to let my adrenaline wear off. He wasn't big, but I had the chance for meat and I took it. First archery kill and I was pretty happy.
I was lucky enough to draw an either-sex, any weapon elk tag with two of my friends this year. My husband and I decided to split our elk hunts this year since we have a year-old daughter and didn't want to both be gone from her for very long. Plus, he likes to do the early archery hunt anyway. My hunt was during November. Due to my busy schedule at work, I only had six days to hunt, which were split into threes since I had to come back for one day of work in the middle. One of my group tagged out the first morning. Apparently all the elk were on his side of the mountain when we split up that morning. He shot a cow at the bottom of a ravine and it took all day to get it back to the trucks. The second morning we did about 15 miles and climbed up to the ridge since the only elk we saw were at the top. The third day, I had to come back and go to work. That's when my other buddy got his cow and I wasn't there to help them, although that one wasn't as hard to get out. I was literally the last one left to tag out and it made me nervous. One of my friends met me back on the mountain, but we didn't see any elk all day. He had to go home and take care of his elk and my other buddy was supposed to meet me at first light the next day, but he was running late. I hiked out by myself and finally saw a herd of about 8 cows. I was pretty bummed to not see a bull, but I was going to take what I could get. After about an hour of stalking and low crawling to get close, I chose to shoot the cow that I had the best shot on, which happened to be at a close 50 yards. At first I thought she was pretty small and was nervous that I shot a calf. I hadn't been that close to an elk in a few years and sort of lost my judgment of how big a "big elk" actually was. After seeing the rest of the herd run off, and seeing the small calves that were with them, I knew she was good-sized. My shot was just a hair behind the lungs and she didn't go down right away. I chambered another round, but didn't want to shoot unless she looked like she was going to run. She stood for about 30 seconds then laid down. I had to double back about a quarter mile to where I dropped my bag. This gave me some time to calm down and I actually called my husband who was at some military training and couldn't come with me that weekend. As I walked up to my downed elk, I was pretty grateful to have gotten this chance. I messaged my buddy who was on his way up, and he got my text right before leaving his truck to hike out. At least he was able to dump his pack of anything he wouldn't need. I had her hide off and almost her back quarter de-boned by the time he got out to me. I shot her at about 9:30am and we didn't get back to the trucks with the second load of meat until 5pm. I'll tell you, there's no better feeling than to drop your pack at the truck and know you're done. It took my husband and I most of a day to process it all, but we love doing it ourselves. Very fun and rewarding experience. It took my legs a few days to recover. I'll be training harder next year for sure.
As we were walking out to get the second load of meat, we saw these two guys at about 150 yards, just standing there staring at us. It was in the middle of the day too. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Still cool to see though.
Second day of opening weekend for archery, in an area my husband and I call "deer country," I actually walked up on this guy as he was grazing. How he didn't see or hear me, I have no idea, but I didn't want to move and spook him so I held still as what seemed like twenty minutes as he came closer and closer to me. I didn't have a shot right away as he was behind a small tree. My husband, who was behind me and on the other side of a hill, did not know I was there waiting on this deer. He came up behind me and saw what was going on. The deer also saw him, but couldn't make out what he was, so it finally went back to grazing. When it finally turned it's head, I was able to pick up my bow and get ready to draw. It looked at me, then back to the ground. I knew this deer was getting nervous and I didn't have much time. Plus, he was now about eight yards from me, and I didn't want him coming any closer. My first lite fusion camo sure proved itself. I finally drew back and he saw the movement and looked at me. It seemed like forever as I went through all the checks in my head ("ok, am I actually looking through my peep, is my bow level, am I on the first pin on my sight?"), then I let go. It was a perfect shot (and should be at eight yards). I double-lunged him and he ran about 30 yards, spraying blood, before he fell. He was done and I just sat down on the log next to let my adrenaline wear off. He wasn't big, but I had the chance for meat and I took it. First archery kill and I was pretty happy.
I was lucky enough to draw an either-sex, any weapon elk tag with two of my friends this year. My husband and I decided to split our elk hunts this year since we have a year-old daughter and didn't want to both be gone from her for very long. Plus, he likes to do the early archery hunt anyway. My hunt was during November. Due to my busy schedule at work, I only had six days to hunt, which were split into threes since I had to come back for one day of work in the middle. One of my group tagged out the first morning. Apparently all the elk were on his side of the mountain when we split up that morning. He shot a cow at the bottom of a ravine and it took all day to get it back to the trucks. The second morning we did about 15 miles and climbed up to the ridge since the only elk we saw were at the top. The third day, I had to come back and go to work. That's when my other buddy got his cow and I wasn't there to help them, although that one wasn't as hard to get out. I was literally the last one left to tag out and it made me nervous. One of my friends met me back on the mountain, but we didn't see any elk all day. He had to go home and take care of his elk and my other buddy was supposed to meet me at first light the next day, but he was running late. I hiked out by myself and finally saw a herd of about 8 cows. I was pretty bummed to not see a bull, but I was going to take what I could get. After about an hour of stalking and low crawling to get close, I chose to shoot the cow that I had the best shot on, which happened to be at a close 50 yards. At first I thought she was pretty small and was nervous that I shot a calf. I hadn't been that close to an elk in a few years and sort of lost my judgment of how big a "big elk" actually was. After seeing the rest of the herd run off, and seeing the small calves that were with them, I knew she was good-sized. My shot was just a hair behind the lungs and she didn't go down right away. I chambered another round, but didn't want to shoot unless she looked like she was going to run. She stood for about 30 seconds then laid down. I had to double back about a quarter mile to where I dropped my bag. This gave me some time to calm down and I actually called my husband who was at some military training and couldn't come with me that weekend. As I walked up to my downed elk, I was pretty grateful to have gotten this chance. I messaged my buddy who was on his way up, and he got my text right before leaving his truck to hike out. At least he was able to dump his pack of anything he wouldn't need. I had her hide off and almost her back quarter de-boned by the time he got out to me. I shot her at about 9:30am and we didn't get back to the trucks with the second load of meat until 5pm. I'll tell you, there's no better feeling than to drop your pack at the truck and know you're done. It took my husband and I most of a day to process it all, but we love doing it ourselves. Very fun and rewarding experience. It took my legs a few days to recover. I'll be training harder next year for sure.
As we were walking out to get the second load of meat, we saw these two guys at about 150 yards, just standing there staring at us. It was in the middle of the day too. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. Still cool to see though.
