09 Archery Elk

Not really any cool stories to tell about this bull. I hunted hard for 6 days, hearing bugles only two of those days. We struggled with an abundance of hunters, very little rut activity, and even a fight on a water hole with a couple guys who thought that because there blinds were up I had no right to be sitting there before they got there.

On night number 2 I had a nice 290-300 inch 6x6 come to water about 10 minutes before dark. I let him get to the water and start drinking, but soon realized that at 22 yards he was WAY too close for me to be able to draw my bow without him seeing me. I waited until he lifted his head out of the water and he still saw me and took off. I never had another shot opportunity until the last night I was up there.

I had a small spike coming to water right before dark and decided that it had been such a terrible hunt so far that I would go ahead and fill my tag and put some good meat in the freezer. I drew on him before he got to the water and shot him right as he lowered his head. Shot was only 18 yards.

He bolted and took off right through the water. I waited 30 minutes and decided that it was too dark to track him so I waited until the next morning to recover him. My dad and I found him a mere 60 yards from the tank.