We had a few more close calls over the next couple of days, including a big herd bull at 55 yards and the same bull again the next morning at 25 yards, but brush prevented Donnie from getting a shot both times.
On Saturday morning, our last hunt, we got on a good bull and began working him across the hillside for Donnie. He came in on a string, and with the Contour Hat-Camera rolling, Donnie captured some GREAT footage.
See the footage from the Contour HD Hat-Camera…
The bull stopped at 32 yards and gave Donnie a great, broadside shot. At the shot, the bull whirled and ran back to where he had come from. We waited 15 minutes and went to look for first blood. As we were looking, the bull started bugling 100 yards away in the draw. We were confused, but we also weren’t finding any blood. The arrow definitely seemed to hit something that sounded like the elk, but there was no doubt that the bull was standing across the hillside from us bugling. He rounded up his cows and headed straight up the mountain. We followed him quietly, and after 3 hours, we worked our way into their bedding area. The bull started bugling again, and we set up on the ridge overlooking the bench they were bedded on. The bull jumped up and came screaming in to our set-up, but stopped at 50 yards as the swirling wind switched and took our scent across the hill to him. We watched the footage several times and the only thing we can figure is that with the steep uphill shot, Donnie’s arrow must have hit high and hit the pocket underneath the backbone. We never found the arrow, nor did we find a single drop of blood in over a mile and a half of following the bugling bull. We went back and spent the afternoon looking around the original set-up for the arrow, blood, any clues, and we came up empty-handed. Not the way we wanted the season to end, but the bull was still bugling as we made our way off the mountain to the truck.
We got back to camp and found out that Burdette had called in a “last-morning” 5X5 bull for Dave Perry and they had him packed out to the truck. We’ll leave out the details of sleeping in and not having any packframes with them, but they got it done.
Dave Perry's last morning bull
All-in-all, it was a great season. We had a handful of close encounters and everyone had opportunities. Donnie’s bull is still a mystery. I guess we’ll have to look for a scar next fall when we skin him out! We had a great time and a fun camp…lot’s of slingshot practice, plenty of Burdette’s stories, and enough Mountain House dinners to last until next elk season! Special thanks to Donnie, Dave, and Dave for the fun and laughs, and especially the help packing out my bull!
Burdette with the bull he called in for Dave Perry