The next couple of days were uneventful as we talked to elk a lot but never had any close sightings. That all changed one evening when Kyle bugled from the ridge above me and a bull answered on the opposite ridge. I cow called and soon saw the form of a bull elk slipping towards me. The white tips of his huge antlers showing through the trees told me that this was definitely a bull that I wanted. He just kept chuckling at my cow calls as he walked past me at 70 yards and kept going. The distance between us kept growing as he chuckled his way up the next draw and I thought he would never come in. Just as I could barely still hear him, I thought I might try a bugle, as it seemed I had nothing to lose. Sure enough, it worked as he screamed a full bugle right back. The sound of him raking a tree got me really wound up and I bugled back at him again. He answered me and I could tell he was closing the distance quickly. I worked this bull for an hour, never getting him closer than 70 yards, which was not the shot I wanted. With darkness approaching, I tried several times working in towards him, which never spooked him but never provided the shot I wanted. I waited until dark to retreat back to the truck and I thought I heard him a couple of times following me out of the creek drainage. Maybe he thought I was an immature bull afraid to confront him, I do not know. I thought I would play a joke on my buddies and tell them I had shot the elk. I had cut my chin while raking a tree and I had some blood on my hands and they didn't believe my story until they saw that. I had hidden a couple of arrows from my quiver and was really laying it on thick until I could take it no longer and finally told them the truth.

We came back the next morning and got some more chuckles from what we thought might be the same bull but never could get him to come in. That was a Tuesday and we never had much more than a chuckle or two from elk for the next few days. However, we all saw some nice mule deer bucks, including one I almost stepped on that had around a 30 inch spread. I was paying attention to a hillside where I had seen elk before and wasn't watching what was right in front of me. I will never let that happen again, I hope. As the week went on we saw more and more elk rubs which meant to us the rut was starting to really get going, giving us high hopes of getting in close to some bulls. That happened to Kyle on Thursday evening when a bull answered his bugle and was coming in perfectly until his cows seemed to start leaving him which caused him to round them up and take off on a run. Kyle followed the herd for almost two hours, finding a couple of their main trail systems, fire breaks around some of the old clear-cuts. He pushed the bull until dark then finally had to give up chase.

The next day Kyle told me I should sit on one of the trails while he sat on the other. Lindsay went to where Kyle had first seen the elk the night before, as there were many new rubs in the area. Kyle and I hunted together so he could show me where to wait along the trail. I had waited for two hours when I decided to relax a little and break out a snack from my daypack. Eating my bagel, I was interrupted by the sound of something crashing towards me through the timber. I quickly grabbed my gear and ducked behind a large stump, just in time to see the ears of a large cow elk pop over the rise across the clear-cut from me. The elk ran one after another towards me until they were about 30 yards downhill from my position. At that time I could see the antlers of a bull elk coming over the rise. The wind was quartering uphill and towards the elk and the lead cow made a sudden turn as she winded me. Luckily for me, she turned downhill and ran right underneath and past the opposite side of the stump I was hiding behind. The other elk followed suit but I was paying more attention to the bull, preparing for a shot. The cow in front of the bull stopped in her tracks at the point where the other elk made the sharp turn and I found myself chuckling as the bull ran right into the back of her. She didn't want to follow the other elk but he jabbed her in the butt with his horns and she soon followed the others. I knew he would soon be running right past me so I turned to the far side of the stump and attempted to draw my bow, a Jennings Uniforce set at 70 pounds, but was unable to because of my twisted sitting position. I let off and redrew my bow successfully this time just as the front of the bull passed me. Picking my spot, I instinctively released and soon saw the fletchings of my Satellite tipped 2315 arrow sticking out right where I had aimed, the bull flinching just a little at the impact. As he ran off at about 40 yards, he stumbled as he cleared a fallen tree and I knew he was mine. I cow called, stopping the other elk, which looked first in my direction and then towards where the bull had run. It all happened so fast, probably ten seconds, that I didn't really have time to get nervous before the shot but afterwards my knees started to shake. I then paced off the distance of the shot and it was an incredibly close six or seven yards. Wow!