Western Hunting Journal, Premiere Issue whj001_premiere | Page 47

HARD LESSONS
LEARNED
A disappointing archery season leads to questions,
and answers. By Zach Mansfield
I
KEEP REPLAYING IT IN my mind. As a matter of fact there hasn’t
been a day since September 11, 2017 that I haven’t thought
about it. Since that day my bow has collected a little bit of dust.
We worked a herd all morning, chasing the mysterious
mountain bugles into a daunting drainage by late morning.
The mid-day lull and swirling winds left Ben and me with two op-
tions: walk the five-plus miles back to our base camp or sit and wait
for the winds to steady. We sat for nearly four hours until we both
felt confident about our steady uphill thermal. We snuck down to
the first bench below us and surveyed the terrain. There was limited
elk sign. We decided to move down one more bench before we would
make a play on the elk.
As we were making our way to the second bench Ben piped off a
light bugle. A bull instantly answered back and he was close. I looked
at Ben and said, “let’s go.” Not overly confident, nor did we underplay
the situation. It was a simple statement and we both knew it was
time to go to work. Less than a minute later I found a pile of brush
50 yards ahead of Ben to conceal my outline. I checked the wind and
took a knee. As far as I was concerned we had a dead bull walking.
The volley of bugles between Ben and this bull lasted several min-
utes. It was what archery elk hunting dreams are made of. Every-
thing seemed perfect; shooting lanes ahead of me and to my left with
an opening below. It almost seamed too easy.
Movement dead ahead at 60 yards. I waited to draw. The bull was
coming right to Ben’s call, directly behind me. I thought I would have
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