WiththehelpofRonHofsess(right)
anda great-shootingPSECarbon
Air34 bow, I wasfinallyabletotake
thisbeautifulRoosevelt'sbullelk.BOWHUNTER.COM 63
ADVENTURE
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was surrounded by thick timber. Try as we might, we could
not get closer than 100 yards of that bull. Eventually, we ran
out of light as my hunt came to an end.
September 2015 found me again hunting with Ron. This
time we were chasing a 7x7 bull that we had glassed one eve-
ning before dark. The plan was to get between the elk and their
bedding area, and only to rely on calling if absolutely neces-
sary to get the bull into bow range.
We could hear the bull bugling in the meadow below the
clearing, so we slowly crept in that direction while keeping the
wind in our faces. Ron held back and urged me to slowly work
my way forward. The bugles were getting louder. The bull was
getting closer, and I started to see flashes of brown in the trees
below me. His cows were coming ahead of him. I was in the
open, and I was concerned that the cows would spot me before
the bull got within range.
Once I lost sight of the cows in the timber below me, I crept
closer to the edge of the timber where I could tuck into some
cover. I was feeling good about my setup, when suddenly I saw
antler tips coming over a rise in the clearing about 50 yards
away. I was waiting for the bull’s body to come into sight so
I could get the range, when the timber below me suddenly
exploded with cow elk running behind me. The bull quickly
reacted to the chaos, and he retreated back down the hill into