So I woke the next morning armed with my 19 year-old bow and my brand new cow call well before day-light and headed out to where I had heard the bull the cows the morning before. My plan was to get up into the parks before sun-up and try to head them off before they dropped down into a deep, dark ravine to bed down. I left my truck about 15 minutes before legal shooting light and started on the 25 minute walk up. I do like getting out early but it also makes me a little nervous walking in the dark knowing there could be mountain lions and grizzlies in the area.
I mention my new call again because I think it's interesting how the whole calling thing works with elk. A few years back a buddy of mine had a "Hoochie Mama" that worked incredibly well for a couple seasons; then nothing so I bought a different call. I called my first bull in with that new call but then a few years later; nothing again. So I bought a new call that sounded much different than the call I started the season with and like I already wrote about, it worked incredibly well the night before calling in the bull I missed. It's almost like they get conditioned to certain calls and won't respond to them if they hear them too much.
So anyway, I worked my way up to the parks I had gotten into elk the morning before and skirted my way a long the edge. There's a small park at the bottom and then a row of trees and another park with another set of trees until it opens up to a large park on the top that swoops down for a ways and then back up to the North into a clear-cut. The park drops off to the West almost straight down into some deep dark trees with water in the bottom. It's one of the few creeks still running with how dry it's been this year. There's plenty of food and water and cover and just far enough to keep most folks out of there. I was in the row of trees separating the larger park from the middle park when I looked out and in a small group of trees about 300 yards away spotted a couple elk.
I could see one was a younger bull but the other I couldn't tell. They were grazing and hadn't spotted me or winded me so I was safe for a while to sit tight and think of a plan. Three hundred yards was impossible to try to close on giving the fact there was no cover between me and them and I didn't know if there were more elk around. I thought about dropping down into the trees and walking around to where I thought they would go in order to head them off but it was getting late and there was no way to tell which way they would go. I thought for a minute and decided to try the call just to see if they would respond. I let a couple soft mews and watched.
It took a few seconds but one of them, the cow, turned and looked my direction and as if someone had yelled at her to tell her the grass was much sweeter over here, she took off running right towards me and the bull followed. With this new call, it was like I was able to unlock some secret code or language only these elk could speak. It felt a little unfair like I was some drug dealer waiving a crack pipe in front of a couple strung out teenagers. (All right...enough with the analogies.) The point is, is that something triggered these two elk to come running straight for me. It took me a little off guard and I realized I was standing right out in the open with no cover to hide behind when they got close.
The two elk were coming quick but had a lot of ground to cover. I had ranged them at 340 yards before I had called so I had a few seconds to find a scrub tree to hide behind so when they went below a little rise I made my move to take cover. They disappeared for a few seconds and then popped up over the rise about 75 yards out--still running right towards me. I had positioned myself behind a little scrub brush but there was also a huge ponderosa pine in front of me about 6 or 7 yards away. I had said I was just looking for meat so I had already figured on shooting the first one that gave me an opportunity. The cow cleared the pine tree and I drew my bow back. She stopped and looked towards me now less then 10 yards away quartering a little but mostly broadside. I only had a couple seconds to put the pin on her and let the arrow fly.
There's a sound an arrow makes when it hits an elk that resembles that of a baseball bat striking an old tire; it's kind of a hallow sound but still solid. She wheeled around and headed back out into the park. I called again immediately and she stopped about 50 yards aways not really knowing what had happened. The young bull was clueless too and turned to look at her and then back into the trees where I was standing. He was only 35 yards out and when I called again, he started coming closer. I had another tag and thought about it but then realized how bad it would suck to have two elk down almost a mile from the truck.
The cow ran off and I watched her knowing she wouldn't go far. I stepped out of the trees and the bull went the opposite direction. I tracked her for a little while and found her bedded down on a little knoll above the ravine. Luckily she stopped there because it would have sucked hauling her up from the bottom. I took a couple pictures and then went to work knowing I was in territory where grizzlies had been spotted. I had her boned out and in my pack by 10am and back to the truck by eleven.
Keep 'em where they live....
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