BOWHUNTER.COM 21
inch Easton Full Metal Jacket arrow with
comfort. I helped him attach a Carbon
XCeed seven-pin sight, six-inch Pro Stack
stabilizer, Hoyt Ultra drop-away rest, and
Carbon Pro two-piece quiver.
Ryley had been a winning football
quarterback in high school, and his excel-
lent hand-eye coordination was evident as
he took a few practice shots with his Tru-
Fire release aid. Even before fine-tuning,
he was placing three broadhead-tipped
arrows uncomfortably close together at
40 yards.
Ryley shot an arrow through paper
with a 100-grain G5 Striker broadhead
attached. The projectile f lew a touch
tail-low, but a quarter turn on the upper
limb bolt fixed that. After a few shots to
sight-in, Ryley placed five broadhead-
tipped arrows in a row inside two-inch
bull’s-eyes from 40 yards away. Any elk
within 50 yards was going to be in deep
trouble if Ryley had time to use his laser
rangefinder!
The 2018 Montana elk season opened
on September 1, and Ryley hit the ground
running with his dad along to help. They
saw several smallish bulls that opening
weekend, but nothing that turned Ryley’s
crank. With a 380-plus already under his
belt, and the confidence of a great-shoot-
ing bow in his hand, he knew he could af-
ford to wait. His job as a diesel mechanic
would limit the days he could hunt, but
he planned to take mid-September off to
coincide with the peak of the rut.
September 16 dawned warm, the sun
slithering over distant mountains like an
egg yolk in a frying pan. Several bulls bu-
gled in the distance, despite the heat. Ry-
ley and Doyle hustled up a slope, peeked
over a ridge, and instantly saw elk.
A youngish 6x6 was chasing cows
200 yards away. The short-tined bull
might flirt with the P&Y minimum of
265, but he was not large enough for
Ryley. He had already passed up bigger
bulls earlier in the month. Besides, an
elk with a deeper, older-sounding voice
was growling just beyond the next ridge.
The bowhunters circled downwind
from the elk they had already seen, tip-
toed through a thin stand of pines, and
looked into the next canyon. Antlers
flashed on the far slope, and the bull
with the impressive voice stepped into
the clear. He was all alone, wheeling this
way and that as he answered other elk in
the distance. His rack was as impressive
as his vocal cords, with long, even tines
and a nifty extra point near the base
on the right side. Ryley gave his dad a
thumbs-up, and then he ducked into a
side draw with the same laser focus he’d
used to complete passes on the football
field.
As Doyle watched, Ryley cut the dis-
tance to 125 yards, 100 yards, and 75
yards. The big bull did not move 20 feet
during the whole time. As Doyle watched,
Ryley crouched and weaseled closer and
cl oser. Charred logs and decaying “wid-
ow-maker” pines from an old burn were
mixed with tall grass and living trees
along the slope. Perfect cover for a slow-
moving predator. Doyle began easing
forward himself, confident he could get
closer before his son took the shot.
My friend told me later that he was
more excited during that stalk than he
ever had been when after an elk for him-
self. Doyle watched through his binocu-
lars as Ryley crept inside 50 yards from the
bull, then 45, then 40. Doyle was only 100
yards behind his son, and his heart was
doing backflips as he realized Ryley could
shoot at any time. But the young man con-
tinued to creep ahead, nearly giving Doyle
a heart attack as elk and hunter seemed to
merge together through his 10X glass.Suddenly,Ryleycrouched,drew,and
sent a G5 broadhead at the beast. The
distance was exactly 30 yards, and the
FMJ shaft zipped through both lungs
and out the other side without hardly
slowing down. The bull staggered less
than 40 yards and flipped upside-down.
That big three-blade head had done its
job incredibly well.
Ryley’s first spot-and-stalk bull was
a dandy, with awesomely symmetri-
cal antlers and a record-book score a
touch over 355. When asked why he had
stalked so close when he knew he did
not really need to, Ryley’s answer was
simple: “I always wanted to sneak up on a
big bull elk, and I figured I might as well
make the most of the experience.”
If you ask me, that pretty well sums up
what real bowhunting is all about!BIG GAME HUNTING TIP
Chuck Adams marker to more easily determine where the
head and tail of the arrow pass through.
Rather than moving the nocking point
or D-loop on the bowstring, the easiest
way to eliminate tail-high or tail-low paper
tears is adjusting the limb bolts. To raise
the tail, simply tighten the upper limb, or
loosen the lower limb. Reverse this to low-
er the tail. For tail-right or tail-left tears,
move the arrow rest to the left or right.
With release-aid setups, you will most
commonly need to move the arrow rest in
the opposite direction of the paper tear,
but experimentation is the key.
Twisting the same side of top and bot-SPONSORED BY
tom fixed cable yokes can also eliminate
tail-right or tail-left paper tears. For ex-
ample, a few twists on the left side will
usually push the arrow’s tail farther to
the right, and vice versa.
Once your broadhead-tipped ar-
rows shoot bullet holes through paper
no larger than the fletching, you should
double-check through paper from 12 or
15 feet. Sight-in your bow, and then go
shoot a critter!Quick-Tune Your Release-Aid Bow
Smart archers choose a reputable
bow brand and quality arrow shafts to
match. With an equally excellent drop-
away arrow rest and flexible hunting sta-
bilizertominimizeshootingtorque,tuning
yourrelease-aid compound with broad-
head-tipped arrows should be a snap.
Shoot your setup through stretched
butcher paper, or a sheet of common print-
erpaper,fromaboutsixfeetaway.Smear
thebroadhead’snosewithlipstickordryRyley Shipp’s 2018 Hoyt release-aid bow
combined power, accuracy, camouflage,
and silent performance to give him an
edge as he stalked Montana elk.