Wow! The ideas that run through my head when I try to boil elk hunting down to one thing. It’s darn near impossible to do, but one thing I’ve been doing for years comes to mind.  You see, to get good at killing elk, many circumstances have to fall into place.  Some are within your control and some are not.  For this topic, I’m going to focus on one variable that is within our control – getting to full draw on an elk!!  Learning to hunt on my own, this was probably the hardest aspect of hunting for me.

Maybe I hid myself too well, didn’t leave enough room to draw my bow, only had one little shooting lane, no downwind shooting lanes, the list could go on and on.  For years and sometimes still, I love to just draw my bow on elk. 

Getting to full draw is often a little harder then people think.  I love hearing people say, “ I passed up a couple today!”  I ask, “did you draw on them?”  When the answer is “NO,” I just think to myself, you really didn’t pass anything up then!  So many times has an otherwise perfect hunt gone bad because I fouled up something that was within my control.

If you’re unable to get to full draw on the elk your after, you might as well have stayed home.  One thing I would suggest doing is drawing on all the animals you come in contact with in the woods.  Doing this will give you a much better understanding of what you can get away with when you actually decide to draw for real.  Learn to use your surroundings to get your bow back, change a shooting lane, or even move when you can. The only sure way to learn to do these things with confidence is to DO IT!

I remember mule deer hunting in Nevada a couple years ago and I happened to wander into a 360 class bull!  Without missing a beat, I slipped in a little closer to him, waited for his vision to be covered, drew my bow and held for as long as I could on his vitals.  Simply an amazing feeling to be in the presence of an animal like that with your bow at full draw!  Very basic information that will make a world of difference in the outcome of your hunt.  The season is almost upon us!  Good luck to everyone..