Whose missed a monster
- Thread starter Sdbirds
- Start date
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Yeaap I know that feeling. It;s better knowing it was a clean miss and there is a chance he'll be back than knowing he wont be back and you royally F#$K up.
i know the feeling of missing also. it sucks! but u cant kill em all right? lol! good luck man 8)
missing is all part of bowhunting,thats whats makes it challenging..we've all missed and we will all miss again...just my 2 cents
Yup, we've all done it! Or if you haven't...you will.
I missed what would've been my biggest deer three years ago during archery. I have many excuses as to why I missed but it is still fresh in my mind as the day I let that arrow fly! At least it was a clean miss so no feelings of guilt...
I missed what would've been my biggest deer three years ago during archery. I have many excuses as to why I missed but it is still fresh in my mind as the day I let that arrow fly! At least it was a clean miss so no feelings of guilt...
Missed a monster but found a passion.....
Almost 20 years ago i was a green horn bow hunter. I had never shot anything bigger than a squirrel and here i was on my way to a friend’s ranch to hunt Elk. The only thing i knew about elk hunting was what i had read in magazines and books, no interweb to read up on how to do it. I had shot one deer with a rifle and a couple antelope so this was all new to me. I got there mid day and was set to hunt around 3pm. Keep in mind at this point i had never so much as seen a elk in the wild. I left camp with my Diaphragm call in mouth and my Hoyt spectra in my hand. I had practiced hard with the call, listening to a calling tape and had the sounds nailed down but had almost no clue on what reaction i would get out of the animals.
Walking out of camp ( a cabin on the top of a ridge ) with a short hike to the next ridge i glassed into the valley and did what the books said to do, I ripped off a big bugle and listened. My call was answered back by two bugles! Below me i had to very nice bulls and a bunch cows milling around in the grass. In my head i am thinking oh this is easy.....
I ran down the hill and got as close to the meadow as i could get, maybe 80 yards away. With no cover i was stuck but the wind was in my favor and here i sat 80 yards from a 350 class bull and a 250 class bull. I ripped off another bugle thinking that this would challenge the big bull and i would shoot him. Epic Fail, the big bull heard me call and immediately started to push his cows into the timber to the west. Lesson one sometimes bulls run away from calls and not to them, especially when they have cows with them. So i shadowed the herd of elk into the timber. I was able to stay about 40 yards away from them. Every time a cow would catch my movement i would cow call and they would ignore me. Where had the Bull gone? I am in bow range of all the cows but both Bulls had gone poof! This lasts for maybe a half hour as they feed slow in the light timber. I bugled out to see if i could find the bull again and nothing no response.
Here is where things get interesting. a cow that i had gotten close to busted me and barked. The whole herd put it into gear and started to run off. I panicked and the only thing i could think to do was bugle. As if that magical call would bring the bull back. I alternated between cow calls and bugles for maybe a minute or two. Then the forest was quiet, They had left. The elk had left over a small rise and headed north at maximum speed leaving me with a huge smile and my heart racing at a million miles per hour.
The silence breaks with the sound of heavy steps. I can’t in words explain what they sounded like but they are forever etched in my memory. Heavy almost ground shaking steps just over the rise. Was it a grizz or elk or? I stood bow in hand with no arrow nocked ( lesson two, always put a arrow on the rest or run when big things come at you in the woods) The sound got closer and closer just over the rise. The Big Bull crested the hill and Stood before me just 10 yards away reared his head back and ripped off a bugle that hurt my ears. So close the smell filled my nose, the snot dripping from his nose, the color of his eyes. I stood froze no cover to hide behind no arrow on the rest. The bull finished his bugle and put his nose low to the ground and walked right up to me 10 yards became 10 feet. As the bull closed in he stopped turned his head like a Labrador trying to figure out what was this camo thing standing frozen in the woods. He pulled his head back and bolted maybe 15 yards away pausing for a split second as I finally moved trying to get a arrow. This action was pointless, before I could even pull the string back he was gone. I sat shaking for maybe 15 min. unable to walk or talk or even react in any sane way. My first encounter with a Bull elk was over and I blew it.
In analyzing the event days later I figured out what I had done. The bull never knew what or why the herd was running away. All he could hear was me bugling away and cow calling. I sounded just like a bull trying to take one of his cows away from him. He came running back to get one of his girls. ( lesion 3 always call from a protected position with cover to draw and shoot from)
A lot of people hunt their whole life to get in bow range of a 350 class bull and I had one on my first day elk hunting. At the time It depressed me and over the next 4 years and 6 weeks of hunting elk I would not pull the string back once. That first day would haunt me over and over. I would go out and come back without pulling the string back. That first day had also infected me with the desire to keep at it. So even as much as it hurt me that first day it also keep me going when day after day I would fail to harvest a bull. It took me 53 hunting days spread over 5 years to finally kill a bull elk with my bow. To this day the one that I missed is still the one I remember the most and in some ways it’s the best Bull I ever chased.
