Royal Outfitters Montana Elk Hunting

First thing out of the gate Sunday morning Ben and I were in pursuit of a big herd bull.
It was just breaking daylight, the wind was swirling a little and the cows that we didn’t know were on the meadow must have caught a whiff of our human smell and thundered off.
The bull, unaware that we were in the area, was bugling his head off as he followed his cows up the gulch.
We spent the morning unsuccessfully trying to catch up to the screaming herd bull but were led into a close encounter with a nice 6 x 6 satellite bull.
Unfortunately the wind gods weren’t on our side this time (our time would come).
This was just the beginning to what turned out to be the most memorable, exciting and educational experience of my hunting career.
Each morning and afternoon Ben and I set out on our quest to tame the wild wapiti, it seemed we were always fortunate enough to get up close and personnel with elk.
We were “close” to closing the deal several times but it just didn’t quite all come together.
Ben kept encouraging me that the best scenario would be to hunt hard all week long, gain priceless experience and then harvest an elk on the last day.
Lucky for me it worked out that way.
Friday morning, the last day of the hunt, we had no more than just started hunting before hearing a bull bugle way off in the dark.
Over the next hour and half we silently made our way up the mountain to where we felt like the bull was heading.
Just as we crept over the top of the mountain Ben stopped and whispered to me that the bull was probably somewhere close by.
Once again, as had already happened so many times that week, Ben’s sixth sense of detecting a presence of elk nearby kicked in.
He let out a soft bugle and to both of our surprise a bull answered probably 100 yards up the hill.
Without hesitation, Ben took off running down the hill with me following close behind to get the wind in our favor.
I got set up as Ben drifted another 60 yards behind me to call.
The bull bugled again and then stopped to rake his antlers over one last pine tree.
Ben lightly raked a pine himself with his walking stick and apparently that’s all the bull could stand.
He let out another big growling bugle and then charged down toward me.
At 15 yards the bull stopped and in a flash my arrow passed through both lungs.
Sure I was super excited and my heart was racing but I felt a sense of calmness come over me because I knew how hard I had worked to help make this dream come true.
There is no way to put an experience like I had into words.
You’ve just got to go try and live it.

Ryan Carr

Well we are now heading into the last week of archery hunting.
We have no hunters booked for this part of the season due to the fact that the rut is
now winding down and the bulls are more difficult to call in.
Oh, they are still bugling some, but the herd bulls have now established their dominance and the sattelite bulls have been put in their place enough times and have been reduced to following the herd at a distance and generally keeping thier mouths shut.

I have been out hunting a few times myself over the past week and while I have been in a couple of bugling matches the bulls have stayed just out of harm’s way.
I finally decided to try to just set up along a well used path leading into a meadow that I know the elk have been using on a nightly basis.
I arrived and was set up 2 hours before sundown and made my noise making shooting lanes and even hanging out some elk scent.
I had decided not to call except for maybe a soft cow call now and then.

I had sat silently for maybe a half hour or so and was settled in for the long haul when silently a spike bull appeared in an opening about 75 yards below me.
It is interesting to me how much more excited a guy gets when you are the one holding the bow and arrows.
I have been calling elk for several years now, and when you call for another hunter there is a comfort zone you fall into because you are calling from a distance and many times the caller does not even see the elk he is calling.
So day after day you are doing this dance with the elk and trying to get him within range of your hunter so he can make a good shot.
There are even times when a guide will get disgusted after working hard for an hour exchanging bugles, grunts, chuckles, cow calls, and raking trees in and effort to lure the bull closer, only to have a hunter miss a seemingly easy shot.
Well, It is good for the guide to go out and experience the pressure that comes when you are the closer.
Oh, sure the caller is making the great sales pitch to the elk, but when he finally decides to buy, it is the shooter who has to close the deal.

Well when this spike stepped into the opening and the wind was right, I began to see that his path would lead within 20 yards of my hiding spot.
I tried to make a soft cow call but found my mouth was too dry.
I then noticed that I was shaking and gripping my little recurve bow tightly in my fist.
I had to laugh at myself,
I have killed
several spikes, and been very close to a lot of elk, but there is something about closing the deal that makes the adrenaline valve turn wide open.
I once again am reminded why the guys who shoot the best archery equipment, that practice regularly, and can place arrows with surgical precision at 50 yards sometimes shoot over a 900 pound target at 20 yards.
They are then reduced to shaking masses that crumble to the ground and wait for the wobble to go out of their knees before they can stand again.
I was now the shaking mass on the ground.

