Crunch Time

This was a view from about 4:30 in the afternoon. I walked up into this park to find a couple cows and a bull. It's hard to see but there is one of the cows in the frame just as she was walking off the park. I was 83 yards from one, 100 yards from the other and only about 40 yards from the bull. I actually remembered to turn the GoPro on as I thought this was a done deal. I had cover. I had elk feeding and not really paying much attention. I had wind in my face...that is until it wasn't.

The wind swirled as it often does in the mountains and these elk busted me. But, it was only 4:30 and there were plenty of elk in the area.

Sometimes you gotta play the course. That's what we say in golf when you get a lucky bounce off a sprinkler-head and your ball kicks up onto the green. Or, you smack a tree and you find the fairway. Or, like in Minnesota in April when the courses first open up, there's still ice on the ponds and if you play it right, you can skip a ball off the ponds and hit 400 yard drives. On public lands, when other hunters are out there, sometimes they burn you but sometimes you can use them to your advantage.

About a half-hour before sunset, I was walking down the road--working my way back to the truck, when I heard a huge bugle. I had been looking for that bull so I took off after it. Sometimes you sneak. Sometimes you go charging in. I decided to charge.

I only got about 50 yards or so when I heard some dude bugling at this bull. "Shit!"

I thought for a minute. This bull doesn't want anything to do with another bull. The guys calling are actually pushing this bull further away. If I hustle, I can get in front of the bull and head him off. These guys might push this bull right to me. So I took off. Not on a dead sprint but pretty quick.

I ran up the edge of an old burn down a cow-path. I was moving and listening and the bull kept screaming. I also kept hearing the hunters calling back. I pushed ahead until right on the edge of the old burn, just inside the pecker-poles, (small lodge-poles,) I saw a cow. She had me pegged and only about forty-yards out. There was an opening about 3 yards wide to her left. I drew. She bolted through the opening and I couldn't get a shot.

A lot of elk hunting is just making the right choice at the right time. That doesn't mean there's necessarily a definite right and a wrong choice. One day the choice you make might work and the next it doesn't. Some of it comes down to intuition and experience and a lot comes down to luck. I knew that bull would step out into that opening, following the cow. I was full drawn with my forty-yard pin trained on the spot where I thought he would come out. Something in my head created doubt that he would step out there or that it would be a minute or two so I let the string down. Sure enough, a few seconds after letting it down, that bull stepped out and looked straight at me at 40 yards.

I drew. He saw me. I thought I had time to get off a shot but as I pulled the release, he bolted and I had a clean miss.

I've had a week off to chase elk. That's rare in the guiding world because September is usually pretty busy. But I keep telling folks October is better and my October is looking really good. I'm ok with having time off to chase elk around. It's been a blast but today is my last day before I get really busy again. It's crunch time.

Keep 'em where they live...