DreaminOf200
Active Member
- Messages
- 229
Well, after 3 years of chasing these great animals, I finally got it done! This is my first elk ever, so I've been on cloud nine since Monday! GPS says we hiked 110 miles during the week, and finally connected on this bull about 2 miles from camp (the day we were scheduled to head home).
Crazy thing is, there was actually a bigger bull (380"+) about 400 yards away from this guy, who's still out there roaming around. We originally spotted the big bull (not the one I shot), put a stalk on him, but could only get to within about 500 yards of his cows before we realized that there was no possible way to get into bow distance where they were bedded up without being busted. Unfortunately, we weren't ever able to see the bull when we were this close to get a good look at him.
So, we backed out and decided that I would go set up a at water hole a little ways below them and wait and see if they would come by in the evening. Well the plan worked perfectly, and my bull and about 15 cows/calves came running in about 2 hours before dark. When I saw my bull, I thought that he was quite a bit smaller than we originally thought he was, but chalked it up to him being 2 miles away, low light, heat waves, and that we just couldn't see him as good as we thought we could. It didn't matter though because he was still a great bull.
Unfortunately, I made a bad shot on my bull that evening. I have no doubt it would have eventually been fatal, but don't know if it would have taken 2 days or 2 weeks. That night sucked. I didn't sleep at all. We woke up the next morning, pulled out the glass, and had my bull spotted within 10 minutes of glassing. It was still just barely light enough to see, but he was only about 100 yards from where we left him that night and moving slow, so we were positive it was him.
We watched him go behind a ridge and disappear. About a minute later I was glassing a spot about 400 yards up the hill and said he was way up there now! We were kind of shocked because it didn't make sense how it took him 10 minutes to go 100 yards, and then he went a quarter mile in 60 seconds! After it started to get light enough to really see (remember we are about 2 miles away using a spotting scope well before sunrise), we realized that there were TWO great bulls on this hillside!
After talking everything over, we realized that we had actually never seen my bull until he came in to the water the evening I shot him. We waited until everything started to lay down, and then went after my bull. When we finally spotted him again, we were about 300 yards away. He was hurt bad, and wouldn't lay down. We slowly closed the distance, and I was able to put a second fatal shot in him...the rest is history!
I'm just glad that I was able to recover him. I was sick knowing that I didn't make a good shot. I kept saying that I would have rather missed than make a bad shot and the bull either goes and dies somewhere a week later or becomes coyote bait. Fortunately, we were able to put him out of his misery the next morning and salvage everything. It ended up being a great hunt and one that I'm sure I'll never forget!
He ended up taping out at 344" (gross)...definitely ground growage on this bull, not groung shrinkage! I was joking with my buddy and said that I was just helping manage the herd by letting the big bull do the breeding, and not the one I shot! LOL! Even though my bull was smaller, we think he was the dominate bull, and very possibly the older of the two big bulls, as his teeth were pretty worn down.
Sorry for the long story, hope y'all enjoy the pics!
Crazy thing is, there was actually a bigger bull (380"+) about 400 yards away from this guy, who's still out there roaming around. We originally spotted the big bull (not the one I shot), put a stalk on him, but could only get to within about 500 yards of his cows before we realized that there was no possible way to get into bow distance where they were bedded up without being busted. Unfortunately, we weren't ever able to see the bull when we were this close to get a good look at him.
So, we backed out and decided that I would go set up a at water hole a little ways below them and wait and see if they would come by in the evening. Well the plan worked perfectly, and my bull and about 15 cows/calves came running in about 2 hours before dark. When I saw my bull, I thought that he was quite a bit smaller than we originally thought he was, but chalked it up to him being 2 miles away, low light, heat waves, and that we just couldn't see him as good as we thought we could. It didn't matter though because he was still a great bull.
Unfortunately, I made a bad shot on my bull that evening. I have no doubt it would have eventually been fatal, but don't know if it would have taken 2 days or 2 weeks. That night sucked. I didn't sleep at all. We woke up the next morning, pulled out the glass, and had my bull spotted within 10 minutes of glassing. It was still just barely light enough to see, but he was only about 100 yards from where we left him that night and moving slow, so we were positive it was him.
We watched him go behind a ridge and disappear. About a minute later I was glassing a spot about 400 yards up the hill and said he was way up there now! We were kind of shocked because it didn't make sense how it took him 10 minutes to go 100 yards, and then he went a quarter mile in 60 seconds! After it started to get light enough to really see (remember we are about 2 miles away using a spotting scope well before sunrise), we realized that there were TWO great bulls on this hillside!
After talking everything over, we realized that we had actually never seen my bull until he came in to the water the evening I shot him. We waited until everything started to lay down, and then went after my bull. When we finally spotted him again, we were about 300 yards away. He was hurt bad, and wouldn't lay down. We slowly closed the distance, and I was able to put a second fatal shot in him...the rest is history!
I'm just glad that I was able to recover him. I was sick knowing that I didn't make a good shot. I kept saying that I would have rather missed than make a bad shot and the bull either goes and dies somewhere a week later or becomes coyote bait. Fortunately, we were able to put him out of his misery the next morning and salvage everything. It ended up being a great hunt and one that I'm sure I'll never forget!
He ended up taping out at 344" (gross)...definitely ground growage on this bull, not groung shrinkage! I was joking with my buddy and said that I was just helping manage the herd by letting the big bull do the breeding, and not the one I shot! LOL! Even though my bull was smaller, we think he was the dominate bull, and very possibly the older of the two big bulls, as his teeth were pretty worn down.
Sorry for the long story, hope y'all enjoy the pics!
