By
Scott Hettinger
DIY
I was excited to say the least when I received my Montana
2008 deer and elk combo license in the mail.
It had been six years since I last hunted elk in
September 13, 2008, arrived the day I had planned to head
out west to
Four wheelers and elk don’t go together and that is why most of the elk were on private land. Don’t get me wrong, I own a four wheeler but there is a time and place for them and it is not when you are hunting.
One day we had the place to ourselves and low and behold elk were on the public land. We hustled 2 miles around a group of 8 to 10 cows with a rag horn bull and a spike to get the wind right for us. We were able to get within 50 yards of one of the cows. Seeing how I had never killed an elk I wasn’t real picky.
When we got within 50 yards of one of the cows, as I would find out later, I was ready to shoot her. My brother had ranged her at 72 yards as she was grazing broadside to me. I drew my bow and settled my 70 yard pin right behind her shoulder and released the arrow which flew two feet high over her back. My brother’s rangefinder somehow ranged another object beyond her. We later ranged the spot where she was standing, at 50 yards. That’s the way it goes; try and try again; at least we were getting closer.
It was September 18th and Willie and I decided an elk hunting recess was in order as it was time to hunt antelope. We have always had good luck decoying antelope around September 18th thru the 22nd, so we drove down to our favorite spot in southeastern Montana and spent a couple of days hunting antelope. We killed two beautiful antelope bucks on September 19th. Both came into our ground blind and decoy set up.
All the while sitting in our ground blind we were talking
about elk hunting and what we should do when we returned to Harlowton.
A couple friends of ours from Harlowton gave us direction where to hunt
in the
We planned on spending 3 to 4 days up in the mountains. By then we would be out of food and water if we could not find a spring. We loaded our packs with almonds, gorp, Jerky, granola bars, instant oatmeal, and mountain house meals for supper. We each packed about 2 gallons of water, a sleeping bag and foam pad. We didn’t take a tent because of the extra weight and the forecast for the week looked great. We packed in a small rain fly and a small 6 foot by 8 foot tarp. I didn’t weigh my pack but it was heavy.
September 22nd was a beautiful day; partly cloudy, light wind, a great day to hunt elk. We headed up the mountain around 1:00 pm. Our first goal was to find a spring on the map that was about 2 miles in. We found the spring but we also found loggers. Two big machines cutting trees like nobody’s business. We knew then that we’d have to go further up the mountain to get away from people. By now it was 2:30 pm, a little late in the day to go much farther if we wanted to hunt that evening. We decided to go talk to one of the loggers. We walked up to one of the machines and the guy shut it down and came out of the cab to talk to us. He was a nice fellow. He said he had been logging up here for a month and pointed out where he had seen and heard most of the elk, which happened to be back the way we had came. We thanked him for the information and headed back about a half mile, climbing the tallest ridge on that part of the mountain.
We camped on the back side of that ridge out of the wind for the first night. We found a fairly flat spot under a big pine tree, dropped our packs, tied up the rain fly so we could sleep under it and then we started glassing hoping to spot some elk. We were glassing for approximately one hour when we spotted 2 cows and 2 calves down below us grazing in the meadow that we had walked by earlier. We were watching the cows and calves when all of the sudden a bugle broke out behind us about 200 yards. We hoofed it to the back side of the ridge to get down wind of where we thought the bugle came from and began cow calling. We called for a half hour and got no response. The bull must have winded us or our camp. We went back to our glassing point and spotted the cows and calves again. They worked their way up the ridge toward us, then disappeared into the dark timber. Based on the angle they had going into the timber we hoofed over to a different point on the ridge to watch and hopefully see where they were going to come out. Half an hour later they emerged out of the timber 150 yards west of us. We figured they would continue on to the north, disappear and that would be that, but they didn’t do that!
