MY SW COLORADO ARCHERY ELK HUNT 2009

Oran · Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:37 pm Post subject:

Best hunt I ever been on in my entire life,had 8 different bulls come in to calls in 5 days, only hunted one evening due to rain, timing was perfect, 3 bowhunters leaving when I got there, they had not seen even one bull, A muzzle hunter was finishing his hunt the day that I started, he had one encounter, walked up on a bull, and couldnt get the sling on his muzzle loader off in time. The day he left we called two 5X5 bulls in, they winded us, bad wind, that evening called in another 5x5 , my guide had moved in front and left of my set up, drew the bull right into my scentline. had couple of spikes come within 20 yards, had one 3x4 come to calls , guide was 200 yards behind me drew bull about 110 yards to my left, and another 5x5 that came in from the guides left, right to him, not good for me.

I told him that evening that I was going to tie a rope to him so he would have to stay close to me, the last day we had perfect wind, right in our face. we were set up on the same park that we had called the other 4- 5x5 bulls and the 3x4 in on. As first light was coming I set up about 70 yard out in the park, by an old dead tree that had blown down, I had the mountain in front of me that the bulls were coming down from. It was about 500 yards in front of me to the base of the mountain, My guide set up 75 yards behind me and began to cow call aggressively,almost instantly the bulls started bugling, at least 4 bulls in front of me on the mountain, answering his cow calls, 10 minutes into his cow calling all the bulls were fired up. One particular bull was on fire, that BULL was buglin so loud, like nothin I have ever heard before, every time he answered the call you could tell he was getting closer. I was glassing the mountain, in the direction that his bugling was coming from. Finally I spotted him coming down the mountain, bugling his head off and covering ground at a steady pace, He was probably 2/3 way down the mountain when I spotted him, but still there were other bulls bugling to the left and to the right, but none of them sounded like this bull, he was super wound up.

I was getting a range on every thing I could, not really alot to range though. I had practiced for this moment all summer, I had a 20-30-40-50-and 60 yard pin.When I had arrived at the ranch the guide and outfitter had me shoot at all those distances, out to 50 yards.Every single arrow, 3 at each distance, drilled the bullseye, my group of 3 arrows at 50 yards was under 3 inches. To say the least they were impressed, and so was I.

The bull was at the bottom of the mountain now, and behind a small rise where I couldnt see him. He had to jump a fence at about 300 yards out in front of me. He was bugling like crazy, I could tell he was at the fence. My heart was pounding, and the adrenalin was making my legs into noodles. Such a majestic animal, in all his glory, definitely king of the mountains, I was focused in the direction of his bugling when all the sudden I seen him, he was headed straight at me, at a gallop, his head laid back with his antlers tucked tight against his back,nose tilted slightly up ,bugling while he was running to me.

In just a matter of 20 to 30 seconds he was closing in fast, he was facing straight at me, as he approache the 35 yard mark he began to slow to a walk,and turned his head directly at me, staring me in the eye while he was walking forward toward my guide cow calling,he was now slightly to my left front, lookin right at me at 20 yards, I tried to pull my bow back, and I was so rattled I couldnt pull it back, I attempted it again, all the while the bull is stopped looking at me, trying to figure out what I am, I had it almost back, right at the brake over point when my elbow bottomed out on a limb behind me, and sent my arm forward, the arrow fell left off the arrow rest, but didnt come un knocked, I quickly set the arrow back on the rest. The bull was now backing up to leave, I had a diaphram in my mouth an managed a cow call, and he stoped, broad side at about 25 to 30 yards,In all the panicking, and trying to draw the bow back, I guess I didnt pay any attention to how far he was, I managed to get the bow to full draw, placed my 50 yd pin on his vitals and squeezed the release, the arrow flew perfectly right over his back about 2 foot high.

