Mikey Rafiki
09-09-2013, 01:23 PM
Figured I would squeeze this in before all the big bull stories start plastering the site tomorrow.
Faced with a very short Elk season due to out of province travel plus having a newborn, my focus was putting anything in the freezer with a few half day hunts. After a one hour hike we got into some ground where I had some big bulls going last year. After about 20 minutes of sitting and calling this little feller came in to see what all of the noise was about. He was 35 yards up hill, and stopped and stared at me. Realizing I should have cleared some branches from this obvious shooting lane, I decided I had to make one large side step for a clear shot and hope he didn't move. Luckily he stayed still, quartering towards, and I tucked the broadhead in just behind his shoulder. He ran about 50 yards down and away crashing through the bush, then I heard nothing. I wasn't sure if he was down or if he had stopped and stood there, so we waited half an hour while giving the occasional cow call.
With the rain being constant I didn't want to loose the trail so I crept up the place he was hit and looked for some sign. Couldn't find any blood right away and the bolt was nowhere to be found. We were hearing the occasional noise down where I thought he stopped, sounding like he was laying there kicking. I slowly followed his tracks and started seeing a good amount of blood. I heard a few wheezes and then caught a glimpse of him on his back like a turtle with his legs moving in the air. The crossbow bolt was still in him, being stopped by the rear femur, but it completely took out one lung and passed through the liver on the way in.
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r685/MikeyRafiki/DSCF7266_zps17d1ba35.jpg
Being a little guy we were able to gut him then drag him down the mountain whole, aided by the wet ground and mostly steep grade, but I'm still sore a couple days later. This is some of the finest looking meat I have ever seen and the tenderloins were gobbled up immediately. It's my first archery kill and the day was made even better by being able to bring out a good friend that is new to elk hunting. He made the work much easier and was able to learn a lot about these majestic creatures from our hunt.
Good luck everyone. I will be hitting the bush again as soon as I get back home to BC at the end of October. In the mean time I will live vicariously through HBC and the nagging texted photo's of the big bulls.
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r685/MikeyRafiki/DSCF7269_zps71635120.jpg
Faced with a very short Elk season due to out of province travel plus having a newborn, my focus was putting anything in the freezer with a few half day hunts. After a one hour hike we got into some ground where I had some big bulls going last year. After about 20 minutes of sitting and calling this little feller came in to see what all of the noise was about. He was 35 yards up hill, and stopped and stared at me. Realizing I should have cleared some branches from this obvious shooting lane, I decided I had to make one large side step for a clear shot and hope he didn't move. Luckily he stayed still, quartering towards, and I tucked the broadhead in just behind his shoulder. He ran about 50 yards down and away crashing through the bush, then I heard nothing. I wasn't sure if he was down or if he had stopped and stood there, so we waited half an hour while giving the occasional cow call.
With the rain being constant I didn't want to loose the trail so I crept up the place he was hit and looked for some sign. Couldn't find any blood right away and the bolt was nowhere to be found. We were hearing the occasional noise down where I thought he stopped, sounding like he was laying there kicking. I slowly followed his tracks and started seeing a good amount of blood. I heard a few wheezes and then caught a glimpse of him on his back like a turtle with his legs moving in the air. The crossbow bolt was still in him, being stopped by the rear femur, but it completely took out one lung and passed through the liver on the way in.
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r685/MikeyRafiki/DSCF7266_zps17d1ba35.jpg
Being a little guy we were able to gut him then drag him down the mountain whole, aided by the wet ground and mostly steep grade, but I'm still sore a couple days later. This is some of the finest looking meat I have ever seen and the tenderloins were gobbled up immediately. It's my first archery kill and the day was made even better by being able to bring out a good friend that is new to elk hunting. He made the work much easier and was able to learn a lot about these majestic creatures from our hunt.
Good luck everyone. I will be hitting the bush again as soon as I get back home to BC at the end of October. In the mean time I will live vicariously through HBC and the nagging texted photo's of the big bulls.
http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r685/MikeyRafiki/DSCF7269_zps71635120.jpg