Well folks, I'm back. I'm pretty disappointed about the hunt. The very first morning I was able to hike over three miles to the top of this huge bowl and get within 800 yards of a 380 class giant. I watched him and a smaller bull (350 class) fight like you wouldn't believe. They acted like they were still rutting. The 380 won the fight after breaking the smaller bull?s left main beam in half. The 380 came out of it with a broken 3rd on his right side. I frantically hurried down the side of a hidden face and tried to get into shooting range. When I arrived at my vantage point, the elk were all gone. He had bugled his harem into the heavy stand of pines below me. It was very cool to see he had an albino cow with him. She wasn?t just spotted with white, but full on head-to-toe white. We then had 2 guys on horses begin following the elk around in the trees and pretty much chasing them out of the area completely. It was disgusting.
After this mess, I began glassing around and found a large herd working their way down a drainage into the sage flat. I spotted a good 350 class 5x5 in with the herd. Everything about this bull was awesome except for the lack of the royals. We went back to camp and headed back out later that afternoon in pursuit of the 5x5. we got set up on the top of the sage flat the elk entered in to. As the sun began to drop, we spotted my bull grazing up a drainage about ? mile away. There wasn?t enough time to get on him so we planned to set up in the am in the same place. We glassed up the draw from us and spotted the 380 with his harem pop out of a small aspen patch and out of nowhere; three guys on horses rode like hell and got up on the bull and his cows. The elk took off back into the trees and disappeared into the timbers forever.
The next morning found us set up where we were the night before and there was a herd feeding out of the aspens above us. They appeared to be working their way right toward us. Suddenly, they stopped working down and headed up and over the knob. We glassed a good bull across from us moving into a stand of mahogany trees. We ended up moving the extra ? mile over there and sat for the rest of the day in wait. We found a spring that the elk were using frequently. Most of the bulls we saw were muddy. It was strange to see them rutty still.
As the sun began to set, we spotted the big 5x5 coming out of the trees about 1000 yards below. I hauled a$$ down a drainage and found myself within 300 yards of bugling elk. It was awesome. I saw a body flash as I was sneaking up, so I dropped down and waited. This elk was screaming his head off and I thought for sure he was the 5x5. When he stepped out from behind the juniper and screamed once again in my face, all I saw was crosshairs on his body. I squeezed and drilled him at 278 yards. He hunched up and walked about 10 yards and stopped to give me the final blow. After the second shot, he went maybe 5 yards and dropped. When I got to him and saw that I had shot the wrong bull, I was very disappointed and angry with myself for not taking my time. I wished I could start over and try it again.
Anyway, it was a fun hunt and we saw tons of bulls. We saw a huge 6x5 buck that reminded me of my little honey hole in Elko. All-in-all, it was a great time. Here are a few shot of my bull.
Take care, Corey
Here is a little guy that I bugled down the ridge to me.
My bull.
What a beautiful area. Grafton Peak
