It was a fun hunt. A buddy of mine was calling for me, and I swear he's the elk whisperer or something.
First set of bulls he called in:
The first one was a little smaller than this one, but obscured by trees/brush up to his shoulder. 30 yards, no shot.
The second was a spike that just wouldn't go away.
The third was bigger than this one. I started to draw to take the shot, but tripped the release at half draw (nerves!). Elk spooked on the second draw. Approximately 15 yards, uphill, with a beautiful silhouette of his rack against the morning sky.
Second set of bulls:
Two spikes, one bull on the other side of the point (possibly the one I killed later).
Final hunt:
It was the last day I could hunt before driving back to VA from NM. My truck had ruptured a brake line, and I had to drive back out to the area in a little 2wd 4-cyl Nissan that we lovingly call the "golf ball" due to hail damage. We got out around 5:30 to bugle the canyon from the day before (two spikes above), and got a response so we went up onto a point to hunt.
While calling, we heard a bugle way back up the canyon that just seemed off, and figured it must be another hunter. There were other responses from across the flat though, so we kept calling. Pretty soon, that bugle from up the canyon was a whole lot closer... way faster than another hunter moving. I got set up for a shot with a wide shooting lane to the left, a largish tree/bush about 10yds in front of me, and a beautiful garage-door wide lane to the right. My buddy was about 20yds behind and to the right of me.
I heard the bull coming over the top of the point and was hoping he'd take the path to the right of me and go for the cow calls. Once I head him on the other side of the bush, I drew and followed the sound to the right (YES!). He came trotting through the shooting lane, huffing and puffing after that cow he though was there, about 20 yards from me. I lined up a shot, and released. Left index finger tip was numb because I caught the fletching of the arrow and sent it wide to the left... gut shot.
The bull ran off down the point in the flat to the west of where we set up and stopped prior to where the two ravines come together. We watched him there for a while, and a spike came up to him then spooked away... probably because of the smell of blood. Bull crossed the ravine, and we started moving around the rim to keep sight of him. He made it another 400 feet or so before laying down. Overall, about 300 yards from where he was shot.
After a while, he heard some coyotes and tried to get up, but failed. That was where we recovered him from.
Great hunt. Loved it. Learned a lot. Now I know what to work on for next year.
And a picture of the "golf ball" filled with elk, just for fun:
