My WY Bull

[duckduckdog]

I know this much - you never kill anything where you have to tote it out down hill - he's gonna have to go down in that basin. Murphy says so....

[Stripa Swipa]

So now we have two crappy options. Sit in camp and lick our wounds or sit in this empty canyon and lick'em. I waited seven years for the tag....we choose to sit in empty canyon.

Then, out of nowhere about an hour later, some lost bull that apparently didn't graduate from the save your elk hide class with his peers, wanders over the ridge out on the horizon. He eases down the hillside in our direction and dissapears into a draw at the bottom of the hill.....and off we go. There is really no safe way to approach the draw because if he pops out of it, we will be busted out in the wide open. So, we decide to set up close to the wallow area that had significant activity on the first day and call. It was pretty hot that afternoon so we thought water might play a factor in his afternoon plans. We got settled in against some small scrub downwind of the wallow area and I bugled once and hit the cow calls for a bit. No response. After about ten minutes, doubt is back and I start just trying to get comfortable to wait out the lonely hours left of daylight. All of the sudden, I'm awoken by my buddy who is blurting here he comes, get your bow ready. I look up and he's fifty yards trotting right at me! I'm all tangled up in this little burnt up bush, trying to get on my knees, trying to move my bow around to make sure I've got limb clearance if I get a shot, all the while trying not to get busted. He's coming straight at my tree so I'm thinking a smart elk is going to take the downwind side which is my right. I can't swing to my right and shoot. Hell, he'll have my wind before I can shoot anyway. What? He's going to my left. He's broadside and walking fast at 20 yards. I pick a spot, shoot, and the arra sails right over his back. The elk takes a few quick steps and then resumes his normal cadence and direction. I put my face in my hands in pure disbelief. I've just flubbed a chip shot. All of this wait and preparation and that is what I do with it. Can't even look back to face my buddy who is a mere 10 feet behind me. I'm crushed.

[duckcommander727]

I'm losing it.

[duckduckdog]

"bottom of the hill" - see I told ya...

[Stripa Swipa]

This is where the music died....
The green strip is where the elk was moving right to left when I whiffed from the tangles of this tree.

[Catdaddy]

How long ago was the fire?

[Simple Man]

So was that picture on page1 this year or in another lifetime?

[Stripa Swipa]

So I guess ten or so seconds go by while my face is buried in my hands. My buddy is watching the bull closely. When he's fifty or so yards past us, he starts chewing me a new one to get my bow and get back in the game. I slowly look back over my left shoulder and see the bull flop down in a wallow. Having seen this show a couple of days earlier, I knew I had a second chance. These bulls lose their minds when they go to playin in these wallows. He was only 80 to 100 yards away, up wind, and I've got a few trees between me and him to work with. I'm gone and on auto pilot before I've had time to give the situation any conscious thought. This is the view looking back up to the wallow from "the whiff tree."

[BigBrother]

I think that stripa is stringing this out over ten days...to mirror his hunt.

LMAO @ Catdaddy.

[duckduckdog]

hell of an ant hill at the top of that wallow.....

[Stripa Swipa]

hell of an ant hill at the top of that wallow.....

That is actually the "rimrock perch"

[Dook]

can't be the end. dammit. Good story schpilllberg.

[MC]

I think we're getting ready to hear about a Wapiti with a hole in each lung when he comes out of that wallow.

[UMTduckhead]

looks like a 3+ year old burn ... thats some thick grass.. damn hot burn too..

[Stripa Swipa]

Over the course of a couple minutes, he starts wallowng around and I go, he lifts his head and I freeze. Luckily, he still seems to be focused up the hill away from me....likely still looking for the source of my calls 15 minutes prior. I finally, make my way up tothe last bit of cover. This split tree was made for a bow hunter to stand behind and shoot through. This pic of me gives you the scene I had of the elk in the wallow at 25 yards, as I was standing ready at the split tree.

[duckduckdog]

split tree, elk below him.... it's getting close....

[duckcrazed]

Congrats Stripa, awesome bull!...I'm glad I only now opened this thread, hopefully just in time for kill shot!

[Stripa Swipa]

This is my favorite part of the hunt. A few minutes earlier, my mind was so scrambled that I couldn't perform at any reasonable level of competence. Now, as I stood behind this tree, I knew there was nothing that could go wrong. The wind was right. I had a perfectly comfortable and familiar shooting position. It was just like the shot I've made thousands of times in the yard over many years. I had zero doubt and knew that I was watching a dead elk wallowing.....

[BigBrother]

But...

[duckcommander727]

And then.......