joelkdouglas
Handloader
- Jun 5, 2011
- 1,310
- 3
I wanted to start a new post for Monday evening. We went to an area that if we faced into the wind we had to work uphill to advance into elk, and this area just had an incredible number of elk. I stopped counting branch antlered bulls, ignored spikes, and just payed attention to good bulls, wind, and cows. My guide as usual kept up the great work and we were commonly eyeing one good bull after another. Shot opportunities were much less frequent, but we could see or follow the bulls.
Then pretty suddenly everything fell into place, and bulls were having bugling competitions across the hills at one another. We closed to within 100 yards of 3 bugling bulls, and one of them was obviously dominant. He was chasing other bulls off his hill, protecting his cows. I never saw this bull’s antlers, but my guide was excited, and he pretty much said to go kill this bull. We closed to about 75 yards through the aspens, but the bull was moving constantly. He would chase one bull away, bugle behind the aspens, chase another bull, move another cow. Then he stopped, hard quartering away, and I had a clear lane. I still hadn’t seen his antlers, but I lined up the shot…and missed. Later my guide said this bull was between a 330 and 340 bull.
I’ve thought about this moment for a long time. My guide had previously said he wanted me to shoot the bull in the shoulder, and that’s where I aimed, but at the wrong shoulder. The bull was facing to the right, and instead of aiming through the bull to shoot at the left shoulder, and take out the vital area in the process, I aimed at the right shoulder. This was the first time I had taken a quartering away shot, and the first time I attempted a shoulder shot, as I commonly try for the double lung shot. My guide said he had some blame in not discussing shot placement and just saying to shoot the bull in the shoulder, but of course the shot is my responsibility. I accept full responsibility for missing this shot, and I’ll never again miss a quartering away shot for this reason.
We went up to the area where the bull was when I shot, and found no blood, no hair, and I recalled seeing a bull run up the hill with some cows after the shot. I’m confident this was my bull. I dearly hope I cleanly missed this bull and he survives to live another day (or at least until someone kills him later this fall). After considerable time searching my guide said with no blood, no hair, and a running elk showing no adverse signs of injury it had to be a clean miss.
I had a premonition, or heavy thought, leading up to this elk hunt that I would miss a shot. I didn’t then, and still don’t know, why I had this premonition. But I can say this miss made the hunt a richer experience, and made the trip for me a bittersweet hunt instead of a canned kill. I would have loved to have taken this 330-340 bull, but that will have to be another year.
The rest of my experience benefitted from this miss. I’m not glad I missed, but the adversity made the hunt real, and whenever I see my (later post!) or someone else’s elk I will think of this evening.
Then pretty suddenly everything fell into place, and bulls were having bugling competitions across the hills at one another. We closed to within 100 yards of 3 bugling bulls, and one of them was obviously dominant. He was chasing other bulls off his hill, protecting his cows. I never saw this bull’s antlers, but my guide was excited, and he pretty much said to go kill this bull. We closed to about 75 yards through the aspens, but the bull was moving constantly. He would chase one bull away, bugle behind the aspens, chase another bull, move another cow. Then he stopped, hard quartering away, and I had a clear lane. I still hadn’t seen his antlers, but I lined up the shot…and missed. Later my guide said this bull was between a 330 and 340 bull.
I’ve thought about this moment for a long time. My guide had previously said he wanted me to shoot the bull in the shoulder, and that’s where I aimed, but at the wrong shoulder. The bull was facing to the right, and instead of aiming through the bull to shoot at the left shoulder, and take out the vital area in the process, I aimed at the right shoulder. This was the first time I had taken a quartering away shot, and the first time I attempted a shoulder shot, as I commonly try for the double lung shot. My guide said he had some blame in not discussing shot placement and just saying to shoot the bull in the shoulder, but of course the shot is my responsibility. I accept full responsibility for missing this shot, and I’ll never again miss a quartering away shot for this reason.
We went up to the area where the bull was when I shot, and found no blood, no hair, and I recalled seeing a bull run up the hill with some cows after the shot. I’m confident this was my bull. I dearly hope I cleanly missed this bull and he survives to live another day (or at least until someone kills him later this fall). After considerable time searching my guide said with no blood, no hair, and a running elk showing no adverse signs of injury it had to be a clean miss.
I had a premonition, or heavy thought, leading up to this elk hunt that I would miss a shot. I didn’t then, and still don’t know, why I had this premonition. But I can say this miss made the hunt a richer experience, and made the trip for me a bittersweet hunt instead of a canned kill. I would have loved to have taken this 330-340 bull, but that will have to be another year.
The rest of my experience benefitted from this miss. I’m not glad I missed, but the adversity made the hunt real, and whenever I see my (later post!) or someone else’s elk I will think of this evening.
