Stories from the season part #1

[Kessler10]

#1 (Cow Down)

We had moved our camp a few miles deeper in after a first few days hunting an area bit closer to the road. We wanted to give that spot a break so we moved to a spot we scouted earlier in the summer. Woke up that morning and packed up camp and hunted our way to the new camp spot. Got to our new camp spot about 930-10AM to drop most of our gear, and continue up the mountain to an area I felt would hold elk. As we got up to about 10,200 we veered of the trail to where a bedding area was. This bedding area started up top and went down for probably a good 1/2-3/4 mile then opened up into a large meadow where we saw a nice heard in the summer. It was full of dead fall and looked like a perfect place for elk. Walked in about 100 yards as i didnt want to go in much further than that, and found some very fresh sign. From there I had my cousin move up about 50-60 yards in front of me and about 15-20 yards to my left. I started with some raking and location bugles to try and get the a bull out of his bed. the fresh sign we saw was for sure a bull and was within the last few hours so knew there was one near by. After about 10-15 minutes of verbal and non-verbal bull sounds I moved to cold calling sequence. Lost cow and social cow sounds. I would do this for 1-2 minutes, then stop, wait for 10 minutes and do it again.

After about 30 minutes of this I hear a loud crash and a cow elk trotting up from where my cousin was right by me. I looked for any entry or exit wounds as she went by as I assumed he shot, didn't see any. I began calling again to try and get her to stop and she did about 70 yards up the hill from me. Kept calling and she stood there for a good 30 seconds. and then slowly walked off. My cousin came up and told me the story about her coming in silent on a line right towards me. He had to hold his draw for a while until she cleared and said she stopped, but then started walking just as he shot at 35 yards. He said he knew she was hit but it was for sure back. It was around 11AM. We didn't find the arrow or any blood where he shot so we backed out.

We came back 4 hours later and as we started down the hill to where he shot we saw her looking right at us at about 100 yards away. She was literally right back in the spot she was shot at. My assumption is she came back to find that cow she was initially looking for. We froze and did not think she really knew what we were. She walk off slowly and we saw an exit and entry hole. So we felt she was fatally hit and she was going to expire at some point. At this time it was about 3-4PM

Now is the question we wrestled with for a while that day, do we come back in another 3-4 hours or wait until morning. Hind sight and what I will do next time is wait until morning. Lesson learned. But we did decide to go back at 6PM. So it was 7 hours after the shot. We ended up jumping her not far from where she was shot. We heard her trot of as we almost walked over her. It was very thick timber. At this point we had to back out again and come back in the morning.

So we got up the next morning at first light and said a prayer before we headed out. At this point we had not found any blood and had not found the arrow. I did not feel we had any chance of finding her in the morning, to be honest. We went back and found where she bedded the day before, it was a very small pool of blood. liek the zie of a basketball. Like very small. I was now questioning whether she would even die. But felt that the arrow did hit her liver. But was surprised with a pass through there was not more blood?

The first two times she moved she only went less than 100 yards and bedded. So we decided to do a 200 yard grid search in the direction we heard her go was the best bet, still no blood and the thickest timber you can have. We began to smell something after about 15 minutes of our grid search. that smell of dead elk or a dead whitetail.(dead meat) Not a rotten smell but just the smell of death that I cant describe. So there was a little bit of hope. My cousin and I were probably 50 yards apart but of course coudn't see each other due to out thick it was.

I was climbing over a big dead fall and stood up on it to get a view. To my right about 20 yards away there she lay. I whistled at my cousin that I think I found something. that gave me enough time to get my phone out and video him walking up on is first elk by surprise, which was a cool moment for both of us.

We found her at about 8AM. We were about 5-6 miles from the trail head and it was going to get hot. We worked as fast as we could and ended up getting all the meat off the mountain by 3PM. this would be the first elk I had quartered out like this on my own. But felt I had done enough research and preparation to get it done fairly quickly and to get all the meat off of the elk that was possible. We filled our packs with the quarters, back straps, neck and rib meat, and tenderloins and got her down to our camp, where we boned out the hind quarters to lighten the load for the long hike back to the truck. It was a pack out that I had been waiting for for a few years. I have packed out elk before but never for a hunt that is DIY like this, back country, bow.

We went back in the next morning to get our camp. Meat was not spoiled.

Not a story with a big screaming bull, I have a few of those for this trip that were incredible in a different kind of way and ill also share.

Thought this was the first story I should post as its one ill never forget and filled our freezers for the winter.
Ill post another story of a really cool encounter we had with a couple bulls before this cow kill that I would love to get feedback on how we could've closed the deal.

I have been preparing and waiting to get this first kill under my belt with this type of hunt (DIY,back country bow), whether I was the caller or shooter, now I feel way more confident in what I can do. And now its on to getting me my first elk/bull next year as the shooter.

Thanks for reading

[Swede]

Luke, you have a great story here. It would not have been better if you or your cousin had shot a large 6X6. This first DIY elk is huge in the confidence it builds, and assurance you gain knowing you can do what you set out to accomplish. Again Congratulations.
I wish everyone that frequents this forum could enjoy this kind of success.

[Sask hunter]

Congrats!