I shot this bull at 7:30ish at 29 yards this morning after slipping up on him and his running buddy. His buddy was a bigger 5 point covered in mud, and I drew on him first but could not get the shot. Quietly slipping along 30 to 40 yards behind two feeding bulls for what seemed like 10 minutes (probably 5) is a little nerve racking. I thought they were going to get out of range but started feeding back towards me. I decided to take the first one that gave me a good shot.
He must have taken a half step or I was just off because I hit him mid way up back edge of lungs and exited several inches lower mid gut. He stood at 70 yards for 30 minutes while his buddy fed off. I couldn't see blood so decided a second arrow was a good idea. I finally eased into an open lane but he was facing straight away. I stood for several minutes before he finally turned. I don't normally take 60 yard shots at animals, but had a rangefinder reading and have the pin. This seemed like the time to do it. I had thought about the steep downhill, but when I drew and he looked at me autopilot took over and I placed the pin dead center of the vitals. I think it was a combo of the downward shot and he appeared to jump the string, but the result was an arrow over his back. (I did not know this until I looked an hour later.)
The bull blasted down the hill and my stomach did a few turns. I took an hour break at the first shot location and did some praying. I was not feeling good about this. I could not find the first arrow and the second was a clear miss. The blood where he had stood did not look good. There just wasn't as much as I'd have liked, but I wasn't smelling gut. It was another hour before I started looking for a blood trail. I was moving very slow and the blood trail disappeared after 50 yards. I had the wind in my favor, so I eased down the hill farther. It was approaching 3 hours since the shot when I started easing across slope just hoping to find fresh tracks to follow. That is when I got a good nose full of elk. I started easing toward the smell following some downhill tracks that didn't look too old.
I got to within 25 yards of the bull before he stood up. He hadn't seen me but must have heard me. I thought the bull that stood up was the bigger. I finally noticed a second stand up. Two bulls standing at 30 yards with no shot whatsoever in heavy bedding cover. One bull finally started toward me ( I thought the bull I had shot) but stopped. I guess he spotted me standing there because he crashed downhill. I assumed the other had done the same, but as I eased forward I realized he had bedded back down. Seemed odd that the bigger bull would bed back down after the smaller one crashed away. It had to be my bull. I started easing forward hoping to find a hole to shoot through if I could confirm it was my bull. I made it to 20 yards but needed another 5 yards to have an opening. I was watching his head through the binos when the wind shifted and could see his nostrils flare and his right eye roll around my way with the white showing. The wind switched and he didn't move. The wind hit me in the back again and he jumped up and went downhill. I still couldn't confirm which bull it was. I eased forward to look at the beds and heard him break a few limbs downhill again.
I couldn't find any sign of a wounded bull in the beds. I wasn't sure what to think so I hiked back uphill to look for first arrow again. I really wanted to know if I had gut or just some sort of a flesh wound. I knew the bull staying bedded wasn't right but I originally thought it was the other bull. My stomach wasn't doing any better after jumping both bulls. I wasn't feeling too good about the situation. I'm glad I could get some texts out for some encouragement from my wife. I knew I had to keep looking but the situation wasn't looking too good.
After another hour and a half I eased back down and looked at beds again then started easing along the tracks that went downhill. Between the waiting and the hiking up and down the hill, it had been roughly 6 hours since the shot when I spotted him downhill 50 yards dead in his bed where I had last heard him.
It took me 3 1/2 hours to break him down by myself and hang the deboned meat. I got one hindquarter packed out this evening. Myself, my son and one of his buddies who doesn't know what he volunteered for are going in to finish it up tomorrow. It should take one trip but the long track resulted in him going part way into a hole that we had said we never wanted to kill a bull in. In all I think he only traveled 300 yards max.
Photos are my cell phone only. I've grown tired of packing my bigger camera but it would have helped a lot in this case.
I had actually rolled him down from his bed here to make him easier to work on if that is really possible while working alone.
. Congrats hobbes. Hoping i can make it back next year. Thinking we are heading to Colorado. Too many grizzlies where we went.
