king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

problem with this location was that if
the herd decided to take the saddle,
they would be downwind. But, with
the angle of the wind, we would
hopefully get a shot at the trailing
bull before the lead cow spooked.
Everything was set, and I could hear
Wrongway bugling as he pushed his
cows our way. The herd angled up
like before, but Wrongway ran up
and pushed the cows back down
and headed for the saddle! Using a
A great camp lead to a very successful Arizona elk season. Hunter Don
Roach (below) shares the excitement of just arrowing the new #5 typical
archery elk in the world with an offi cial score of 400 5/8 net P&Y.
rangefi nder, I whispered the yardage to
Don as they all passed by out of range.
The bull stayed on the opposite side of
the cows which put him at over 100
yards but, we had cows at less than 20
yards at the same time! Soon, the lead
cow got some wind, spun and took the
rest of the herd with her. I frantically
did a “lost calf” call on my reed, hoping
to at least make the cows question what
was happening. Surprisingly, one cow
stayed close and the lead cow came
back. She was mewing nonstop
looking for me, but I had stopped
as soon as I knew she was coming
back. I could then see the ears of
all the other cows coming back into
the saddle, and then antler tips!
Wrongway was following the cows
in and soon, with one cow at less
than 20 yards, I could see that we
might get a shot. Don drew his bow
very slowly and, without any other
movement than his drawing arm,
he held steady. The cows were all
staring at us as Wrongway walked
into a shooting lane through all
the cows and stopped. I had been
whispering the yardage as he came
- 100, 90, 80, 70 - Don then asked
if he should take him. I said, “Yes,”
and the arrow was on its way! Upon
impact, Wrongway buckled and hit
the ground hard. I jumped up with
Don and he put another arrow in
him quickly. In less than a minute,
Wrongway lay still.
With our buddies running
down the hill, Don and I were
overcome with emotion and could
not believe we had made it happen.
We walked around the fallen beast
and couldn’t believe his size and
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