There wouldn’t be any time for scouting new areas so we would have to rely on past experiences, where we knew the elk liked to bed and feed. The first morning was a combination of hunting and checking for fresh tracks on trails, wallow activity, and soft green droppings. We weren’t disappointed by what we found, the sign was fresh and in the same areas we had seen the year before. The hub of activity centered around a set of wallows and it was clear that a bull had been there rolling in the mud probably several days ago. Everything was shaping up for a good evening hunt, fortunately I prefer to hunt elk in the evening anyways having killed every elk in the past just before dark. This year would prove to be a very similar circumstance and approach. Over the last 10 years I have found using treestands for elk a very practical and deadly method. The number one factor for me is wind direction, if it can’t be predicted and worked with I will completely forget hunting in an area until it is in my favor. The elevated position a stand gives the hunter can sometimes make the difference between success and failure when wind currents are fickle.

After selecting a suitable tree I proceeded to remove any obstructions to achieving a nice clear shot and carefully plotted probable elk travel routes around my stand. There is considerable noise generated from using a handsaw and installing a stand, I always approach a location slowly and carefully so not to spook an animal that may be nearby. This evening was no exception, I managed to hike all the way in without spooking any game, but while I stood and selected the tree an elk which I couldn’t identify crossed down below me about 70yards away. They were already active, I would have to be doubly carefully. There was about three hours of daylight left by the time I was seated and comfortable. I normally like to sit and listen for any sign of rut activity i.e. bugling before I try any calling myself. I found you need to assess the situation when bulls are calling back and forth or on their own. Over the years I have found a good way to start calling is by using cow & calf talk which has produced bulls from spike horns to six-points. The soft welcoming sounds of a cow elk, are especially effective for calling in juvenile bulls which may have been recently pushed out of the herd.

Everything was dead quiet that night, I didn’t hear any bugles or moving elk whatsoever, but I continued to present the scenario of a cow/calf group interacting. As it was my first night in this stand location, I wasn’t too concerned as my watch revealed 30 min till dark. As the old adage goes, its not over till its over. The view thru my sight pins was becoming fuzzy & grey, but I decided to push thru till legal light expired. I had just finished a calling sequence and was straining hoping to hear a response, when I got my answer. A lot of times, an elk can cover distance faster than you expect, and I barely had time to prepare for a shot when I could see the creamy yellow hide filtering thru the trees toward me. I was looking for one thing in particular-antlers. I got my wish, as a young bull began to cross thru my shooting lanes. I reached full draw in time and stopped the little guy with a hurried cow chirp. My 25-yard pin was resting behind his shoulder, I knew the distance was probably closer to 30-yards, so I elevated my hold slightly and sent the arrow on it’s way. The bright fletching seemed to be hanging down and out of his rib cage, and I instantly questioned the quality of my shot. I had to get down on the ground in a hurry as the light was fading fast. I made my way over to where the bull was standing when I shot, and I could hear another elk walking away from me in the direction they had approached from. It was probably another small bull, juvenile bulls often travel in groups. The ground was showing deep hoof marks, but not a speck of blood. I began to wonder how vital my shot was. I had listened carefully while my bull had run, hoping to shorten up my search time. There was a lot of crashing followed by quiet, usually indicating your animal has run full out and fallen in earshot, but I couldn’t find a thing. After some searching, I decided to head back down to the road to locate my partner as we would have a much greater chance with two lights. By the time we returned it was completely nightfall, with very little moonlight if any to aid us. The two of us began searching in a grid pattern using handheld flashlights. After 2 hours we were no further ahead, and I spent the evening in camp dejected and replaying the shot over in my mind.

Next morning we were determined to continue our search and we packed meatbags, saws, rope-everything you would need to recover a large animal. Back to the point of the hit, my partner spotted a little blood sign on a fallen log, and my hopes were renewed. By moving slowly we were able to pick out small, yet consistent, spots of blood on a trail that was climbing rather than descending. Even though it had been cool during the night our hopes of retrieving edible meat were somewhat darkened as an elk’s hide is thick and its not uncommon to lose meat due to bone-souring. My eyes were down and focused on the trail, when my partner exclaimed “There’s your bull!” He hadn’t made it 70-yards falling in mid-stride across a windfall. We worked for the next few hours skinning & quartering and to all appearances the meat smelled fine.

All my fears of making a poor shot were soon dispelled when I realized the arrow had hit its mark half-way up behind the front shoulder. In flight the rearward motion of the elk’s front leg had broke the shaft in two, explaining the appearance of a low hit, as the broken shaft was hanging before it fell. Unfortunately, and contrary to normal behavior my bull had run uphill before expiring. I had assumed that he would have taken the path of least resistance which I have observed in nearly every case when dealing with a mortally wounded animal. The last word on our recovery efforts would be left to the butcher, as he would determine if in fact the meat was good. One day after our trip to the meat locker the butcher determined that there had been some loss in the forward quarter, but the majority of the meat was excellent. I can’t stress enough how important it is to dress and skin an elk immediately after a harvest, even when temperatures are cooler.

