LAST EDITED ON Feb-02-07 AT 09:58AM (MST)[p]Well, first of all a group of friends and I all put in on the Oct. 1-31 rifle hunt in Unit 36A. I had never been in this unit prior to this hunt. My friend had been scouting the area for a few weeks prior to the hunt. He ran into a few bow hunters that had been seeing a few bulls but nothing to write home about.
So we got in to camp the day before the season started. Two of my other friends had been in there for a few days prior to us arriving. One of my friends had been doing a fair amount of hiking and found a herd of elk in one section not too far from camp. The day before the hunt we decided to scout a different area, but we didn't find one animal.
Opening morning we hiked up a trail to the top of a big basin with all kinds of nice draws to hunt. We heard bulls bugling on our way in. Unfortunately, opening day didn't produce any elk. I was bugling at one but he never showed himself.
So on day two of the hunt one of my friends decided he would ride four wheelers up in to another area with his dad to look for elk there. My other friend and I decided we would go back into the area we hunted on opening day. It's a good thing we did...
My friend and I hiked up the same trail to the spot we had split up on opening morning. We did the same thing as before. I wlked down an old ranching road and sat out on a knoll for the first hour of the morning. I spotted four cows in a meadow about 1000 yards away, but no bull. I gave out a few bugles and cow calls and heard a bugle coming from the ridge where I had walked down earlier that morning. My friend and I had planned to meet at 9:00 a.m. on the ridge so I made my way over to where I heard the bugle at about 8:45 or so. I crossed over the road that ran along this ridge and stepped down in to the timber and found a spot to sit down in an opening. I gave out a bugle and immediately got a response from a bull about 200 yards below me. I was stoked.
I cow called to him for about 30 minutes until I had to meet my friend back on the ridge. I told my friend that there was a bull below us in a draw. We walked over to the top of a nice draw, away from the elk, to discuss our plan of action. I told my friend that there was an opening down the ridge from where the bull was located that I wanted to set up in. I told him that maybe it would be a good idea for him to go to the top of the draw where I heard the bull and slowly make his way through to push him out. That way one of us might get a shot at him.
Well, I set up in the opening just across the draw from where the bull was. My friend went to the top and started working his way down. I gave a cow call as soon as I got set up and the bull bugled two draws away. I gave another call about 15 seconds later and this time he was in the draw just below me. I estimated he was about 100 yards from me, but I couldn't see him through the sapplings and sage brush. I slowly started to make my way closer to where he was to get a shot. He continued to bugle and it was awesome! I ended up getting about 75 yards above him but he was just out of sight below me. Just about the time I was going to stand up and get a loaction on the bull, my friend shot. I thought he had seen the bull and shot at him. Elk exploded out of the trees!
I saw three cows and a 5 point bull running across a hillside about 300 yards away. I pulled up and took a shot at the bull but missed. Just as I was about to take another shot, I looked below me a saw two cows and a monster bull running perpendicular to me. I pulled up to take a shot and just as I got the bull in the crosshairs he disappeared behind a pine tree. I ran down the draw to see if I could get positioned for another shot, but they were gone.
The elk cleared out and my friend came walking out of the trees cursing up a storm because he had somehow missed a 125 yard shot at another 5 point bull.
I was a little erked but I thought I might as well go see if I coudl find the big bull. I knew what direction they were headed and thought they might stop somewhere in the trees. So I gathered up my pack and told my friend I was going to go see if I could find the big bull. He indicated that he was going to back track and make sure that he didn't hit the 5 point.
So I went tromping through the trees to the edge of a big draw. I thought that the odds of the elk still being anywhere remotely close to the area still was slim. However, I decided I would walk down the ridge I was on, just along the edge of this draw. I had only walked about 200 yards when I came out in to an opening in the trees where young sappling pines and sagebrush covered the hill side in front of me. Just then I looked up and not 40 yards away was the monster bull that I had been looking for. I pulled up my .270 and put the crosshairs on him. He went behind a sappling, so I put the crosshairs where I knew he would come out and when he stepped out from behind the tree I drilled him with one shot in the neck. He went down like a ton of bricks.
I couldn't believe what had just happened! I was extatic! It was my first bull and a nice one at that!
So that's how it all played out. Sorry it was so long, but I love telling the story. So Unit 36A does produce some big bulls. The terrain is steep and I would reccomend horses or llamas to pack something out. We didn't have any and we could have, but decided not to take them. Big mistake. The pack out was horrible, but worth it. My friend ended up shooting the 5 point 2 days later. So we filled 2 tags out of four. Not bad.
I actually plan on hunting the bow season this year in Unit 36A. I think it might be a good hunt.
MuleyCrazed
Idaho
