After 5 years of waiting, I finally was able to draw a type 9 archery only tag for the Bighorn mountains. Having never hunted elk at all, my high school buddy and I were very excited to give it a go. Little did we know how much fun we were going to end up having! Our very first evening we walked into a small herd of elk with a very nice bull, but we were unable to pull him away from his cows. We kept hunting the same area and we were hearing bugles and seeing elk nearly every day. Finally on our 5th evening, we were walking into a meadow and I spotted a bull that had just stood up out of a wallow and was covered in black mountain mud at about 300 yards. My buddy backed up and began some soft cow calls, but due to the wind he couldn't hear him. I finally let out some louder cow calls and the bull immediately turned from raking a tree and let out a bugle in out direction. He then proceeded all the way across an open meadow and ended up in my face at 20 yards. One final bugle in my face and he was stepping into my shooting lane. I drew slowing and shot the bull walking at 20 yards. I immediately saw my arrow an knew the bull was fatally hit. I watched him run back across the meadow with his side turning red. Immediately after he hit the timber we heard him crash and knew it was a done deal! We then walked up to our first ever elk kill! He was a 5x5 with fairly good mass and more than I ever expected with my first elk. He was field dressed and we packed him out the following morning.
On the 11th day of the hunt my buddy hiked up above where we were camped and had heard a bull bugling throughout the night. After calling and checking several meadows with no luck, he began his walk back to camp. He then came upon a large north facing patch of dark timber from above and decided to cow call one last time. When he did he was immediately answered by a bull directly below him, no more than 100 yards away. A quick set up, a couple missed arrows later, and a returned rut crazed bull, and he finally made the 3rd arrow count with a spot on frontal shot. The bull ran only 60 yards, bedded down, and then expired. We hiked back up to his bull by noon and had a very short pack back to camp with his awesome 6x6 archery bull.
We were blown away by our trip and it was far more than we ever could've hoped for for first time elk hunters and especially since we pulled of the feat with archery tackle! Wyoming is a special place and has been very good to me! Freezers full and two trophies for the wall!
On the 11th day of the hunt my buddy hiked up above where we were camped and had heard a bull bugling throughout the night. After calling and checking several meadows with no luck, he began his walk back to camp. He then came upon a large north facing patch of dark timber from above and decided to cow call one last time. When he did he was immediately answered by a bull directly below him, no more than 100 yards away. A quick set up, a couple missed arrows later, and a returned rut crazed bull, and he finally made the 3rd arrow count with a spot on frontal shot. The bull ran only 60 yards, bedded down, and then expired. We hiked back up to his bull by noon and had a very short pack back to camp with his awesome 6x6 archery bull.
We were blown away by our trip and it was far more than we ever could've hoped for for first time elk hunters and especially since we pulled of the feat with archery tackle! Wyoming is a special place and has been very good to me! Freezers full and two trophies for the wall!
