I whispered over my shoulder, “Range it for me!”. Through the pounding in my head, I heard Braden reply, “44 yards.” I found my 40-yard pin just as the bull stepped into the open. The bull looked nervously from side to side, scanning for any danger. Although perfectly broadside, the bull's front shoulder was back, making my target smaller. I waited for what felt like an eternity for him to take that last step forward. His nervous body language convinced me that he might not ever take that step, so I hugged my pin tight to that shoulder and let her fly.

The loud thwack of the arrow finding its mark sent the bull spinning off into the timber it came from. Just as quickly as he came, the bull was gone. Silence replaced the noise once again when an ear-piercing crack came from my left that sounded like the bull running into a tree. We listened quietly for fifteen minutes, then, as the adrenaline wore off, Braden and I looked at each other in disbelief of what had just happened.

In the story above, you only get to see a small part of the whole adventure. This is the part that most people visualize when they think of hunting. The fact is that the story gets a whole lot harder. Once you get past the disbelief that a plan actually came together, you find yourself matched with a very technical feat. Now you have to get this 1000 pound animal cut up and out of whatever nasty terrain he lived in. Hopefully, you have a hunting buddy or three to assist you.

After experiencing this a few times, I have become more aware of the whole process. Now I think about how I can get an elk out before I shoot one. There are two different factors that I consider. The first has to do with time. If I have another free day to pack an elk out or enough daylight, then I usually will not hesitate to shoot an elk. The last and most important factor is the weather. If it is archery season, I am a lot less likely to shoot an animal unless I know I can cool the meat down. When the sun is beating down, it is a race against time to get the meat off of the elk and taken care of. It is a difficult task, and I have lost some meat in the past due to it. During rifle season, it usually is cool enough that you do not have to worry as much.

Knowing how to properly field dress the animal is another thing that people take for granted. As a hunter, you are responsible for taking care of the meat. I believe that you should know how to finish the job before you start it. The cleanest and most efficient way that I have learned to do this is called the gutless method. It is also known as quartering the animal. I created the video below to help give you a picture of what this process looks like. Watch it and other examples before you go out on your next hunt. This will provide you with the confidence and knowledge to finish the entire story.