Radical Change
Posted by Jordan Seitz on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Under: Elk
Radical
Change
Jordan Seitz
While cooking fresh grouse
over a small fire at my season’s end, I concluded that bivying in the snow in a
place devoid of elk didn't seem fun anymore. If my goal was to kill an elk
within 36 hours, then I needed to radically change my plans.
Hours later, I was 1000
feet lower with four bulls in earshot!
The bull I decided to focus
on wasn't just bugling anymore, but screaming like he owned the mountain and
covering ground fast, so I dodged through the aspen and stopped twenty yards
below a rock bluff that would funnel him towards me. Within seconds, half a
dozen cows and calves emerged, almost running into me before veering into the
small opening to my right and feeding six to ten steps away. The last cow
walked into my shooting lane along the bluff with the bull screaming in the
shadows behind her. Nearing sensory overload, I drew back as the bull stepped
forward, immediately cutting his cow back into the brush towards the others.
She trotted past me and I pivoted as the bull screamed again and pursued. At
ten steps he was level with me and I uttered three loud mews before he froze to
stare, drool dripping from his snout. With my pin tight behind his shoulder, I
released and watched my arrow drill him up to its fletchings.
He charged out to 53 yards.
Instead of sailing smoothly towards his vitals, my second arrow fishtailed
through the trees and I lost sight of it as the bull crashed away.
The next morning, 50 yards
from where I lost the blood trail, I was crawling through some dense firs and
following my nose when I came up on my bull - with my second arrow protruding
from his neck!
Revelling in the memory, I
am reminded that even a really good plan needs to be scrapped when the weather
and elk dictate a radical change!
In : Elk
Tags: archery bull elk 2013