WTNUT
5 year old buck +
This reminder is for the veterans and beginners alike since I have been bowhunting for 38 years and I forgot to think about how much kinetic energy my archery set up was delivering before going elk hunting this year.
I left for New Mexico with a new Mathews Triax set at 62 pounds, Carbon Express Maxima red arrows (250s) cut at about 26 inches and tipped with 100 grain Innerloc Slice broadheads. I had ran and lifted for 4 months on a regular basis of about 5-6 days a week. At 51, I was in great shape for an elk hunt and my bow was shooting better than any I had ever shot a fixed broadhead setup.
I had harvested a lot of archery bulls with darn near every bow you could imagine other than a Mathews and a recurve. When I was in my 20s I had been on some of the original “manufacture’s teams” for 3-D archery. For you young folks, back then you only had the IBO’s triple crown and the world championship. Manufacturers sponsored three person teams and you didn’t have the volume of pro shooters you have today.
Those days are gone, but like Toby Keith I am still as good once as I ever was when it comes to that first shot. My archery set up was really impressing me to say the least, and I have had some pretty darn good setups in the past.
I use to go on one or more big game hunts a year, but had not been for several years due to spending lots to time with my daughter and wife. Your children are only young once and I doubt anyone has every regretted spending too much time with them while on his or her death bed.
For this hunt, I was every bit as excited as I was at 14 when I use to strap my Baker Treestand to my back and head out for whitetails in October as soon as I stepped of the school bus. I was in shape. I had a great tag for New Mexico and my rig was beyond accurate.
It was a 10 day hunt and we were on 330 to 375 inch bulls every day even though hunt conditions could not have been worse due to temperatures being 20 degrees above normal at times. On the next to the last day, my buddy and I started after a bull just before daylight. When we were at a point where we needed to make a decision as to whether we were going to chase him, we heard another bull on the other side of the two track. I grabbed my bow and hip quiver. My buddy grabbed his bugle tube because neither of us thought we were going to take off just yet. Well that bull on the left side of the two tract was probably 380 inches, and it wasn’t long until we had three bulls bugling their heads off.
Things were just starting with the wind being as wrong as wrong could be I decided to try to get in front of the 380 and his cows so the wind would be correct, but knew I would be giving up any chance at the other two bulls we had not yet seen as they would be downwind. Luckily we were traveling on a slight downhill grade and the 380 was not yet ready to move his cows off to bed so we were making up the ground we needed to make up.
As we were almost in front of the large bull, three other bulls started to bugle. Yes, we are up to 6 bulls at this point. With a lot of luck, I was in position to be downwind of 4 bulls and up wind of 2. All the bulls seemed to be headed toward each other and in close to 30 years of elk hunting I had NEVER had such a morning. My plan was to work my way to the center of the imaginary circle that was 300 yards in diameter and holding 6 bulls. As I got close to the center of that circle I spotted a dirt tank and realized that is likely why all these elk were headed that way PLUS ONE MORE BULL. Yes, a seventh bull had started to bugle within that circle by this point.
I got set up by the dirt tank as my buddy cow called and the elk just kept coming. I honestly thought I would get a shot at the 380, but had decided it was the next to last day and we had been close with no cigar for 8 previous days and the first mature bull within bow range (50-60 yards for me and this setup, or so I thought) was going to have to dodge an arrow.
It wasn’t long until the elk gods were shinning on me as the wind shifted and I was downwind of literally every bull in that circle. Imagine a clock with every bull being from 8 to 4 o’clock and the wind blowing toward 5-7 o’clock. It only took 5 -10 minutes after I got set up. One of the original two bulls that had been positioned to be downwind of me was getting very close. As with most bulls in cover, I could see his antlers first. He was on a string and positioned to walk in front of me broadside. To make things even better there was a huge cedar tree (more like a bush in New Mexico) between us that was going to give me an ideal spot to draw my bow.
This was literally the hunt of a lifetime unfolding before my eyes. The bull passed behind the cedar and I drew. He walked out from behind the cedar and I drilled the spot I had picked out on him to bury my pin. Now keep in mind there are still 6 other bulls going crazy and I don’t know if my buddy knows I have shot yet.
He comes up a couple minutes later and when I tell him I had just shot one he said “yea I saw him run off with the arrow in him”. I checked the yardage with my range finder. I checked it again. I walked it off not trusting the range finder. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had never ever failed to pass completely through a bull elk and I had shot most at 40-50 yards. How did I not pass through my bull at SEVEN (7) YARDS!!!!!! I was in shock.
To make things worse, we found the elk in short order and then realized we had both committed the cardinal sin. We did not have our packs, and were miles away from the truck. Do you know that dull ugly old penknife your grandfather used to cut bailing twine on the square bales when he fed? Well that is essentially all we had with us. One small dull penknife and it was going to be 85 or 90 degrees soon.
I pulled my arrow out of the bull and began to consider our options - none of which were good. I sent my buddy back to the truck for packs and knives while I started. If you have ever skinned and deboned an elk in the field you know it takes a few good knives, or one good one that you can sharpen in the field. Somehow I got the hide off, two back straps out, one front quarter and one hind quarter off before my buddy got back. Due to the rush to get out of there and the shock, I never did look to see but I suspect I hit a rib dead center on the way in and one on the way out.
Nevertheless, with the right amount of kinetic energy I should have passed clear through that bull at that yardage. Luckily it was not a 50 or 60 yard shot or the outcome may have been different. Before someone jumps on Mathews, it was not the bow. It was operator error and physics. Nothing more and nothing less. I use to know the formulas for things like figuring kinetic energy and front of center percentage in my head. I should have figured how much kinetic energy I had before I sighted the bow in and that is operator error.