Many times people are interested in knowing what field equipment I use for hunting. Here is a list of the basics:

• Bow: Hoyt Compound set at 29” 65# of draw weight
• Arrows: Carbon Tech Whitetail 40/65 cut at 29” using white nocks, 3-4” Plastic white vanes, fletched with a slight off-set.

• Broadhead: Grim Reaper 100gr. Razor Tip 1 3/8” Cutting Diameter

• Release Aid: Jim Fletcher

• Rest: Ripcord Fall Away

• Sight: Cobra Sidewinder 3-Pin Fiber Optic

• Clothing: Selfast Thermo King Fleece Waterproof Camo

• Boots: Danner “Canadians”

• Accessories in Hunting Pack:

• Scent-Away Spray
• Wyoming Knife (Guthook & Skinning Blade)
• Gerber 2-Blade Folding Saw
• Re-usable Heavy Duty Meat Bags
• Blunts for Grouse Shooting
• Primos Diaphragm Single & Double Reed Calls
• Rangefinder
• Flashlight (Hand-held & Headlight-a must have for field dressing at dusk)
• Folding Scissors For Cutting Tags
• Fire starter
• Lighter
• Rope & String
• Motorola 2-Way Radio
• High Energy Snack and & Water

Time for Deer Hunting……

Since my elk hunting took a grand total of one day, I decided to turn my focus to whitetail deer. I liked to hunt for deer, especially whitetails from a treestand. They are very difficult to fool on the ground at close range. The treestand evens things up, as our western deer don’t see a lot of stand hunting. I wouldn’t have the luxury of calling since the rut was at this point still two months away. So, I decided to concentrate on two things both of which revolves around a whitetails stomach. Whitetail deer have an uncanny ability to move around during the heat of the day when their thirst overcomes them. I had two choices. Option #1, I could set up over trails close to water and try to catch a parched buck sneaking down, which would be effective anytime during daylight hours. Option #2 involved alfalfa and I just happened to know a location of a field that lay at the base of good bedding cover which consisted of a gradual slope originating from a timbered ridge. The field location looked excellent, and I had seen numerous whitetail does heading through the final stands of timber and into the field just before dark. I would try the field tomorrow. The next afternoon was spent walking the field edge, straining to find any clues to preferred travel routes and specifically buck travel. I was hindered by really hard ground cover due to a lack of rain and I couldn’t pick out any larger hoof prints at all. However, one thing I have learned over the years is the fact that bucks don’t generally travel, especially bigger bucks, where does & fawns choose to go (except during the rut). In fact success can come by looking for the thickest, most concealing stands of timber that link up where a buck has been and where he wants to go. Numerous times I have seen bucks traveling thru, sometimes very narrow yet thick runs of cover, trying to stay hidden as they went back to their bedding area. Cover that you might not think any shy buck would use and often only willow or low brush slightly taller than his antlers. I located what I thought would be the perfect thicket connected to a point of land that terminated at the field edge. It would offer decent cover for any wary buck. That evening I would set up an ambush, and hang my stand in amongst several trees-trying to find some cover & break up my outline. That would prove to be a tough proposition as the area below the thicket appeared to be selectively logged. I wouldn’t have good trees in terms of density or caliber. Whenever this problem arises I usually try to go higher up the trunk, say 20 or 25 feet up and pay close attention to my movement and noise as it doesn’t take much to draw a deer’s gaze when they may be less than a hundred feet away.

Once I had gotten settled in with all my equipment hanging within easy reach, I began scanning the outer edge of the thicket looking for leg movement or the flick of an ear, anything that would betray a careful buck’s presence. I would be in for a long wait as nothing moved along the horizon until at last, just before dark, a deer stepped out way down to my left and began slowly moving along close to the heavy cover. It was getting dark fast if he hesitated for any period of time I would be sunk. As if on cue the buck moved toward my position pausing for very brief moments along the way. It looked like my shot would be down to the left and close if I could stop and not spook the nice little 4 point. My view through the sights was becoming fuzzy and my eyes strained to keep a good accurate picture of pin/peep relationship as the shot opportunity drew near. The whitetail buck was very close now, I guessed 20 yards give or take and I made a slight grunt with my voice as he stepped into a clear shooting lane. Without a conscious thought the shot was done, the string shot forward, the shaft covered the short distance in an instant and hit hard driving through to the opposite shoulder. I watched in anxious anticipation as he fell down, recovered himself and made a desperate run across the sidehill. It was only about 70 yards to the last place I saw the deer as he entered a small patch of brush and heard that distinctive crash followed by silence.

My buck sported a nice even 4×4 rack and was fat as butter as we dressed and skinned him that night by portable light. An alfalfa fed whitetail is about as good as it gets and we were concerned about possibly losing the deer to a black bear as this area is home to at least one very large animal that cruises the ranchland cleaning up after hunters. I decided to sleep outside in a tent that night and I built a perimeter of logs around the meat pole to give me a sort of “early warning system” as I tried to get a decent nights sleep. Gladly, mr. bear never showed and we delivered a perfect piece of meat to the locker the next day