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.