Last year I had an early season NM archery tag.
It always starts on labor day weekend so my good buddy brought his family up to share the experience. He's been introducing his boys to hunting over the last couple years and I wanted to show them what it's like in early season.
Opening morning we went up to an area I call the "kill bench". It's a burn that leads into some nice thick timber and I always catch elk moving into their beds in the morning.
My buddy and his boys wanted to video tape, so I wasn't going to say no!
As soon as first legal light kicked off I heard a few bugles on the other side of the burn and I had a feeling they were coming our way. We set up and the elk started to come in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG5dbpEfIBk&t=1s
If you watch this video you'll see at about 8 seconds in the bull comes into play on the left side of the screen. At that time I figure he was about 80-90 yards out and was moving my way.
The wind was perfect and I had a nice chunk of brush that separated me and the elk. They were coming down from a little hill and once they hit the bench they either head into the timber giving me a quartering away shot or continue down giving me a close broadside shot.
At 52 second in you'll see my kneel down. I see two cows about 15 yards in front of me and I know the bull is coming in.
Around 54-55 seconds you'll see the bull movement again and he's much closer! (look in between the left two trees)
At 1:12 you'll see my get up... the cows were moving my way and I needed to prepare for a broadside shot on that bull....
This camera angle was from the boys that I sat out of the way so the wind would never interfere with anything and they could move around without being seen.
Now is where the fun begins....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6B5K4AXwo
The cows started working their way down, but my buddy was not covered enough and in their line of sight.... he also may have gotten excited when he saw her and moved the camera a bit for a better view
As you can imagine the gig was up, but boy was that such a great time.
The boys got to hear a bull bugling and destroying trees on his way down the hill, they saw elk, and it just helped feed their fire.
Had I been alone could I have killed that bull...? Maybe.
Would I trade this encounter and experience for it? HECK NO... the look on my buddy and his boys face was priceless and I wouldn't trade it for a thing.
Plus, who really wants to tag out on day 1 anyways.
Brad always had that quota in his sig.... nothing ruins an elk hunt like filling a tag.
It always starts on labor day weekend so my good buddy brought his family up to share the experience. He's been introducing his boys to hunting over the last couple years and I wanted to show them what it's like in early season.
Opening morning we went up to an area I call the "kill bench". It's a burn that leads into some nice thick timber and I always catch elk moving into their beds in the morning.
My buddy and his boys wanted to video tape, so I wasn't going to say no!
As soon as first legal light kicked off I heard a few bugles on the other side of the burn and I had a feeling they were coming our way. We set up and the elk started to come in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG5dbpEfIBk&t=1s
If you watch this video you'll see at about 8 seconds in the bull comes into play on the left side of the screen. At that time I figure he was about 80-90 yards out and was moving my way.
The wind was perfect and I had a nice chunk of brush that separated me and the elk. They were coming down from a little hill and once they hit the bench they either head into the timber giving me a quartering away shot or continue down giving me a close broadside shot.
At 52 second in you'll see my kneel down. I see two cows about 15 yards in front of me and I know the bull is coming in.
Around 54-55 seconds you'll see the bull movement again and he's much closer! (look in between the left two trees)
At 1:12 you'll see my get up... the cows were moving my way and I needed to prepare for a broadside shot on that bull....
This camera angle was from the boys that I sat out of the way so the wind would never interfere with anything and they could move around without being seen.
Now is where the fun begins....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO6B5K4AXwo
The cows started working their way down, but my buddy was not covered enough and in their line of sight.... he also may have gotten excited when he saw her and moved the camera a bit for a better view
As you can imagine the gig was up, but boy was that such a great time.
The boys got to hear a bull bugling and destroying trees on his way down the hill, they saw elk, and it just helped feed their fire.
Had I been alone could I have killed that bull...? Maybe.
Would I trade this encounter and experience for it? HECK NO... the look on my buddy and his boys face was priceless and I wouldn't trade it for a thing.
Plus, who really wants to tag out on day 1 anyways.
Brad always had that quota in his sig.... nothing ruins an elk hunt like filling a tag.
