DIY SOLO Idaho Archery Bull

HellsCanyon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
112
Location
Eastern WA
So to preface this, I have a history of making short stories long! I also want to say my hunting partner and I have been hunting together since 2009 and it has been a wild ride. We've killed deer, bear, elk, turkeys, wolf, and a few coyotes together and do a lot of shooting together. He was on a Colorado elk hunt the week prior so this last week I was flying solo to get it done the last 4 days of Archery elk season here in Idaho. This was my first real extended trip solo and I pushed it hard every day. This is the 3rd year I've hunted archery elk in Idaho and haven't harvested an elk with my bow to date.
A particular Rokslider was supposed to join me thursday morning, but he decided to blow his truck up on the drive over and left me all by my lonesome for the hunt! lol I'm sure he'll chime in shortly...
I rolled into camp Wednesday just at dark and quickly setup camp and hopped on the dirtbike (if you can call a 125cc pitbike a dirt bike! not mine...) to do some bugling after dark to see where I should be come first light. Plans were to hunt through sunday morning the last day.
Thursday morning I was into 2 bulls right off and had a 5x5 come into me as I was circling to stalk into him! He caught my movement behind some brush just as I saw him and we had a quiet stare down for a few minutes at 67 yards before he turned and headed off. Bulls were quiet from that morning at 8:30 till friday afternoon about 6 PM! Tough hunting for 36 hours and tough to stay motivated. That night at camp I'd heard a bull bugle twice about 1 mile away in a drainage near camp. I wanted to keep that bull in mind as he would be easy to get to, but I wanted to hit up a different spot the next morning to see what it held.
Saturday morning I was at it again and immediately was into 3 bulls dropping into a drainage. One was a for sure herd bull as he was clearly telling me to stay away! The other two never got too ****ed off... They'd feed up during the night and then as soon as it would get light enough to see, they'd head for the deep dark timber 2k' below! I tried to play the "Lets see how far we can run down the mountain" game for awhile before finally stopping for a snack. Had a bull about 700 yds below me still bugling, but I was by myself and it would've been a severe bad idea to shoot one in there solo. He quit bugling by the time I was done with a 10 minute snack at 9 AM anyways so I'm glad I stopped when I did. I took a big loop getting back to the top of the mountain and had covered 5+ miles that morning by 11 AM, bushwacking most of the way.
I headed back to camp and went to a small town a ways away to get some more water and a hot lunch. On the way back to camp I managed to triple up on 3 grouse in the road which had me smiling for sure!


I took a quick nap and did not want to get out of my tent for the evening hunt. I quickly told myself the official Epic Adventures motto of "It only takes a moment" and dragged myself out of there.
I hit up a two track road that was pretty close to camp to work my way back into that drainage where I'd heard that bull bugle the night before. 3/4 mile away I stopped and bugled and he answered! Sounded like he was in an overgrown clearcut just above the road and the thermals were good. I was thinking to myself "this is a perfect setup! Hopefully that wind stays good." I quit calling at this point and stalked within 100 yards of where I thought he was and heard him raking... I was on the beginning of a left hand curve in the road, wind still downhill, and super thick n steep brush below the road. Talk about a perfect setup!
I had my facemask on and cow called twice to him, BAM he hit me right back with a scream and chuckles and it felt like he was in my face! He sounded like a mature bull so I ended up chuckling behind me away from us, then cow called to him, then ran up another 20 yards and cow called to him again.... NOTHING! I slowly took a few steps forward and CRAP! There he is on the road around the corner staring at me! I'm still in the cover of the trees but I know he saw movement. HEART IS POUNDING!
I take 1/2 step backwards and cow call softly 2-3 times. He takes a step to me then turns and takes a few steps away from me and behind a bush on the side of the road. I take that time to step into the middle of the road, drop to a knee and really hit him with some estrus whines and pleading cow calls. He immediately turns around and is trying to peer over the bush but can't see me as I'm down on a knee. I quickly range the bush at 59 yards and clip on my release. He starts to the left to clear the bush as I stand and come to full draw. Guessing him around 65-70 yards I barked at him as he cleared the bush broadside. He stopped and stared as I let 'er fly.... PERFECT arrow flight but I don't see a hit, just heard a THUNK!!!!!!
He takes off like a bullet and I start calling quickly and then everything gets quiet. Of course I start shaking and can only wait a minute after marking where I shot from to go check for blood... NOTHING! No arrow no blood... I start trailing just a few yards to see what I can find and 15 yards away I find blood! Just 2 little drops on a leaf but its good colored! I mark it with toilet paper and head back to the bike to head back to camp to get some other gear and give the bull time to expire...
Was back on the trail 30 minutes later and was disappointed only find 3-5 drops of blood every 10-15 yards! I then noticed where he started to break off the road and head for the alders on the downhill side. I noticed he'd broke through the alders at one point and had broken a lot of branches. At this point there wasn't even blood on leaves or anything he'd brushed up against! I was starting to feel pretty sick with the lack of blood. I return to the road, mark the spot where he left the road, then walked to the edge of the road and what do I see? My bull is DEAD 10' below the road! :shocked: He must've died on the run because he flipped over as he crested over the side of the road. The shot placement was perfect and he ended up only going 80 yards before piling up!



