Archery elk

Korhil78

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Joined
Jun 22, 2011
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3,572
Location
New Mexico
Got a small 6x6 in the New Mexico archery season. I had the first hunt and the bulls really were not talking much at all. We were having a hard time getting on them without them talking at all. On the second to the last day, I was in shoot to fill the freezer mode. That morning I got on a good bull (330-340") but could not close the deal. We drove to a different location and heard a bull bugle so we got geared up and went after him. He would bugle every now and then and he wasn't getting closer or further away so we figured he was bedded down for the day. We never called back to him as we were not having any luck before with that. I walked ahead of my buddy and we walked slowly up to the area where we thought he would be bedded. There was an area of young pines that were thick but the trees were short. We figured he was bedded down somewhere in there.

I had my Leica rangefinder out so as I was walking, I would stop and scan around with the 6x rangefinder. I spotted him on the edge of the pines bedded down. He was chewing his cud and you could tell that he was napping with his eyes half closed. I ranged him at 81 yards. The bull was bedded with his chest facing me so I would have to shoot him in the chest. I have been practicing out to 110 yards so I was very comfortable with the distance. There was absolutely no wind so that was a big help. I turned my sight down to my 80 yard mark. Took in a breath as I drew my bow back. I put the 80 yard pin right on his chest as I exhaled. As soon as I released the arrow, I knew it was going to be a good shot. The slick trick viper trick broadhead flew right into his chest with a resounding whack! The bull jumped up out of his bed and stumbled and then got back up and ran/walked about 30 yards. He had a lot of blood pouring out of his nose and mouth. He did the death wobble and fell right over. The arrow was buried all the way in past the knock so the penetration was very good. It was only a half mile trek to the truck so the pack out was not too bad at all.

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He was just below 300". It was a rough year for elk last year during the rut. Was very hot and they were not talking much on the first hunt. I shot him on the second to the last day of the hunt. I had held off to try finding a bigger one but it didn't happen. I was more than happy to have the meat though!
 
I hunted New Mexico last year during the first rifle season and we had the same experience. There was little talking and not much elk sighting either. We heard this was what most folks experienced all over the unit too. That is hunting though.
 
We hunted the Valle Caldera opening day archery 2016 and there were quite a few bulls calling but didn't see much. We were out before dawn the next morning and had a beautiful 6x6 on the ground by 8:30 am. 25-30 ft shot. He ran 200 ft and piled up.
 
What bow sight are you using? Bow speed? I currently have a 5 pin that gets me out to 65 yards for white tails but I am looking for something to get solid point of aim/impact to at least 80 yards for elk hunt in Montana river breaks this fall
 
I am using a black gold ascent sight. It is a 5 pin sight but you sight them all in from 20-60 and then from 70 on out, you wheel the whole sight down and sight each range in and mark it and use the bottom pin for it. Then when you are hunting, you range an animal at 80 yards, you just wheel it down real fast to your 80 yard mark and hold using the last pin. Its super tough and nice. My bow speed with 425 Gr arrow setup was averaging 285 fps in the chrono.
 
That was an impressive shot. I have not killed an elk further than 32 yards. Typically in the areas I hunt you are lucky to see 50 yards in any direction unless you are on a logging road.
 
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