Its your 3rd day of your elk hunt
You were working up a small ridge and heard a light bugle up ahead
You ease out to the edge of the timber and see elk 50yds away
Now what?
Knowing where you are hunting and the kind of hunting pressure, he's highly unlikely to come running in to a call like in the Primos videos. So I'd hang on the edge of the herd since you have at least another hour of good wind.
Most likely I would end up busting a cow and send the herd into parts unknown.
Elk hunting is all about the unknowns and this senario could very well happen to anyone hunting elk.
You prob don't have time to think about what to do, you better know what to do
I came across a very similar situation a few years back where elk were entering a small open knob as shown, when I first saw the elk all were cows, 9 of them, I froze on the edge of the small meadow & fortunately the wind was in my face. I was exposed in plain sight, I had not seen them coming until it was too late so dropped carefully to a knee & didn't move a muscle. The cows ended up coming into the opening, a few stared me down at 15 yards sniffing the air wildly & staring but unsure of what I was. I didn't flinch & they started to feed & mingle, after 7-8 minutes I see this bull walk into the same spot the cows came through, he looked them over & walked amongst them, I was frozen & in disbelief I had not even been able to nock an arrow yet.
As the cows seemed occupied with his presence I slowly pulled an arrow out of the quiver, it seemed like it took an eternity, I nocked it without moving my head & looking at the string, it was harder than I thought it should have been! (grin) I got it nocked & slipped my 3 fingers under the arrow nock & waited. The bull walked away from the cows to my left & was aprox 28 yards. I hear a bull bugle from the timber a long ways off & this bull turned his head towards the bugle, that was my cue, I didn't even think about it, I drew instantly & let the shaft fly, the bull went 150 yards & piled up. This worked that day, I was fortunate.
ElkNut1
Funny thing was not one cow moved or was alerted at all until the bull ran out of sight! They could see me & my movement plain as day but were frozen for a few moments as it all unfolded!
I'd be cursing poop in my pants.
Huntabsarokee, where cnelk is hunting, a little bull like that with that many cows isn't coming to fight anybody bugling aggressively. I'd say there's about a 50-50 chance the whole bunch takes off, or they just ignore it if there are other raghorns bugling around.
It wasnt calling...
I'll tell you what I'd do, something stupid like trip on a log or sneeze and blow all the elk out of there...
My first impression is that there's several eyes pointing my way so I'm pegged already by 1/2 the herd. I've got 5-10 seconds before they start filtering away. It's either shoot now unless I had my elk butt decoy up already. I'd pull at a branch a few times, kick a rock, and pull some grass from the ground from behind the decoy and see if they believed me.
I think there's a big difference in shooting at an elk that's looking for you versus looking at you not knowing what you are. If they're looking for an elk, I'd take the shot at 50. If they have you pegged and don't know what you are, that's Jump-the-string City and I won't take that shot farther than 40 yards.
There has to be a bigger bull around, and It's possible that's what the other cows are looking at down the hill.
Either that or another hunter is on his way to ruin your morning hunt.
Wind slightly left to right, up the hill. Either stay on top of these elk, and get it done quickly or work down and see what's down below.
If this isn't my last day and I know they come here often I might chance it and wait until the evening, or the next day to set up an ambush.I can't justify a shot at that crowd from here. Might end up with a bad shot, or a pass through resulting in multiple wounded animals.
Seeing as he's got a whole harem to choose from, I assume a call wouldn't bring the bull off that herd. A bugle just might make him round them up to leave.
Now what.... x2
Unless I'm already on the right side of them. Then I'd just have to see how that played out haha.
At full draw, once that bull presents a broadside shot with no risk of hitting another elk, the missile is on its way!
Good Thread!
Mark
I would not have done anything in the form of calling or trying to flash a decoy, no sense in giving my self away to them & alerting my presence especially with good wind & concealment.
With a group still that large in an OTC pressured unit & the one bull in the 1st photo hard horned I'd guess it was pre-rut, late Aug to 1st week in Sept otherwise the group would be quite a bit smaller. That group should start to separate in smaller groups as they hook up with other prospective bulls. Too, with only the single bugle heard by cnelk & no other bulls bugling with that large a group it shows there's no rutting action or hot cows there, another pre-rut sign.
Bugling or cow calling while on the crest of the hill has very low odds of success there, I'm waiting them out for a shot opportunity. If they hear anything it would be a nervous grunt to stop the elk I wanted for a shot if needed!
ElkNut1
Probably says there is no human below, they would be headed the other way...
Bull will most likely stay behind the last cows on top of the knob and move out behind them or at least behind the majority of them. Then again, if they are on alert, he might dart into the thick stuff behind him before picking up his cows down the hill.
Get ready if you are going to kill this bull, this is going to happen fast. You had better already have him ranged, arrow knocked, ready if not already drawn.
