Alright, as
@Stubaby mentioned, my buddy managed to get it done last night right before dark. Here's a rundown of the last few days. On Tuesday night,
@Stubaby spotted by far the best bull we had seen. We didn't hunt on Wednesday due to work commitments. Thursday morning,
@Stubaby relocated the big bull, and my buddy decided to go after him. My buddy hiked up the south side from where this bull, along with four other smaller bulls, were bedded. The night
@Stubaby saw this bull, he was feeding on the south slope my buddy was now hiking up. However, on Thursday, the bull, along with the four others, were bedded in the snow and pines on the north slope. Our thinking was that they would bed on the north slope and then, close to sunset, head over to the south slope as they did the other night.
After a couple of hours of hiking, my buddy reached a good spot where we thought they would top over. During the day, the big bull stood up and moved to a spot where we couldn't see him. As the evening approached, three of the smaller bulls stood up and began making their way to the southern slope. However, the big bull still had not shown himself. We knew he was up there. I contacted my buddy, who was up on the ridge, to see if he could peek his head over the ridge in the area where the big bull was bedded in the morning to check if he could spot him from his vantage point. That's exactly what he did. He peeked over, and just 130 yards from my buddy, the big bull was bedded in a spot where we couldn't see him. The bull had no idea my buddy was there. My buddy kept his eyes on the bull, but the bull showed no signs of standing up. It was getting dark, and my buddy knew he needed to make a move. He moved down the ridge a bit and figured that if he could get to a certain spot and pop over, the bull would only be about 50 yards out.
As my buddy moved closer to the big bull, to his surprise, the fourth smaller bull was only 30 yards away and busted him. The smaller bull took off, taking the big bull with him. Seeing that the big bull had left the area, my buddy headed back up the ridge to try and make a play on the three other bulls that had made their way to the south slope. He got into position and was only 50 yards out. With this hunt being such a grind and only a few more days left, my buddy decided to knock an arrow and shoot one of the bulls. He made a great shot, and the bull only went 10 yards before dropping. Due to it being dark, my buddy gutted the bull and left it until morning, when we could join him to help pack it out.
What a crazy, hard hunt! We found a lot of bulls, but getting within bow range of them was quite the challenge. Another issue was the lack of size of the Wasatch bulls this year—just not a lot to choose from. Definitely not the biggest bull, nor my buddy's largest one, but considering the difficulty of this hunt, it might be his most prized kill. A huge shoutout to
@Stubaby for his help; couldn't have done it without him.
This was the big bull bedded at 130 yards.