Almost 20 years ago i was a green horn bow hunter. I had never shot anything bigger than a squirrel and here i was on my way to a friend’s ranch to hunt Elk. The only thing i knew about elk hunting was what i had read in magazines and books, no interweb to read up on how to do it. I had shot one deer with a rifle and a couple antelope so this was all new to me. I got there mid day and was set to hunt around 3pm. Keep in mind at this point i had never so much as seen a elk in the wild. I left camp with my Diaphragm call in mouth and my Hoyt spectra in my hand. I had practiced hard with the call, listening to a calling tape and had the sounds nailed down but had almost no clue on what reaction i would get out of the animals.
Walking out of camp ( a cabin on the top of a ridge ) with a short hike to the next ridge i glassed into the valley and did what the books said to do, I ripped off a big bugle and listened. My call was answered back by two bugles! Below me i had to very nice bulls and a bunch cows milling around in the grass. In my head i am thinking oh this is easy.....
I ran down the hill and got as close to the meadow as i could get, maybe 80 yards away. With no cover i was stuck but the wind was in my favor and here i sat 80 yards from a 350 class bull and a 250 class bull. I ripped off another bugle thinking that this would challenge the big bull and i would shoot him. Epic Fail, the big bull heard me call and immediately started to push his cows into the timber to the west. Lesson one sometimes bulls run away from calls and not to them, especially when they have cows with them. So i shadowed the herd of elk into the timber. I was able to stay about 40 yards away from them. Every time a cow would catch my movement i would cow call and they would ignore me. Where had the Bull gone? I am in bow range of all the cows but both Bulls had gone poof! This lasts for maybe a half hour as they feed slow in the light timber. I bugled out to see if i could find the bull again and nothing no response.
Here is where things get interesting. a cow that i had gotten close to busted me and barked. The whole herd put it into gear and started to run off. I panicked and the only thing i could think to do was bugle. As if that magical call would bring the bull back. I alternated between cow calls and bugles for maybe a minute or two. Then the forest was quiet, They had left. The elk had left over a small rise and headed north at maximum speed leaving me with a huge smile and my heart racing at a million miles per hour.
The silence breaks with the sound of heavy steps. I can’t in words explain what they sounded like but they are forever etched in my memory. Heavy almost ground shaking steps just over the rise. Was it a grizz or elk or? I stood bow in hand with no arrow nocked ( lesson two, always put a arrow on the rest or run when big things come at you in the woods) The sound got closer and closer just over the rise. The Big Bull crested the hill and Stood before me just 10 yards away reared his head back and ripped off a bugle that hurt my ears. So close the smell filled my nose, the snot dripping from his nose, the color of his eyes. I stood froze no cover to hide behind no arrow on the rest. The bull finished his bugle and put his nose low to the ground and walked right up to me 10 yards became 10 feet. As the bull closed in he stopped turned his head like a Labrador trying to figure out what was this camo thing standing frozen in the woods. He pulled his head back and bolted maybe 15 yards away pausing for a split second as I finally moved trying to get a arrow. This action was pointless, before I could even pull the string back he was gone. I sat shaking for maybe 15 min. unable to walk or talk or even react in any sane way. My first encounter with a Bull elk was over and I blew it.
In analyzing the event days later I figured out what I had done. The bull never knew what or why the herd was running away. All he could hear was me bugling away and cow calling. I sounded just like a bull trying to take one of his cows away from him. He came running back to get one of his girls. ( lesion 3 always call from a protected position with cover to draw and shoot from)
A lot of people hunt their whole life to get in bow range of a 350 class bull and I had one on my first day elk hunting. At the time It depressed me and over the next 4 years and 6 weeks of hunting elk I would not pull the string back once. That first day would haunt me over and over. I would go out and come back without pulling the string back. That first day had also infected me with the desire to keep at it. So even as much as it hurt me that first day it also keep me going when day after day I would fail to harvest a bull. It took me 53 hunting days spread over 5 years to finally kill a bull elk with my bow. To this day the one that I missed is still the one I remember the most and in some ways it’s the best Bull I ever chased.
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Good story. Being that close to a Bugling Bull is priceless. I had a similar experience over 20 years ago. when I think about it I get goose bumps.
My heart rate went up and I started to sweat while reading. Now I am pissed - That would have been the best front page story ever!!! 