It was a long summer after finding out my uncle and I had drawn our first archery bull tags. After as many scouting trips to the unit as possible opening day was upon us. It was a tough decision where to hunt opening morning because we had found so many great spots to hunt. Opening day was unsuccesful with only seeing two bulls before sunrise. On the second day we moved to another area of the unit and that was where we spent the majority of the rest of the hunt. The bulls had the cows herded up and there was good rutting activity going on. We had seen some great bulls at a distance and could not close the gap enough for a shot. Everyday we were into good bulls but luck was not on our side. The wind swirling was our biggest enemy. Everytime we were close they would detect us somehow. I bugan to think that maybe the elk we were hunting had some sick sense that we were after them. Finally on the last morning of the 14 day hunt I had my opportunity. The stalk was on. I was chasing bugles trying to close the gap between what sounded like the best bull in the area when i spotted a cow and calf 55 yards in front of me. The cow was leery and kept looking my direction trying to detect my presence. I was caught right where i was standing and could not move. Thank goodness i was next to a large pine tree and if I were any closer to it I would of been hugging it. I could here a bull bugling in the tree line right behind the cow but he wasn't the raspy bull I was on the chase for. The cow turned and started to head toward the bull that was behind her when i seen his antlers coming out of the trees. He stopps broadside directly in front or me and immediately looks my direction.I thinkk to myself, oh no I am busted. All of a sudden the raspy bugle sounds off below and grabs his attention. The bull immediately looks the opposite direction of me. I didn'tt have time to range him so I knocked an arrow guestimated the yardage, settled my 50 yard pin and let the arrow fly. All I could hear was the great sound of my arrow making contact and the bull leaped into the air off all four feet. He immediately turned and headed for cover as i blew my cow call to try to settle him down. The sun was now starting to creep over the mountain and my nerves were shot. I knew i had hit him but with the low light I was unable to see my arrow fly. I waited an hour before looking for blood and the arrow. I found blood right away but not as much as I would like. When my uncle showed up we started to track the blood trail. The longer we followed the trail the more blood we found. A little over a 100 yards there he was laying motionless. Words cannot describe the feeling that I felt seeing him down for good. He is not the biggest elk I have taken but is a well earned trophy in my eyes and I am extremely happy with the outcome. I would like to thank everyone that gave their time to help out on this hunt and a special thanks to Uncle Ron for traveling all the way from North Dakota to be a part of the experience(unfortunately he had to fly home before we were able to tag a bull). An extra special thanks to Uncle Pete for being the best hunting partner in the world! I cannot think of a better person to chase elk with. Cousin Anthony thanks for your help. It was a great time with family and friends! Last but not least I want to thank my wife for putting up with my hunting obsession.
