U
ultra300mag
Guest
Now that the pronghorn is filled and the elk is done all that remains is my Desert Bighorn tag.
My daughter's hunt started a little slow with only seeing a 3x5 on the first day when Mark and Remington were with us. We did help a guy score on a nice moose later that day but that is a whole different story. On day two I stayed home while Mark, Remington, Corey (son in law) and Jodie went to see what they could find. At some point Jodie spotted a large bull in a clearing and that set things in motion. The bull spotted is what elk dreams are made of. When I later saw some video footage I figured him to have about 24" thirds and a great frame/points to go along with that. Jodie decided at that point that she really wanted to try to kill that bull. The next couple of days were spent trying to make that happen. He was spotted again on Monday in the same meadow by John a nephew and he was able to video through his 15x Swaro's. The bull was where he could not be seen by Jodie and he was 1000 yards from where we were glassing. We had found a vantage point that I thought would help get within 400 yards of where the bull had been spotted two mornings in a row. While on this point Jodie stuck to her resolve to shoot the big bull or possibly eat tag soup and passed several bulls that I am not sure I would have recommended her to pass. One was a nice looking 330 + bull and another that I think was closer to 340+. Tuesday evening I had some things I needed to take care of so the hunters tried to find him to no avail. On Wednesday morning Jodie and Corey were on the spot and set up before daylight with John and I spotting from our 1000 yard location. After hearing some bugling several cows entered the clearing with a large framed bull following moving pretty fast. Corey sounded off with his bugle and the bull stopped. Jodie took aim and shot from about 440 yards away hitting the bull low in the brisket and exiting through the left front leg breaking the bone. The bull moved forward slowly and she attempted a couple more shots but we could not see any visible signs of a hit. The bull entered some pines and now we had to decide how to complete this task. Some phone calls were made to get some help there so that we could possibly make a slow controlled push through the pines and hopefully find the bull dead or move him for her to get a finishing shot into the bull. While waiting for the helpers to arrive the bull walked out of the pines heading uphill to the next patch of pines and really made me wonder how hard he was hit. After helpers arrived we came up with a plan and five of us entered the pines from above while several others were posted along the ridgeline and Jodie and Corey took a position to see him exit. When we reached the end the top three pushers were a ways ahead of the other two of us and the bull went out of the pines where the top guy had been a few minutes earlier. Jodie tried a shot at him moving fast but the bull cut back into the pines running right into Jeff who was still in the pines along with me. We were able to find blood and the chase was on. It had already rained hard following the hit but now with blood spotted it was back on. To make a long story short we tracked this bull during several more, heavy rain/hail storms and kept him moving enough to keep bleeding. After what seemed like about 20 miles but was more likely 1 to 2 miles we finally jumped him and I actually thought we might be able to get it done. We followed him a couple hundred more yards and she was able to make the killing shot at about 40 yards. We had sent a couple of guys around the mountain with a truck and ended up walking about a mile and a half further out the bottom of the canyon to get picked up. This ordeal had begun at daylight and ended just at dark. It was a pretty long day but very well worth it. Looking at the GPS and maps we decided it would be easier to drop in from the top and take him back up. It ended up being about 450 yards steep up hill but beat the mile and a half through all the deadfall. The bull ended up grossing 349 even with a couple inches broken from his g-2 and short fifth's. It was a good thing she decided to shoot this one because a while after she had hit him we found out the other bull we were after had been killed the night before down lower in the canyon.
My daughter's hunt started a little slow with only seeing a 3x5 on the first day when Mark and Remington were with us. We did help a guy score on a nice moose later that day but that is a whole different story. On day two I stayed home while Mark, Remington, Corey (son in law) and Jodie went to see what they could find. At some point Jodie spotted a large bull in a clearing and that set things in motion. The bull spotted is what elk dreams are made of. When I later saw some video footage I figured him to have about 24" thirds and a great frame/points to go along with that. Jodie decided at that point that she really wanted to try to kill that bull. The next couple of days were spent trying to make that happen. He was spotted again on Monday in the same meadow by John a nephew and he was able to video through his 15x Swaro's. The bull was where he could not be seen by Jodie and he was 1000 yards from where we were glassing. We had found a vantage point that I thought would help get within 400 yards of where the bull had been spotted two mornings in a row. While on this point Jodie stuck to her resolve to shoot the big bull or possibly eat tag soup and passed several bulls that I am not sure I would have recommended her to pass. One was a nice looking 330 + bull and another that I think was closer to 340+. Tuesday evening I had some things I needed to take care of so the hunters tried to find him to no avail. On Wednesday morning Jodie and Corey were on the spot and set up before daylight with John and I spotting from our 1000 yard location. After hearing some bugling several cows entered the clearing with a large framed bull following moving pretty fast. Corey sounded off with his bugle and the bull stopped. Jodie took aim and shot from about 440 yards away hitting the bull low in the brisket and exiting through the left front leg breaking the bone. The bull moved forward slowly and she attempted a couple more shots but we could not see any visible signs of a hit. The bull entered some pines and now we had to decide how to complete this task. Some phone calls were made to get some help there so that we could possibly make a slow controlled push through the pines and hopefully find the bull dead or move him for her to get a finishing shot into the bull. While waiting for the helpers to arrive the bull walked out of the pines heading uphill to the next patch of pines and really made me wonder how hard he was hit. After helpers arrived we came up with a plan and five of us entered the pines from above while several others were posted along the ridgeline and Jodie and Corey took a position to see him exit. When we reached the end the top three pushers were a ways ahead of the other two of us and the bull went out of the pines where the top guy had been a few minutes earlier. Jodie tried a shot at him moving fast but the bull cut back into the pines running right into Jeff who was still in the pines along with me. We were able to find blood and the chase was on. It had already rained hard following the hit but now with blood spotted it was back on. To make a long story short we tracked this bull during several more, heavy rain/hail storms and kept him moving enough to keep bleeding. After what seemed like about 20 miles but was more likely 1 to 2 miles we finally jumped him and I actually thought we might be able to get it done. We followed him a couple hundred more yards and she was able to make the killing shot at about 40 yards. We had sent a couple of guys around the mountain with a truck and ended up walking about a mile and a half further out the bottom of the canyon to get picked up. This ordeal had begun at daylight and ended just at dark. It was a pretty long day but very well worth it. Looking at the GPS and maps we decided it would be easier to drop in from the top and take him back up. It ended up being about 450 yards steep up hill but beat the mile and a half through all the deadfall. The bull ended up grossing 349 even with a couple inches broken from his g-2 and short fifth's. It was a good thing she decided to shoot this one because a while after she had hit him we found out the other bull we were after had been killed the night before down lower in the canyon.
