The two finally drew a coveted Northern Arizona archery elk
hunt, and of course they had to start scouting in May! It seemed like September was never going to
arrive, the bulls eventually grew out their antlers and finally began to rub
the velvet off. Picture texts were sent
if one or the other came across the first wallows of the year. When the first bugle let out, that was
it! The days slowed to a grind that made
the final couple weeks leading to their hunt seem like months.
Several bulls were passed up, both had made up their minds
that on this hunt they would come out with a big bull
or a unfilled tag in their pocket. The
first day of the hunt was about the one good day they had for calling in bulls,
after that the hunting pressure and the high temperatures had limited any
bugling to the first 30 minutes of the morning.
The bulls would shut up for the day and head to their bedding areas.
Finally, somewhere around the mid-point of the hunt, Bryant
and good friend Jeff Pettit parked under a tree and started to get ready to
hike in to a water hole that a small amount of elk, but an even smaller amount
of hunters were hitting. The two made
themselves as comfortable as possible in a make shift ground blind they had
made earlier that September. Jeff’s job
that day was to try to get a little video of anything that may happen that
afternoon. Shortly after arriving at the
blind, two yearling cows showed up and gave Jeff and Bryant a good show as they
played and splashed around in the water.
At about 10 minutes into it, a bull about a half mile away gave a bugle
that sent the two kids back to him and their mom.
About an hour later, the same bull began to bugle a little
more, and it started to sound like he was headed their way. One thought is, the two yearlings showed back
up to where the bull and his cows were bedded, smelling of mud and water. This may have made the rest of the elk think
that going to the water sounded like a great idea. At about a quarter mile out, the bull finally
quit bugling. About 30 minutes of
silence went by when out of nowhere a bull began to rake a tree just above the
water. The cows finally appeared and
made their way to get a drink. The bull
took his sweet time raking the tree when he finally walked out and showed
himself, and it didn’t take long before Bryant made up his mind to try to shoot
this bull if he presented an opportunity.
He came to the water about 20 yards to the left of the cows giving
Bryant a broadside shot. The arrow hit
the bull perfect! The bull jumped into
the water and onto the opposite bank and back up the hill. Bryant and Jeff just about jumped out of the
blind trying to calm each other down.
The decision was made to sneak back to the truck and call P.T., Bryant’s
dad, and some other friends to help recover the elk.
After a short tracking job using the lights from their
flashlights, the bull was recovered.
This bull ended up being the biggest bull Bryant had taken, taping out
at 377” and some change.
Like I said, we are now at the second to last evening of the
hunt. P.T. had a great water that he had
been sitting in the evenings, but most of the elk were waiting until just after
dark to come in. Bryant sat the blind
with P.T. and a video camera a few times, but it was a tight fit, so Bryant was
on a hilltop in another area trying to locate a bull P.T. almost had a chance
at a few days earlier.
The elk started bugling early this day. At about 3 in the afternoon, P.T. started
sending Bryant texts telling him the elk were bugling all around him. Sometimes it sounded like they were coming to
the water, sometimes it sounded like they were going away. P.T. had to make the decision to get out and
try to sneak in on some of the noisy bulls, or wait and hope they would come in
for a drink. As luck would have it
today, a handful of cows started to appear just behind P.T.’s blind. P.T. waited and watched as a bull finally
appeared. It was one of the bulls he had
his sights on during the scouting phase.
He was finally going to get a shot at a great bull when they came in to
get a drink, if they came in to drink.
P.T. watched for the next 45 minutes as the bull chased his cows back
and forth behind his blind, bugling at every bull that made any noise in the
distance. Back and forth, 20 yards away,
60 yards away, back to 20 yards away. No
elk were making their way to water and the day was starting to run out! Problem is, straight behind the blind was the
one direction P.T. couldn’t shoot! Time
was running low! Something happened, the
elk slowly began to leave! Did one of
the cows see or smell P.T.? Seeing his
chance may be slipping away, P.T. slowly started to climb out of his blind to
try to get his shot. About halfway out
and balancing on a log, P.T. saw the bull was getting ready to leave! He drew his bow and as the bull stepped into
the last shooting lane he let it fly.
He started sending texts to Bryant, “I think I just shot the
big 6X7, but I might of missed”, followed shortly by “I think I just heard him
die”.
P.T. snuck out of the area and back to his vehicle while
Bryant started his direction. P.T.
called a couple more friends and his dad to help with recovering the elk.
The bull only went about 10 yards after the shot! This was P.T.’s biggest bull to date taping
out at 381” and some change, which was bad news for Bryant who now owes P.T. a
dozen arrows for the 4” difference!
