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No hunter orange needed, but make sure you bring some good optics. Find a spot that looks good to you and glass, glass and glass. Good luck on your hunt. -Ryan

Great photot. Pictures are worth a 1000 words and Im sure it wouldn't take long with that photo. -Ryan

+1. -Ryan

Nice job on a good buck. -Ryan

Well done and congrats to you and your son. -Ryan

Way to go Tracy on a solid find, thats sure one heck of a trophy. Oh yeah the skull is pretty cool too -Ryan

Great story, and nice bull. Were you able to get any photos of the bull, post kill in the field? -Ryan

Congrats on a great bull. -Ryan

One heck of a bull. Got to love those early rifle elk hunts. -Ryan

Well done. To kill a bull like that with a hard rut is not easy. -Ryan

Well done. To kill a bull like that with a hard rut is not easy. -Ryan

I just returned on Sep. 20 from my 2009 archery bull elk hunt which I left for on Sep 8. This season started with alot of scouting between my brother and I, who took turns traveling up north to find bulls worthly of our tags. During our scounting trips, we found some great bulls in some great looking county. We found some areas that we wanted to focus on as the hunt drew near, but when the hunt started the rut was not cooperating. We spent the first few days of the hunt trying to find new areas that held talkative bulls and cows, leaving only my brother finding 2 maybe 3 bulls talking. After a few days of searching, we found some bulls acting the way they should be. Sep. 15 will be a day I won't soon forget. We got in the area that we found to be promising, but had no bulls bugleing at first light. We began to slowly work the county, and ended up jumping an elk out of its bed. I cow called to calm the elk, and ended up getting a bull to bugle about 250 yards away. I quickly checked the wind and discovered the wind was blowing right at him. We decided that the bull sounded like a good one and chose to make a big circle trying to get the wind in our favor. As we got the wind mostly in our face, we set up and began calling. The bull would answer us but did not want to investigate our calling. I heard the bull and his cows walking about 100 yards in front of me, but they were paralleling our set-up. The bull ended up pushing his cows down to a lower elevation, moving away from us. With the bull still bulging, we quietly followed. No more than a couple of minutes passed and I could hear the bull thrashing a tree. Hearing that, we got into stalk mode and went right at him. We closed the distance to approximately 150 yards. From that distance, I saw 2 or 3 cows about the same distance, walking to my right. Knowing that the bull was still to my left and his cows to my right, we slipped between both. Once we got within 80 yards of the bull, we began calling. After a couple of minutes of calling back and forth to the bull, I could hear him start to close the distance. I was kneeling down and could see the bulls legs walking through the trees. As the bull walked closer, I could see he had great fronts and was a solid 6x6. The bull got within 25 yards and was headed straight for an opening to my left. Not having a shot to my left, I quickly moved about 5 steps to my left and set back up. The bull was almost to walk out into the open as I drew my bow. Once at full draw, the bull stopped behind a tree, bugled, and began to search for the cow he had heard. I couldn't shoot with the bull being behind cover, so I sat at full draw for what seemed like 3 minutes. I started to get fatigued and could not hold my bow anylonger. I thought to myself, if the bull walks out I would be shaking so bad that I may miss the shot, but if I let off he will probably see me and run away. I chose to let off my draw and to my fortune, the bull didn't do anything. The bull stood there for another couple of minutes and began to get nervous. With the bull not seeing the cow he came looking for, he turned and began to walk back the same way he came from. I saw a 6" opening through the tree he was behind and realized the bull was headed straigh for it. I drew my bow and the bull picked me off, the bull broke into a dead run and we let out a cow call to try and stop him. The bull heard the call and slammed on the brakes. The bull stopped in the only other window I had, which was 18 yards away. With the bull now standing to my right side, and me being prepaired to shoot to my left, I had to turn my whole body the opposite direction from were my knees were pointed. With my lower half of my body pointed to the left and my upper body pointed at the bull, I put my 20 yard pin on his shoulder and released. I saw the arrow slam into that right shoulder blade, and burry down all the way to the flechings. The bull took it hard and ran only 20 yards. I never moved from my shooting position and watched the bull fall. Knowing that my hunt was complete, I was full of emotions and could not believe that I just harvested my second bull in two years. This years hunt was tough, but I will admit this encounter was the most exciting I have ever had with a bull elk. Just to add, during our hunt we were fortunate to meet "GodisGood" and "Outtohunt" one evening as they stopped by our camp after seeing my coueswhitetail sticker on my truck. Ken and Kurt, we all really enjoyed meeting you guys- we had a great time around the camp fire! We hope your hunt was successful, and anytime your near feel free to stop by! In closing, I would like to thank my beautifull wife Kelly, without you I would never have been able to make this hunt possible. You mean everything to me and I am truely blessed to have you. In addition to my wife being in camp, we had both our boys in camp for 8 days and my oldest had his 2nd birthday in elk camp, just like last year- his 1st birthday in elk camp. PS. My brother ended up harvesting his bull about 250 yards away from mine, the very next day. Special thanks to Josh, great job on calling bro. As he was Showing shot placement Me with my bull Kelly and our youngest Keegan The family on Jackson's birthday

Well done on a great bull. Great pics and story. I really liked how you lead us through your hunt with the pics in sequence with the story. -Ryan

Congrats on a special bull. Even with a rifle for your weapon, doesn't mean the hunt is a gimmy. You guys definately worked for that bull. By the way, great 3rds. -Ryan

Thankyou so much for your kind words Kurt. I am very glad you chose to stop by and share your hunt with us that night, it was sure a enjoyable campfire that evening. I'm sorry to hear you didn't tag out but your post about your hunt really puts the true meaning of "Hunting" into perspective. PS. Firstcoueswas80, I will try and get tommy on CWT (small world having two common friends). -Ryan

Nice work. -Ryan

Great job and nice looking pics. -Ryan

My uncle found a good bull a couple of days before the archery elk hunt. He wasn't sure what to do so he took a G&F officer to the sight. The officer brought a metal detector and ended up not being able to determine the cause of death. My uncle asked the officer if he could have the skull and rack since he found it, he was told no. Great find, but I would wait just a little bit. -Ryan

Welcome Ron. So far it sounds like you are doing everything right to give your self a good head start for your up an coming deer hunt. Welcome again -Ryan

I know a guy hunting the second hunt, haven''t hear anything from him yet. That sucks that you guys had such a hard time. Better luck next go around. -Ryan

Yeah I was worried that the smell would bother the elk, but after the shot we took him down wind about 40 yards and ended up having a young bull come into water with no problem. Ryan

During my 2009 Bull elk hunt, I was lucky enought to have this young pup walk into water one evening. It was able to take a 27 yard shot, the pup went 40 yards and crashed. Tracy who was with me, was going crazy. Thanks for the help Tracy.

Way to go Kurt. I sure wish you would have be able to tag a bull, but your story puts it all into perspective what a hunt should really be like. Everyone gets tied up on the kill and forgets (Myself included) that the experience is what it is all about. It was a true honor to meet you and Ken that evening you stopped in our camp, I really had fun. You are always welcome with us and in the near future we'll plan a hunt to share some more memories. PS. Thankyou for the generous comments about my family, it was very thoughtful. -Ryan

Did I read that synopsis correct, (42 elk with a bow), must be nice. Either way, congrats on a great bull. -Ryan

congrats on a nice bull. Way to stick with the herd, it really paid off. -Ryan