It seemed as though the summer was flying by as I kept a countdown going on a daily basis. Before you knew it was the middle of August and we were laying out all of our gear to make sure we had everything we needed. We took off for New Mexico from West Virginia on September 4th. We planned to drive the 24 1/2 hours straight through the night after we both worked a full day.
Once we got around to the spot where we were going to hike in from it was about 2 pm on the 6th. We loaded up our 55 lb packs and started our hike into the backcountry. About 2 miles into the hike we encountered elk already! They were about 150 yards out in a mix of a meadow and spruces. There was a very good 5x5 bull raking a tree with 2 cows in front of him. We also spotted a smaller 3x3 that was tagging along behind the group. We dropped our packs and tried to get in front of where they were headed but never got within range and they moved into thicker cover.
We ended up heading back to get our packs and continue our hike to where we initially planned. Once we broke on the other side of the meadow we dropped down into a drainage into some dark timber. In the timber we had another small bull come within 45 yards but no shot opportunities. We continued to work down the timber and got to a nice glassing point for the evening. We liked this spot so much it's where we decided to setup camp for the week. It gave us an awesome view of the whole drainage and we could hear anything that was bugling.
Boothill... I've hunted the colin neblett several times before it went to res only. Have family near angel fire, beautiful area!
As the evening went on we heard bugle after bugle. We looked at each other and by the look in his eye we both thought the same thought, we were in an elk haven. The evening continued and we saw many cows and a few bulls with those cows in the meadows. However, we heard many more bulls than we could glass. My guess is up until dark we had heard way over 200 bugles coming from our drainage, man was I pumped for the next day! That evening served up one of the coolest sights with the sunset dropping over the hill and all of the bulls carrying on like a broadway symphony.
We cooked ourselves a Mountain House meal while still listening to the bulls talk after dark. After we were done eating we climbed into the tent in hopes of trying to get some sleep for the next day. The plan of sleep didn't really workout because the bulls kept bugling all night long. It was one of the best nights without any sleep that I've ever had. We were more than excited to see what the next day had to bring we just had to wait for the sun to rise.
We hiked the 850 vertical feet down to the creek and began purifying our water. We ate our lunch at the creek and took a little midday nap to rest back up for the evening hunt.
very cool, keep posting. Want to hear the end of the story.
Once we got settled in I could see a storm was brewing and it was headed directly our way. This wasn't just going to be a drizzle we were in for a severe thunderstorm. One thing I did notice was the thunder sounded about ten times louder than it did back in WV. As the storm was moving closer I got my top half of my rain suit on trying to keep myself somewhat dry. As the rain started to fall it was an absolute downpour, and not to mention not long after the hail started to come down. At the point I was beginning to feel miserable I happened to look up the hill and a pair of elk legs moving through trees about 150 yards up the hill. This got me excited, popped up to my knees to get ready just in case.
I happened to peak around my tree to the left and I have no clue where came from but 8 cows were coming my way from left to right. I guess it is a lot easier to slip up when you are in a thunderstorm and can't hear a lick. The mix of cows and calves came right through one my perfect openings at a tree I ranged at 30 yards. The next thing I notice is where I first noticed the cows there was a bull following behind them about 100 yards. I didn't have time pull up my binos I just knew he would meet my standards. He came through the exact same path that the cows took. I locked on my bow and got pulled when he went behind the first spruce tree. As soon as head hit the opening I began squeaking him to get him to stop, and he locked up and looked right at me. I settled in and let the arrow fly and the next sound I heard was a thwack!
I knew I had hit him, but in the midst of the downpour I never could see the flight of the arrow. He ran off about 50 yards not having a clue what had happened because the Muzzy tipped Full Metal Jacket had buzzed right through him. I got the binos up on him and could see a bloodspot on his entry side about 3-4 inches below what I thought would've been an ideal shot, but no doubt it was perfectly behind the shoulder. He stood for another couple minutes and then slowly walked off.
