I shot the cow on opening morning (September 4th) from a treestand that I had set up on public land. I had some trail cameras out this summer and had scouted a couple of good trails that we hung treestands on.

Just over an hour into season 5 elk came running down the trail. The bull came right under my treestand and never offered a shot. I finally got the last cow to stop in my shooting window and was able to double lung her at 20 yds. On my bull I was hunting on some private land and had spotted 4 younger bulls before light on the 25th. I was able to get in front of them and started calling them.

After calling for about 10 minutes I saw this bull coming in, he was around 250 yds when I first saw him. I didn't have to call again and he slowly closed the distance to 25 yds. I used my reed call to stop him at 25 yds and put an arrow through both lungs. He went about 10 yds and stopped again as I continued to call. Eventually he presented me with a second shot which probably wasn't necessary but he never took another step. He was the 6th bull of the season that I had in range but the only one that offered a good shot.

And that ended my 2010 Montana elk season.

Grant Heiken