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It was definitely one I will NEVER forget!

While I'd chased bulls up and down them mountains for a few days straight, I was VERY fortunate that this bull died literally just yards away from an old two track logging road. I was able to get the little dirt bike you see in the pictures back to him so it wasn't too horrible. Though I can tell you I'd rather hump them 90 lb loads on foot than to ride a dirt bike with that much weight on! Though it would've taken me hours longer so I opted for the quicker yet more painful packout... :D

Here's a picture of everything back up on the road ready to roll out. I had 5 loads total. I started cutting on him around 7 PM and had it all back to camp by 2 AM! Butchering up one of these things by yourself is NOT EASY! Doable... but definitely not easy!!!
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Mike
 
If you want it done right..............sometimes you don't have any choice but to do it all by your lonesome. Nice bull, congratulations.
 
Nice, archery elk is excellent but I've had a hard time the last couple years getting after it as the bulls just don't hardly talk anymore. Three weeks ago Search and Rescue life flighted a guy who fell while packing his horns that exact way, when he fell the brow tine tore his neck open and he almost bleed out, if he would have been alone he would have died there!!!
 
AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me when i was bow hunting, Pykes Peak and Pagoda Peak, CO. in the late 80's and early 90's. Beautiful country and the scents just take your breath away. You earned that one- be proud. Now i should go work out again???
Steve
 
Mike, Congrats. That's some "getting -er done". What was the Alt. on top of mt. and Alt at kill site? I hunt CO and have not Bow hunted since about 1999 but you can never have too much accurate Info. for pattering! Trying to relate it to my tops(10k > 11K) in CO for 2nd Rifle. I'm sure I will not hear any screams though. But if the snows don't come, they will be right there on top - just like in Archery. Great story.
 
Thanks everyone! Sure feels good to get it done with a bow! Never forget that release and look in my sight picture...

I was lucky this year as they'd yet to close the gates so I was able to get a small dirtbike back in there to the road he was on! Wasn't nearly as much work as it could've been... Every day prior to that I was dropping and gaining about 1100-1500' elevation per morning or afternoon hunt. It was a pretty physical hunt but not as bad as some I've been on. Good thing about elk hunting in September, is while you're hunting all day, you're usually not busting *** all day or humping it to get to a certain spot before dark or first light. Atleast not in this thick timber. Lot of it is slow n steady still hunting or calling all day long which isn't too hard physically. I am in probably the best hiking shape I've been in for this year and I can tell that my climbing abilities are pretty great right now. Usually I'm only good for two days of hard hiking, even on day three I was rocking the hills! Going to come in handy now that my muley tag starts Oct 10 and we'll be hunting Hells Canyon area (unit 18), from the river... That makes this panhandle forests look like cake walk hunting...

Here's a few more pics of him caped out today! I'm getting him mounted by a good buddy of mine but he won't be able to take him for a few months. So until then I think I'll Euro him and put him on the wall to enjoy for a few weeks... ;)

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