To start my story I just wanted to say around the time I got my LE Wasatch elk tag I got engaged, to the love of my life. So this made me even happier then I already was, to get marred and have the chance to hunt a Utah big bull. We met April 12 and got engaged May 23 then married August 1. Some might say short engagement, but when the love of your life walks into your life no time should be wasted.
Soon after me and my wife got back from our honeymoon; we started to scout out area where I wanted to hunt opening morning and the days after. With the help of good friends and family, we found elk in the areas we hiked to. I felt good about most of the areas we looked at. We planned to camp the weekend, starting Thursday night, with the days before the hunt started to include more scouting, and sighting my rifle in.
I had found a big bull (maybe 340-350 just a guess) out in a clearing Friday morning, he look good from what I could see. Me and my brother?in-law went out that same day to try and find a good a spot to sit opening morning. Doing so led us into thick oak brush and pines, but we ended up finding a spot to sit. So I planned with my family to hunt the area we had seen him last.
This was the bull we saw the day before the hunt not a great photo sorry.
Saturday morning sitting and waiting for the sun to come up and the elk to make some noise; The elk that I had hoped to hear that morning never seemed to make an appearance. We heard a few bugles but that was all he would give us. With the cow calls we were throwing out, elk started bulging to us. First elk to show himself was only a 5x5, not big enough to pull that trigger. As the morning went on, elk were all over us, but none of them would leave their cows.
We tried to move closer to one of the bulls that was talking to us. As we came over the ridge this bull was in, he was very vocal to my cow call. I saw him and ranged him at about 620-30 yards. I kept cow calling him in closer and my brother-in-law said he is a shooter. I was having a hard time getting a good rest on anything. Finally, I just decided to shoot with my knees, which proved to not be a good idea. I took 4 shots at 500 yards and 2 at 600 yards and not one of them hit him. I was able to get him to come in about 100 yards before I made my first shot.
Me, my wife and brother-in-law looked and looked just to see if maybe by some miracle I did hit this bull, but we did not see blood anywhere. So we made our long trek back to the truck. We decided sense we could see the main road about a half-mile away, that was the best way back to the truck. We hitched a ride from some guys that weren't even hunting; back to the road that I parked on and realized the truck was still another 2 miles from where we were. Luckily, my sister had decided to drive down the road to see if she could find us and was able to pick us up and take us back to my truck.
That night and the following day came and went with no other bulls really in the area to get close to. As my alarm went off on day three we left camp at 5:30 am. My sister had said that she had heard some bulls on one of her afternoon rides on her horse. I wanted to try and go up to where she heard the bulls, because after the first day I had hoped to see the bull I missed. The morning went by with only seeing two small bulls and hearing some others we could never see or get close to.
The plan the first weekend was to stay until Monday and try some other places in the unit if I had not filled my tag by then. My dad had the idea to try a different area that was north east of where we had been hunting. My father had taking my mother to this area when she had her tag ten yeas ago. She had missed and passed on two bulls then, and my father had hunted it off and on for years before that.
I was a little uneasy about the area because of not hearing about any elk being taken or seen during the hunts or scouting I had done, but I felt good about the idea that my dad and my new wife were with me so I kind of forgot about that and just enjoyed the moment. As we made our hike in on this old road, we had a few cows and a very small bull run to the left of us in the trees. Thinking that maybe a bigger bull would come out I got ready to shoot (now with shooting sticks). Not seeing anything we pressed on.
Using my cow call I called into the trees hoping to get a response back. One bull started bulging; I started to get ready again with my gun, hoping again this one would come out of the oaks. With cow call after cow call even getting 100 yards closer he still would not come out. I told my dad he is most likely the small bull we had just seen, so we moved on up the road. We only really heard a few bulls that didn't sound close enough to move on. My dad said we had to make time for us to hunt the road back to the truck.
As we come over a little hill the road kind of turned. I heard one of the bulls again form earlier, that we didn't really go after before. My dad got on his cow call and a few seconds later a bull walks out of the trees. My dad told me to get on the sticks because his initial reaction was that he was a decent sized bull given he could see he had ivory tips. It was difficult to tell with the little light that was left and the quick decision that needed to be made. My dad ranged him at 445 yards and I put on him and missed. Then he started to move into the trees and I hit him as he entered the trees. He could not walk that great after I hit him on the second shot. I missed the third shot while he was still in the trees and also a fourth shot as he staggered out. He struggled to walk but reentered the clearing and my dad told me to shoot him again. I was out of bullets and trying to catch my breath so I took a second to load another bullet and calm down. I put right on him again, and he went down hard.
The frustrations of the hunt and finding one were over; I lied down on the ground with a big sigh of relief that it was over. I was excited and a little nervous that maybe he was not that big, because we didn't really have a lot of time to look at what he was before the first shot. As we approached the elk we were no longer nervous about how big he was. He was bigger than any of us expected. I'm not hung up on the score, I just loved the hunt. My friend rough scored him at 370, give or take a few.
