My Last Weekend Chasing Bulls with a Bow

Ok your probably going to call me a liar but this is the truth. I saw 143 total elk in 3 days of hunting. I didn't get one with my bow. I needed a rifle this past weekend. A lot of the elk I saw were over 1 mile away when I saw them. The first night I saw 3 bulls with 2 branch antlered bulls one looked like a smaller 6 point and one spike.

Most of the elk were concentrated on upper ridges. They were in the head of the basin about ½ mile from the top. Hunting this late the elk were not very vocal at all. I heard an occasional soft bugle. No grunts. Just a low soft errrrrhugh…no more than 3 seconds. I also heard no cow calls. I saw cows but when I meowed they were quite. With the elk bunched up like that it was almost impossible to stalk them with a bow.

It raining, windy and with fog on day two. The rain started at 2:45 AM and never let up. It rained so hard it came in under the door of the trailer and in the vent of the refrigerator. Visibility was down to about 100-200 yards. Last night as I drew my bow back I realized some how my peep sight had gone missing. I decided to head to Dillon to Uncle Bob’s and get it fixed. I also stopped at Tim Tollets and said, Howdy too. Opening of waterfowl season was today. Perfect weather for that. They mentioned that a lot of birds were in the area and with the weather for the opener should be fantastic.

On my way back I stopped at a spot I've wanted to check on the last few weekends. I wanted to see if I could legally gain access. I could but only walk in so I humped it in about a mile and started to glass. I saw over 55 elk and three 6 point bulls. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of the fence. So I’ll I could do was look.

On day three I forgot my binoculars. I realized this about a mile from the truck I decided to hunt without them and just use my range finder. I was at a serious handicap. Don’t do this. Take the time to walk back and get the binos.

I saw 88 total elk on this day. One group on I saw counted for 74. There were two herd bulls in this group that even from 1 mile away you could see were huge. It looked as there were other bulls in the bunch but the distance and the lack of my Swarovski’s put me at a definite disadvantage. I won’t make this mistake again. Here's a small group of elk I crept up on I couldn't narrate for obvious reasons.



I can say that I absolutely love hunting here. It is wild, it is remote it is spectacular; it is why I live here and get out and do this year after year. Here is a bull that I ended up getting 58 yards away from...he saw me before I saw him. Nice 6x6 though.

So the next elk hunting I'll be doing is with my rifle. Here are a few photos for you to enjoy.