First ever archery Elk hunt

[StevieSacs]

I just got back from my first Archery Elk hunt in the Lemhi mountain range in Leadore Idaho!  This was my first guided hunt and first time hunting out west.  Although I didn’t get the monster bull that I had been dreaming about for the last 9 months, we hunted our tails off and I couldn’t be happier bringing home some meat.

 

The first day of the trip was spent scouting and glassing for elk.  We saw tons of bulls coming in and out of the alfalfa fields every evening and morning and planned our ambush points along the pivot fields for the following day.

 

The second day we called in a spike bull, but I decided to pass on it with the hopes of a bigger bull presenting itself to us later in the week.  It was incredible to call in an Elk to 40 yards and watch him mill around for a minute or so.  What was even more incredible was that as soon as he winded us and ran off, a 140” class whitetail walked infront of me at 15 yards perfectly broadside (Will have nightmares/dreams about that for months).  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a deer tag, but was still very cool to see.

 

The rest of the week  was spent glassing and getting on cow elk, but unfortunately no other bulls came within 200 yards of us.

 

Day 5 me and the guide were glassing a drainage and were watching a nice spike heading towards one of our buddies from 500 yards away.  We ended up watching him make a 60 yard shot through our glass and the bull go down.  This was his first Elk ever and had his two sons and son in law there to share in the experience.  It was a bucket list hunt for him and he couldn’t have been happier.  Really cool to see one of these animals up close (I should have shot the spike my second day!)

 

On day 6 (The day I was leaving) we had a massive 6x6 heading towards us down a  fence line  in the direction of a group of Willows that we had been hunting. Unfortunately, it spotted some cow elk in the opposite direction and started heading their way and wouldn’t respond to any of our calls.  With just hours left in my hunt, We spotted a cow elk headed down the same fence line and was able to make a 30 yard shot to put her down. 

 

The property we hunted was one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen.  We saw dozens and dozens of elk, about 20 different moose, 100’s of antelope, wolves, badgers, some real nice mule deer and more Whitetail than I’ve ever seen in my life.  We hunted extremely hard and had an incredible guide who truly taught me how to become a better / smarter hunter.  I’ve never hunted outside of New York before and can see how people can become obsessed with Elk hunting.  

 

I also drew an Antelope archery tag and tried to spot and stalk one for the 6 days I was there.  We had a few blinds set up over watering holes, but the antelope wouldn’t cooperate and come to the holes while we were sitting there.  The terrain was incredibly open and wasn’t ideal for a solid spot and stalk.  I learned that wearing a white shirt acts as a decoy and allowed me to get within 100 yards of some of the antelope.  I never felt comfortable making a shot over 60 -70 yards on an animal like that, so I never was able to get a shot off.  It was like trying to sneak up on a whitetail in an open field with 40 other white tails staring at you. 

 

To wrap up the week, I just got off the phone with the local butcher and will be receiving all of my meat within the next few days.  Truly an incredible trip  and cant wait to do it next year.

Here are some of the pictures I got from the trip!  

Mike's first Elk.  Nice spike!

Probably my first selfie ever.  Some beautiful country

My first Elk ever

One of the 20 Moose we saw

Some nice mule deer

 

One of the bulls that we were hunting.  Was coming in and out of the Meadow that we were sitting at every morning, just before sunlight

 

Hitting the glass hard

[Rebel Darling]

Reads like a solid adventure...  Congrats on the success and the experience!

[sodfather]

Awesome story congrats, thanks for sharing 

[Fletch]

What a cool experience!! Thanks for sharing and congratz on the cow!! I have hunted Idaho a couple times on a friends place and it was beautiful views. Big country.

[Elmo]

Awesome story!

[Robhuntandfish]

great memories and a great trip for you.  Always have wanted to do that myself.  Congrats!  and I also know a guy that went on an elk trip and in the first 10 minutes a 10point whitetail was in front of him.  Lol Good for you! 

Have been planning a cow elk archery hunt for 2020 myself just for that experience!  

[StevieSacs]

6 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

great memories and a great trip for you.  Always have wanted to do that myself.  Congrats!  and I also know a guy that went on an elk trip and in the first 10 minutes a 10point whitetail was in front of him.  Lol Good for you! 

Have been planning a cow elk archery hunt for 2020 myself just for that experience!  

If you are interested, the place in Idaho that i hunted has some incredible opportunities.  PM me if you'd like some more info!  you'll have a blast!

[grampy]

Awesome story!! Congrats on the elk, and what must have been a truly great hunting experience!  Thank you for sharing with us!

[BizCT]

Sounds awesome and welcome to the addiction of hunting out west. You always see more animals in 1 day, than multiple years here in NY.

[Pygmy]

Great story.....Congrats on your elk.....Cow elks is some FINE eatin ' !!!!

You are hooked now, My Friend....Go again as often as you can afford to...

Life is short....I did  a number of hunts over about a 20 year period when I was physically and financially able to.....I never regretted one of them... Do it while you can, because life sometimes has some unpleasant surprises, and  you never know what the future might bring...

[Dinsdale]

2 hours ago, Pygmy said:

Great story.....Congrats on your elk.....Cow elks is some FINE eatin ' !!!!

You are hooked now, My Friend....Go again as often as you can afford to...

Life is short....I did  a number of hunts over about a 20 year period when I was physically and financially able to.....I never regretted one of them... Do it while you can, because life sometimes has some unpleasant surprises, and  you never know what the future might bring...

+1.....go when you can.

Good stuff on the hunt.