Idaho Public Land Elk Hunt Success

"This September 2 buddies joined me in Idaho to chase elk on public land. Day 1 beat me half to death, so on day 2 they went to hunt their unit and I went off alone. After passing over a dozen full camp sites headed up the mountain I parked only to find I had forgotten my bino harness along with the calls, wind checker, range finder and headlamp. Essentially I decided to just walk around with my bow just to not waste the hour it took to get there. While on my way back to the UTV I told God that this hunt is killing me, and if I was going to finish the hunt let alone kill anything it would have to be 110% him. No sooner than I finished that sentence I heard Branches breaking and looked over to see my first elk, a beautiful 6x6, standing raking a tree at 50 yards.

At this point I knocked an arrow, looked for a shot but was unable to do anything due to the brush. So I once again reached out to the big man upstairs saying "thank you Lord for letting me see this elk, my buddies will never believe me" haha. But if you would have him come 10 more yards I'll do my best to make a good shot". The bull did just that, phased broadside and I made a shot. He ran about 80 yards and crashed, I fell apart, cried, laughed and lost my mind for a short time.

We spend the next 6 hours breaking down and packing him out, which we felt wasn't bad for our 1st time.

My iron will was still razor sharp even after breaking 1 rib and going through the scapula. We recovered it passing through the elk almost completely which is impressive with all it had to pass through. Best broadhead there is, and nobody can convince me otherwise."

— Austin Ledbetter