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Western State Success

Anyone else return from a western hunt yet? I'm still out here typing in eastern Oregon. Waiting for meat processing to begin long drive home. Had some success Monday morning after a very tiring 3 week hunt. 40 Yard shot after a rare bugling frenzy. He won't score high but has lots of mass. Wolves have done significant damage to this Mt. Emily unit. Bulls were clammed up waaaaaay too much. Only 4 days of bugling but was lucky enough to cash in. 95% of the other hunters won't be. Sorry to the wolf loving/hunter hating soccer moms who destroyed this unit..........I got one anyway! Please post your hunt results.

Congrats. Great looking bull, love the mass

Way to go. A fine bull. Hap

Got it done on a satellite bull in Idaho. Doing both the calling and shooting wasn’t getting the herd bull close enough.

Also punched my CO A list tag on a muzzleloader bull. Rifle antelope, rifle cow elk, Illinois whitetail and late rut muley rifle still to go.

Congrats

Hap

starbux, Nice work! Ya I do not call when elk hunting. Only a locating bugle if necessary, from high locations. Then I put it away. More than that does more damage than good. Also very rarely cow call. Only when trying to catch up to a bull headed to his bed, because it only ends up with 40-50 yard facing toward or quartering toward shots, which I won't take. For the seven 320"-350" bulls I have taken, I bugled a combined total of two times.

Not a bow kill so I apologize in advance. I called this one to 20 yds. 3 bulls in 2 years after my exodus from Illinois so I think calling works. No experience at all before that. The good news is that you can be successful either way.

Facing towards or quartering towards shot works with a firearm. Not so much with a bow. My entire hunt area in Oregon was ruined this year by an abundance of spike hunters calling 24/7. All the elk got educated and moved out completely. I cow called once during my hunt and got........a 350" bull to come back and give me a peek........quartering towards. No shot. As expected. There is a price to pay for calling. I called in one bull one time for an archery kill in Nevada unit 114, but under unique circumstances. Typically I do not want to give my position away, and I do not want to educate them. That way if I like that area I can hunt it multiple times without educating the elk.

We have differing opinions on elk quartering and frontal shots. In close range, there’s a big target on an elk. He went 50 yds and lived 20 seconds.

Exit wound.

I was shooting downhill. Slightly quartering to...

Ya there’s just no way I’m going to take an intentional neck shot or shot in front of the shoulder. I have helped out on far far too many unsuccessful tracking jobs from quartering toward shots on elk in the last 27 years to risk one. My bet is every one of those bulls died a day or two later. Just not worth the gamble to me. As a result I’ve recovered all 7 bulls I have shot. Yes you can kill one but I’d estimate odds at only 20-30% which won’t work for me. Not when I can wait for a broadside with 98%.

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