highs and lows of this weekends hunt.

[JJ Overkill]

Cameron aka tomin and I got to our hunting area around 7:00 am. later than I wanted but, we through our packs on and headed down a road and made it about 50yds and a cow and a calf ran across the road. I didn't think they even noticed us, so we headed up a hill where the I figured we could cut them off since we had the wind in our favor. we headed down a well used game trail ( the same trail that lead to my bull). I set Cameron up on an area where several game trails meet and went behind him and gave a bugle followed by chuckles. I waited about 5 min and gave some chuckles followed by a bugle. the cow and calf came running towards us. ( the first time ive had elk run towards my calls) Cameron had a shot on the calf, the cow was behind a pine tree and no shot. he misjudged the distance and sent the arrow over its back. the cow and calf ran off and never seen again. we hunted for awhile after that and headed back to setup camp.

that afternoon we headed back out. it had been raining off and on all day. I figured the elk would still be in the timber. we had to head to a large meadow and walk along its edge for a ways to get the wind in our favor. we started into the timber and started up a small hill. I told Cameron to keep his eyes open and move slow. when we got to the top of the hill I noticed something on the far side of a small meadow, a large light brown object. I was thinking elk but couldn't be sure. I had Cameron nock an arrow and he got on his knees. I gave a small cow call and the brown object stood up, it was a cow. insert explicit here (mistake#1) I just called in an opening where the elk should see what made the sound. I decided to crawl down the hill behind Cameron and started cow calling. I was watching Cameron's head to see where the cow was heading. from what I could tell the cow was moving to his right. I decided to move to his left and started cow calling, raking, bugling with chuckles, I even gave the biggest lip bawl I could, followed by more chuckles, raking, exited cow calls, (you get the picture, possible mistake #2) I did all this in an attempt to draw the cow towards my shooter. i even stomped my way away from Cameron cow calling like a lead cow leading the cow away. heres what happened once i dropped off the hill. the cow i saw was heading right towards Cameron, a second cow came running towards the cow i saw and that cow followed the second cow. they headed off to Cameron's right. at this time they started to just walk. Cameron decided to drop his pack and follow them. he told me he walked on his knees for about 50ys, and showed me how he moved. he got into some thicker cover where he could stand up and stalk them. he stocked his way to within 40yds. he told me he went to full draw and took the shot. his arrow hit a branch he didn't see and his arrow went far left. he came to where we had parted ways and told me what all had happened. we hunted into the evening but didn't find any more elk.

during, and after both encounters Cameron was shaking so bad, the adrenalin was flowing. i have tried to tell him what to expect once he gets close but no matter what i couldn't prepare him for it. but i did get a sense of gratification getting Cameron on elk like that. i was able to call one in for him and he made a heck of a stalk on two cows. now if he can just get a good shot into one. i hope he has learned from all of this.

just thought id share.

[mjblowers]

I just called in an opening where the elk should see what made the sound. I decided to crawl down the hill behind Cameron and started cow calling. I

As CNELK just pointed this out to me, reading this makes me sick. I did the same thing, several times already this year in the middle of stalking some buglers... oh well, I won't do it again!