September once again found me headed west with visions of elk dancing in my head.  My long time hunting partner has some back and leg problems that had us looking for a less physical hunt this year.  We ended up booking a hunt with an outfitter that has private land in relatively low elevations.  

The area we hunted was not large, but it did hold elk.  We just had to be very careful not to pressure it hard or we could have easily run the elk off and been out of luck for the rest of the hunt.  Contrary to what we had hoped for by booking the last week of the season, temperatures during the week were in the mid to upper 80's during the day.  Elk activity was pretty much limited to the first hour or two in the mornings and after sunset in the evenings.  We saw elk every day, but getting close before they bedded down was difficult.

The evening of our second to last day we had located a nice herd of elk high up above us.  A very nice herd bull along with 3 satellites and a group of cows fed in an opening for two hours prior to dark.  We felt the safest plan was to set up directly below them and hope they would make their way down as the sun set.  Once again, the warm temperatures seemed to slow the normal movement patterns, and the entire herd stayed just out of reach above us until after shooting light disappeared.  As I snuck out under the cover of darkness one of the satellite bulls followed just a couple of minutes behind me bugling all the way.  Frustrating!

The title says "Last day".  That last paragraph got us to the day before...

 

 This is gonna be good. I've seen the results. Been waiting on this one.

The final morning of the hunt my partner and I hiked to the top of a sheer cliff to class the flats below.  Shortly after sun up I spotted two bulls far to our north.  They were on the opposite side of a large draw and we figured they were probably headed up that side hill.  The wind was strong in our face and I wasn't even sure they could hear a call.  But with nothing to lose I gave a couple of lost cow calls.  An immediate bugle from the larger of the two bulls told us he could hear us just fine!

We backtracked and scrambled to a lower bench and I gave a few more cow calls.  Again, immediate bugles rang back and we could see him far below headed our direction!  We had to make another move to find spots with good shooting lanes.  We seperated by about 100 yards to cover two likely routes he might take up the mountain.  

Just as I reached the end of the bench the bull let out another bugle and this one was close!  I nocked an arrow and dropped my pack to the ground just as I saw antlers coming up the hill toward me.  The path he was taking would bring him right past me at 15 yards, but at 25 yards he froze quartering toward me.   For the next twenty minutes that is where he stayed.  Fortunately, I was in a good solid stance and was able to remain motionless.

Finally, he moved a little further up toward me, turned broadside, and dropped his head to feed.  I drew in ultra slow motion.  That type of draw is difficult for me, and I will use it as the excuse for the poor shot I made.  The arrow hit high and too far back, and as the bull crashed off below me my heart sank.  I had blown a perfect opportunity.

After waiting six hours to give him plenty of time we took up the track.  Blood was good at first but quickly slowed to tiny drops.  I've been on plenty of tracks that looked like that and knew what that generally meant.  I was sick.  But as we neared the bottom of the slope I spotted stick that looked out of place.  A look through my binoculars reveled that the stick was actually an antler tine attached to a very dead bull.

I've been using Bill Dunn's new Grizzly Instinct 3 blade broadheads and am convinced that they really helped to turn a bad shot into a good one.  The large cutting surfaces maximized damage on the way through.  The head did its part even though I didn't quite do mine.

I took this picture a couple of days prior not knowing that it would end up being a great overview of where the final action would take place.  I first saw the bull a few hundred yards to the left on this picture and he followed that ridge down and across the draw up to the spot marked "Shot".



I look happy, and of course I was, but to be honest it was more relief than anything.

Thanks for not teasing us all day Joe. Awesome bull congrats Brother!

Congrats bud  

Fantastic Joe! Relief,happiness it's all the same when you get to put your hands on an animal    So...backstrap medallions in a port wine reduction when we meet at Klintworth?        :D

Congratulations Joe!!!

Wow, congrats Joe.

Beautiful animal.  Great photo. Congrats.  

Congrats!  

Good job Whip, very nice congrats, beautiful cape on that animal for this time of year.

That's the way you do it!!

Way to go Brother!!!

Great looking bull, congrats!!

Glad it all worked out Whip. Congrats on a fine looking animal.

Way to go Awesome bull great job on the recovery

Congratulations Joe.  Nice bull.

Congrats Whip!Super nice Bull and a great hunt.