B
broncstead
Guest
First off I have to agree with everyone that's said Nebo is a difficult hunt, I've been hunting spikes up there for about 10 years and its never easy. This is the only reason my father and me put in for the LE elk in this area cause we both know it like the back of our hands.
After 6 years of my father putting in he finally drew this year which made us both very excited cause we've been watching big bulls run around this unit for years but never had the chance of putting one down and this year was our chance.
Opening morning 4 a.m. I pull up to my fathers house and wake him up we load his stuff and we're off but not before we hit Mcdicks for breakfast?.as we're driving we're talking and anticipating what's going to happen at first light. We always see bulls every time we go to ?our mountain? in Nebo so we're not worried about seeing any just worried about the size we're going to see. The elk tend to move from mountain to mountain and are very unpredictable at times.
6 a.m. we pull up to our spot and there's trailers parked there but no matter I know no one is going to hunt our area cause of the nastiness and years of hunting there and never seeing another soul on the same mountain.
Well we get into position at first light and?..nothing?.not even a mouse fart, no elk, no bugles, no chirps?well this sometimes happens so we just shrug it off and sneak around for awhile until it got hot then we bedded down for a good long nap.
After a few hours we decide to check some spots were we know the elk like to bed?..and again nothing?.well evening rolls around and we hike out to a great vantage point where we can see 4 or 5 canyons at the same time. About 6:30 we hear a bugle and out his majesty comes just bugling as loud as he possibly can I put the binos on him and can see he's a big 6x6?.the only problem is he's about 900 yards away?my dad looks at me and says ?do you think I can make that shot if I aim 2 ft over his back???I laugh and said ?ya right??..we debated trying to hike over there to try and get a shot but it was just too late and it would be dark by then for sure?well after a few min of talking we hear 2 quick shots and the 10 or so head of elk that are on the same hill as the big bull scramble in all directions including the big bugling bull.
We couldn't see anyone so we didn't know if they were shooting at him or in another canyon but we though ?oh crap? what if the elk leave this canyon tomorrow then there goes our chances of getting a shot at this big bull.
Next morning we decided to try the same spot as usual being that we ?always? see elk in our area?.well like the day before?.nothing?.it didn't take too long to decide that we should try the canyon where we saw the big boy the day before, so we made the hike out to drive closer to area.
Upon arriving to the spot where we should start hiking there were two trucks parked there and we thought great someone is already in our spot?well about 10 min later some people come down off the mountain in from the opposite direction, from the looks of it they had been grouse hunting which made us happy to see so we decided to bed down for a nap.
The hike out to the spot to get into a vantage point is not too bad of a hike but where the elk hang out is deep and nasty and I do mean deep and nasty?you know the kind, steep as hell, dead fall everywhere, thick as a jungle?.gotta love it though perfect elk country doesn't get any better than that.
We sneak along the ridge for about an hour and get to the pines and its just silence so we try very hard to be quiet as we sneak along in the pines?it had been raining a lot over the last couple of days which made it perfect for sneaking in quietly. As we enter the pines there are trails and elk sign everywhere and we know we're right where we should be.
As we made our way along in the pines we slowly wind our way down the hill to get a look at the other side of the hill which is covered with aspens and open fields the same spot we saw the big boy the day before. We weren't there for more than one hour when we heard the first bugle coming from a patch of pines high on the same hill we'd seen the elk the day before?.our blood and adrenaline shot through the roof and we then knew we were in for a ride. We decided to sit and wait for him to come out later towards the evening so the wait began and we heard him bugle every now and then. Then as it got later in the day he started to make his way through the aspens moving out towards the open areas on the hill bugling every couple of minutes.
It was then my father looked at me and told me to squeeze off the Carlton Estrous Call I had bought the week before. This was my first cow elk call being I'd never drawn a LE tag before so I've never had much use for one. The very second I squeezed off the call he let out the loudest raspiest bugle we've ever heard him scream. It wasn?t 30 seconds later that another bull in the opposite direction answered his bugle. Every few min I would squeeze off a few mews which kept getting the bulls fired up and making them move closer to the open fields on the hill.
About 10 min from the first time I had squeezed off the call the two bulls were clashing antlers on this steep hill and what a site it was. The bigger bull of the two was pushing the little one around and beating him down letting him know who the boss was. While all this was happening my father had been getting in position to fire on the bigger bull. After the big boy had won his fight he walked into an open area where a cow was standing which was about 150 yards away and straight across from us.
