Our favorite elk hunting story yet...
This year started similarly. At our first camp, we did get in fairly close on a cow, and contemplated taking a long shot, but the brush, and spookiness of this cow made it a moot point. she was on alert and spooked when we tried to call her into the open. This living elk was the freshest sign we found in this area so we elected to focus our efforts elsewhere. The next day we hiked into areas we had hunted in the past in an attempt to find some fresh sign. Cattle had spent the summer in these areas and with such dry conditions, the land and forage had been beat up pretty good. It did not appear that the elk were using any of the areas that we knew of.
We decided to head to town and use our "phone a friend" lifeline.
As it turned out, we finally had a lead. That day, we met up with the third member of our well respected hunting party and made plans to head for woods...after we watched his beloved Denver Broncos play the Sunday afternoon game. As dark set in on the mountain, we set up camp and enjoyed a couple adult beverages as we made plans for the next days hunt. Looking at the area on the drive to camp, we all knew the morning hike would be less than enjoyable. It did not disappoint.
We set out in the dark, with visions of bulls vivid in our minds, we climbed. Thousands of vertical feet later, a couple of miles away, and in very good elk country we found nothing. We did hear a few elk near a wallow and found a massive wallow that had definitely been used recently, but could not find real live elk. We did though, find some nice grizzly bear prints. A bit perplexed, and on the verge of frustration we made our way back to the first ridge we had set up on that morning to come up with a big game plan for the evening.
After a quick stop at camp and an unspoken pep talk, we headed up the road to Pistacio Flats. If memory serves, this area is somewhere along the Clif Bar River on BLM land in the National forest. Anyway, this turned out to be a good choice.
There were no other vehicles at the trailhead and as we geared up. We headed out and very quickly with the silence of the coming night, realized that bugles were ringing in the distance. Finally, a vocal bull! We hustled further into the woods and quickly developed a plan. I bugled to the bull and got an urgent reply. Good, now what? Up went the decoy among a few trees on the edge of a meadow. Centered in the meadow is a very dense thicket of small trees. From where the bull was coming, he would go one way or the other around the thicket to find us, should he really make such a mistake a come all the way in. I moved back behind the decoy into the thick brush on the edge of the meadow while my comrades set up ahead of the decoy to intercept the bull on his approach. I had him bugling regularly, however it sounded like he was moving away from us. I chuckled and crashed the brush as violently as I could for a time while other members of Team Stalk and Spook let out multiple cow calls, we finally turned him!
It must have been at least a thirty minute conversation from this point, but finally I knew he was just on the other side of the thicket in the meadow. As cows came into view, I knew it was only a matter of time before their master would be in view too. Then he appeared...
It looked like they were going to parade right past me and into the brush as the bull prodded the cows along. With an arrow nocked, I quit calling. It was time to let the decoy do its job. As the bull passed the opening. a perfectly timed cow call turned his attention toward our set-up. He made a line for the decoy and unleashed what may be the loudest bugle I will ever hear. He screamed at about 18 yards and continued on his quartering away mission to see which cow had slipped out of his control. I had two shooting lanes and as he passed the first, I could not stop him. I swung with him at full draw and settled my pin as he walked through the second lane. I watched as my fletching disappeared into his tan side and heard the telling "thwack" of a hit. He bolted and made a U-turn around some trees and as he disappeared into the thicket, I could see blood rolling down what would have been the exit-side. Seconds later he crashed...hard. The Slick Trick Mag had made quick work of him on a less than perfect shot. I could not believe it. And a pass through...
As he ran away, I let out a few cow calls in an attempt to calm all the fleeing elk.
I hustled down the trail to find the others and to my surprise, saw two cows coming out of the thicket behind my celebrating buddy Comancho. The bulls crashing had spooked the cows back into the open. I motioned to him and watched as he swung his nocked arrow to track the trotting cows. When they stopped to look at us, he drew and fired. His arrow also buried deep into the elk, but did not pass through. In a second it was all over. We had the herd bull and a cow down. 3 years of hard hunting and learning had finally paid off in a fast couple seconds.
When I found this bull dead in the thicket, I have never felt so humble. To kill an animal like this with an arrow and get to share it with two hard hunting amigos will always be a favorite memory of mine. Not to mention the selfless hard work they did in the dark that night...it was truly a team effort. And while Stalking and Spooking is usually our M.O., we flat put 'em on the ground this trip!!
Our other brother Shawn T. Norris put his bull down the next night...within 24 hours of our big hunt. That story may need another story, but one thing is for sure, Stalk and Spook® Hunting was a little less spooky for a couple beautiful September nights in Montana.
(as told by Kirk T. Norris - fellow Stalk and Spook® Prostaff member)
Kirk's gear: Hoyt Vector 35, Winners Choice Custom Strings, Carbon Express Maxima Hunter 350, 100 gr. Slick Trick Mag,Black Gold Ascent, QAD rest, Badlands Packs, Lowa Boots, Predator Camo
(Elk on ice, no ice skates required)
