Perfect elk season

[code]

Out of all of the six elk seasons I have hunted now this one stands out as my favorite. My plan was to hunt the same unit I have in past years for the seven days I had taken off. Over the first six days I had two close misses on nice 5x5s, a couple more close encounters and an enjoyable amount of bugling. On the last day my uncle and I went after a bull I had heard the night before. We got to a place we felt was close enough to him and I set up looking over a creek while my uncle called behind me. It only took seven minutes before I saw antlers coming out of the thick brush. He stopped head on at 32 yards in a place where I had a perfect hole in the brush. I drew and aimed at his chest, anchored, took a calming breath and squeezed the trigger on my release. The next thing I remember is watching my arrow disappear into his lower neck completely. He spun, ran into a little meadow and tipped over in sight. My arrow had gone through heart, lungs, liver, gut and was lodged about 3/4" into the rear leg bone.

I feel very blessed to have a season in which I was able to hunt every day I had off and still come up with a bull on the last day. Thanks for reading!



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[HuntnCarve]

That's the way to get it done Code!  Congratulations on a beautiful bull!

[Dave]

Great job, Code. 
"an enjoyable amount of bugling"  Can't ask for a better time - whether you tag out or not. Was this guy bugling to your uncle, or just come out of where you thought he'd be?
Always amazes me the amount of vegetation/foliage  that's present in all your hunting pics.

[nastygunz]

Definitely centerpunched his ticker! I sure wish we had them big critters here 😉

[Okanagan]

Good writing and better hunting!  You know I am proud.

FWIW, that photo of the heart shows the exit.  I got to examine it when we cut up meat.  The arrow went in the top or big end of the heart through the valves and tubes (which is the front end facing forward in a living animal)  and came out down along the side as shown.  If the arrow had not hit the back leg bone it sure seems like it had enough energy left to have gone all the way through him lengthways and exited.    The setting for the pics look like Geographic postcards.

[slagmaker]

Cool wright up and great pics. Thank you for taking us along.

[JohnP]

Damn young man, I don't know how old you are but I seventy-seven, soon to be seventy-eight and I think you got more hunting stories than I do.  Congratulations on a fine looking bull, a fine shot and a great story.  I always look forward to reading your gramps and you're stories.

After reading what I wrote I realized it's pretty piss-poor grammar and sentence structure but I ain't gonna change it.    

[coyote101]

Thanks for sharing, Code. Great story, great pictures, great hunt. 

Pat

[Hawks Feather]

Really nice looking elk and you made a great shot.

Jerry

[FinsnFur]

I missed this one..but wow. That heart pic is an absolute beaut!!
That was so perfect

[pitw]

Wow great write ip and pics too.
Sure am glad I missed out on the walk out.

[Okanagan]

Great job, Code. 
"an enjoyable amount of bugling"  Can't ask for a better time - whether you tag out or not. Was this guy bugling to your uncle, or just come out of where you thought he'd be?
Always amazes me the amount of vegetation/foliage  that's present in all your hunting pics.

Cody and I got some time together a couple of days ago.  This bull bugled on his own so they knew generally where he was without any locating bugle etc.  He approached where Code expected him to, though he was silent and sneaky most of the way on his approach.