Glad to hear your son is okay Ken. Family is the most important thing of all.
Yes Pred,
I love to take pictures, I just am barely getting to where I can take good enough ones to post! I am learning from some great Photographers. You are one of them. I too really liked Ca and your stories! I hope more will share the hunt with all of us!
How are ya these days anyhow? Hope your doing well! I may see ya in the city soon! I go back thursday.
Oh, where were we?
Thursday AM. It is colder, we are heading after a bull my brother Cory aka ElkunterUT, and Dad found during the archery hunt. A really nice bull. Pushing 350 really hard. We catch him out in a flat a tad too early to shoot. I push our luck and bump him into the timber too soon for the shot. What a knucklehead I am!? I typically hunt elk extremely aggressively. Some days it works well. Others, not so much!
We decide to not pursue him into the trees as we may get a chance at him that night if we get to stay and hunt.
We head of to the south of him into a deep canyon full of pines on the north facing slope. Their are 3 bulls bugling on the face. We approach from below and I mentally pick out the "biggest" sounding bull.
I attacked him with hyper cow calls with Cory and Dad following suit. We overwhelmed him. He was pacing back and forth in the timber desperate to come in but knowing he shouldn't. I turned back to Cory and Dad and told them to take some logs and start splashing in the stream while I hit him with a few more hyper cow calls. That threw him over the edge. We could hear him coming down the hillside as I set Kristin up about 20 yards from the most likely trail. I saw antlers almost at the same time. I whispered to her to shoot him behind the shoulder if he came out far enough, or right where the dark hair meets the light hair under his neck if he presented a head on shot.
As he stepped out, I saw he had a decent set of antlers and said take him! Click, the 209 primer did not fire. The bull went on High alert but did not take a step. Kristin kept her composure and re cocked the hammer, pulling the trigger a 2nd time. This time the gun roared and he went down like a ton of bricks! He was facing us head on and she shot him right in the center of the neck/chest. He stood up and fell 2-3 times and it was over! Wow! Were we excited! While we knew he was not one of the monsters we had scouted and even hunted, we had taken a very fine bull by my favorite way, bugling em in! The shot was 23 steps! I could not be more proud of my wife who hiked close to 20 miles in a day and a half. We flat out got after those elk! I really hope that those still hunting are finding good success. My friend killed a 330 bull wednesday night on the wasatch, and my other friends brother has missed 2 bulls over 320. I will try to get their permission to post the pic's when they get them on a PC. It has been a tough hunt so far but certainly not impossible. Good luck to all of you!
I need to take a minute and thank my friend Roger, Cory and Dad for all their help. They were there the whole hunt supporting us, and lifting our spirits the whole way. We could not have got it done with out them! Rogers horses helped out the backs too!
Kristin's 1st elk and 1st muzzleloader trophy!
Dad, Cory, Me, and Kristin
Roger, friend Brandon, and the lifesavers Stiker and Murphy!
Thank you all for all the help, advice, scouting info etc. It was all very much appreciated! Have a great night!
Chad
