late season APRE6 archery hunt

mcloakey · Dec 19, 2014

This is about my unit 34 late season APRE6 hunt. I was fortunate enough to actually see legal bulls this year as last year I only saw 5X5?s. Day 1 I saw an unknown size bull heading up the side of the mountain. I only saw part of an antler and his rump patch. I worked my way up the mountain to the top expecting him to be below me on the side that he was going up. I went up a higher peak to get a better view and saw nothing. I turned around and saw some tan in the trees on a bench that was behind me and that is when they bolted, 1 6X6 and another smaller bull 20 yards. Blown stalk #1. Nothing else for day 1. Day 2 there was new snow on the ground and it was not quiet snow to walk in. I went up this canyon to the ridge and decided to go east on the ridge. Ran into super thick brush and decided to go back and down the other side. While going down the other side I found a set of a lone bull tracks. I started following them and (you guessed it) he crossed my tracks on the ridge heading back down the way I came up. Followed the tracks and got busted by 4 bulls blasting out of there not getting a good look at any of them. Amazing how 1 set of tracks turns into 4 bulls. Blown stalk #2. Nothing else for day 2. Day 3 I went to a ridge that has a quad trail on the top of it. Walking on the trail to the area I wanted to hunt, I found the trail widened and vehicle tracks. Up the trail a little ways I found the jeep parked and the hunter in the tree stand 25 yards away, (a new hunting technique to me). The hunter was in the tree stand busy on his phone. I walked between him and his jeep and he never saw me. I waved my arms at him and his head never lifted. Off I continued and approached the area. When I got there, 2 6X6?s walked by at 90 yards. I tried to locate them again but failed. That evening I went to an old burn area and found 12 cows and a 6X6 with them. The wind was blowing about 40mph and I set up in the direction that they were feeding. He was at 68 yards and one cow was at 43 when the wind shifted and they bolted. Blown stalk #3. Day 4 I went up the mountain again. Once up on top I heard a noise and got set up. A bull was walking towards me and feeding. I kept counting points and could only find 5. He passed by me at 10 yards broadside and stopped to look at me. (I must have counted each antler 5 times and could only make him a 5X5.) I would have taken a picture with my cell phone but did not want him to bolt just in case there was another bull with him nearby. He stared at me for about 1 minute then hopped once and started to walk away. No other bulls with him. That afternoon I went back to the area of the 6X6 with the cows only to find another hunter in there. I went to another area and saw nothing. Day 5 I went up the mountain again. While walking in I saw an elk but it was before light and could not see him real well. When he walked away I could see the outline of a wide rack but unknown if he was a 6 or not. That afternoon I hunted in the snow with strong blowing winds and saw nothing. That was the final day of the hunt and I did not harvest one but I had an enjoyable time. I know this is a tough hunt and feel it is just a hunt the game commission came up with to get more money. With that being said, I tried this hunt again because I did not draw and it gets me out of the house and on another hunt. My wife does not mind me being gone on hunting trips, so I guess I will keep her. Something that surprises me was that I talked to some other hunters who stated they did not see any bulls during the hunt. Maybe I was just lucky, but that is 2 years in a row that I have at least been close to bulls. I'm sorry that there is not any pictures, just words. Just wanted to share and wondering if anyone else here on monster muleys did this hunt in this unit or another, and what did you see or how you did? To me this was a successful hunt due to the fact that I came back healthy and un-injured with more experience.
Mike