As the bull was standing there trying to catch his breath my father squeezed off the first shot hitting directly home and he rapidly squeezed off two more rounds to make sure the job was done and the bull immediately dropped after the 3rd shot crashing down through the quakies.
I forgot to mention my father had some serious bull fever and was almost hyperventilating before taking the first shot so I was quite impressed that he was able to hit directly home on the first shot with all the shaking and out of control breathing that was going on?anyway it was funny to say the least. He was as nervous and excited as a virgin on prom night.
After the bull dropped we screamed like a couple of Indians and gave lots of high fives and back slaps. We had accomplished something that some people will only get to dream about and never get the chance to do.
It took a about 20 min to find him in the thick quakies but there was definitely no ground shrinkage, he was actually bigger than we thought he was going to be. It all happened so fast and with only 4 days with which we had to hunt we knew we couldn't hold out for a booner but he wasn?t going to settle for a rag horn either.
He killed him around 6:30 p.m. which didn't give us a lot of time to quarter him out and what not but we tried as fast as we could and left him for the next day.
The next day we showed up and found a bear had used him as a snack but we were able to save most of the meat which was good cause he was in one of the nastiest, deepest canyons on the Nebo unit.
What a hunt though?awesome?.wouldn't trade it for the world?that's one hunt my father and me will never forget. There?s quite a lot more to the story but that would take pages and pages and I don't have the time to write it all down. Also thank goodness for his horses I don't think we could?ve gotten him out if it weren't for them. I've never seen how tired horses can really get until they've hauled a full grown elk a couple of miles out of the mountains?gotta love those horses.
The bull is a really good bull for Nebo he turned out to be a 5x6 not sure what he scores but he'd be a lot better if he had his 3rd and his 2nd was bigger, I've seen some bigger ones up there in past years but he's definitely a great bull for the Nebo unit. At least he was the king of his canyon and mountain.
Good luck to all the muzzle loaders, there are still some great bulls up there and I hope they're still rutting like they were for us. Don?t forget your estrous calls either, we wouldn't have gotten him out into open in time if we didn't have one and use it correctly.
I sent the pics to Browtine.
After 6 years of my father putting in he finally drew this year which made us both very excited cause we've been watching big bulls run around this unit for years but never had the chance of putting one down and this year was our chance.
Opening morning 4 a.m. I pull up to my fathers house and wake him up we load his stuff and we're off but not before we hit Mcdicks for breakfast?.as we're driving we're talking and anticipating what's going to happen at first light. We always see bulls every time we go to ?our mountain? in Nebo so we're not worried about seeing any just worried about the size we're going to see. The elk tend to move from mountain to mountain and are very unpredictable at times.
6 a.m. we pull up to our spot and there's trailers parked there but no matter I know no one is going to hunt our area cause of the nastiness and years of hunting there and never seeing another soul on the same mountain.
Well we get into position at first light and?..nothing?.not even a mouse fart, no elk, no bugles, no chirps?well this sometimes happens so we just shrug it off and sneak around for awhile until it got hot then we bedded down for a good long nap.
After a few hours we decide to check some spots were we know the elk like to bed?..and again nothing?.well evening rolls around and we hike out to a great vantage point where we can see 4 or 5 canyons at the same time. About 6:30 we hear a bugle and out his majesty comes just bugling as loud as he possibly can I put the binos on him and can see he's a big 6x6?.the only problem is he's about 900 yards away?my dad looks at me and says ?do you think I can make that shot if I aim 2 ft over his back???I laugh and said ?ya right??..we debated trying to hike over there to try and get a shot but it was just too late and it would be dark by then for sure?well after a few min of talking we hear 2 quick shots and the 10 or so head of elk that are on the same hill as the big bull scramble in all directions including the big bugling bull.
We couldn't see anyone so we didn't know if they were shooting at him or in another canyon but we though ?oh crap? what if the elk leave this canyon tomorrow then there goes our chances of getting a shot at this big bull.
Next morning we decided to try the same spot as usual being that we ?always? see elk in our area?.well like the day before?.nothing?.it didn't take too long to decide that we should try the canyon where we saw the big boy the day before, so we made the hike out to drive closer to area.
