Its that time of year where things start to die down and get slow around here so though i would try to write up a story bout some hunts I took part in this year. Man This year was by far the busiest ever. I was gone hunting for dang near 2 months straight. Good thing I got a hell of a wife eh.
Most of this post will be about my father's book cliffs hunt this year but a little bit about dad's history. We all been there with our dad's when we can just see em taking that turn with old age and not being able to get out and do the same things they used too. I grew up with dad hunting the hills year in and year out. Dad had killed multiple deer over his year but had never killed an elk. I don't even think he has killed a cow. Dad had a buck bull combo in 2009 so we all loaded up hauled the ponies up and had high hopes to fill at least one of the two tags.
The wife's horse
Well long story short we got a call over the radio one evening that dad had just killed his first bull ever!!! We grabbed the ponies and off we went.
My wife, dad and older brother
My wife and her mustang dragging that bull back to camp
Little bit of snow on the ground we figured lets tie that sucker up and have my wife drag him out. So that is what we did. She and that horse drug that bull 3 miles back to camp!!
We woke up the next day and dad went above camp and smoked a good meat buck. Dad filled both tags. What a hunt
Now on to this year.
This may be long but relax a little bit and hopefully you can enjoy the pics and story i got here. To start things off I drew a Wasatch archery tag this year. Well dad also drew a muzzle loader book cliffs tag along with a good friend of mine. My year was booked. I spent all summer scouting for my hunt and was on the mountain 20+ days chasing bulls around during the hunt. What an experience that i would do again in a heart beat. I never did fill my tag as I passed a bunch of bulls and had a few very close calls. I had a bull at less than 10 yards for what seemed like forever with me at full draw just waiting for one more step. Never happened. I ended up having my chance on the last day at 70 yards and shot just a hair low. I ate my tag but made some memories that will last a lifetime.
My hunt ended and the next day i was on my to Mt Dutton to help brow tine out on his tag. He killed a great bull on Sunday and I was home for week to rest up. A week later we loaded up and was heading to the book cliffs to try and get Dad his first mature bull. The wife came along on this one even though she was 4 months pregnant. What a trooper.
Now keep in mind dad has never killed a big bull. He killed that rag horn and was in high heaven that day so this was going to be an experience of a life time for him. Dad has never been out in the hills with rutting bulls before either so I let him know he was in for a real treat.
The night before the opener we had elk screaming outside our trailer door. When I say outside I mean like knocking at the door.
Opening morning finally arrived. We split up and me and the wife took my ole man down a ridge while the brothers stayed in another canyon and glassed. It was not to long after light we had bulls screaming and chasing around like crazy. Dad's eye were glowing. As we headed out this old cow trail the bulls were going nuts below us. It was not to long before I had our first bull heading our way to check what sweet little cow was making all the ruckus
It was a little rag but ended up coming bout 60 yards and dad was like a little school boy on a ferris wheel. He could not stop laughing at how close he came just a screaming in our face. The good thing is my wife had this all on video. Well one more ridge over here comes another bull but this one worked his way into about 20 yards and dad wanted him so bad. IT was a 5x5 and dad don't care about inches what so ever. He was in it for the experience and that was it. I had to talk him out of it but boy was he excited. Well a bit down the canyon after calling in 4 bulls total we had 3 bulls answer us so we sat down and let it all unravel.
I had 3 bulls coming at us at once. I caught a glimpse of a bull with a weird antler clear in the bottom of the canyon 600+ yards away. Well 45 min later and the video camera rolling two bulls are just below us but it was so thick we could just hear em grunting and growling coming up. They was close and dad was SHi%%in Needles.. ha ha. We had a bull coming up 15 yards away coming straight for us. The dang thing took one leap up over the bush and damn near landed on my wife. Seriously was probably 6 -7 yards from her. That bull stood there looking at us and we had a a bull coming up the same path right behind. This bulls bugle was one that made him sound like the biggest bull ever. I looked at dad and he was laughing so hard in excitement he was in tears. The first bull wandered off and here comes bull number two. He was the weird horned bull and dad wanted him. He didn't care if he was big. He could not take it anymore. This was the sixth bull we had called in and it was only 10 opening morning. That and we had the video camera rolling and everything. I told my wife to back up a bit cuz that bull was gonna jump the same exact bush the first had and dad was gonna shoot him. Sure enough he growls so close you could smell his breath( not really) and leaps up and over. 13 yards from dad. Cloud of smoke and it was all over. Bull went about 15 yards and fell over dead. It was awesome. Dad was a stud on the hunt and had just killed his first mature bull. We got the brothers on the radio and let them know dad had just ended his long wait 4 hours into the hunt..Ha ha
ME with dads bull
Dad is one happy camper
Random guys bull we packed out to help him out
Wife and dad
Dad and buddies bull
What a hunt.. It took us a few days to get the other bull which is another reason i was glad dad killed his early on. Not sure he would of made it that many days. He got to sit back and enjoy camp.
