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12 Years in the Making. First Archery Idaho Bull Elk

Let me first start off by saying that I have been hunting my whole life from the time I was a little boy.  I was fortunate enough to have a father that took me out with him for elk, wild boar and deer and it is those times in my life that I will never forget.  Thanks DAD!  For the past twelve years I have been archery elk hunting in Idaho and have had several opportunities but have never been able to close the deal. 

 This year I was not even sure if I would be hunting let alone climbing mountains and chasing elk.  As a former full schloarship athlete I suffered a career ending knee injury playing defensive tackle at the University of Arizona.  After ten surgeries I had my knee replaced in January of 2008.  Seven months later I developed a staph infection and had to have two more replacements with the last one being in January of this year.  Fast forward a few months and I had the opportunity to meet Cory Glauner of gothunts.com and wedogservices.com.  Not only can Cory build websites like Bulls & Beavers but he can hunt like no other.  We met on September 18th late in the day at our local grocery store and bought supplies for two days knowing we had a limited time in the field.  

After arriving at Bulls & Beavers headquarters and planning the next morning’s hunt we called it a night.  With the alarm set I laid in bed for hours anticipating the morning and dreaming about how this could be the day I get my first elk after twelve years in the field.  We left the cabin on our quads at 6:30 am and within a half an hour we were on elk.  This first group had a very protective bull and with Cory on the bugle he wasn’t budging.  Honestly, we probably could have got the bull but it was to far for me with my leg to attempt the pursuit. I believe Cory would have had that bull but wanted to see me have the opportunity seeing that he has taken ten elk with his bow over the years.  Off we go looking for others and after glassing we decided to try a new area where Cory let out a bugle and within a minute we were answered with a bull that was close enough to go after.  We left the quads and started after him. 

The country we are hunting in is rugged and some of the best in the state of Idaho for elk with open sage and lots of timber patches.  After a half hour of moving in we set up for the call.  Cory put me out a hundred yards in front and started calling.  Cory is modest but you can see why he won the Idaho state bugle contest in 2006.  The bull answered but was either lazy or not interested in coming in.  We began slowly moving up the mountain through the deep timber calling.  Soon we knew we had his attention and the bull was on the move.  I knew Cory was close because I could hear his calls but what I didn’t know was that he had a shot opportunity if the bull wasn’t behind a tree.  After range finding where I thought the bull would come out there he was. The bull moved down the mountian and was at 50 yards. I was at full draw but he was looking head on at me.  My arm started shaking and I had to ease off the draw which was set at 70 lbs with the bull looking right at me.  He obviuosly didn’t see me or was more interested in the calls coming from Cory. The bull stepped five yards closer and turned broadside.  I let the arrow fly and could see it was on course but wasn’t sure if I had hit him.  After seeing the bull turn and run I cow called and moved in.  Cory was there and confirmed he was hit good.  Talk about overwhelming emotions after all these years and adversity to finally know you have your first bull with a bow.  We sat and waited for a half an hour and would have gone after him sooner with all my excitement but Cory was there to calm me down and make us wait.  We followed the blood trail and found my elk 200 yards up the mountain.

Here is where it gets amazing.  After finding my bull I spotted a cow elk 20 yards away and started cow calling and yelled to Cory. He moved up towards me and with in minutes I heard him release his arrow and he too had his elk down all before 9:00am.  As we both sat there in amazement of what we just accomplished we looked at each other knowing that the work has just begun.  Two elk down on a mountian.  Cory showed me how to eskimo dress the elk which we did and by 4:00 in the afternoon we had our elk back to camp.  My thanks goes out to Cory for calling in my first bull and helping me achieve a dream and goal of mine since I was a young kid.