by not using the decoy we were carrying.
We encountered the bull again that eve-
ning, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The following morning, everything
seemed perfect — except the elk weren’t
talking. We finally heard a distant bugle,
and we decided to work our way up the
slope into the dark timber. We called oc-
casionally, and thought we heard a slight
squeal several hundred yards away. It
was like the bull wanted to bugle but cut
himself off to avoid detection. We set up
and tried a cold-calling sequence, hop-
ing the bull would investigate.
Twenty minutes into the set, I shifted
my weight and caught movement well
within bow range! The cover wasn’t
overly thick, and I couldn’t believe an
animal the size of an elk had snuck in
so close without my noticing him. The
bull sensed something wasn’t right, and
I eased back my string as he turned to
leave. Luckily, he stopped at 30 yards in a
narrow lane. I knew it wasn’t the big bull
from the previous day, but it was an easy
decision for me to trigger my release.
The arrow sounded good when it hit, but
doubt crept in when I watched the bull
vanish over a small rise.THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Sharing my Colorado elk
hunt with my good buddy
Ron Niziolek was defi-
nitely a good thing!YOU CAN COUNT ON US...
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