SatchSquatch
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LAST EDITED ON Sep-16-14 AT 04:44PM (MST)[p]The opening of the much awaited Limited Entry hunt was here. We had put in our time scouting almost every weekend for the past month and a half. We set up where we had seen a nice bull on Friday morning thinking that would be the spot to be after monitoring the elk throughout the day Friday, but it was dead quiet Saturday morning. We saw a couple of elk here and there where they were Friday but all the bugling and most of the activity had moved to a completely different mountain. Although we worked our way towards where we were seeing all the elk, it had gotten later in the morning so we went back to our home base for the traditional "Hunting Brunch" put on by our wonderful wives and families.
We re-set the game plan for the evening hunt to get the hunter, my brother, down on the mountain where the elk seemed to be that morning. After about an hour hike, we got to where we wanted to be. Little did we know how perfect our timing would turn out to be. We had spotters on some other hills to help us know what was going on in the various spots throughout the mountain. As we got to our first spot, there wasn't anything going on. Our friends told us there were some elk meandering around on the hillside beneath us but no big bulls worth pursuing. They had us go to a couple different spots to see if we would be able to get a good vantage point on some other openings on the hill when all of the sudden we were being told to RUN to the next clearing and that we needed to "shoot that bull immediately!"
I took off running with my brother. I had a radio in my hand, but had told him to keep his off in case we needed it later if my battery got low. As i was running, apparently he didn't understand the urgency that I was getting over the radio since I keep my volume low and hold it to my ear (if I'm not wearing a headphone). I thought he was right with me, but I turned around to talk to him and he was 50 yards behind me. I started swinging my arm aggressively towards him to convey as much haste as I could without making any noise and he quickly caught up. I asked my friend over the radio, "How big is he?" to which he responded, "don't ask, just shoot!"
As we're about half way through the trees that separate the two clearings, I see elk walking straight at us, but I didn't immediately see a bull. As I lifted my binoculars, I saw him behind the cows, my view was obstructed by his harem. I could tell he was a nice bull so it had to be the one my friend was talking about. I didn't have a lot of time to study him though since they would eventually bust us. At this point, we could see the elk and the trees weren't thick enough to keep us hidden much longer so he set up for a shot across the top of a fallen quakie. I had forgotten my range finder for the evening hunt but I figured they were somewhere about 150 yards or so when the elk sort of stopped and separated from the line they were walking in. The bull was now standing by himself and took a turn to his left for a good shot opportunity.
I said "Shoot!" and hear Kaboooom. The bull looked like he sort of hunched up but didn't do anything else other than turn even more broadside so I yelled "Shoot Again!" This time I hear Kaboooom and the unmistakeable Whuuaaaap as the bullet connected with something solid. The bull dropped in his tracks.
We made our way down to where he lay and we can hear our family and friends screaming from across the canyon. Our dad and younger brother and our good friends all got to see the whole thing unfold from different hills through their spotting scopes. There's nothing better than being in the hills with people you love and all getting to be a part of a hunt.
We got to inspecting him and he's a gorgeous bull. His fronts all turn up and are polished, his whale tails seem to keep on going. He's just as pretty as they come and we're super happy with him. See for yourself below.
Although our hunt was quick and we would have loved to have had a few more days chasing the bulls and the anticipation that comes with it, we're really happy my brother was able to harvest such a quality bull and wouldn't change a thing. Congratulations Russ! I'm super excited for you and your awesome bull.
My brother with his bull.
The hunting party (Mady, Russ, Trevor, Joel, Brian, Russ, and Doug).
We were looking at some scouting pictures and we think we've got some pictures of him from two weeks before the hunt to add to the memories. It's hard to tell for sure though because we never got a side view of him.
We re-set the game plan for the evening hunt to get the hunter, my brother, down on the mountain where the elk seemed to be that morning. After about an hour hike, we got to where we wanted to be. Little did we know how perfect our timing would turn out to be. We had spotters on some other hills to help us know what was going on in the various spots throughout the mountain. As we got to our first spot, there wasn't anything going on. Our friends told us there were some elk meandering around on the hillside beneath us but no big bulls worth pursuing. They had us go to a couple different spots to see if we would be able to get a good vantage point on some other openings on the hill when all of the sudden we were being told to RUN to the next clearing and that we needed to "shoot that bull immediately!"
I took off running with my brother. I had a radio in my hand, but had told him to keep his off in case we needed it later if my battery got low. As i was running, apparently he didn't understand the urgency that I was getting over the radio since I keep my volume low and hold it to my ear (if I'm not wearing a headphone). I thought he was right with me, but I turned around to talk to him and he was 50 yards behind me. I started swinging my arm aggressively towards him to convey as much haste as I could without making any noise and he quickly caught up. I asked my friend over the radio, "How big is he?" to which he responded, "don't ask, just shoot!"
As we're about half way through the trees that separate the two clearings, I see elk walking straight at us, but I didn't immediately see a bull. As I lifted my binoculars, I saw him behind the cows, my view was obstructed by his harem. I could tell he was a nice bull so it had to be the one my friend was talking about. I didn't have a lot of time to study him though since they would eventually bust us. At this point, we could see the elk and the trees weren't thick enough to keep us hidden much longer so he set up for a shot across the top of a fallen quakie. I had forgotten my range finder for the evening hunt but I figured they were somewhere about 150 yards or so when the elk sort of stopped and separated from the line they were walking in. The bull was now standing by himself and took a turn to his left for a good shot opportunity.
I said "Shoot!" and hear Kaboooom. The bull looked like he sort of hunched up but didn't do anything else other than turn even more broadside so I yelled "Shoot Again!" This time I hear Kaboooom and the unmistakeable Whuuaaaap as the bullet connected with something solid. The bull dropped in his tracks.
We made our way down to where he lay and we can hear our family and friends screaming from across the canyon. Our dad and younger brother and our good friends all got to see the whole thing unfold from different hills through their spotting scopes. There's nothing better than being in the hills with people you love and all getting to be a part of a hunt.
We got to inspecting him and he's a gorgeous bull. His fronts all turn up and are polished, his whale tails seem to keep on going. He's just as pretty as they come and we're super happy with him. See for yourself below.
Although our hunt was quick and we would have loved to have had a few more days chasing the bulls and the anticipation that comes with it, we're really happy my brother was able to harvest such a quality bull and wouldn't change a thing. Congratulations Russ! I'm super excited for you and your awesome bull.
My brother with his bull.
The hunting party (Mady, Russ, Trevor, Joel, Brian, Russ, and Doug).
We were looking at some scouting pictures and we think we've got some pictures of him from two weeks before the hunt to add to the memories. It's hard to tell for sure though because we never got a side view of him.