Royal Outfitters Montana Elk Hunting

Mick’s First with a bow

Originally uploaded by royal.outfitters

The morning stillness was shattered by the bull’s bugle. Pat, Dave and I glanced at each other. That bugle sounded too perfect. Was it man-made? It came from a direction we didn’t expect! Pat turned and bugled back, almost imediately the bull answered. As we searched for any sign of movement, Pat hissed, “It’s a bull. He’s coming. Get ready!”. The bull angled his way toward our set-up. Pat (our guide) and the bull screamed at each other, dueling back and forth, raising my heartbeat and adrenaline level. “Take a couple of deep breaths.” I told myself. I drew as the bull passed behind a small pine, hoping he would be drawn into one of the shooting lanes we had ranged. The dueling continued, loud then soft—cow calls—calf mews—–bugles———Pat used his years of experience and dozens of hunts to coax the bull closer. As the bull walked through a narrow lane, I thought about shooting——– but remembering one of the guides advice, “ Be patient, a lot of hunters hurry their shot.” —I held my draw The bull passed thru one more lane without stopping———my arms were quivering from the strain of full draw————he disappeared behind some blowdown and pines———I let-off—–whew! I regrouped and redrew just before he reappeared. “Now concentrate on a spot ———don’t look at the horns————concentrate!” As the bull circled to the down wind side, he stepped into a wider opening. I knew this was going to be my best opportunity for a shot. When the bull was centered in the shooting lane, Pat cow-called stopping him perfectly just as my 20 yd. pin settled. In an instant the arrow was released and a milli-second later hit “the spot”. Now it was time for my knees to quiver (shake is more like it)———Pat whispered, ”Good shot!”—-Dave added his congratulations, and I thought to myself, “WE DID IT!”. After a 30 min. wait, we followed the short blood trail and I got to lay my hands on my first bow-killed elk.

The older I get and the longer I hunt the more I realize that my best hunting memories & experiences all included good people. It has less to do about being “successful”—more about who you shared it with— the friends gained —- stories told —experiences shared—there is a bond. So thank-you Darren & Deb, Dave (hunting partner—-brother-in-law), Pat, Ben, Sonny, Bob, Kim, Dave, Russ, Tim, Dean and hopefully the future of Royal Outfitters Adair, Dawson , Dexter , and Drew. I can truly say there is nothing quite like sharing the experience of bow hunting elk. Thanks again to Darren & Deb, and Royal Outfitters.

Mick

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Elk hunting.