I will not make that mistake again, and hope you don’t either. Have a great day.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I left for New Mexico with a new Mathews Triax set at 62 pounds, Carbon Express Maxima red arrows (250s) cut at about 26 inches and tipped with 100 grain Innerloc Slice broadheads. I had ran and lifted for 4 months on a regular basis of about 5-6 days a week. At 51, I was in great shape for an elk hunt and my bow was shooting better than any I had ever shot a fixed broadhead setup.
I had harvested a lot of archery bulls with darn near every bow you could imagine other than a Mathews and a recurve. When I was in my 20s I had been on some of the original “manufacture’s teams” for 3-D archery. For you young folks, back then you only had the IBO’s triple crown and the world championship. Manufacturers sponsored three person teams and you didn’t have the volume of pro shooters you have today.
Those days are gone, but like Toby Keith I am still as good once as I ever was when it comes to that first shot. My archery set up was really impressing me to say the least, and I have had some pretty darn good setups in the past.
I use to go on one or more big game hunts a year, but had not been for several years due to spending lots to time with my daughter and wife. Your children are only young once and I doubt anyone has every regretted spending too much time with them while on his or her death bed.
For this hunt, I was every bit as excited as I was at 14 when I use to strap my Baker Treestand to my back and head out for whitetails in October as soon as I stepped of the school bus. I was in shape. I had a great tag for New Mexico and my rig was beyond accurate.
It was a 10 day hunt and we were on 330 to 375 inch bulls every day even though hunt conditions could not have been worse due to temperatures being 20 degrees above normal at times. On the next to the last day, my buddy and I started after a bull just before daylight. When we were at a point where we needed to make a decision as to whether we were going to chase him, we heard another bull on the other side of the two track. I grabbed my bow and hip quiver. My buddy grabbed his bugle tube because neither of us thought we were going to take off just yet. Well that bull on the left side of the two tract was probably 380 inches, and it wasn’t long until we had three bulls bugling their heads off.
Things were just starting with the wind being as wrong as wrong could be I decided to try to get in front of the 380 and his cows so the wind would be correct, but knew I would be giving up any chance at the other two bulls we had not yet seen as they would be downwind. Luckily we were traveling on a slight downhill grade and the 380 was not yet ready to move his cows off to bed so we were making up the ground we needed to make up.
As we were almost in front of the large bull, three other bulls started to bugle. Yes, we are up to 6 bulls at this point. With a lot of luck, I was in position to be downwind of 4 bulls and up wind of 2. All the bulls seemed to be headed toward each other and in close to 30 years of elk hunting I had NEVER had such a morning. My plan was to work my way to the center of the imaginary circle that was 300 yards in diameter and holding 6 bulls. As I got close to the center of that circle I spotted a dirt tank and realized that is likely why all these elk were headed that way PLUS ONE MORE BULL. Yes, a seventh bull had started to bugle within that circle by this point.
I got set up by the dirt tank as my buddy cow called and the elk just kept coming. I honestly thought I would get a shot at the 380, but had decided it was the next to last day and we had been close with no cigar for 8 previous days and the first mature bull within bow range (50-60 yards for me and this setup, or so I thought) was going to have to dodge an arrow.
It wasn’t long until the elk gods were shinning on me as the wind shifted and I was downwind of literally every bull in that circle. Imagine a clock with every bull being from 8 to 4 o’clock and the wind blowing toward 5-7 o’clock. It only took 5 -10 minutes after I got set up. One of the original two bulls that had been positioned to be downwind of me was getting very close. As with most bulls in cover, I could see his antlers first. He was on a string and positioned to walk in front of me broadside. To make things even better there was a huge cedar tree (more like a bush in New Mexico) between us that was going to give me an ideal spot to draw my bow.
This was literally the hunt of a lifetime unfolding before my eyes. The bull passed behind the cedar and I drew. He walked out from behind the cedar and I drilled the spot I had picked out on him to bury my pin. Now keep in mind there are still 6 other bulls going crazy and I don’t know if my buddy knows I have shot yet.
He comes up a couple minutes later and when I tell him I had just shot one he said “yea I saw him run off with the arrow in him”. I checked the yardage with my range finder. I checked it again. I walked it off not trusting the range finder. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had never ever failed to pass completely through a bull elk and I had shot most at 40-50 yards. How did I not pass through my bull at SEVEN (7) YARDS!!!!!! I was in shock.
To make things worse, we found the elk in short order and then realized we had both committed the cardinal sin. We did not have our packs, and were miles away from the truck. Do you know that dull ugly old penknife your grandfather used to cut bailing twine on the square bales when he fed? Well that is essentially all we had with us. One small dull penknife and it was going to be 85 or 90 degrees soon.
I pulled my arrow out of the bull and began to consider our options - none of which were good. I sent my buddy back to the truck for packs and knives while I started. If you have ever skinned and deboned an elk in the field you know it takes a few good knives, or one good one that you can sharpen in the field. Somehow I got the hide off, two back straps out, one front quarter and one hind quarter off before my buddy got back. Due to the rush to get out of there and the shock, I never did look to see but I suspect I hit a rib dead center on the way in and one on the way out.
Nevertheless, with the right amount of kinetic energy I should have passed clear through that bull at that yardage. Luckily it was not a 50 or 60 yard shot or the outcome may have been different. Before someone jumps on Mathews, it was not the bow. It was operator error and physics. Nothing more and nothing less. I use to know the formulas for things like figuring kinetic energy and front of center percentage in my head. I should have figured how much kinetic energy I had before I sighted the bow in and that is operator error.
I will not make that mistake again, and hope you don’t either. Have a great day.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