We waited for another 30-40 minutes before starting the track. We walked over to the spot the bull was standing and found my arrow. The arrow now looked like I had never shot anything because the rain had washed it all off. We then went over to thicker patch where he stood for a couple minutes and there was huge pile of blood laying there that was frothy and bubbly that was a very encouraging sign(Lungs like I thought from the blood spot). So we began to track him through the meadow where he walked which was fairly easy with the newly soft ground. Every track we would find blood right with it. We continued tracking across the meadow and I was getting pretty nervous after we had went close to 350 yards. By this time it was getting fairly close to dark and we had made it to where he had entered the dark timber.
We had a decision on our hands, do we continue tracking the animal with the chance of jumping him with dark fast approaching. Or do we back out and wait till morning to continue the track. Our rule when hunting whitetails back home is if we are in doubt at all we back out to give the animal time. So this is the choice we made and marked the spot where he entered the timber with the arrow and hike back to camp.
Once we got back to camp we cooked ourselves a Mountain House meal and I kept trying to replay the whole encounter over and over again in my head. I knew that I was not going to get any sleep that night, but we climbed into the tent anyway. It seemed like the night just crept by but I managed maybe an hour or two throughout the night. All that was on my mind was how that bull could lose so much blood and not have went down in the distance we tracked.
I had so many mixed emotions when we found him. I was pumped to had found my first elk, but at the same time I was dejected that coyotes had beat me to him. It absolutely tore me up, I began second guessing our decision from last night. There are a lot of what if's that came in to play for which was the right decision.
I was more than happy to put my tag on this bull. But now our focus shifted to getting Dad his bull. All along I was really hoping Dad would get the first shot at a bull. I planned on putting out my most forth effort for the rest of week for Dad to fill his tag.
We cross over to the drainage the next morning and see a huge herd of elk of about 60 head. Through the spotting scope we can make out to see at least 12 bulls, but we were glassing from over a mile away. They were heading back into the dark timber from the meadows down below. We spotted a certain draw that a majority were heading into. Our plan was to get as close to them as we could and try to call one of the bulls in to come over and check us out. We got over and into position and I let out a bugle. Almost immediately I got a response from the meanest sounding bull that I've heard all week. We got him to talk to us for over 30 minutes, but it seemed like he didn't want to budge. We decided that for the evening we would head back down to the meadow and hopefully get a shot as the elk headed back down for the night. Dad got setup and I headed back up to the opposite hill so I glass the hillside so we could have a better idea where they were coming out.
We both got setup for the evening and I got locked in with the binos and spotting scope. At about 6:30 the elk started filing out from all different places. The closest they got to Dad that evening was about 100 yards and he didn't have the opportunity to make a move in the wide open meadow. However, at about 7:15 I glassed up the bull that I had talking to me. He exited the dark timber about 150 yards from where Dad was. He was awesome and he had it all. He was now the only bull we would focus on for the last day and a half that we had left to hunt.
Since it was our last day to hunt and we wouldn't be able to hunt that evening we decided to try to pull out all the stops to get this bull down. We climbed up parallel to the draw they were in trying to get as close as we could before calling. The big bull was still bugling frequently which gave us a good pinpoint on his location. We got setup to what was probably 150-200 yards from the bull and began cow calling. As soon as I let out a bugle he responded immediately. It sounded like he was coming closer and then he began bugling like crazy at about 100 yards but we could never see him through the timber because he was right over a point, and it was super thick in there. All in all the big bull wouldn't commit to come the last 100 yards to come check us out. I guess that's what has helped him grow so large on public land. He ended up going back to where we first heard him.
It was very tough saying that we had been defeated by this bull. It felt like if we had a couple more days we could've pulled out a shot opportunity. All in all it was one of the best weeks of my life, and I wouldn't have asked to spend it with anyone else. We loaded up our backs and had to head back to reality. I'm definitely hooked for life on elk hunting now. There is nothing that can compare with an elk screaming back at you. Until next time I'll continue to dream about the beautiful elk country we got to live in for a week.
It's also great that you both could share the experience together.
Thanks for sharing.
Good luck, Robb
Best of Luck, Jeff
Mark
Congrat's
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