The bull decided that was enough, he started moving away out in front of me, I was cow calling and the guide was calling, the bull decided he still wanted the cow, he started making a wide circle out in front of me, from my left to my right at about 75 yards, Now I was leaning over a limb trying to get another arrow out of my quiver that was laying on the ground behind the log that I was using for cover, by the time I got an arrow knocked I grabbed my range finder, the bull had moved all the way around me to my right and was now behind me to my right, I ranged him at 107 yards,then he made a sharp right turn and headed straight at my guide. By now my guide is laying flat on the ground, with the bull walking straight at him,at 3 paces from my guide the bull stopped, It was a sight to see, now I am attempting to draw again for a last ditch shot, again the adrenalin had weakened the hell out of me, I am fighting the bow, and the bull looks right at me again, he turnes to leave on the same path he came, as soon as he turned away from my guide, I cowcalled, and he stopped, I was at full draw,I new the distance was about 80 yards, I lined up my pins on the back edge of his shoulder, and put my longest pin, the 60yd pin, about 1 foot above his back, I squeezed the shot the arrow was on its way, smack the arrow struck the bull on the back edge of his shoulder blade, I will never forget the sound of the arrow hitting that bull.I could see the arrow sticking in him, upon impact he swung his rack straight back and snapped the arrow off, he began to leave, me and the guide would cow call every time he began to walk away, the bull would stop every time, this call and walk went on for about 10 minutes, I am watching the bull frantically, I am shaking so bad, I can barely see through my binoculars,I can see the blood coming from the bull, the point of impact was back edge of shoulder blade, about 9 inches down from the top of the bulls back,blood is running down his side, I am expecting him to fall any second.BUT HE DOESNT. He just keeps walking and stopping, like an animal that was not feeling very well. I started following him at a distance with another arrow knocked, he was moving through some aspens on a small ridge, I was closing the distance pretty quick when I noticed, a fence in front of him, I panicked, I thought it was another ranch fence that butted up to the ranch I was on.But it was a national forrest boundary.I was about 65 yards behind the bull when he attempted to jump the fence,he was so messed up that he got tangled up in the fence trying to jump it, wire was streching making a heck of a comotion. then he made it over. as soon as he landed he regained his footing and took about 4 running leaps into some oak brush, I just stood there in disbelief that this bull was still alive, as I turned around my guide was walking up with my arrow, I compared the broke arrow with my ones in my quiver and determined that the bull had about 8 inches of arrow, including the broadhead in him.With the high impact of the arrow he was hardly leavin any blood at all.I figured most of the bleeding was internal. I told the guide I wanted to back out and give him some time. So we marked the fence where he crossed, and left back for the lodge.It was about a 45 min drive to the lodge, after arriving we decided we would give the bull 5 or 6 hours to lay up and die, we discussed how the bull acted after the shot, walking very slow, stopping, a couple of times he even studder stepped backwards, I just knew he was about to fall, but he never did. We felt we would find him not far from where he jumped the fence. One good thing was it had rained hard every day, so the ground was pretty soft, we felt like we could track him by his foot prints even if there wasnt any blood.

We waited at camp, and watched the weather, fearing that another 2 pm rain would foil our tracking efforts, sure as heck the clouds started building, so me the guide and the outfitter headed back to the ranch, to try and find my bull, as far as I was concerned we couldnt get there fast enough,the sky was looking really bad.

We finally got there and headed to the fence, it had been 4 hours since the shot. we started over the fence, there was no bloded at all where he landed, which really surprised me, but we had his prints, Art my guide began tracking him by his foot prints, not as easy as I thought it would be, too much vegetation, and I guess he had slowed back to a steady walk, after about 50 yards we lost his track. My guide and outfitter just started scattering out, in a desperation hunt for the bull, experience tells me to stay with the track, I moved forward trying to get another track, the surrounding area, had several trails and barrin muddy ground, That I figured I would be able to pick up his track again, I never could, all the surrounding mud spots out in front of the last track, and I could find not one track,after about an hour or so of this, my guide and outfitter show back up. They are trying to make me feel better,saying that the bull would probably heal up,and they thought we needed to head for the truck to avoid the approaching storm. Reluctantly I followed them, I told them that I felt 99% sure that the bull was dead, I felt like he had made a hard right or left after settling down.

That was the most emotional roller coaster hunt that I have ever experienced,So exciting, trying to get the perfect set up, seeing all the bulls, and finally getting a nice bull into range, only to blow the opportunity,then taking a long desperation shot, and seeing the arrow hit, and feeling good about the shot. I have thought it over and over in my head, If I could have only drew my bow when I knew he was at 20 yds, if I had only had the composier to realize that he was only about 25 to 30 yards when I finally did get it drawn,and placing the correct pin on him, should have been a chip shot, instead I sail it 2 ft over his back with my 50 yd pin,And knowing that he is laying over that fence somewhere, was more than I could take, the storm had blown in with a vengance dumping rain, and sleet 2 inches thick on the ground, when we arrived back at the ranch, I just started packing up, within an hour I was on the road to Texas. 966 miles later when I arrived home, I was still replaying everything in my head,and thinking, WHAT IF I HAD ???????????And I will keep thinking it, for a long time. It is definitely the most exciting hunt I think anyone could ever experience, no deer can ever even come close to the rush of emotions you will go through when a 800 lb Bull elk with his big antlers and bellowing bugle is fast approaching you, something I will never forget, and something that I wish every hunter could experience just once,If they did, they would be hooked for life.

Good Hunting

Oran Payne