The bull suddenly appeared out of the trees. He was approaching the water tank. It was about three in the afternoon, and I really wasn’t expecting any action until later in the evening. I was sitting about 15 feet above the ground in a tree seat not very far from the water. I had put the seat up three days ago. I prefer tree seats over ground blinds because I like the entire view around me. As the bull got to the water, I drew my bow back. He stopped at 30 yards perfectly broadside. I released the arrow, and it hit the bull in the middle of body maybe a little at back.
I had been hunting in Northern Arizona for about 10 days, and the elk had been bugling in mornings. Calling with bugles had led to some close encounters. I had a few opportunities and passed up some small bulls. My plan when I hunt elk has always been to chase bugles and bulls in the morning and sit on water in the afternoons, especially if it’s hot and dry.
I had discovered this waterhole on the seventh day when I was chasing a bull that dropped into a large canyon. I followed him up the other side of the canyon and discovered this tank. I thought there was a good chance this was where the bull watered. On the third evening that I sat on this tank is when I shot the big bull. I had a small raghorn bull come in with multiple cows on the first evening and a small 6x6 bull on the second evening. Deer, turkey, and bobcats had also visited the water over the past few days.
The bull wheeled around after the arrow hit him. I thought I had just shot my largest elk. When he was about 150 yards away, I saw him stop and maybe fall. Not being sure, I waited for an hour and then climbed down from the tree seat and glassed for the elk. The first thing I saw was his antlers. That was a good sign as there was no ground shrinkage when I walked up on the bull.
I’m a solo hunter. I enjoy the challenge of pursuing the animals by myself. This also gives advantage of moving camps to where I find the elk as I travel light. I’m not afraid to try different areas and move away from places that are overcrowded with hunters. I took pictures as best I could as I could not move the massive body of the elk. However, I was relieved to discover that I was going to be able to drive my truck all the way to the dead elk.
I caped the bull and skinned and removed the front and hind quarters. I found that my arrow had hit the middle of the liver and that was what had killed the elk so quickly. The skinning and quartering took me until 11:00 p.m. that evening. It was cool enough to leave the meat for the night, so I decided to finish deboning the carcass the next day. Taking loin, backstraps, rib, and neck meat, the entire process took me two days. I was proud to display my elk success flag from theflagcrew.com.
I had scouted four days, one day each week before the season started. Also, I talked to previous hunters from the list Huntin’ Fool had sent. This was very helpful as it narrowed down the places to scout. Thank you to the previous hunters in sharing that information. Most of all, thank you to my wife who supports my passion for hunting.