Opportunity Knocks
And so it was, hunkered down in that high mountain meadow with the smell of rain-soaked grass hanging on the still air and that big bull headed right into the setup Gerald had created for me and his cousin Louie as if on a string. Louie was somewhere out of sight to my right, Gerald behind the both of us near the decoy and plying his calls. It was like something out of a dream, that monstrous bull coming, looking like he was going to give me a shot. The bull wore antlers the size of which I’d never seen on a live animal. He showed a definite attitude and willingness to use them, if he could only find who was horning in on his harem. That herd bull made his way down the open meadow to the left of the finger of piñons where I was kneeling; until there was no doubt now--I was definitely going to get a shot at that monster bull!

My heart threatened to pound out of my chest and with the shot of adrenaline that surged into my system I never even felt the nearly 70-pound pull of my compound as I tugged to full draw while the bull reached 60 yards. The bull wouldn’t stop but I wasn’t worried, because I practiced moving shots often and knew I could make good on the shot if it was required. It was plainly evident when the bull spied that decoy, his body language changing perceivably as well as his trajectory, turning to head straight to the decoy and Gerald! He looked right through me and continued, trotting parallel to my position, suddenly 30 yards out and approaching a clean shooting lane.

I released a titanium-tipped arrow when the bull entered my shooting lane. It piled through ribs tight behind his shoulder and disappeared in a flash. The broadhead design I’d spent years developing sliced through the bull like so much hot butter! The behemoth never broke stride, never seemed to notice the arrow passing through him, trotting past Gerald with a growing red stain on its golden side. He paused, stopping only long enough to take notice of Gerald’s cow calls, 60 yards away. Already it was easy to see he was having trouble holding up those big antlers, and then he just ambled over a bank and downhill out of sight. It was finished in less than 30 seconds! A deep and complicated wave of emotions swept over me, something well beyond the realm of rhetoric.

One Down, One To Go…
I ran to Gerald and grabbed him in a huge bear hug. Over my shoulder Gerald caught movement and quickly hissed to drop into the grass at our feet. When I did Gerald immediately came to full draw. I turned slowly, moving only my head, to see a spike bull advancing to something like 10 yards, turning broadside. He stopped to look Gerald over carefully but Gerald eased his bow down, passing on the slam-dunk shot. The spike stood only seconds then trotted back to join the nearby herd of cows. Then shortly after that Louie arrived with a wide smile crossing his face as well. I didn’t think much of it at first, assuming he’d witnessed the entire hunt and was happy for all involved.

But I was wrong. In fact, he hadn’t seen a thing, he was grinning because he had an elk of his own down; an eating-fat cow elk! Just think of that: We had two elk on the ground with archery gear, and could’ve easily performed a triple! And the day just continued to get better, the clouds parting and a warming sun appearing to provide us with a picture-perfect day to perform the chores of photographing and field-dressing our archery prizes.