Kentucky Bull Elk Archery Success!

HB_Hunter

Well-Known Member
As some of you know, I was lucky enough to be drawn for a bull elk archery tag in Kentucky this year. I found out in April and scrambled to learn as much as I could about elk hunting and the next steps to select my area to hunt in KY. I decided not to hire a guide fairly early on.

I wasn’t selected for a LEA (first step in the ‘where to hunt’ process), but was able to get a voucher area at the end of July. I had to be ready to click the button the fastest for my voucher spot at 8:00am on a Friday morning. This gave me a few weekends to scout the area and figure out where to camp/hunt. Opening day was 9/15.

My voucher area was Blue Diamond South. It’s an old strip mine in the reclamation phase and was roughly 15,000 acres. There were lots of access points off public roads and no shortage of locals/others out riding off-road vehicles. While it is ‘private’ property, it felt like public most of the time.

A couple of my friends went down to scout with me and we found quite a bit of sign and were lucky enough to see elk on the first trip.
 
I installed onxhunt on my iPhone and marked all the sign we found. I put about 20 hours on the Ranger scouting. Trying to scout that much ground is mind boggling when you are used to scouting a family farm for whitetails.

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We saw black bears, whitetails, coyotes, and elk.
 
We ended up sharing a tent camp with several other hunters. The rains from a hurricane came in and it rained almost constantly the first two days we were there.

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We saw several elk opening day, but couldn’t get any to come in. Day two was a complete bust with all the rain. We finally got some sunshine on day three.

We were hunting a long ridge that had some sign on it and we had seen elk using itduring our morning glassing. My long time hunting buddy was with me and we decided to ease down a finger off the ridge and do some calling. I was about 50 yards ahead of him and heard a bull chuckle. He was too far behind me to hear him, but kept bugling.

I got setup in a bunch of 8’ maples and hit my cow call. The bull screamed and started heading my way. He came straight to me and stopped less than 10 yards away. It’s amazing how big they are . I figured I could get my bow drawn and get a shot off before he was gone. He kept trying to wind me, but couldn’t. He finally turned broadside to move downwind of me and I started to draw. He was gone in an instant. They move very quickly for their size.


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We hunted that same ridge in the evening on a different finger. We heard no bugles and saw no elk and decided to ease back down the main ridge. As we were walking out we heard a bugle from the hollow below the ridge I had my encounter on that morning. We quickly went over and got setup.


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We eased down the finger and my buddy was bugling and cow calling. We had at least two different bulls bugling back and heard several cows. He got setup about 40 yards behind me on the road and continued to call. The bulls kept answering and finally came in.

The bull I ended up shooting came in to 57 yards and hung up. He had his head down eating so I decided to take five big steps toward him to close the distance to around 50 yards before taking the shot. About two steps in my buddy hit the bugle and the bull looked right at me. I about melted.


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He stayed relaxed so I got my feet set and drew the bow. I would guess he was about 53 yards. The arrow hit and he whirled and headed back down the finger. I thought I heard him crash, but wasn’t sure. We eased back out the finger and went to the Ranger.

We got back to the shot location and there wasn’t any blood. We walked about 10 yards in the direction he went and there was blood everywhere. Thirty yards later, there he was.

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Congrats. My first thought would be, Now that it's on the ground the fun has stopped. That fella is huge!

That’s exactly what my dad said. First time I’ve had to crawl in a chest cavity gutting an animal. Thankfully I was able to get the Ranger right next to where he fell. A couple guys helped me pull and we were able to get him up on the trailer. Didn’t have to quarter him.
 
That’s exactly what my dad said. First time I’ve had to crawl in a chest cavity gutting an animal. Thankfully I was able to get the Ranger right next to where he fell. A couple guys helped me pull and we were able to get him up on the trailer. Didn’t have to quarter him.
Only a couple of guys? Bet it was like trying to drag a mule up a ladder!
 
Great deal. I applied for a tag about the first 10 years, I've since stopped.

I’ve put in every year since they started. Put in for all four tags when they changed it up. Definitely thankful to draw the bull archery tag and even more thankful to get a chance at one.
 
Great hunt HB. Thanks for the story and pics. My buddy killed a brute there this year also. Pretty cool hopefully we have a season here before too much longer. Congrats.
 
Great hunt HB. Thanks for the story and pics. My buddy killed a brute there this year also. Pretty cool hopefully we have a season here before too much longer. Congrats.

Thanks! Where did he hunt? I think it rained every day but one the rest of the first archery season. Made the second week very tough and I was told it would be the best for the rut.
 
You will have a difficult time beating the success of 2018. Congrats on your Eastern Elk Hunt of a lifetime with a bow.

I am so glad you shared this. I hope my son and grandson get the chance to kill an elk - I am 65 and my time has come and gone. I do hope to shed hunt for elk bone.

Great pictures in this thread too. Congrats again.

Wayne
 
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