Thanks for reading gents sorry it took me so long to post it and sorry it was such a long story hope you enjoyed it. There are many I need to thank for all the help on this hunt. Its greatly appreciated I cant remember all the screen names but i hope you know who you are!!! Thanks
Most of this post will be about my father's book cliffs hunt this year but a little bit about dad's history. We all been there with our dad's when we can just see em taking that turn with old age and not being able to get out and do the same things they used too. I grew up with dad hunting the hills year in and year out. Dad had killed multiple deer over his year but had never killed an elk. I don't even think he has killed a cow. Dad had a buck bull combo in 2009 so we all loaded up hauled the ponies up and had high hopes to fill at least one of the two tags.
The wife's horse
Well long story short we got a call over the radio one evening that dad had just killed his first bull ever!!! We grabbed the ponies and off we went.
My wife, dad and older brother
My wife and her mustang dragging that bull back to camp
Little bit of snow on the ground we figured lets tie that sucker up and have my wife drag him out. So that is what we did. She and that horse drug that bull 3 miles back to camp!!
We woke up the next day and dad went above camp and smoked a good meat buck. Dad filled both tags. What a hunt
Now on to this year.
This may be long but relax a little bit and hopefully you can enjoy the pics and story i got here. To start things off I drew a Wasatch archery tag this year. Well dad also drew a muzzle loader book cliffs tag along with a good friend of mine. My year was booked. I spent all summer scouting for my hunt and was on the mountain 20+ days chasing bulls around during the hunt. What an experience that i would do again in a heart beat. I never did fill my tag as I passed a bunch of bulls and had a few very close calls. I had a bull at less than 10 yards for what seemed like forever with me at full draw just waiting for one more step. Never happened. I ended up having my chance on the last day at 70 yards and shot just a hair low. I ate my tag but made some memories that will last a lifetime.
My hunt ended and the next day i was on my to Mt Dutton to help brow tine out on his tag. He killed a great bull on Sunday and I was home for week to rest up. A week later we loaded up and was heading to the book cliffs to try and get Dad his first mature bull. The wife came along on this one even though she was 4 months pregnant. What a trooper.
Now keep in mind dad has never killed a big bull. He killed that rag horn and was in high heaven that day so this was going to be an experience of a life time for him. Dad has never been out in the hills with rutting bulls before either so I let him know he was in for a real treat.
The night before the opener we had elk screaming outside our trailer door. When I say outside I mean like knocking at the door.
Opening morning finally arrived. We split up and me and the wife took my ole man down a ridge while the brothers stayed in another canyon and glassed. It was not to long after light we had bulls screaming and chasing around like crazy. Dad's eye were glowing. As we headed out this old cow trail the bulls were going nuts below us. It was not to long before I had our first bull heading our way to check what sweet little cow was making all the ruckus
It was a little rag but ended up coming bout 60 yards and dad was like a little school boy on a ferris wheel. He could not stop laughing at how close he came just a screaming in our face. The good thing is my wife had this all on video. Well one more ridge over here comes another bull but this one worked his way into about 20 yards and dad wanted him so bad. IT was a 5x5 and dad don't care about inches what so ever. He was in it for the experience and that was it. I had to talk him out of it but boy was he excited. Well a bit down the canyon after calling in 4 bulls total we had 3 bulls answer us so we sat down and let it all unravel.I had 3 bulls coming at us at once. I caught a glimpse of a bull with a weird antler clear in the bottom of the canyon 600+ yards away. Well 45 min later and the video camera rolling two bulls are just below us but it was so thick we could just hear em grunting and growling coming up. They was close and dad was SHi%%in Needles.. ha ha. We had a bull coming up 15 yards away coming straight for us. The dang thing took one leap up over the bush and damn near landed on my wife. Seriously was probably 6 -7 yards from her. That bull stood there looking at us and we had a a bull coming up the same path right behind. This bulls bugle was one that made him sound like the biggest bull ever. I looked at dad and he was laughing so hard in excitement he was in tears. The first bull wandered off and here comes bull number two. He was the weird horned bull and dad wanted him. He didn't care if he was big. He could not take it anymore. This was the sixth bull we had called in and it was only 10 opening morning. That and we had the video camera rolling and everything. I told my wife to back up a bit cuz that bull was gonna jump the same exact bush the first had and dad was gonna shoot him. Sure enough he growls so close you could smell his breath( not really
) and leaps up and over. 13 yards from dad. Cloud of smoke and it was all over. Bull went about 15 yards and fell over dead. It was awesome. Dad was a stud on the hunt and had just killed his first mature bull. We got the brothers on the radio and let them know dad had just ended his long wait 4 hours into the hunt..Ha ha
ME with dads bull
Dad is one happy camper
Random guys bull we packed out to help him out
Wife and dad
Dad and buddies bull
What a hunt.. It took us a few days to get the other bull which is another reason i was glad dad killed his early on. Not sure he would of made it that many days. He got to sit back and enjoy camp.
Thanks for reading gents sorry it took me so long to post it and sorry it was such a long story hope you enjoyed it. There are many I need to thank for all the help on this hunt. Its greatly appreciated I cant remember all the screen names but i hope you know who you are!!! Thanks
