The year 2007. Mike and I are heading to Montana for our first Montana archery elk and deer hunt. A ten day hunt with Shining Times Outfitting. The outfitter is Rich Vetsch. Ph 406-266-3882. We drive to Townsend, Mt and meet with one of the guides. Kerry leads the way and drives us into camp in the Little Belt Mountains. Once we are settled in we are ready for an evening hunt. We drop Mike off and set him up on a tree stand in an aspen grove next to grazing fields. Kerry and I set off on foot behind camp. Reaching the top of a ridge Kerry stops and pulls out his MONTANNA DECOY cow elk. We called for 20 minutes with no results and started to move up the ridge. Hadn’t moved 50 yards and we spotted the antlers of a bull coming in at 75 yards. That didn’t work out so we moved on towards some bugleing we were hearing. On an elk trail we were close to the bugleing so we set up. Kerry used the Montana Decoy as a shield and I moved about 40 yards in front of him on the trail and off to the right 10 yards when my guide started calling. Within 2 minutes I was face to face with three bull elk. The first one was a spike/fork at 20 yards. The other two were spike bulls. Occasionally I could see a nice 6x6 bull at 60 yards in the bottom of the cut. Kerry called for 20 minutes trying to get those bulls to move because he thought I did not have a shot. I actually had a shot on two of the bulls but held off because there was a bigger bull close by. They ended up getting a whiff and vacated the area. My guide actually used the MONTANA DECOY as a shield to crouch behind and call. It really got the attention of those bulls.

Six days into a ten day hunt. Mike, our guide Kerry and I are stalked within 150 yards of a herd of sixty plus elk with 340 class bulls. I saw an opportunity to move into an ambush position while our guide is calling with his Montana cow elk decoy deployed. I screwed that up and got busted by a bull chasing a cow 75 yards from the main herd. They alerted and that busted the whole herd. As we started following the herd a lone bull shows up and is not too concerned with our presence. We regroup, back track and get on top of the ridge in front of that bull. Kerry sets up with his MONTANNA DECOY 40 yards behind Mike and I and starts calling using a cow call. Within a couple minutes I see the bull coming in. Kerry is behind me 40 yards with a Montana cow elk decoy in front of him. He keeps calling. The bull closes to about 40 yards when he comes to a stop looking in Mikes direction. He studies Mike while Kerry cow calls looking back and forth between Mike and the MONTANA Cow Elk DECOY calling him. The bull gets nervous and starts to vacate the premises and passes 20 yards broadside in front of me. I draw and release, sounds like the arrow rattled through the trees. Watched the bull go 30 yards when he went down. Clear through lung shot with G5 Broadhead. Thanks to Shining Times Outfitting , MONTANA DECOY and the calling of our guide for a successful hunt in Montana. 3 days later I arrowed a fine white tailed buck from a tree stand ¼ mile from camp. Excellent hunt.

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