PineCountryHunter

Well after many years of holding out for a good archery bull elk hunt this was the year to finally draw a tag. My son will be 10 in February and already itching to go out in the woods and hunt. So this was the year to spend the time to try and go out and shoot a good bull. The hunt came quick and was glad to have a great group of friends to help me for the majority of the hunt. I have hunted with them for many many years and been with them when they were able fill there first archery bull tags. Day 1 started early and out well before sun up. The weather was not helping much as it was warmer than usual and very windy, made hearing bugles difficult. We heard some bugles and set off after them but were not able to get in close enough and see if they what they were. We headed back to the cabin around 11 for some lunch and a nap and made the decision to sit water in the afternoon. I felt with the weather being unseasonably warm that would be our best bet. I sat a tank we have had good success on from 2 till dark but nothing made its way to water. heard a few faint bugles in the distance as the sun set on day one. Day 2 was basically the same result and was not very productive. Moon was bright and up most of the night, temps were warm and elk movement and bugling was very minimal. Day 3 we were able to get on a group of 5 different bulls screaming their heads off. Shooting like came and they continued to bugle but were moving away up the ridge to the area they wanted to bed. I was able to circle around in front of them and get the wind right. Gave out a few meek cow calls and had a calf come running in to my position. She finally moved off and I was able to move up another 100 yards and get to where I thought they might pass by. Shortly after a small young 6x6 stepped out of the think jack pines at 15 yards. We had a good staring match before he decided something wasn't right and walked off. Sat water the rest of the day only to see some turkeys and a whitetail doe. Day 4 we were greeted with cooler temps but socked in fog and rain for most of the morning and then heavy winds all afternoon. Elk were not very active and ended day without much to be excited about. Days 5-7 were very similar, on elk early but couldn't find the right bull I was looking for. I passed a few opportunities in the mornings and sat water in the evenings to with no luck. Days 7-9 we made a pivot to another area in the northern part of the unit. We were on elk in the morning and chased bugles until late hours of the morning. The bulls were smart and always seemed to be in an area you could not get in close to them. Between the topography and thermals it was almost impossible to get on them without blowing the out of the country. Day 10 started out in the same area as the past few days. We were on them early and able to get in a position that the wind was in our favor and elk moving towards us. Unfortunately the only bull we got a glimpse of was the small 5x5 raghorn my buddy called into 7 yards. We had a good laugh at how tough he thought he was hiked the several miles back to the vehicle to get some much needed breakfast and rest. For the evening hunt we decided to go back to the tank I sat the first night and have my buddy go check an area not to far away for bugles. As luck would have it the bulls in that area started screaming about an hour before sunset. he sent me a message and we hightailed it over to where he was stopped. As son as we got out there were 5-6 bulls absolutely screaming, I believe there had to be a hot cow in the area because it was chaos. We got the wind in our face and slowly started sneaking in on the bull we thought sounded the meanest. We were closing the ground but light was fading fast. The bull was glunking and decided to give out a few subtle cow calls and that did the trick. He came walking right in quartering slightly to me and stopped to bugle at for 45 yards. I let the arrow go and connected just behind his shoulder. The bull trotted up the ridge a little bit and bedded down just in sight. Just like that the hunt was over, he wasn't the monster bull I had hoped and dreamt about. But he was a cool old bull that had been in his fair share of skirmishes and thorough many ruts. His front teeth were worn to the gums and had some scares to show his age. we got him taken care of in a timely manner and the meat to the processor to fill the freezer for the family and close friends. Look forward to hunting with my boy in the years to come and hope it doe not take another 17 years to draw an archery bull tag IMG_4804.MOV

Awesome deer! congrats on your success

Great bull! Congrats

great bull! congrats on the success

Great thread and thank you for sharing. Archery elk hunting can be humbling for sure, hopefully your son will draw again in a couple years and use this experience to harvest a great bull. I had the 3c archery tag it was tough as well. The full moon to start and crazy winds definitely made it tough. I passed a few bulls I probably should have shot but oh well. Decided on day 11 to take an old 6x6 that was on the decline. Good luck to you guys on the cow hunt!

The horses are definitely a huge problem and something will eventually have to be done about them. There are still quite a few really good bulls wondering around the unit. Put in the time and effort and hopefully you will get a chance to put an arrow in one. I will really hit the scouting hard for this hunt mid July and put in several weekends and miles on the boots. Luckily i know this unit very well from past elk and deer hunts so I am pretty confident going in.

Posting for a friend, like new, used once. Goose feather down and rated to 30 degrees, Asking 430.00

I drew the same hunt this year and I am not worried about finding elk. There are still plenty of good bulls still left in the unit. Keep scouting and putting miles on your boots and you will find the elk. Our group has killed some good bulls the few years on this hunt. I will be up there 2 days before the opener and will have the whole hunt to get it done. looking forward to opening day

There are no fire restriction in place…..caught fish on several different baits and techniques. Reaction baits and trolling flies seemed to produce the most fish

Has anybody been back in to Reservation lake this year yet? looked at the WMAT fishing report but do not think that has been updated since last year sometime. Says there is stage 2 fire restriction in place and no camp fires or charcoal allowed. I find that hard to believe this early in the year with the moistures they received. Heading up with some friends next Thursday for a long weekend

Had a fun weekend with friends up at Reservation Lake. Fishing was good, between the group we caught several nice fish. We didn't catch any monsters but caught several in the 18-22" range.

What is the barrel length?

I just upgraded from my Mathews Reezen 7.0 to a Mathews V3X with a Tetra Max RYZ X3 sight for my bull hunt. Bow is incredibly smooth and very happy with it thus far. I will have my Reezen as a back up just in case knowing that it is dialed in and ready to go. I am going to start working on getting the sight dialed in this weekend. It is a lot different compared to what I am used to. I am used to a 7 pin that doesn't adjust so it will be a process. Does anyone have any knowledge with the tetra max sight or tips they are willing to share to get it dialed in? I also changed arrows to the Victory RIP TKO and paired it to the Iron Will Wide bevel broadheads with bleeders. I am interested to see how they perform but have only heard good things from my buddies that switched over to them. any input on the sight and arrows would be good to have. Looking forward to chasing bulls in 3A/3C this september.

looks like drawing a 3A/3c deer tag just got a lot tougher...reducing archery to 40 tags and early rifle to 80 tags. Going to take a few more years to draw with point creep

it is hard to draw any archery tag anymore. 3c is a good unit, our group has killed some nice bulls in there the last few years

16

After many many years drew 3a/3c early archery tag 9

Some big bulls in 4b if you know where to look. Everyone jokes about it but the people that spend the time in there know where there are trophy quality bulls.

I was in your shoes for a long time until this year, finally got a tag. I won’t be needing anyone’s “honey holes” or asking questions. I only out I. For units I have many miles on my boots in lol

JVS, if you drew an early rifle tag as a group go by a lottery ticket and congrats…took me 17 years of apply alone to get an early archery tag. Hope it was a good unit

If you all put in together the it will be a cumulative total. So if it was 2 on the app you would be charged 270 etc… 4 on an app 540.

Yes it showed up a little bit after I posted

Well I got hit……only took 17 years…finally

I don’t know what to believe anymore when it comes to bonus points and max pool. Oh well I guess, looking like another year with no tag.

I had 16 points and only put in for 3a/3c archery bull.....nothing yet