[trophyhunter]

Originally Posted by DeadEyeGardner

After hiking 38 kms last Monday and Tuesday combined, I needed to take Wednesday off. Thursday morning before 5am I hiked solo about 5km back into a spot I had found two days prior on public land. It had plenty of fresh elk and deer sign, but I couldn’t find or hear any elk to save my life... or deer for that matter. An hour later and about 3km into the hike, I rested and let out my first calls of the morning. Then finally, I had a returned bugle way off in the darkness, about 2 kilometres to my south east. I made my way in the direction of the bugling bull, calling every few hundred meters, and each time getting a reply. I could tell the bull was moving locations as well, getting closer and getting more and more fired up with each bugle he sent back to me. I finally made it to a good ambush spot, with daylight just starting to break. The west wind finally in my favour slightly as the bull was directly south of me. I dropped my pack as I heard the bull raking a tree only about 100 meters away. I cow chirped a few times then booted it about 50 meters straight towards him. I hunkered down 7 meters east of the trail I anticipated him coming down, just as I lay eyes on him for the first time. He was coming in on a string, and really fired up at this point. We just spent an hour closing the roughly 2 kilometre distance that separated us when we first bugled at one another. There was a thin layer of trees and brush between us, that I could hardly see through let alone shoot through. Once he finished thrashing a tree straight south of me, he made his way north west and turned the corner heading straight north up the trail I was kneeling beside. I knew he’d be passing by me very very closely. As his eyes passed by the last large poplar tree between us, I drew back my bow and held. We then made eye contact, but he kept on strutting past me confidently. I was wide open, and had to slowly turn as he walked, with my pins set behind his front shoulder. He was quartering to me too drastically for an ethical shot. His eyes fixated on me, but he kept coming not slowing stride one bit. Finally once the angle was safe enough for a shot, I punched an arrow into him at a mere 7 meters! He stutter stepped hard to his left veering away from me and off the trail into the trees. I bugled at him quick and he stopped abruptly, only 40 meters from me. A few seconds of silence, then I felt in my legs as his large body crashed down to the ground. He was down!! He quickly expired within moments, as I sat there in complete euphoria. The rush overcoming me entirely. I had spent the last 6 years chasing elk with my bow, learning a plethora of knowledge each season yet never getting a fair shot opportunity on a bull elk. They are by far the most exciting animal to chase with a bow, especially during the rut. And here I was, still lost in the moment after drilling one at 7 meters! Coolest hunt of my life thus far.

Congrats! Great write up, almost like I was there. That’s why we hunt! Enjoy the table fare...


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