"It's not always like this" a Elk story

My Elk hunt for 2006 was looking a little weak, my hunting partner drew a limited entry tag for Elk so I was all alone. There was another guy I knew but he was not going to get back in town til a week before the hunt. We talked about going for the end of the hunt but I still had no plans for the start of the hunt. In Utah we have a lot of limited entry units for Elk so if you don't draw one of those tags you can only take a spike Elk or cow (with a bow). There are areas that you can take "any bull" but the herds are smaller and there are not as many trophies running around. A few years back I met a GENTELMEN that shared a really good area with me. We hunted it for a couple year with great success. Anyway I was discouraged with no one to go with for the opener. So I decided I was going to go help my buddy with his limited entry Elk hunt and look for some deer. Well the night before I was going to go, a guy at work said he would go with me on the Elk hunt. So at the last minute I changed my plans. The only problem was that this guy had never backpacked or hunted before, he was just along for the adventure. I had extra gear and I threw togather a quick plan and we were on are way. We got to the trailhead at noon and started are steep hike. The first mile is nice and easy, a maintained trail. After you leave the trail things start to get ulgy. There is a lot of deadfall and with a 60 pound pack it can be a real challenge. We made the last 2 miles and set up a quick bivy camp, and took off hunting. I knew the area I want to be for my evening hunt so we headed right in that direction. We just got passed a little creek when I saw some movement. I told Justin to get down and stay still. I did a few cow calls and got some calls right back. This went on for about 5 minutes, just cow talk no bugles. They soon shut off so I waited and then started to move up towards them. I thought they had moved out when I caught some movement. I told Justin to stay put and started to sneek in. The wind was blowing staight in my face as I closed the distance. The bull was rolling around in a wallow and there was a little clump of trees between him and me. I hid behind the trees and waited for a shot. All of the sudden he jumped up and started to walk and look down where I had been calling. He stopped broadside at 25 yards and started looking staight down towards Justin. I am not going to lie I was shaking violently, I let the arrow go and it cut though him like butter. My shot was back farther than I would have liked, but I knew it was a good shot. We backed off for a while when it started to rain. I decided to go look for my arrow. We never could find arrow but the bull only went about sixty yards. We watch him take his last breath and that is when the work began. I asked Justin what he thought about all this. He said "can we get a bow for me on the way home" I told him "it's not always like this" trust me "it's not always like this"
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This bull is a weirdo. His pedicule was broken and grew straight down. I was happy to take him on public land, self guided.
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I didn't notice this old tree stand in the meadow til the next day. I will give you one guess where I will be next year!
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