Montana Decoy Elk Success PhotosElk 5

Dan French
Had a great hunt this morning with some great buddies. Our first two spots didn't turn up any opportunites, so mid morning we changed locations about a mile. As soon as we got out of the truck we could here several bulls going crazy not far off. We got on them quick, but ended up just dogging them to the fenceline, where they crossed onto some private land, we didn't have access to.

We stayed put for about 20 minutes and layed the cow calls on as thick as we could, and were lucky enough to call this guy back across the fence. He peaked over the ridge to see who was making all the racket. He took one look at the Montana Decoy and came at a dead gallop from 300 yards, hopped the fence, and posed broadside for me. 20 yard shot, 200 yard recovery, tipped over in sight.

It got pretty exciting, after I dumped the string. He lit out with an arrow through both lungs and came within about 12 feet of running clean over my buddy Ben who was set up just down the hill. Ben took a whack at him as he bailed past at mach 4.... result was a busted arrow with a little blood and hair. Autopsy revealed that he planted that quick shot in the bottom of the bulls front foot, between the dew claws and hoof. He swears it was self defense ;) That close call definitely added to the adrenilne level for all three of us.

Pretty happy with this bull. He is a decent sized 6x7 with good mass, and average tine lenght. He won't set any records, but I was more than happy to notch my tag with this guy. Body wise he was a HOG!!! Two of us had a real tough time wrestling him into position to field dress, but we got it done.

Dan French