guy eastman here it's a backcountry bow hunt for elk on this episode of eastman's hunting tv
well here we are first evening of the hunt we're headed into the uh idaho backcountry
public land do-it-yourself hunt in the high country idaho so tonight's the first evening
we're getting towards the end of september so i think these bulls are just starting to
really kick in we've got blue bird skies we're supposed to have really good weather all week
but temperatures are supposed to come down so it's going to be probably hopefully perfect
i know the timing is perfect if we just get some cool nights mixed in there these bulls are going
to crank up and we're going to have a killer hunt so
looking forward to it time to get dirty and hopefully bloody now
on this hunt we're going in as a group of three normally we only have two guys
but this time we decided to take three just give us that little edge to lure in one of these big weary bulls within bow range
after only a few miles in the country we got an answer to our first call
but after setting up the spotting scope and putting it on this bull he's not quite what we're looking for
and we think we can do a little better so we packed up and kept making boot tracks
that night we made it in about three or four miles and out to this perfect glassing point
we can see a lot of country from here and definitely hear a long ways
that night we saw a few elk right before dark but not quite where we were looking for
it was a little slow but we like where we're set up and we're looking forward to morning
well we're uh here on the first morning we packed in last night saw probably about a
dozen bowls or a dozen elk last night two bulls three bulls actually we bugled a five
point in but then uh called him into 50 yards but woke up this morning eased off the hill here
got a little pocket nice canyon here we got three maybe four bulls down and they're going crazy
one bull's not off here too far he's just down over the edge in the bottom here
looks pretty thick dog hair stuff so i don't know how it's gonna be down there but they're
definitely charging up this morning what a difference a day makes in a cold night the
next morning this canyon was absolutely going crazy these bulls are going nuts in here so
we decided to dump off head down in there and try our hand at calling one of these bulls in
when we got down in there we started calling but to these elk we're just another bull partaking
in the racket so we decided to do is just call move a little bit call move a little
bit we're trying to make the best of situation here and move in a little closer and closer in
on one of these bugling bulls and try to get him close and try to get a shot at him
after a full morning of trying to call in one of these bulls we decided to try a different strategy
we're gonna try to intercept one of these bulls and get in front
of him as he's working his way along this hillside and intercept him maybe get a shot
right there you see him got him
that's a big bull that's as close as it gets folks 20 yards no shot
this thick timber i didn't think he was the big bull
from the sounds of his bugle i thought it was maybe a little six point satellite bull
shoot
what a morning we've had this is what bow hunting elk is all about i've heard so many bugles this
morning i've got them ricocheting around in my head like a drum i can't tell if they're
real or if they're just echoes in between my ears this was a lot of fun and this hunt is
definitely starting off on the right foot i can't wait for the evening hunt to come
we had these bulls going crazy in here this morning at least three herb bulls maybe four we
pulled up on this ridge and start easing down now into this base and try to get below him
the evening hunt didn't turn out like we'd hoped it would the bulls came out right before dark
and started calling a little late in the afternoon and the wind started playing tricks on us so we
didn't get too aggressive with it we did find this younger six-point bull right after shooting light
but that's okay he's a young bull maybe we'll come back and look for him in a few years
after we hiked up out of that steep canyon after dark by the headlamps we made it back to camp and we were
hungry and beat so we had a mountain house and hit the sack hoping for better luck in the morning
well we've packed up camp here we're going to move down the ridge
next ridge over and down kind of where we were yesterday when we
got into all those elk it must be 85 it feels like 95 degrees so it's gonna be a
pretty hot run over there but once we get off the edge we'll be in the shade it'll be a lot better
what we've got here is we're packed down lower on the mountain we're about mid level that's
where the elk seemed to be hanging out we got our bivy camp set up as you can see
so we're going to camp right in the middle of them but one of the keys to doing this you can't
be noisy and you can't start a fire we got our camp set up we've got two bulls already growling
over here in this one drainage just a little bit above us that's perfect because the wind
wind's coming down already into this basin so we're gonna sneak over here listen and kind
of try to dial in on them we got a bull down below us so we're right in the middle
of them so we're gonna go see what happens move over there try to hunt that big bull
we spotted this bull all by his lonesome he's a perfect candidate to try to call in so nate
drops back about 75 yards pops up the montana decoy and starts in on its calling sequence
to try to lure this bull right in past mills and i
well uh it's official that uh moving to camp was definitely a good idea we moved the camp
no sooner did we get it set up we walked around the corner we're into bulls just
wasn't right i mean it doesn't work every time that bull came into 35 yards straight in hung up
looking at us whatever trying to figure out what's going on he wouldn't turn broadside then
he did turn broadside did like those stupid bulls will do i hate it when they do this
shouldn't say stupid they're smart they come around and circle downwind from us and man
we hit the wind and see a 600 pound animal turn inside out down through this nasty junk
after laying in that pup tent all night listen those bulls scream and keep me awake
it wasn't very hard to get up nice and early and hit the trail
well we dropped down off this ridge from camp we got the wind just right it's coming straight down
and uh there's a bull right here in this
old growth timber it's a perfect place to get a shot and do a calling sequence because it's way
more open than this brushy stuff so we're going to ease up into this a little ways find a good spot
set up see if we can call that bull in i think he's only about 200 yards uphill
he's close
in this old growth timber you can see it's a lot easier to get a shot mills and i got
right to the edge of it right at 20 yards i picked an opening ranged it and just waited
for him to drag right on through it just called perfect and drug him right through that shot lane
shooting lane as soon as his shoulder came clear in there only about 23 yards worked out perfect so
let's go see if we can find our arrow anyway you know i felt good about the shot at only 23 yards
i was nice and calm but you know after walking over there and not finding any blood couldn't find
my arrow we re-round the tape and couldn't tell anything from the tape or where i hit things were
getting a little nerve-wracking there's blood you see that see that right there that's blood we uh
this is a good lesson for all you guys who are just starting to bow hunt especially for elk
they're big animals i shot that bull i heard it hit but we couldn't find the arrow or anything
we tracked it just on his track literally i'm not kidding 200 yards before we saw any blood and you
know if a guy wasn't sure of a shot or something and uh just followed it 100 yards he would have
gone off and started hunting again this bull would rot but you don't always get blood right away
weird things can happen with these elk they're big bodied animals but we're happy to see this blood
there's no doubt i hit him now but like i said for 200 yards we didn't see any blood nate made
the right call nate said let's wait four hours so we literally waited four hours we never bumped
him now we're tracking him found this blood we've got good blood here this is gonna be a dead bull
mission accomplished here's the bull as you can see he's just a beautiful
six point public land idaho bull we've been in bulls every single day
drawn my bow back a few times but this morning it just happened with this guy at 24 yards
couldn't happen any sweeter nate just called him drug him right past me
24 yards had a perfect shooting lane and just anchored right on him released boom hit him not
much blood like we said but he was obviously hit real hard and only made about 250 yards
and here we are the fruits of our labor right here so until next time we'll see you right here
on eastmans hunting tv and remember fair chase is the only way to hunt and take trophy big game