Elk: Alone. 11

Larry Stauffer has a passion.

The seeds of his passion, sown in his youth at his father's "duck shack" on the lower Skagit River, reached fruition in Idaho's high country when Larry's arrow found a Pope & Young class herd bull elk.
Taking a record class bull elk with a bow is an event in and of itself. When you consider the fact that Stauffer did it by himself, it brings his hunting achievement into an entirely new realm.

Stauffer does his homework.  Interviews with game biologists, analysis of reams of raw data and removing boot leather for weeks at a time has brought his hunting ground into a focus: "I specifically target the area because of the rough terrain and the small heard size. That translates to less hunters and lower pressured animals. Wolf predation in this unit has been determined to be the primary factor in the reduction of elk numbers. The herd had fallen from over 14,000 head of elk to less than 3,000 largely due to the reintroduction of wolves. Many hunters are giving up on the region, I just decided to hunt smarter."

Map study also comes significantly into play. Stauffer explains, "I am always looking for new ground and have come to recognize the productivity of a very specific topography for this area: Long ridges situated at 5,500 to 6,500 feet of elevation with well timbered west facing slopes littered with finger ridges. The terrain needs to be just right to consistently hold the critters and generally includes steep brushy escape routes and more open bench-like rutting areas. “

During the first six days of the hunt, Larry had a number of encounters with elk and an unusually interesting encounter with a wolf.
 "I was set up cow calling" Stauffer grins, "and this wolf comes in at a dead run. He hit the brakes with all fours, stopping at 10yards when he saw me and skedaddled. He was figuring on an easy dinner".

To set up for the seventh and what ended up as the final day of the hunt,  Larry left his base camp the night before and drove his rig as close as he could to his targeted area and spent the night in his truck.  "It was that or get up at 2:00 am. I hiked up in the dark so I could be at the spot I wanted to hunt at first light. Once I got set up, I quietly chirped the cow call. I always start quietly as to not spook elk that may be close. To my surprise, I got an answer from a bull that was so far away, I thought it coincidental. I waited a few minutes, cow called again and he once again answered immediately!"

To Stauffer's surprise, the bull was heading up the mountain to corral this cow into his harem. The herd bull came up, bugling frequently and once he got to Larry's level, he would come no further.  "It was like he was saying "I've come this far, now you've got to follow me."

It was then and there that Larry knew that he would have to change tactics to get this big bull within range of his bow. "He started back down the mountain, bugling and trying to get the cow I was imitating to follow him back down to his harem. I morphed into bull mode and challenged him with a bugle, but he continued down the hill. It was then I knew I had to close the distance between us and charge him with no regard to the noise I was making."

Stauffer's strategy has been hard earned by the teachings of several antlered "professors" who had given him the slip in seasons past and a heavy horned bull that fell to his arrow last year. "I knew I had to escalate my level of aggression, to piss him off so much that he was likely to make a mistake. Finally, he had enough of me charging toward him and he charged back up the hill. He ran so hard, so fast, that I barely had the time to get an arrow nocked."

Larry's improvised ambush location didn't give him much cover but a tree to back up against was all that it took. "I was at full draw with the bull at 25 yards and he stopped with a small tree covering his vitals, he turned and looked right at me and I knew he was gonna turn inside out and run. In one motion I leaned to clear the tree and released my arrow watching it disappear into the sweet-spot! He trotted away, then slowed and I watched him starting to weave. I heard him moan and fall…it was over!"

Bow hunters often make the mistake of following their game too quickly which can lead to spooked wounded animals that can burst into the brush and easily become lost. Not Larry, "I have a little ritual after I let the arrow go on an animal. I take my boots off so I can't go after them too early. It's hard to be patient when you have an animal like that on the ground but when I finally ventured that direction, I found him not ten feet from where I last saw him.

"There he was, ten feet from where I thought he fell." 

So what does a solo bow hunter do when you have an animal the size of a horse on the ground? "Well, at nearly 800 pounds on the hoof, you're not going to move him" Larry laughs, "You've got to take him apart where he falls"

Larry bagged-up and caped out his prize, located his arrow that has passed clean through the bull and placing it back in his quiver made his trek back to camp. The following day he was back with a couple friends and the horses to pack out the load.

Larry got the cape out on the first trip out and came back the next day with a couple friends on horseback to get the rest of Larry's prize. 

With any luck at all, an elk steak will be appearing on a plate in front of me this winter at a duck shack on the Skagit River. You've got to like it when a good hunting story comes full circle!