Walking up to him was one of the greatest feelings ever!
me and my dad
me and my wife
side view
just me
Soon after me and my wife got back from our honeymoon; we started to scout out area where I wanted to hunt opening morning and the days after. With the help of good friends and family, we found elk in the areas we hiked to. I felt good about most of the areas we looked at. We planned to camp the weekend, starting Thursday night, with the days before the hunt started to include more scouting, and sighting my rifle in.
I had found a big bull (maybe 340-350 just a guess) out in a clearing Friday morning, he look good from what I could see. Me and my brother?in-law went out that same day to try and find a good a spot to sit opening morning. Doing so led us into thick oak brush and pines, but we ended up finding a spot to sit. So I planned with my family to hunt the area we had seen him last.
This was the bull we saw the day before the hunt not a great photo sorry.
Saturday morning sitting and waiting for the sun to come up and the elk to make some noise; The elk that I had hoped to hear that morning never seemed to make an appearance. We heard a few bugles but that was all he would give us. With the cow calls we were throwing out, elk started bulging to us. First elk to show himself was only a 5x5, not big enough to pull that trigger. As the morning went on, elk were all over us, but none of them would leave their cows.
We tried to move closer to one of the bulls that was talking to us. As we came over the ridge this bull was in, he was very vocal to my cow call. I saw him and ranged him at about 620-30 yards. I kept cow calling him in closer and my brother-in-law said he is a shooter. I was having a hard time getting a good rest on anything. Finally, I just decided to shoot with my knees, which proved to not be a good idea. I took 4 shots at 500 yards and 2 at 600 yards and not one of them hit him. I was able to get him to come in about 100 yards before I made my first shot.
Me, my wife and brother-in-law looked and looked just to see if maybe by some miracle I did hit this bull, but we did not see blood anywhere. So we made our long trek back to the truck. We decided sense we could see the main road about a half-mile away, that was the best way back to the truck. We hitched a ride from some guys that weren't even hunting; back to the road that I parked on and realized the truck was still another 2 miles from where we were. Luckily, my sister had decided to drive down the road to see if she could find us and was able to pick us up and take us back to my truck.
That night and the following day came and went with no other bulls really in the area to get close to. As my alarm went off on day three we left camp at 5:30 am. My sister had said that she had heard some bulls on one of her afternoon rides on her horse. I wanted to try and go up to where she heard the bulls, because after the first day I had hoped to see the bull I missed. The morning went by with only seeing two small bulls and hearing some others we could never see or get close to.
The plan the first weekend was to stay until Monday and try some other places in the unit if I had not filled my tag by then. My dad had the idea to try a different area that was north east of where we had been hunting. My father had taking my mother to this area when she had her tag ten yeas ago. She had missed and passed on two bulls then, and my father had hunted it off and on for years before that.
I was a little uneasy about the area because of not hearing about any elk being taken or seen during the hunts or scouting I had done, but I felt good about the idea that my dad and my new wife were with me so I kind of forgot about that and just enjoyed the moment. As we made our hike in on this old road, we had a few cows and a very small bull run to the left of us in the trees. Thinking that maybe a bigger bull would come out I got ready to shoot (now with shooting sticks). Not seeing anything we pressed on.
Using my cow call I called into the trees hoping to get a response back. One bull started bulging; I started to get ready again with my gun, hoping again this one would come out of the oaks. With cow call after cow call even getting 100 yards closer he still would not come out. I told my dad he is most likely the small bull we had just seen, so we moved on up the road. We only really heard a few bulls that didn't sound close enough to move on. My dad said we had to make time for us to hunt the road back to the truck.
As we come over a little hill the road kind of turned. I heard one of the bulls again form earlier, that we didn't really go after before. My dad got on his cow call and a few seconds later a bull walks out of the trees. My dad told me to get on the sticks because his initial reaction was that he was a decent sized bull given he could see he had ivory tips. It was difficult to tell with the little light that was left and the quick decision that needed to be made. My dad ranged him at 445 yards and I put on him and missed. Then he started to move into the trees and I hit him as he entered the trees. He could not walk that great after I hit him on the second shot. I missed the third shot while he was still in the trees and also a fourth shot as he staggered out. He struggled to walk but reentered the clearing and my dad told me to shoot him again. I was out of bullets and trying to catch my breath so I took a second to load another bullet and calm down. I put right on him again, and he went down hard.
The frustrations of the hunt and finding one were over; I lied down on the ground with a big sigh of relief that it was over. I was excited and a little nervous that maybe he was not that big, because we didn't really have a lot of time to look at what he was before the first shot. As we approached the elk we were no longer nervous about how big he was. He was bigger than any of us expected. I'm not hung up on the score, I just loved the hunt. My friend rough scored him at 370, give or take a few.
Walking up to him was one of the greatest feelings ever!
me and my dad
me and my wife
side view
just me
