The Hunt

Warning: Long hunting story followed by a few pics. Skipping to the end may save you some pain. (Benjamin's story)

I drew a Monroe archery elk tag in the spring. Hope and expectations were high. My brother-in-law (Allen) immediately offered to come and help along with a multitude of friends and some family. We spent a few days scouting and saw a few good bulls. When the opening day came we saw many deer and spike elk hunters. The spike and deer hunters continued to be in the area until they closed one week before my hunt ended.(The early closures gave new hope, they must have had a bugle in each pocket.) Once the Labor day crowds left we were left with the limited entry crowd. They were a good bunch of people. We kept track of each other and gave encouragment at each encounter. The moon was full and very bright. The elk could be heard bugling durring all hours of the night, but would stop just before daybreak. With 4 days left in the hunt they started to the extend the bugling until around 9 am. We would be in the right areas, but just couldn't seem to get in front of the elk. I tried many times to "run" one down, but that doesn't work well with a bow. Each time we got ahead of them the wind would swirl or change and then all we would see were more elk butts. On my 14th day with two days until the hunt was over I sat again on a wallow. I had given up and was ready to head out for the day when I heard an elk bugle. I repositioned myself down wind and he, a big 5x5 ran in and plopped himself into the wallow. I missed my first shot just low. The elk ran towards me and stopped, not sure what just happened. I missed shot 2 and 3 and watched what I thought was my last chance run back up the mountain.I dreaded calling my wife that night to tell her I missed my first and possibly only chance. When I got back to camp I found out that it had rained on top of the mountain shortly after I had left. Three elk were killed just after the rain stopped. Day 15 brought more close calls and no shot opportunities.Day 16, Sept 11th was the last day of the archery hunt with the limited rifle hunt starting the next day. We got up extra early and sped into a vehicle restriced area of the unit. As we were driving in we passed a camp that had a couple of guys just getting ready to pull out. We passed them about 5-10 seconds before they pulled onto the main road. They drove slower than us probably due to the dust we were making and to our suprise had chosen the same ridge to set up on. They arrived about 2 minutes behind us. That 5-10 seconds most likely saved our hunt because we wouldn't have set up on top of them. I don't know what they were thinking when they pulled in to see our four wheelers in the spot they wanted. We never saw them, but suspected they went up the ridge from us. Once on the ridge we waited for dawn. At first light we heard bugles across the ravine. Further inspection revealed an ATV with what we assumed was a rifle hunter wanting to see what would answer. The draw to the west answered with a bugle, a pair of rifle hunters.Down the ravine more bugles. These were far more convincing than the previous attempts. Allen and I quickly crossed three draws and set up above the bugles. Many cows fed up through our draw, followed by many long, intense minutes of listening to the three bulls fight and rant back and forth with each other. One bull we never saw went up another draw. The bigger of the two bulls in our draw chased off the smaller guy. By this point the cows were within 75 yds and feeding up the opposite side of the draw. Luckly some of them strayed twards us, prompting the bull to come over and round them up. I ranged him at 50 yds and went to put my release on the string. I couldn't move my hand. My release was stuck on my radio. The bull ran up the hill and out of range. I ripped off my radio and sat in frustration. A few seconds later he came back for the cows. I took aim, counted my pins a few times and shot. My initial reaction as he ran away was that I shot him in the right hind quarter. I glassed up the hill, never seeing him running with the cows. I quickly ran across the draw, hoping to perhaps get another chance and saw him laying on top of the ridge not 40 yrds away. RELIEF!! Then he stood up and started walking. I drew my bow (no shot, just butt and antlers) and he fell down. Again he stood up and started walking away, I draw and he falls down. Worried that he was going to drop down into the ravine I worked my way to the side a few yards. He stood up and took a few steps to the left and I put a second arrow into him. He ran 30 yards out of sight. I went back to find Allen. We waited 40 minutes and then slowly glassed as we walk to the last place I saw him. We saw an antler sticking up over a pine tree. My fears of not succeeding were no more. The relief I felt was overwhelming. I can't thank Melinda enough for being so supportive of my hobbies or my brother-in-law Allen for sticking it out with me for 12 days. I shot him at 7:45 am and we had him back to camp by 3:30 pm. I was amazed that the two of us could get the elk out. However, my shoulders were black and blue from hauling meat.