This video is geared for someone that would shoot a cow elk.
The scenario:
You spot this elk is coming in to your calling. Watch the video and hit 'Pause' when you would shoot. Reply to this thread with that time - min/sec
Obviously when hunting we cant 're-watch' the scenario so here is your chance to see if you selected the best time.
I hope these videos are helpful
Best of Luck, Jeff
I say 1;40.....but in real life that may have been too long to wait as it might have been really thick past 1;10 ish....you just don't know what it looks like to the left.
Good stuff though.
Video watching for a choice is a little more difficult for me just because I couldn't foresee if clearance for a shot would get better or worse as she progressed to the left. Being there in person may have influenced my decision to continue to wait a little longer for a shot as other's chose.
eta: read other's responses and see beendare had my same thought regarding the ability to look ahead on her path for what might have been a better shot opportunity.
There are many units in Colorado that are over herd objectives. And the CPW gives a lot of cow tags to help with that situation.
As far as shooting cow elk is for beginners, youth or seniors that is your opinion but Im sure many on here would shoot a cow.
In most units in Colorado, spikes are illegal to shoot. They are stupid, IMO cow elk are lots harder to shoot than spikes.
These are the elk that should be shot by beginners, youth or senior citizens
This is a really nice spike you shot here :)
The big ranche$ outfit for bulls but rarely shoot cows, and in the past 20 years it's gotten out of hand. Not unusual to see herds of 80+ cows with 5-6 bulls during the rut.
The herd (this is only the part that would fit into the camera frame) broke in two and stayed in two herds of @150 each during the whole archery season. We could see them from high points, just couldn't hunt them.
I'll shoot a cow that doesn't have a calf any day.
Always take the first "best" shot.
Do you guys stop a cow like that with a little mew when after you've drawn or do you just wait it out until they stop?
Instead I use a soft voice "bark" on a cow if necessary, made by sucking in air though my throat and palate. You can also do it with a diaphragm if you have good control. I'll do it louder and sharper for a bull, and it stops them every time. I wait until their eyes are just starting to go behind the tree, then hit the "bark", and draw when they can't see me.
With a wheelie bow you can draw earlier and hold for the shot, but it's still good to stop them where you want to release.
ElkNut1
I will say I was very tempted at 1:11 but when I saw her move so quick I did not like that! I would have held & hoped like hell I didn't prematurely let the arrow fly because bad things would have happened!
ElkNut1
Even without any freeze sound, 2.5 seconds is plenty of time, and if she doesn't see you draw she will lock up at the sound of the release until the arrow hits home. In real life you don't know if she's going stand there for 2.5 seconds or 25 seconds. The shot is there.
I've killed many in that exact same situation. In fact, that's the situation I try to create. Stopped, vitals exposed, head behind a tree. I've also waited for a more "perfect" shot and had everything go haywire, kicking myself for passing the opportunity.
Where Brad shot that video, at that time of of day, the wind could shift instantly.
It's good to teach inexperienced hunters when to take advantage of the "first best" opportunity. That's what real video scenarios like this are all about.
I suspect some answers would be different if she had winded Brad in the video and bolted at 1:16, or turned and walked straight away.
Nothing wrong with passing "iffy" shots, and it should be encouraged. But I don't see anything iffy about 1:11 for a hunter who is prepared to shoot then.
But when an elk stands for such a short time & a tree is right there to contend with as we try to slip an arrow into the vitals & not hit the tree & the elk moves just as we want to release we seem to get that rushed mentality or maybe even instinct takes over to hurry & shoot before it's gone. That's where issues can happen with even experienced hunters.
This is a photo of Paul II (my son) with an elk he shot & we didn't find until several days later. Now Paul is an experienced elk hunter, that was his 23rd elk with a bow. The shot was 30 yards with a compound. I called this bull in away from his cows & Paul was setup perfectly for this guy to pass in front of him. Paul sees the bull's antlers coming through the willows & draws ahead of time, 10 seconds later the bull is broadside & stops to look in my direction where I'm bugling from. Paul settles his pin straight up his leg & is getting ready to release when the bull steps forward, he tells me I don't know why I shot but it was like now or never & there was no time to even think about it.
He pulls the trigger & shoots too far back & high right over the liver as we found out later. -- He told me he should have never shot, I know better! (those were his very words) Once that bull took a step he knows he should have let him do it & then stop him with a nervous grunt then take him which he's done so many times before.
Maybe I'm getting a bit gun shy in my older years but it seems to have payed off OK in the long run, I cannot recall any elk once in range where waiting a hair longer has cost me a shot on an elk! Fingers crossed! (grin)
ElkNut1
An experienced elk hunter probably will have drawn at 1:03 and followed her with no pin dancing.
At 1:11 the arrow will be on its way. As an experienced elk hunter knows that an arrow traveling 300fps will get there before she can move.
Then the experienced elk hunter has another dead elk on the ground.
There is not a problem with waiting for the shot that best accommodates your abilities. Just realize that there may not be another opportunity after the first one passes.
^^^^ experienced this first hand more than once ^^^^
Solo hunters develop different skill sets, especially solo trad hunters. We must learn when and where to stop an elk so we can draw and shoot without the elk bolting.
Perhaps you are more accustomed to team hunting, and in that case the the other guy can "joystick" the elk into a great position for the shooter. I've only shot one elk that someone else worked in for me so I can't relate. My partner and I used to team-call bulls that we passed (we called them "sport bulls") and I've done it for hunters I guided, and its no great trick to pull an elk past a shooter to give him a great shot. But solo calling and creating the shot is a different skill level altogether.
I don't particularly like shots like the one at 1:38 where the elk is locked into the shooter. One step and its a gut shot. A "crouch" at release is a high shot.
This cow elk came into a call sound I named "Stoned Jealous Hooker' - unique to Colorado.
It can only be used in other elk states but only where legal.
Idaho, not so much...