Well as it often does the wind shifted and the spike caught a sniff of me, lifted his head and walked off in the direction from which he had come.
I saw other elk that night but none as close as the spike.
It was a good reminder for me of why as elk hunters we do what we do.
It is not simply for the kill.
Not a thrill that comes from the taking the life of an animal.
It is rather the experience of getting close.
The hours of wandering in silent woods that are punctuated with brief encounters with creatures that move like ghosts through timber and meadow.
They are as cautious and wary as any creature you can hunt and in my opinion more majestic than any other creature in the forest.

These are the type of experiences that keep me going back to the woods in pursuit of elk.

Darren

Ryans bull 005

Originally uploaded by royal.outfitters

Hey,

Ryan you need to jump on here and tell your story.
Ben, our guide of 20 plus years,
told Ryan early in the week that the best case was to hunt hard all week long in the best Montana Elk Hunting country there is and
see a lot of elk and
to then finally kill one on the last day of your hunt. Ryan took it to heart and made a great shot on this nice 5 pt on his final morning out. Congratulations Ryan

principieelkOriginally uploaded by royal.outfitters

Montana Elk Hunting:

Sunday was a slow day, saw sign but heard nothing. When we got back to camp our hopes were renewed with the news of bugling bulls.

Darren and I decided to give their spot a try the next morning but it did not produce a bugling bull. That afternoon we tired another spot, we got into a bull and had some fun calling him but he was not ready to come in. The following morning Ben and I started out to the same area that we had heard the bugling bull elk the previous evening. But before reaching our destination we stopped and bugled in a different drainage. Immediately, we heard a good bull bugling to the drainage right below us. Ben said, ‚Äú I think we have got ourselves a bull.‚Äù So we quickly circled below him to get the wind in our favor, upon reaching the bottom of the drainage we snuck in as close as we dared. During our approach the bull had bugled 3 different times. We decided to get set up and Ben went behind me and started bugling. The bull bugled back one final time, he was very aggressive, he was racking the trees. Ben bugled again and the bull elk appeared. I waited until he was in range and I let my arrow go as it sliced him right through the heart. Then we waited for a time and for a moment we pondered on the mornings events and we stood up to start tracking the bull and realized that the 6×6 bull was only 30 yards away. As Ben and I gazed at my 6×6 Bull Elk, we heard another bull bugling in the distance. It was a morning to remember.

Mike Principie

albertelkOriginally uploaded by royal.outfitters

Montana Elk Hunting :

We arrived from PA with realistic expectations for our 2007 Archery Hunt. This was not our first trip to Montana to hunt elk so we knew well the challenge that lay before us. Never did we expect the hunt to go the way it did.

We arrived on Saturday and met the new owners and got reacquainted with our old friend and guide, Ben. We shot our bows and prepared for the morning hunt.

Day 1: We each headed out with our guide to different areas. Ben and I saw nothing the first morning out but Mike & Darren bumped into a bull
elk but there was nothing talking. That evening Mike and Darren heard nothing and Ben and I had a bull elk bugling good for an hour or so but did not get him to come in.

Day 2: Mike and Darren saw a lot of sign in the beautiful mountains of Montana but again heard nothing. Ben and I decided to change areas and were in some perfect elk habitat at day break. As we worked our way to the top of the ridge, Ben decided on a whim to give a lazy locator bugle. To our surprise, a bull
elk answered immediately. It was so great to hear that bull so close. But Ben and I had to ran downhill to get below the bull to keep the wind in our favor and close the gap. We crossed a small creek and I set up. Ben backtracked and began calling the bull. Within a few minutes the bull trotted in my direction and presented himself walking slowly broadside at 8 yards. My heart was racing and I was already at full draw when I let the arrow fly.
The bull elk
turned and took off but the bull was dead and on the ground within 20 yards. My arrow had past through his chest grazing the top of his heart. It was the best feeling to have my elk already harvested on the 2nd day of my hunt. My
Montana
Elk Hunt was complete.

Dean