Looks like your bull may be moving them off...So, maybe there IS a bigger bull down the hill, he's just silent, and this bull is going to move these cows outta there.
Lotsa traffic and eyes on you. I'm staying put for awhile and see how this plays out. If you alert the herd now, they are all outta there.
If they start to move, you always have a chance to cut them off to your right. Don't panic!
MikeC
A patient hunter will get a crack at that one, the "possible" silent bigger one coming up from below on the left, or get another opportunity at them enroute to bedding since there is time to maneuver before the wind goes bad.
I will let you know who that is later.
Any guesses?
I have a few hunting partners like that!
Thanks for sharing the experience...
If I am only after the bull, patience is going to be the key, they are probably heading to bed so trying to get in front of them and make sure they don't get my scent might be the best approach.
Meat is good.
ElkNut1
I realize a couple pics don't give a full perspective of the situation. Lou knows the GMUs I hunt and he is correct in stating there are lots of cows and raghorns. We particularly aren't too choosy as our freezers get hungry.
HUNTALITTLE is correct in how we approached the situation. We ran out of cover and knew the elk wouldn't come to calling by their position and body language.
So we waited for them to leave, backed out and made a plan for the next morning.
We got there early, didn't even have to call as the same elk came right by our setup.
Btw. This is OTC public land.
Thanks for tagging along.
I think cnelk and I may be in the same hunt unit/units some Septembers and finding elk can be tough! He seems to be much more successful than I am though!
I like these scenarios, they are a great thinking tool!
Then cursing and second guessing. The word idiot would have run through my head about 100 times.
Then I'd move on and do something idiotic to some other elk somewhere else on the mountain
Bake
And still have an either sex tag in your pocket to try and tag a bull later.
I'm not saying I'm above shooting a raghorn, I just don't see shooting a raghorn over a cow if I have the option.
But some years we shot our extra cow early and didn't get an opportunity at a "good" bull.
What I would have done would have ended up mimicking Bake's response.
God Bless men
You could have got her done the first go-round.
Were you originally after the bull?
Idyl- The reason I shoot a raghorn over a cow are two-fold. 1. More meat than a cow, and a young bull tastes pretty good! 2. Raghorns possibly like this bull need to be taken out of the gene pool if there's any chance a unit will produce quality bulls over time. This bull looks like he may be 4 or 5 years old, decent G1-G3, but I don't see anything in the back. Time to go!
"Please explain why you backed out the first time, only to return to shoot a cow the next day?"
50yd shots aren't gimmee's. Don't risk a shot you're not comfortable with. Doesn't matter if it's a cow or a 400 bull. If you know the elk you're hunting, it's better to pass up a 50yd shot today for a 20yd shot tomorrow.
As far as meat goes, a young raghorn won't yield significantly more meat than a young cow...and both taste pretty good. As Jaq pointed put earlier, the bulls in that area tend to run on the young/small size. Shooting that bull doesn't mean a bigger bull is going to run in to take his place. The term "herd bull" is relative to the area you hunt. Take that bull out and it just means one more bull won't live long enough to become a "trophy". Taking him out of the gene pool does nothing to improve the genes. Biologically speaking, it make MUCH more sense to remove one of a bunch of cows, rather than one of a few bulls. If cnelk hunts in an area like I do, there's very little chance that bull will live to be a "trophy".
Any legal bull (a 5" brow tune) is killed on the public land during archery, ML, and the four rifle seasons. Outfitted hunters mow down the next two age classes, and when I guided there most NRs were happy with a little fiver like that.
Since there is no "management" other than protecting spikes, a bull like that will be lucky to survive another year unless he gets to a ranch where hunting is limited and the number of bulls outnumber the paid hunters.
If he survives, he may join the 4 and up bulls that learn to flee to the ranches during the first few days of archery season. Then if they survive archery and ML and first rifle there they generally spend the rest of the post rut in dark timber holes where the NR outfitted hunters don't go.
Point is, it doesn't matter what public land hunters shoot, so shoot what you want. For biological reasons, shooting a cow is the best thing to do, but nobody is going to give out a plaque for letting that bull live to be shot at by MLs and gunners for another month and a half.
Thanks for taking us along!!
G
"Raghorns possibly like this bull need to be taken out of the gene pool if there's any chance a unit will produce quality bulls over time."
Disagree. Better to keep as many bulls as possible alive in that area so that competition will sort things out "as nature intended"... And REALLY? You think you can create a QDM environment on public land? ROFL
Another plus to a cow - less to pack off! Why drag a rack off of the mountain just so you can prove it was a legal bull before you toss the rack in the trash or that box of bone that you keep out in the garage?
JMO... If you like to eat Elk, take a cow. If you want to shoot a bull with Big Antlers, then don't shoot a small one.
Is that hard??
