We slowly pressed on until I could hear the brush breaking directly in front of me. We cautiously pressed forward, but after my last blunder, I was mindful about not getting too far out in front of Ron. In fact, by my count, he had four bulls answering him. The wind was in our favor, and it wasn’t long before Ron had the bull fired up. After a short drive and hike to follow, we were unable to get in front of the herd, so we had to rely on calling the bull back to us. Lesson Number Three: Always monitor the wind and the location of the cow elk during your stalks, so they don’t get downwind before you’re able to get a shot off.Ī couple of days later, while glassing from one of our vantage points, we saw the same bull and his cows enter a block of timber. I had gone too far forward, and the cows that got behind me had caught my wind. The bull quickly reacted to the chaos, and he retreated back down the hill into the thick trees. I was waiting for the bull’s body to come into sight so I could get the range, when the timber below me suddenly exploded with cow elk running behind me. I was feeling good about my setup, when suddenly I saw antler tips coming over a rise in the clearing about 50 yards away.
Once I lost sight of the cows in the timber below me, I crept closer to the edge of the timber where I could tuck into some cover.
I was in the open, and I was concerned that the cows would spot me before the bull got within range. The bull was getting closer, and I started to see flashes of brown in the trees below me. Ron held back and urged me to slowly work my way forward. We could hear the bull bugling in the meadow below the clearing, so we slowly crept in that direction while keeping the wind in our faces. The plan was to get between the elk and their bedding area, and only to rely on calling if absolutely necessary to get the bull into bow range. This time we were chasing a 7x7 bull that we had glassed one evening before dark. September 2015 found me again hunting with Ron. Eventually, we ran out of light as my hunt came to an end. Try as we might, we could not get closer than 100 yards of that bull. He knew where they were going, and before long I was watching the bull herd his cows in a meadow that was surrounded by thick timber. Once the bull left with his harem of cows, Ron hatched a plan. On the last night of my hunt, we saw the “wallow” bull 100 yards away as we watched him from the pickup truck. Thus, it was only fitting for these elk to thereafter be known as “Roosevelt’s” elk.ĭuring my hunt in 2014, we were after a 300-inch-plus bull that had been infrequently visiting a wallow Ron was monitoring with trail cameras. Due to a steep decline in their population in the early 1900s, Theodore Roosevelt established Olympic National Park in Washington State to protect the elk and enable the herd to eventually grow into the huntable populations that we enjoy today. The Roosevelt’s elk is the largest of the subspecies. The Pope and Young Club recognizes three species of elk in North America - Rocky Mountain, Tule, and Roosevelt’s. Lesson Number Two: Draw your bow when the bull can’t see you. Be sure of the range before releasing an arrow. Lesson Number One: Roosevelt’s elk are big, and they can look closer than they really are as a result. The bull bolted, and I watched my arrow fly harmlessly into the brush below the elk. I guessed the yardage at 40, and released the arrow. He caught the movement of the bow and hesitated.
#Roosevelt elk full#
When the bull hit the opening, I came to full draw. He was coming in so fast, that I had little time to set up and range some landmarks. I could see the white tips of the bull’s antlers getting closer as he neared an opening in the thick brush.
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