Dustin F

I started the hunt off opening weekend and was planning on taking the first week of the hunt off of work but after the rut action did not seem to be in full swing I traded my days off for the last week of the hunt to see if they would fire up a bit. I set up camp Friday night and hit the woods early Saturday morning and heard one faint bugle and I told my buddy I'm gonna go after it while he gains some elevation to glass as the sun came up. Soon in to my hike I heard another sound off and began to hear some cows talking and doing their thing so I decided to let out a few cow calls of my own so I turned opposite direction of the cow calls and started calling. After 15 second of calling I paused and the woods erupted, bugles all around me so I began to call very lightly away from the bugles and noticed a bull coming right at me over the ridge. He made a B line right for me at 26 yards I stoped him he was quartering towards me slightly when I let it fly the shot was a little back so the exit wound had a little guts but I had good blood. He travled about a mile before he went down making it a hard track but we put our heads down and I told my self I was not leaving till I found him. I wish my shot was a little better but that's bow hunting and I got a bit of the feaver but you can bet the next one I don't make that mistake again. All in all tho the experience was one like I have never felt and I am stoked with my first big game kill ever and I got it done with bow in hand! As soon as I figure out how to post pics on here they will come.

Grave digger did the job for me on Saturday even with a bad shot it was a little further back than I wanted but was still able to find him after a long track job

dang I just realized you just shot a deer less than two weeks ago your on a roll right now better by an OTC pig tag and go for the ha trick in December congrats on two first bow kills

That's an awesome bull congrats way to stick it out

Ha ha thanks I try to keep little man around the outdoor scene as much as possible so maybe instead of asking for an x box he will ask for some new binos or a new dozen of arrows instead at least that's the goal

Ya I typically wouldn't have had time but I told my boss I was staying till Thursday till the end of the hunt so since I shot him Saturday I took Monday off too and went back to work today so it was a win win for me and my boss I took one extra day to get my head done but still went back to work in a timely manner to keep the boss happy

It was definitely emotionally exhausting I wanted to throw in the towel a few times then the next speck of blood would appear and we would gain some solid ground and I knew it was a fatal shot with the blood loss in the beginning and knowing how much of a hole the gravedigger made so I figured I owed it to the animal at that point

Thanks for the responses it actually went pretty smooth I thought it would be a pain and after that 4 hour mark or so in the hot water it went pretty quick I'm pretty stoked on the results

I took a 5/5 out of there Saturday morning at day light. I moved in on a bugle and started cow calling very light for 15 seconds or so and the woods exploded with bugles at least 6 bulls screaming and my buddy glassed at least ten but he was on a knob above where I shot mine. As soon as i shot mine it ran about 15 yards then started walking like nothing happened of course a nice 340ish 6/6 walks out and started to walk right next to mine with an arrow stuck in him and they walked about 5 yards apart untill I lost them as they crested the ridge.

Not sure y they are sideways I suck at this sorry guys and gals bare with me

Here it is step by step leaving out the nasty part and had to throw in the last pic

Nice bull it does take a huge weight off the back to fill a tag and monuments later a 100 pound slab of meat takes place of the weight that was on your back I luckily had my buddy to help with mine on Saturday congrats on the bull

That is a nice bull congrats man

I got him in unit 8 up in the north west corner of the unit

Try this

Here is one maybe

Satalite bulls are coming in hard to cow calls. I shot a 5/5 yesterday in unit 8 he was the 5th bull I called in and I got ancy and let one fly but the trick I noticed was get in on them close enough to where you physically hear the cows calling then start your calling. I'm no expert this is my first bull but I did call a heard bull in to 80 yards and he hung up with out giving me a shot but it definitely seemed to work. Good luck on the hunt

Yesterday I was on elk from 4am to noon with bulls screaming as late at 11:30 am then got back on the heard at 4 pm till dark had a ton of oppertunities yesterday passed on a couple bulls one being a good 5/5 at 50 yards broadside only passed cuz the heard bull was coming right at me had him at 80 yards but he never turned to give me a broadside shot then went back to chasing his 60+ cows. Today whole different world out here not a single peep out of a bull can't find the heard at all pretty sure there in this same area cuz I was on them till dark and didn't bump them out what are your guys tactics when they stop like that and don't move around all day I have been glassing since 8am and have not seen one single elk any input would be great this is my first time with an elk tag so any advice is awesome thanks in advance.

Awesome bull and very sorry to hear about your grandpa at least you know that is one life long hunting partner you can always count on in the woods

Well I pulled out hope I made the right choice I traded my days off this week for next week I'm going back Friday staying till Thursday now so hope they get a little more fired up i missed a shot on a bull at 15 yards because I had my driver sight adjusted down for a 70 yard shot the night before and never put it back and flew one right over his back

I'm in 8 now my tag opens tomorrow saw some good bulls this morning

Leaving at about 3 in the am hope to get it done before the next batch of storms come in good luck to every one else with tags I'll be up in 8 flinging arrows.( hopefully just 1 arrow)

Ya I was up in 8 looking for elk with my bow close by just incase a buck showed his face I did hear some bugling at night at camp. AZELKHUNTER69 what part of the unit were you in just curious PM me if you don't want to broadcast it. Thanks

I am in the same boat iv watched YouTube videos of archery elk huntsevery night before bed since I got my tag in the mail i think my wife hears bugles in her dreams as much as me what unit did you draw? I drew an 8 bull tag

Early archery bull just to clarify