Wasatch 2012

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This is my Bro-in-Laws bull he got on the Wasatch. We got him on Monday night Sept. 17th right before dark. This was by far one of the hardest hunts we have ever been on! I think we put over 20 miles on our boots from opening morning to Monday night.

The elk were not very vocal opening weekend. We started up the hill we like to call "our secret spot" on opening morning and right off the bat we heard a bull bugle up the canyon towards the secret spot. On our way up we busted some elk right in front of us but it was too dark to see still. We finally got to the saddle we wanted to be at right before light and we could still hear the bull we heard earlier bugling across the canyon in the pines along with 2 or 3 more bulls bugling over the ridge we eventually would end up going over. After that is was pretty quiet. They would bugle every 15 minutes or so until about 8:30 and they were done. This happened on Saturday and Sunday morning. My Bro-in-Law, Father-in-Law, and nephew all saw alot of elk those two days, but not one bull. I saw a total of 2 cows and the bull my Bro-in-Law shot and that was it!

Monday came and things were a little different. It was colder that morning and it seemed the elk were a lot more vocal. We set out to the back side of the secret spot and were hearing bugles all around us it seemed like. 8:30 came and went and they were still bugling and we knew it was going to be a good day! Little did we know we would be chasing bugling bulls from 5:45 in the morning until he pulled the trigger that night! We were chasing bulls all day long. We would hear one bugle and off we went trying to locate him and get in his house. After numerous attempts of being aggressive with cow calling, bugling, or just trying to sneak up on them we were getting exhausted and a little discouraged since nothing would work. After talking it over we decided to just go sit on the sidehill we heard 3 bulls bugling in this one canyon that morning.

We had a few hours until dark and we were both so tired and hungry, but we were not about to head back to the truck! I was living off of gummy bears, sun flower seeds, and water and my Bro-in-law off of some beef jerky and water as well. We sat there for what seemed like forever and the sun started to go down and it got chilly pretty quick. We weren't hearing any bulls whatso ever. Finally, we heard some bugling down the canyon towards the bottom. We waited 5 more minutes and decided to slowly start walking back to the truck. We hit the road for some easy, quiet walking. We walked a few hundred yards and heard a bull bugle up in the pines in front of us so we tried to sneak up the trail to see if we could see him before it got to dark. By the time we got in the pines it sounded like he was clear up on top and we didn't have time to track him down so we went back to the road.

The light was fading fast and we continued to sneak down the road and I heard something down by the water and I looked and there was a beaver swimming in the pond. So me and my Bro-in-Law stopped and checked it out for about 5 minutes or so. The beaver got out of the water onto the bank and was just munchin on some grass when all the sudden we heard a bugle maybe 75 yards in the pines and he was coming down. We snuck back up the road a little bit to get behind some trees. At the same time I was still wathcing the beaver and waiting for the bull to come out at any time! Right as the beaver got back in the water the bull bugled right at the edge of the trees and out he walked. I put my binos on him and thought to myself is he big enough? It is only the 3rd day? Would I shoot him if I had the tag? He came down and drank some water from the stream and didn't even know we were there. Then I heard "Hey would you should him?" I said. "it is your tag, your decision!" Then all I heard was BOOM and then BOOM again and down he went! We were both shaking like crazy and a few high fives and man hugs later, the hard part was about to begin. Not before we could get as many pics as we could before it got too dark.

My Bro-in-Law and I would like to thank 3 guys that went up that canyon earlier that afternoon in their truck and came back down after we got this elk. They stopped to help us. One of them helped us gut him while two of them went back where we parked our truck and drove it back to us. They also helped us pull that beast up the steep embankment to the road and throw it in the back of the truck. It is hunters like that that I respect and I hope to pay it forward for another hunter one day. Also, thanks to my Bro-in-Law for letting me write this LONG story up and letting me tag along with him. I will always remember these memories. Good luck to all you other hunters!

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WOW, not very often do you get a bull like that, so close to a good place to get him out.
Nice bull for sure!
 

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