# GOT LUCKY.... FIRST SHOT = FIRST ELK



## Lefty (Sep 20, 2008)

Last Thursday my w buddies called me at 2pm to go bow hunting. By 3pm we left SLC and were headed South. Two of us had cow/spike tags. One guy had a deer/elk tag.

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We hunted for an hour Thursday night. Friday morning we covered a ton of country and scared a lot of deer. Saw one elk. No shots. Worn out...took a short nap. At 5:30 on Friday night (the last day of the hunt) we decided to try a new trail. It turned out to be steep and about 2.5 miles long.

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At about 7pm we finally get to the top of that dang trail and came upon a gorgeous meadow. A huge bull and a cow were just coming out of the trees and into the meadow. Fortunately they did not see us. Then the excitement began.... The forest was alive with bugles and cows talking. We watch. Bulls, full of testosterone, emerged from different parts of the forest and met in the meadow to square off. They chased each other, rounded up cows and chased off spikes. The action was beyond my range but I was happy watching - it was like the nature channel. There were 40 to 50 head in and out of that meadow. Some huge bulls. A calf, who was being chased by a spike crashed out of the meadow right over me. This calf was the size of a good sized deer. I froze. So did it. She was only 3 feet away. We stared at each other for at least 45 seconds before she ran off. I did not have the heart to shoot it.

Suddenly, at 7:30, my buddy (who I could not see) shot a spike just as it was getting within my range. It ran halfway up a mountain and fell into some trees. I marked it. He snuck over to me, excited.

We watched for another 30 minutes....still a lot of action. At 8:00 I shot a nice cow. It dropped immediately.

Neither of us could believe that we just killed two elk with our bows. It was a first for both of us. In fact, it was the first arrow I had ever shot while hunting and my first big game animal.

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Amidst all of the excitement it got dark without us realizing it. Neither of us had cleaned an elk before (**** rookies). We muddled through the gutting process with our headlamps. It was pitch black and getting cold. We knew bears and coyotes frequented the meadow (a friends camera). We were anxious. We decided get the heck out of Dodge and come back the next morning.

We took the wrong trail on the way down. We wandered around for quite a while, going from game trail to game trail before we finally found the right foot trail. We thought we were going to have to spend a very cold night on the mountain (without any matches). We got to the bottom around 10:30. We were excited that we harvested. At the same time we were glad to get off the mountain safely.

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On Saturday it took us 12 hours of hard work to quarter the two elk and to pack all of the meat off the mountain.

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We both had to make 4 trips up and down the trail. We probably hiked 12 miles on Saturday.

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Hope ya'll were not bored with this long post. I very much enjoy reading others' stories on this site and was hoping to give back a bit. And, I know, the cell phone pictures are not too good..... I'm going to buy a camera before my next trip.

In summary, it was a fantastic 3 days. We got very lucky. I will never forget the experience. I am grateful to live in such a wonderful place with so many opportunities. I am thankful to have a couple of good friends.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Great story. Congratulations.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Looks like it is time to compile the Christmas list for the wife:
Frame pack to haul out meat
GPS
Matches
Small pack to haul matches, flashlight and GPS

Congrats!


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## Lefty (Sep 20, 2008)

Huge,

You are right. Those things are on my list. And a bone saw. And a camera.


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## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

Nice work


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Neat story and great hunt! Congrats! Some gooooood meat there!


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

Great story Congrats! 8)


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Congratulations to both of you! Something you are both not soon to forget. That meat should be tasty.


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## mikevanwilder (Nov 11, 2008)

Awesome story, congrats! Its always a good thing to take something to make a fire.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

awesome story there. congrats to both on your bow kills.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

That is exactly the type of action that solidifies a hunter into one type of hunting over another. Congrats to you both! Good story!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Thats freakin awesome... congratulations. In spite of the really hard work, sounds like a great time!


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

bet you wish you had smoked that calf come Saturday evening hehehe


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

right on.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

What a couple of studs!! Congrats!


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## UtahMountainMan (Jul 20, 2010)

Good job guys! Sounds like a fun day


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