hoopscoach
Active Member
- Messages
- 309
LAST EDITED ON Oct-02-09 AT 05:46PM (MST)[p]The first four and a half days of the season were tough to say the least. I passed on shots at a spike, a very small 3 x 5 and a 4 x 4 rag horn. I was never even remotely tempted to shoot any of these young bulls. We were hunting hard but our efforts seemed misguided. We were trying to call in bulls in the mornings but the temperatures were so warm that they were only bugling for about a half hour before shutting up for the day. We were sitting on water in the evenings with limited success. I had decided that any mature bull that presented a shot was going to be toast.
On day four, I had talked to a guide that gave me a tip about a particular area that was holding a few decent 6 point bulls. I also talked with a local that mentioned the same area as one that has held elk in the past. The evening of day 5 we hiked about a mile into the area and got on a high point to glass. At about 5:00 we were watching 2 cows in front of us and heard a bull bugling within a half mile behind us and decided to move to the next ridge to see if we could locate him. Sure enough, he was on the next hillside at 320 yards with about a dozen cows?well out of my effective range. I needed to get about a hundred yards closer. I kept the hill between us and closed the distance. In the meantime my buddies stayed on top of the hill and bugled at him to keep him talking.
As I slowly rounded the hill I could see some of his cows feeding across the hillside in front of me at 120 yards! I knew if I didn't do something stupid the bull was going to follow those cows across that hillside so I sat tight and waited. Every once in a while he would bugle from a patch of thick trees but I couldn't see him. After about 15 minutes of waiting he came walking across that hillside and stopped in some bushes. I repositioned myself in the prone position and could see his front shoulder through a small lane in the brush. I pulled the trigger and he ran about 30 yards and stopped. I frantically loaded another shot , (spilling half the powder) shouldered the rifle and took an offhand shot. The bull didn't move. I loaded again and he laid down on the third shot. He was hit hard! I walked up close and finished him with a 4th shot. I am amazed at how tough these critters are. The first shot would have done the job but I had always heard that you should keep shooting as long as they are standing. When I dressed him out I found that three shots had hit in his lungs. Success is much sweeter when you have to work hard to achieve it and that definitely applies in this case.
I am not a good judge when it comes to "scores". Can someone that knows these things give me an estimate of what he would score?
On day four, I had talked to a guide that gave me a tip about a particular area that was holding a few decent 6 point bulls. I also talked with a local that mentioned the same area as one that has held elk in the past. The evening of day 5 we hiked about a mile into the area and got on a high point to glass. At about 5:00 we were watching 2 cows in front of us and heard a bull bugling within a half mile behind us and decided to move to the next ridge to see if we could locate him. Sure enough, he was on the next hillside at 320 yards with about a dozen cows?well out of my effective range. I needed to get about a hundred yards closer. I kept the hill between us and closed the distance. In the meantime my buddies stayed on top of the hill and bugled at him to keep him talking.
As I slowly rounded the hill I could see some of his cows feeding across the hillside in front of me at 120 yards! I knew if I didn't do something stupid the bull was going to follow those cows across that hillside so I sat tight and waited. Every once in a while he would bugle from a patch of thick trees but I couldn't see him. After about 15 minutes of waiting he came walking across that hillside and stopped in some bushes. I repositioned myself in the prone position and could see his front shoulder through a small lane in the brush. I pulled the trigger and he ran about 30 yards and stopped. I frantically loaded another shot , (spilling half the powder) shouldered the rifle and took an offhand shot. The bull didn't move. I loaded again and he laid down on the third shot. He was hit hard! I walked up close and finished him with a 4th shot. I am amazed at how tough these critters are. The first shot would have done the job but I had always heard that you should keep shooting as long as they are standing. When I dressed him out I found that three shots had hit in his lungs. Success is much sweeter when you have to work hard to achieve it and that definitely applies in this case.
I am not a good judge when it comes to "scores". Can someone that knows these things give me an estimate of what he would score?