There was a fence that ran along the ridge top we were on. The elk came to that fence and instead of jumping it and disappearing they turned and started grazing along the fence right toward us. What a turn of events this was. One minute your running into loggers thinking there is not an elk within 2 miles of you and the next minute you have elk coming right at you. My heart rate was starting to pick up! Willie had asked me if I would shoot a cow, I said I would if she gives me a good broadside 20 yard shot or less. I just didn’t realize how much less. The cows continued grazing towards us so I took a position where I might get a 20 yard shot. They kept coming and coming slowly getting closer. The lead cow took a path right at me. She was 20 yards away facing me with no available shot. A couple times she turned broadside but her face was still looking towards me, so I did not draw my bow. I kept waiting for her to graze away from me so, her eyes were covered but it never happened. She was too close now and getting close to being down wind. Finally, I thought it’s now or never so I tried to draw my bow. She saw the movement and in a flash was out of there. She ended up getting 8 yards away from me perfectly broadside and had no clue we were there but I could not draw my bow. I turned and looked at Willie, who captured all this action on video, and said that was the coolest thing ever being that close to an elk that doesn’t know you are there. Unreal!
Had this day ended right there I would have been happy, but it didn’t. Fifteen minutes after we had settled down and started glassing again another cow, calf and a beautiful 6x5 bull came up out of the timber at the same spot. They were approximately 150 yards to the west of us and just like the elk earlier, they walked up to the fence turned and started coming right at us. We couldn’t believe it. Could this day get any better?
I set up for what would be a 25 or 32 yard shot at the bull depending upon which opening he would go through. The elk were steadily walking toward us; not grazing but on a pass through mission. I drew my bow, early this time, in case they came right at me like the other cow did.
The moment of truth had arrived. The lead cow passed through the 32 yard opening followed by the calf. The bull was 10 or 15 yards behind. Finally, he entered the 32 yard opening quartering on, but, I did not have a good shot. Meanwhile the lead cow was standing in the other opening at 25 yards looking directly at us. This cow was on alert because she could hear the earlier cow that we had at 8 yards still barking down the backside of the ridge. I am at full draw in a stare down with the cow. The bull is behind some pine trees, still not offering me a good shot.
I normally never draw my bow early because of this very situation. After what seemed to be an eternity, the cow decided something wasn’t right and turned to go back the way they came. This caused the bull to move back into my 32 yard opening. He stopped broadside and looked back in our direction. I settled my 30 yard pin behind his shoulder and released the arrow. The arrow hit home, passing completely through him. He ran 40 yards and fell over. He was dead in less than one minute, I couldn’t believe it. I had my Crazy Mountain Bull!
I was filled with so much emotion at that moment it is hard to describe in words. You hunt hard doing the best you can and when everything comes together it is a great feeling. To top it all off getting to hunt with your brother and capturing it all on video is just extra special. We didn’t do anything special, we didn’t call him in, but we were in the right place at the right time.
What we did do is strap on a big pack and get away from the roads. After taking pictures and enjoying the moment we got to work skinning and quartering. We hung the meat, cape and horns in a pine tree to cool for the evening. The meat cooled great because the temperature dropped to right around freezing and it actually snowed on us that night, thank goodness for the rain fly we brought! It took most of the next day to pack the bull off the mountain but I enjoyed every step of it! Next to my family there is nothing more enjoyable than bowhunting!
Scott’s equipment: Bow: Mathews Ovation, Sights: Spot Hogg 7 deadly pins, Rest: Schafer, Release: True fire, Arrows: Carbon Express Maxima, Broadheads: Muzzy MX-3, Optics: Leica 10x42 binoculars, Bushnell 400 rangefinder, Knife: Gerber, Boots: Danner, Camo: Cabela’s Microtex and King of the Mountain
About the Author:
Scott, 41, Scott has lived in
Scott’s other
passion is the art of taxidermy. At
the age of eight Scott mounted a raccoon shoulder mount.
His mother did not allow it in the house very long due to the strong odor
coming from his room but it was the start of a dream to become a taxidermist.
In 1992 when he moved to
In November of 1993 Scott accepted a job with the Bureau of
Reclamation as a Natural Resource Specialist but continued working for Brian
Kadrmas part-time. Scott continued
to practice and eventually became a 3-time
In the off season Scott enjoys traveling and camping with his family, shooting his bow, shed hunting, and of course doing taxidermy. Scott has a beautiful family his wife Teresa, daughter Samantha (7), son Jake (4). Samantha has already been on three bow hunts and Jake one bowhunt with dad. Scott hopes that he, like Grandpa Willie, will be able to share the beauty, wonders, and adventures of the great outdoors with his children.