Well here goes the story. We found out in April that we drew our 3rd choice unit in New Mexico. It is considered a low tier unit, but we have never elk hunted before so we really just wanted to get some experience and maybe shoot one if we were lucky. They were any sex tags so we were open to taking a cow, spike, or anything that came close. I have been prepping for this hunt since the day we drew. learning calling techniques, calling forest service and blm people in the area, and spending tons of time just digital scouting and scouring forums for any elk hunting info i could get. I felt confident with my preparation that we could get into elk, but not confident we could kill one.
Day 1 was a bummer. 11 miles on the boots and nothing...no sightings, no bugles, nothing.
Day 2 we found the elk right away in the morning. from that point on for the rest of the week we felt like we were in some sort of high tier unit. Elk everywhere and bulls screaming everywhere we went. the hunting pressure was nonexistent. saw a few hunters on the main trail a couple times and that was it.
Day 3 I was in a valley waiting for the action to pick up towards dark and I spotted a cow about 80 yds away. I snuck into a little thicket and tried coaxing her into the open a little closer but she wouldn't cooperate. i stuck with my spot and kept cow calling infrequently. 10 min before end of shooting light i heard something in the valley behind me. I slowly turned and saw a bull slowly working towards me. he was about 90 yds away and sure enough when he was directly below me he started angling up the hill my way. I didn't have time to range anything or see how big he was. I just drew back...guessed him at 40 and let it fly. I couldn't see where i hit because it was about dark, but i knew i got him. he walked about 300 yds into the mountainside and then i couldn't hear him anymore. I checked for blood and found some but it was dark red and there wasn't much so i backed out. the next morning we found him laying right where I last heard him. 1 lung and liver shot. We were ecstatic to say the least. He's only a ~250 bull but he's heavy and his teeth were worn almost down to the gums so I think he was an old warrior.