Shawn Luchtel was filming an episode of "Heartland Bowhunter" when a close encounter with a bull elk sent him and his cameraman scrambling. Luchtel was hunting elk in New Mexico when a beautiful, 5x5 bull walks into the setup where he and his cameraman are sitting. Luchtel is presented with a 13-yard broadside shot on the elk and decides to let an arrow fly.
What happens next is what makes this video really interesting. The arrow connects perfectly with the large elk, which only goes about 10 yards and falls over. But it doesn't stop there. The behemoth starts to roll toward the spot where Luchtel and his camera are set up.
"Get up! Get up! Get up," Luchtel whispers urgently to the cameraman as the elk begins to rumble down the forested hill.
The two men jump up and get out of the way, just as the large animal finally stops and dies steps from where they are standing.
"My hands are shaking still," Luchtel says. "And my knees."
He then counts his steps from where he was standing to where the animal fell and died. It's only eight steps.
These guys' hearts were likely beating a mile a minute after that one. In the end, they were lucky those trees were in the way to stop the bull's momentum down the hillside. Having an animal that weighs 500-plus pounds fall on you would undoubtably result in some serious injuries. But it definitely made for an easy tracking job.
"I've been on a few incredible elk hunts in my life, but nothing compares to this one," Luchtel wrote on Instagram.
He'll get no arguments from us in that regard. In fact, there's probably little chance he'll ever have a recovery this short ever again.
