Boyd Mathes

USA – Pella, IA

Holding at full draw while a nice big 6x6 bull elk is bugling at 25 yards will raise the hair on the back of your neck and if your adrenaline isn’t pumping at full capacity, you’re probably not alive! But we’ll get to that later.

Going on a good elk hunt has been number one on my list of dream hunts for so long it just seems like forever. And when I think about elk hunting, a pack-in hunt deep into a wilderness area would be the perfect scenario. This year I finally decided to bite the bullet and my good friend, Randy DeVries of Sully, Iowa and I decided that we were going to go somewhere to chase elk. Randy met and talked with Chris and Cody Korell of Korell Outfitters from Idaho at this winters Iowa Deer Classic. He called me all excited and said he had found our hunt. We decided to go ahead and book our hunt through them and then had to wait six months until time to leave. Lots of target shooting, packing, weighing packs, shooting bow, practicing, getting more gear, working out, more practice and then more working out followed by more shooting and it was finally time to go. We both brought two bows that I had tuned to perfection and were hitting small dots with broadheads - even at 60 yards - it was “game on!” I own and operate Buck Hollow Sports, an archery ProShop near Pella, Iowa. Both Randy and I shoot on Bowtech’s Factory Pro Staff. We were ready!

The worst part about hunting in Idaho is that for some reason, they decided to place it on the map seemingly on the other side of the world. After about a 23 hour drive finishing up through the unbelievably steep Sawtooth range, we pulled in Korell’s lodge and I was introduced to several soon-to-be friends. Chris & Cody Korell (brothers) and Kid Youren are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. We found out Cody and Kid would be packing us in and guiding us while Chris took another guy to a different camp on the next mountain. We stayed the night in their beautiful lodge that they built themselves from solid Lodge Pole Pine logs – incredible! The next morning had us packing everything evenly in mantie’s (a canvas square used to make a man-tied pack). We went down the road a ways and then 14 miles up a two-track gravel road to the trail head. From there we loaded the Decker pack saddles on the mules, swung onto our own horses and waved goodbye to civilization for the week. No electricity, no cell phone service, no roads or motor vehicles – just us and what lives on the mountain. About three hours later my backside was really excited to see the camp and climb out of that saddle. Many hours on the treadmill and on the elliptical had taken away much of the padding on my behind that sure would have come in useful for all that time in the saddle.

We pulled into a beautiful camp with two wall tents, woodstoves, a stack of firewood, cots, picnic table, lawn chairs, a scenic outdoor restroom and more – maybe we wouldn’t be roughing it as bad as I thought? It was nice to set camp, unpack, shoot the bows and relax a little. We shared numerous hunting stories and ate like kings (I lost absolutely no weight on this trip – they fed us that well!) Turning in early seemed fitting to try and get some sleep before the hunt began in the morning.

Cowboy coffee on the woodstove and a plate full of bacon and pancakes started out a perfect day. We rode out at dawn to the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. We were on top of the world, riding on mountain tops and high ridges, bugling and cow-calling from horseback in good draws and drainages. It is so incredibly peaceful up there – dead silent with no noticeable wind and no background noise at all. A few hours later we found a nice spot to tie up the horses and started down a narrow ridge on foot. Hearing a bull elk answer our calls gave me the goose bumps and I knew we were in for a good day.

We worked down the mountain, getting closer and hearing the bull answer our calls every time. At 11 o’clock we sat down, ate some lunch and waited and listened. Apparently, the elk bed down typically from 11 to 3 and don’t move much. The weather was gorgeous, probably in the 60’s so laying back in the sun for a little “elk nap” would feel good. I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before, too much nervous excitement and anticipation. Just as I was dozing off we heard a bugle down below us. Somebody said “sounds like another hunter?” but Cody assured us that if someone was down there, there were extremely ambitious. I truly believe outside the four of us, there wasn’t another human being inside 5 or 10 miles. We bugled back a little and got an immediate answer – Closer!

