By now, it’s no secret that Joe Rogan loves to bow hunt.
He’s also good buddies with Cam Hanes, one of the most accomplished bowhunters on the planet.
The two of them recently teamed up for an archery elk hunt in Utah, and it looks like both of them were able to put an arrow on point and drop massive bulls.
Preparation for the hunt started long before they packing meat out of the mountains though, and earlier this week, Hanes posted footage of him and Rogan practicing shots out to 80-yards, an incredible distance to accurately shoot a bow and arrow.
It appears the two decided to make some friendly wagers on their target practice, with Hanes joking that Rogan won the boots off his feet while Hanes won the truck.
Rogan pulls back and lets an arrow fly over the truck bed and a stack of lumber and sticks a tremendous shot right near the vitals of the 3D elk target he was aiming for.
Hanes follows it up by flinging a super accurate arrow of his own, and ultimately his shot flew a little more true, but they were both on point.
“Me and Joe Rogan at 80 yards —1 arrow shoot-off for all the marbles.”
Once in the mountains, the hunt got off to a fast start with Hanes showing some incredible footage of a close encounter with a big bull elk.
Ultimately, the bull caught him out in the open, and he wasn’t able to get a shot off before the big elk busted him and took off.
All that practice eventually paid off though, as Hanes later shared a video of yet another close encounter with a huge bull.
The elk didn’t get away this time though, and the footage is a perfect example of the heart pounding intensity and up-close adrenaline rush that only archery hunting such magnificent creatures can provide.
“A Million Decisions in the Blink of an Eye.
You do your best. Sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it isn’t.
First shot broke shoulder, he went down after 20 yards of crashing, got up, went up the hill, stopped. I didn’t take time to range the distance, just estimated where to hold, hit him low in the chest with the second arrow and in the end, I did enough to get him killed.
It wasn’t the 1-arrow, perfect kill I visualize everyday, but it’s hunting. Sometimes death isn’t perfect. These are tough, wild animals that deserve our best.
All I can do is the best in the situation and then as I say in the video, “We’ll see?”
A million decisions include: get on your knees as you’re less of a threat than if standing, get by a tree to break up your outline, keep your head down, your face shines and is easily recognizable to prey, draw when the bull’s head is behind brush or trees, shoot until the animal is dead, don’t hesitate, don’t get emotional, if the animal is wounded you shoot until the mess is cleaned up. Do your best.
The beast is dead, long live the beast. Thank you God for one more bull.”
The successful hunting action didn’t stop there though, as Rogan apparently had a successful hunt of his own too.
While it doesn’t seem to have been captured on video like Hanes’s hunt was, the photos of the two men carving up the hide and harvesting the meat of yet another big bull elk speaks for itself.
He followed it up with a second set of pictures that showed Rogan as the one with the rack on his back this time, and he clarified that his good buddy Joe had also found some success somewhere high in the mountains of Utah.
“Bowhunting can be a fickle mistress.
The immense challenge is such that it can be soul-crushing one moment, and soul-enriching the next. Today, it was the latter as @joerogan found success in the Utah mountains with the help of @muleycrazy89 who is not only as good of young man as you’ll find, but also a great hunter.
I feel honored to share this elk camp with so many good people and have to thank @wildcountryadventures for the opportunity. Tom Land runs one the best mule deer and elk hunting outfits in the west so if the mountains call to you like they do me, check them out.”
If you want more awesome footage of these two legends hunting together, check out yet another successful Utah elk hunt from a few years ago.
That time around, the crew from Under Armor captured the whole thing on camera, and it’s definitely worth watching.
