Montana Archery Elk Hunt

The first morning of the hunt we got into a monster 6x6 bull but the elk wanted to be quite. The rut seemed like it was on pause. We stalked 40 yards in on a trophy 4x4 mule deer but he never presented a good shot. That evening we got into a herd with a nice 6x6 bull and called seven spike bulls in (the closest only eight yards away).

The next morning we bugled a bull in but got busted by the wind, never getting to lay eyes on the bull who was probably inside 100 yards. That evening we got back in on the nice 6 from the night before but he remained just over the rise. The third day the elk were quite again we tried a stalk on a bull but his cows busted us. The rut had seemed to be in remission for a few days and the elk were fairly quite.



Now when the elk rut goes off it really goes off. The morning of the fourth day found Shaun smack dab in the middle of a rutting elk herd. enticed by an estrus cow call his 5x5 bull came in to 45 yards and stood broadside allowing Shaun to put all his practice to use and hammer the bull right in the boiler room.

After shooting we stayed in position and continued to call just to see what would happen. We called in three more bulls - a 1x3 rag, a 4x5, and a 6x6 with the herd bull still bugling like crazy just over the ridge. It was awesome to watch how the satellite bulls came into the calls one by one to check us out.

First Time Bow Hunt

Neil had one goal this week and that was to get his first bow kill. The first day of hunting he was in elk all day with two shots but to no avail. As veteran bowhunters know, a lot can still go wrong at 20-45 yards. After hunting hard for elk we decided to chase some whitetail deer. Neil scored on his first bow kill harvesting a whitetail from the ground blind. With a bow often times the first kill can be the hardest. Congratulations Neil on becoming a successful bowhunter.

Montana Archery Bear Hunt

After spotting a bear while elk hunting I decided to find someone up for the challenge of taking a bear in Montana with a bow – Spot and Stalk. After meeting up with Ray we headed out for an evening hunt. The bear was still feeding on an elk carcass I had spotted him on the day before. We slowly stalked down to where the bear was. We had lost sight of the bear and figured he was in the thick brush where we last saw him headed. Little did we know, the big boar had circled around to the other side to watch over his meal. At about 15 yards away the bear busted out behind us and climbed up the nearest large pine. It could not have worked out any better giving Ray a 23 yard shot on the treed bear.

Archery Hunt Action

This week was about as close as it gets without harvesting a bull. When you think elk hunting during the rut this week was it. There were several days where the elk were screaming all around us. We had cows come in to around ten yards and big bulls just 30 yards out of range. Jim had an excellent hunt full of action every single day. Sightings of the week included hundreds of elk, mule deer, whitetails, two moose, and a bear- not to mention the grouse!