We quickly set-up shooting positions only to see him pass by about 75 yards downhill and headed right for the bull we had been talking to all morning! More bugles down below as we scurried down the mountain to close the distance. We found the beautiful grassy flat spot the elk herd had been in all morning. Fresh sign was everywhere and the smell of elk was in the air. It seems the new bull had caused our herd bull to take his cows and move on. Another bugle! Again, we ran down a little drainage and set-up – quickly ranging landmarks with the rangefinder and trying to pick a place to shoot. Here he came, prancing along like a trained draft horse – head held high – passing right by Randy at 33 yards. He kept coming and got around us, winded us and took off to parts unknown. Randy had passed the little raghorn bull because he was only a small 3x4 and it was barely noon on the first day.

We tracked the herd bull and his cows on down the mountain and got him to answer our calls again, although he sounded very far away. Finding a nice log to sit on and finish our lunch, Randy and I stayed put while Cody and Kid were on a ridge a hundred yards away or so bugling at our herd bull. He seemed to answer every single call, must have been pretty mad at all the commotion upsetting his day. Suddenly, another bugle rang out not far below us – another bull was down there! He bugled again – closing the distance. I quickly picked out a nice thick brushy spot to stand in front of where it was some-what level and starting picking my shots and ranging them. Two beautiful trees in open shooting lanes at 40 yards, one straight down the hill and one to my right with Randy setting up off to my left gave me some shooting options. By now Cody and Kid had heard the incoming bull and were set-up behind us up the hill – ready to call and catch all the action.

I first saw him straight down the hill below me about 75 yards, prancing up the hill at a high rate of speed, head held high. I saw an amazing 6 point side and quickly drew my bow as he stepped behind cover, this was happening all too fast! Someone blew a cow call up the hill and instead of staying on the path he was on which would have placed him in the open right in front of my 40 yard tree to the right, he stopped right behind a thicket at 25 yards and bugled! With my hair standing on end, adrenaline flow at max and my heart beating so hard I could feel it in my toes, he turned and came right towards me. Fully in the clear now, closing the distance and coming straight at me – I held full draw until he paused at 18 yards. Had he seen me, smelled me, saw someone else or was he just going to run me over? All this ran through my head as I slowly squeezed my release and watch my arrow completely disappear in his chest – exactly where I wanted it to go. He stayed on the same path and ran past me at only six feet as I raised my bow in the air in a victory celebration. I could see his back side was trying to pass his front only 30 yards down the hill before he went over the ridge out of sight. I had done it! I shot an elk with my bow on public land in the middle of nowhere! Kid was first on scene and asked if I had shot, amazed he hadn’t heard my bow. The look on my face and the bow held high over my head gave him the anwer he was seeking. (And maybe the victory dance I was doing was a give-away as well?) My Bowtech Invasion CPX had found its mark and the Easton A/C/C ProHunters tipped with the new Muzzy MX-3 125 grain broadheads had finished the job.

Blood on the trail in front of us was a welcome sign but we semi-patiently waited for a half hour before pursuing the blood trail and looking for my trophy. We hadn’t gone 20 yards when Cody spotted him down the hill, he had only gone about 60 yards! High fives all around and lots of pictures later, we began the work of gutting, quartering and caping him out. It was so steep there that we had to tie his horns and feet to tree above us to keep him from rolling down the hill further. I had managed to hit lung, heart and penetrate through the diaphragm – a good killing shot.

Needless to say, I had an awesome hunt. Kid took a pack string in after him and Cody packed him into town to the processor a day later while we continued to hunt. Randy shot a gorgeous 5x5 bull only a day after that and I managed to get his shot on video. Two flat landers from Iowa went to the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho and shot two great mature elk with only one shot each. (And both recovered in 60 yards or less) I would definitely hunt with Korell again, great people that will work their tails off to get you an elk and they run an incredible camp. They also hound hunt cougars and color-phase black bears in the winter – anyone want to go to Idaho?


Equipment List:
Bowtech Invasion CPX-30” draw at 61#
Easton A/C/C Pro Hunter arrows
Muzzy MX-3 125 broadheads
Montana Black Gold Surge Sight
Vapor Trail Pro-V drop-away rest
Stokerized Stabilizer
Tight Spot Quiver
Stan SX-2 release
Vanguard Endeavor ED Binoculars
Bushnell Bowhunter Rangefinder
Sitka Gear Clothing
Danner Boots