Bulldown!

B

bulldown

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It's been a real fun year. This was the 5th bull that I called in to within bow range. The season started out with a bang bringing in a nice 6x6 to about 50 yards. I didn't feel comfortable with the shot but got winded before I could make a real decision. The second night I missed a true monarch 7x7 at less than 20 yards! I think my focus was more on how nice he was going to look on my wall rather than sticking an arrow in his heart. There is a long story behind all that but I won't dive into it.

Back to my 04' bull. I headed out early Saturday morning to a spot my brother in law tipped me off to a week earlier. He was up fishing in a mountain lake near McCall with his son and claimed that a particular bull near the lake wouldn't shut up. I decided to see for myself and arrived near the trailhead at around 7:00am.

A short mile down the trail I ripped off an early morning bugle. The echo sounded awesome as it bounced off the lake and through the crisp morning air. Instantly a screamer responded accross the lake. He sounded real good, tempting me to turn around and go back down the trail and around the lake after him. Intead, I trusted my instincts and focussed on the area my side of the lake.

I found a spring on the map that had elk written all over it. If there was a yapper somewhere near that lake he had to live near this spring. As soon as I cleared the lake and climbed above the waterfall, I let out a few cow calls through my bugle. A welcomed response led to an exciting morning.

I picked a path through the timber and quietly headed towards the spring where the last bugle came from. A few more cow calls and another response from the bull allowed me to pin-point his location and close to within 75 yards.

I stopped to spray down with Scent-Lock and cow usterus stinky stuff and began to softly cow call. 10 minutes or so later, I saw dark legs appear beneath the fog that was settling in. A couple timely cow calls and this satellite bull made the wrong move in my direction. I let him have it at 20 yards in the ol' boiler room as his lower front leg stepped up and over a log.

My arrow was placed a little further back that I would have liked but my penatration was good and I knew I punched a lung. I planned on giving him at least an hour to expire but it ended up being a lot longer as I was hoping to wait out the pouring rain.

After a long 2 hour wait, I started looking for him but the rain washed away any possible blood trail. I was able to find a few tracks here and there but was convinced he ran down since there was a cliff above us. Fortuneatly I didn't have to search long before I found him dead 300 yards above the trail I had just hiked up. It rained like cats and dogs all day which added to the experience of boning and packing this bad boy out by myself.

The hard work is all over and it was all worth it. I can't wait until next year!


bulldown

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Congrats and thanks for the story.

CPSANDMAN
"The Buck stops here...I hope!"
 
Congrats, you earned it.
Nice story and the pictures look great.
Love the elements picture, really looks miserable, ya gotta love elk hunting.
 
Chad... Kudos on another Fine Critter !!! You're stacking them high this year again !


  • [*] -Moosie
~~If you're going to walk on thin ice, Ya might as Well DANCE !!
WALK the TALK, Or shut the HECK UP !!
 
I took him in the McCall zone in Idaho. The pack out wasn't too bad. He expired about 300 miles above the trail then it was probably a little over a mile back to the truck. I'd take this packout job every year if I could!

Thanks for all the responses everyone.

bulldown
 
He looks like a pretty dang good bull for a satellite bull. From reading the story I was expecting a raghorn or something small. Good pictures too. Gotta love the weather.
 
Dam, you are one tough SOB to pack a bull 301 miles! Did you have horses or backpack him?

Nice one....Congrats!
 
Ahhh... Very funny. That's a big typo.

I'm sure you all understood that to be 300 yards. But I'll take credit for 300 miles since I've probably put that many on my boots this year! Ha ha

bulldown
 

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