Upon arriving to the spot where we should start hiking there were two trucks parked there and we thought great someone is already in our spot?well about 10 min later some people come down off the mountain in from the opposite direction, from the looks of it they had been grouse hunting which made us happy to see so we decided to bed down for a nap.
The hike out to the spot to get into a vantage point is not too bad of a hike but where the elk hang out is deep and nasty and I do mean deep and nasty?you know the kind, steep as hell, dead fall everywhere, thick as a jungle?.gotta love it though perfect elk country doesn't get any better than that.
We sneak along the ridge for about an hour and get to the pines and its just silence so we try very hard to be quiet as we sneak along in the pines?it had been raining a lot over the last couple of days which made it perfect for sneaking in quietly. As we enter the pines there are trails and elk sign everywhere and we know we're right where we should be.
As we made our way along in the pines we slowly wind our way down the hill to get a look at the other side of the hill which is covered with aspens and open fields the same spot we saw the big boy the day before. We weren't there for more than one hour when we heard the first bugle coming from a patch of pines high on the same hill we'd seen the elk the day before?.our blood and adrenaline shot through the roof and we then knew we were in for a ride. We decided to sit and wait for him to come out later towards the evening so the wait began and we heard him bugle every now and then. Then as it got later in the day he started to make his way through the aspens moving out towards the open areas on the hill bugling every couple of minutes.
It was then my father looked at me and told me to squeeze off the Carlton Estrous Call I had bought the week before. This was my first cow elk call being I'd never drawn a LE tag before so I've never had much use for one. The very second I squeezed off the call he let out the loudest raspiest bugle we've ever heard him scream. It wasn?t 30 seconds later that another bull in the opposite direction answered his bugle. Every few min I would squeeze off a few mews which kept getting the bulls fired up and making them move closer to the open fields on the hill.
About 10 min from the first time I had squeezed off the call the two bulls were clashing antlers on this steep hill and what a site it was. The bigger bull of the two was pushing the little one around and beating him down letting him know who the boss was. While all this was happening my father had been getting in position to fire on the bigger bull. After the big boy had won his fight he walked into an open area where a cow was standing which was about 150 yards away and straight across from us.
As the bull was standing there trying to catch his breath my father squeezed off the first shot hitting directly home and he rapidly squeezed off two more rounds to make sure the job was done and the bull immediately dropped after the 3rd shot crashing down through the quakies.
I forgot to mention my father had some serious bull fever and was almost hyperventilating before taking the first shot so I was quite impressed that he was able to hit directly home on the first shot with all the shaking and out of control breathing that was going on?anyway it was funny to say the least. He was as nervous and excited as a virgin on prom night.
After the bull dropped we screamed like a couple of Indians and gave lots of high fives and back slaps. We had accomplished something that some people will only get to dream about and never get the chance to do.
It took a about 20 min to find him in the thick quakies but there was definitely no ground shrinkage, he was actually bigger than we thought he was going to be. It all happened so fast and with only 4 days with which we had to hunt we knew we couldn't hold out for a booner but he wasn?t going to settle for a rag horn either.
He killed him around 6:30 p.m. which didn't give us a lot of time to quarter him out and what not but we tried as fast as we could and left him for the next day.
The next day we showed up and found a bear had used him as a snack but we were able to save most of the meat which was good cause he was in one of the nastiest, deepest canyons on the Nebo unit.
What a hunt though?awesome?.wouldn't trade it for the world?that's one hunt my father and me will never forget. There?s quite a lot more to the story but that would take pages and pages and I don't have the time to write it all down. Also thank goodness for his horses I don't think we could?ve gotten him out if it weren't for them. I've never seen how tired horses can really get until they've hauled a full grown elk a couple of miles out of the mountains?gotta love those horses.
The bull is a really good bull for Nebo he turned out to be a 5x6 not sure what he scores but he'd be a lot better if he had his 3rd and his 2nd was bigger, I've seen some bigger ones up there in past years but he's definitely a great bull for the Nebo unit. At least he was the king of his canyon and mountain.
Good luck to all the muzzle loaders, there are still some great bulls up there and I hope they're still rutting like they were for us. Don?t forget your estrous calls either, we wouldn't have gotten him out into open in time if we didn't have one and use it correctly.
I sent the pics to Browtine.
