Bow season is over and I’ve dawned my rifle numerous times looking for elk but it’s just not the same. Not even close. After the rut died down, I couldn’t stop thinking about my missed opportunities and my one misguided arrow that missed what would have been my first bull elk with my bow. I blew an amazing opportunity and don’t think I’ll get over it until I start hearing the bugles of 2014, but then again, it’s still hunting season. I keep thinking of this bow season as a failure, as I never got the bull that I had desperately wanted. But looking back on the season now, was it really a failure?

My good friend and fellow Stalk and Spooker Shawn T Norris got a bull on the exact same day as he did the year prior. We didn’t realize it until later, but it made us laugh. Must be his lucky day…he should have probably bought a Powerball ticket that day as well. We couldn't have been happier for him. We probably were as excited as he was that a bull was finally down. We could have cared less who got it.

After that, we got into multiple bulls almost every night and became so familiar with them that we named a couple based on their bugles. I was full draw multiple times on different bulls but never quite got it done.

I passed on a cow that had a calf that walked at 20 yards past me without a worry in the world. The cow and her calf were continually talking throughout their adventure through the forest something about that family relationship made me drop my bow. Had she not had a calf, maybe my season story would be a little different, but had I shot her, I don’t think I could look back at the kill and be happy about it.

Having some fresh elk in the freezer is nice, but thinking about the wandering calf calling for her mother for the next couple days just made me uneasy. Some people would say shoot, some wouldn’t, but I just did what I felt was right. I’m definitely not saying it would have been wrong to take that animal, as it was perfectly legal, but I think it’s the intimate part of bowhunting that allows us to make those choices. Being that close to an animal allows you to look at the whole picture, the herd and family mentality, and allows you to make choices and restrictions with hunting in ways that rifle hunting may not. I guess that’s what makes bowhunters a little different. We choose to bowhunt not because it’s easy, or a more efficient way to fill the freezer, but we do it because of the challenge, the adventure, the memories, the bugles, and knowing that it is one of the most pure and honest ways to take down a game animal. It’s truly a hunt. The ethics that bowhunters (as well as many rifle hunters) have don’t lie directly in the black print of the FWP hunting regulations, but expand far beyond that. Not only is bowhunting difficult and at times exhausting, our personal ethics and restrictions that we put on ourselves can make it that much harder. Try to convince someone who’s never bowhunted before to come out with you and they may say yes right away, but first let them know that you have a slim to nothing chance of getting something, if you see something you’re lucky, and if you actually get close to an animal it’ll be one of your best hunting days of the year. I don’t know many people that would gladly sign up for that, but for some reason us bowhunters can’t get enough of it. Maybe some bowhunters won't agree with that, but we're normal guys with jobs constantly hunting public land, so I shouldn’t speak for all bowhunters on this, as I don’t know every bowhunter out there, but I’m guessing a lot of them feel the same way I do, especially those I hunt with.
But really...was this season a failure?

For two weeks I got two hunt with 2 of the best guys I know. Four days into the season I was full draw on a nice bull, basically 2 more steps and could have had a bull. Kirk and I did get to see the BIGGEST SMILE we’ve ever seen on our close friend Shawn T Norris during one of the worst September snow storms we’ve ever been in!

The September Blizzard Bull

We saw and heard more elk and had more opportunities on bulls this past year than we ever had before, and we got to spend two weeks hiking and camping around the beautiful state of Montana during the fall. You can’t really beat that.

I guess I can’t call it a failure. It was definitely a season full of Stalk and Spook success.