Royal Outfitters Montana Elk Hunting

The experience of a life time! And many more to come, I hope! Darren ,Greg Raff and I headed out to go archery hunting in an area that had been hot! We parked our green coloonga ( Toyota land cruiser) before the meadow and hiked across the bottom and because of the breeze and other factors we decided to head to our left.
Right away, we spooked off an elk and it took off to the right of us. There is no way it had smelled us but it did see our movement and it was out of there. After hiking another 7 minutes or so, another elk down wind of us caught our scent and off it went. We were definitely in the elk, and there was sign all over. Very cool! Exciting!
We then heard some wolves howling off in the distance, they have such a unique sound but we were elk hunting and when Darren suggested that we try and call them in , I was not very impressed. ? We listened to them for while, Greg R tried to get the video camera to pick up their howl but it was too low of a pitch and nothing audible was on the video when we later listened to it. Darren was pretty excited about the wolves and suggested again that we try and call them in, by then I was thinking, oh great, so much for elk hunting.
I told him that we were here to hunt the wily elk not the wolves, our season here for wolves had not opened yet. He grinned and looked a little irritated at me and we started hiking again. I had to make a stop, so Darren and Greg R. went ahead a ways and I then heard a moose calling. They sound so funny, they sound like they are sick to me but I could hear it as it moved off. I always like to hear or see any kind of wildlife, it is what makes being in the woods so great.
The wolves continued to howl off and on during this whole time, they were pretty cool to listen to. The terrain was pretty thick but there were lanes for shooting and I was always trying to think of what I would do if we had a bull come in.
I am not sure how it all went, exactly, but Darren decided he should bugled and we heard an elk off in the distance answer us back and he sounded very interested so Darren told me to go up about 60 yards from them and to get set up. It was a tough spot to set up and I wasn’t sure if my position was right or not but Darren bugled again and I heard some cracking off to my left about 60 yards or so. I knew that this one was one of those satellite bulls that I had heard so much about back at hunting camp and my heart was pumping so hard that I was sure if anyone had been even half way close to me that they would have heard my heart beat.
I saw movement behind a clump of aspens or some type of brush or trees and saw the body of an elk coming and knew that I had better pull back my bow. I didn’t know how much time I had and after listening to all the stories I have heard at hunting camp, I knew that I needed to be in full draw while I had the chance or I wouldn’t get another opportunity. I went to pull back and I couldn’t do it, I was shaking like a leaf. I tried again and still couldn’t pull back the darn bow. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Panic set in and I knew I had to get a hold of myself, so I did and then remembered that because of a shoulder injury that I had in my 20’s, that I had to pull back a certain way . I relaxed and pulled back to full draw without a problem. Boy, was I relieved!
About 17 yards ahead of me, I could see the antlers of this elk coming towards me , it had a lot of points and I knew it was a legal bull so I now changed my focus to the kill zone or tired to anyway. He was incredible to watch, he stepped forward into my lane but he was facing me and stopped and stood there looking down the path.

The sun was shining off to my right and he was looking and looking. I was hoping that Darren would call again but it was silent in that direction. I kept thinking give me a broad side shot, step forward and to your left you big beautiful animal… step forward….. As I was looking for the kill zone, I realized that I wasn’t looking correctly through my peep site so I did. I only had a frontal shot and I knew that it wasn’t a good shot so I waited and at that moment his head came forward and the elk spun and was out of my view in a matter of seconds. I could see him back behind the brush, trees or whatever they were again and he stood for awhile but there was too much brush and small trees in front of me to have any kind of a shot. He was probably 25 -30 yards away and he slowly walked off.

The adrenaline rush was amazing! It felt like there was something coming out my ears. It was probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me since my close encounter with a grizzly bear in Alaska back in 1987. All I can say now is that I am hooked and it was an awesome experience.

Deb Dunham

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 am and is filed under Elk hunting.