For the first time in 35 years I had the opportunity to take all the time I wanted to hunt. On opening morning of archery season, I thought I would hit an area where my wife had seen some nice muley bucks and bull elk during her pre-season trail runs. My deer tag was not good for the area, so my hunt would strictly be for elk. I was not expecting much because I was hunting around 9000 feet and the bulk of the elk would still be in higher country about 25 miles north of me. But, I had all month for archery and could even take another month if I had to switch to guns.
I walked in about a mile and a half before daylight. It was way too early in the season for any real rut activity, but I heard a few locator calls. I started checking out the area and looked for sign, generally playing the wind and meandering around. I started angling for a spot downhill on a tight, gnarly ATV trail that I had marked on my GPS. It was about 9:55 a.m. At that point I see a 4 point bull walking uphill about 50-60 yards away. His nose is to the ground and he is making a quiet sound like a cow mew. He has no idea I am there, and he is moving at a steady pace. I don’t have an arrow on the bow, and I have to reach back to my Catquiver mini and gently slide an arrow onto my 2009 Bowtech Destroyer 350 without being seen. I figure I need to do it sooner than later because he is going to be on top of me if I don’t hurry.
The bull is traveling uphill toward my position in a line that is going to take him right to me or within a few yards left of me. I pick the tree in front of me that I will use to attempt to mask the draw. He keeps coming and still does not see me at less than 10 yards. When he is about 3-5 yards from me he takes a look and cocks his head in a sort of “huh?” position. I am wearing a face mask so he still doesn’t know what I am. I am glad that I have a couple of trees between me and him because his antlers could ruin my day if he panicked and ran my way. I have not drawn the bow and it is not like I am going to be able to do it without being noticed. We stand off at what seems like an eternity. I decide I have nothing to lose so I slowly, deliberately start to draw and raise the bow at the same time. He starts to turn to head downhill but he still does not believe the input his eyes are giving him. I do not want to bust him by moving too quickly. He is starting to go downhill at a very slow pace and I get to full draw. He still does not know what I am and keeps turning to look at me. About 10-15 yards below me he around turns toward me and gives me almost a straight frontal shot. My single pin is on him and it looks good, so I let it go. I hear the sound of the arrow striking. It hit slightly to the left of his sternum (his right), and entered the rib cage, tearing blood vessels and lung. He staggers and does not know what happening. He turns and starts limping downhill but keeps turning to look at me. I can see blood spray shooting out through his chest. He staggers about 25 yards downhill and collapses. He is 42 yards away from me. I never lost sight. He stops moving in less than 10 minutes. He is not a monster, but he is a trophy to me!
![[Linked Image]](http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/Medicine_Bow/IMG_0388%20600x800_zpslzg3qh91.jpg)
Incidentally, a friend with a cabin in the area showed me some of his trail camera videos from the same area with a monster 7x7 bull playing in a wallow at 12:45 p.m. He also had pictures of some smaller bulls and cows, and a momma bear with two cubs.
OK, so now I have a month to get a deer. The cabin is not directly in my hunt area, but it is close. I have a place to which I can drive a short distance, park and walk. I have seen elk, deer and moose plus lots of bear sign in this area. This is one of those places that a lot of people don’t think to hunt because it is near a two lane highway and a major forest service gravel road heading to the interior. You can hear both highway traffic and traffic on the forest service road. It also has one ATV trail running through it. It does have some thick escape areas and hidey holes and a small field encircled by woods in which the critters can feed at night.
The administrative details of dealing with the elk plus a cabin owners’ meeting don’t allow me to get back into the woods for 5 days, which is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. I do not expect it to be productive because it is a high holiday weekend and there is a high volume of “howdy campers” and “howdy ATVers” who do not archery hunt. So, I again go into the woods before light with low expectation of seeing much. I figure I have about 3 hours after daylight to hunt before the “beer, eggs and bacon for breakfast” crowd starts organizing group rides through the woods and scaring the wildlife. I check out the area and see lots of sign but no deer. Although I usually stay out late, I decide to start heading back and check out some other areas.
As I am leaving the thick stuff at 9:55 a.m. and heading east about 50 yards west of an ATV trail (technically, a legit FS road, but narrow) running north-south, I catch movement coming right to me. A four point buck (plus some nubs on his brow) in velvet, followed by a three point buck with hard antlers, have just skittered across the ATV trail heading west for the thicket behind me. They are not spooked but they are not going to stay in the open. Again, I have to reach back and grab an arrow and slide it onto the bow. Again, I figure I may get seen but I had to do it before they got even closer. The four point starts to lower his head and feed and is coming right to me but the three point is more to the left (north). The three point keeps moving toward me but more to the north and the four point decides to follow the three point, which is a good thing. I still have to work out the details of the draw, and neither one is stopping. Because the deer are coming toward me to my left, and because I am right handed, they are going to pass me in a perfect position for me to draw and shoot with no need to change body positions, if only they will stop. I also have no chance to go for my rangefinder. The three point goes by me without seeing me. I want the four point in velvet anyway. He is about 30 yards away and I draw when his head is obscured behind a tree. He turns to quarter away and stops ever so slightly. My bow is sighted for 30 yards and the pin looks perfect so I let it go. I hear the arrow strike. I fear I may have been a little farther back than I wanted but the exit path still should have been good enough to do fatal damage. The buck takes off east toward the ATV trail but then appears to head north before reaching it, and then he disappears. He doesn’t have the stagger or broken gait of a hard hit animal. I am concerned.
My biggest fear is that the buck ran to the ATV trail and fell down, and that some ATV person was going to come along any minute and take it. In addition, I thought this was a deer that qualified for an extended wait period before following up the shot. I had no choice but to move east to the ATV trail and take a look. No deer and no obvious blood trail. OK, go back to my spot. A few minutes later, the three point comes back looking for his buddy. He follows the route that the four point took after the shot and then I hear a snort and see the three point running east across the ATV trail. OK, I know my deer is down and the three point spooked when he found his buddy.
When it was time to recover my deer, I went to where he was when I shot. I then located my arrow stuck in the base of a tree covered with blood and with no green on it. That made me feel a lot better. I found the deer a short while later. He didn’t go very far. Then I was able to walk back to the truck, drive it down the ATV trail and load it up after only a 50-75 yard drag.
Again, not a monster, but a trophy to me.
![[Linked Image]](http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd189/Medicine_Bow/IMG_1127%20600x800_zpsxwrzwqms.jpg)
So, with a month to hunt for deer and elk, I only needed 7 hours’ worth of hunting for a deer and an elk. Now, to speak of irony, I’ve got 20 hours spread out over 3 days trying to get ANY kind of antelope with a rifle and I have not been able to get one. But, I have bagged some grouse, and there’s a really nice mountain lion hanging around by the cabin if I want to buy a tag for that.
I am blessed to live where I live and have a lot of public land for a playground.
