NMPaul
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Well after my wife and I came home from her hunt on the Valle Caldera without a bull, I was feeling a little snake bit. Lots of distractions. I was not going into this hunt as focused as I would like.
I had decided at the beginning of the hunt, that towards the end of the hunt I would kill a meat bull. It is a 5 day hunt and I killed out on the 2nd day, so I really did not stick with my plan.
All this year, shed hunting, and scouting for my nieces hunt we never really saw any good bulls. I am not sure I even saw a 300" bull. The age class of this unit has been hammered. They are dumping a lot of tags into the unit and it is kinda turning into a CO type hunt. Lots of opportunity. The herd is thriving, but, trophy quality is in the dumps.
The couple nights before the hunt, I scouted hard. Found a dozen bulls, but, nothing good. Zach went to other areas and same thing.
Opening morning, I sent Zach to go scout other areas and I hit some high up country. Never heard a bugle. Basically I still hunted a few miles at the 9000+ ft level. About 9:00 am, I watched 3 cows and a small 6x6 walk right below me through some aspens at about 50 yards, they knew something was wrong, or possibly smelled me and they moved off at about half speed. Right after that I decided to call the house to see if a call I was waiting on had come in, and right after I got off the phone a bull came walking right towards me. I had the safety off and was completely drawn down on him at 40 yards, but, I decided he was not a first morning bull. I think he was following the other elk from a distance. When he finally saw me he took off. That was a great rush.
Zach in his scouting that morning saw 6 bulls and a bunch of cows, but, no shooters.
That evening I hiked into an area that is about 2 miles from any road, but, had a nice meadow and lots of springs. Wind was swirling, and even though I was way off the edge some elk came in close and winded me. Hiked out in the dark. Zach had scouted another area that evening, saw a couple but, nothing worth going after.
The next morning, I basically wasted my time. I went into an area that I had seen a good herd of cows driving home the night before. A couple bugles from small bulls, but, I never caught up with the herd. Zach came home and had seen a really big 5x5. I have a thing for big 5x5s, so I was all over going back.
The problem with it was he had watched the bull from a couple miles away enter a P/J forest that borders private land. He thought the bull may have hung up on the edge, but, could not be sure.
I said, it is sunday, my phone wont ring today, lets go for it. If I was smart, we would have waited for monday morning for a better chance of catching him on public.
Off we went late morning. Zach watched me from an opposite mountain, and I hiked the mile plus to the mesa he has seen him last. The wind was good and I moved through it slow, hoping to see him before he saw me. It was about 1/2 mile by 1/8 mile strip of forest along the private land. I worked my way through it and was able to verify he was not there.
I started the long hike back, and decided to go another way and lok for sheds. I got off the mesa and was working through scattered P/J when I heard a racket and could hear a large animal running and crashing through the brush. I hurried after it. I came over an arroyo and saw the bull on the other side a couple hundred yards away, before I could get the cross hairs on him he was off again. I could tell he was not very wide or long, but, he looked to have decent mass, and to be honest my blood was up and I had gotten a rush when I heard him running away. I wanted to get him regardless.
I watched high and I watched low, and knew he had to be running away along the side of the mountain. He was not in complete panic mode, but, he was definitely pushed.
I came around the 2nd arroyo and was looking everywhere, finally I saw him in the binocs hit the range finder and he was at 268 yards (the new swaros binocs/rangefinder had served their purpose, I was able to quickly find and range in one motion). I dropped to the ground and set up on my pack. I tried to get the crosshairs to stop moving, but, was having no luck. He hung up for a good 5 count and then he had enough. He started trotting off.
I lead him and pulled the trigger. I knew it was a poor shot choice, but, I was not getting a good shot when he was standing still.
When I pulled the trigger I was thinking, dont take that shot. Not a great bull and I could not get a site picture when he was standing still. Also, I had chosen to hunt with my old .270 instead of one of the bigger calibers.
Well I pulled the trigger and he dropped like a bag of rocks. WTF??? I stayed on him and it was all over but the kicking. I got Zach on the Radio and walked him into the bull, as I stood on the away hill to make sure he did not get up and run. I have seen that happen to many times. Lost my best ever barbary because of dropping down into an arroyo and having the sheep run away while I was in the bottom. I had lead him a little to much and had hit him in the top part of his neck. No meat loss and a lucky shot.
It was right at noon. This was not a 2nd day bull, but, I would have been happy with him on the last day, so with mixed feeling, I am happy with him. As it turned out, today ended up being a hectic day, so hunting in the morning and evening would have been a difficult thing.
Here are some pics.
Here is Zach carrying 2 shoulders and the head. He did not want to make that 4th trip out. I stuck with 1 hind quarter at a time.
I had decided at the beginning of the hunt, that towards the end of the hunt I would kill a meat bull. It is a 5 day hunt and I killed out on the 2nd day, so I really did not stick with my plan.
All this year, shed hunting, and scouting for my nieces hunt we never really saw any good bulls. I am not sure I even saw a 300" bull. The age class of this unit has been hammered. They are dumping a lot of tags into the unit and it is kinda turning into a CO type hunt. Lots of opportunity. The herd is thriving, but, trophy quality is in the dumps.
The couple nights before the hunt, I scouted hard. Found a dozen bulls, but, nothing good. Zach went to other areas and same thing.
Opening morning, I sent Zach to go scout other areas and I hit some high up country. Never heard a bugle. Basically I still hunted a few miles at the 9000+ ft level. About 9:00 am, I watched 3 cows and a small 6x6 walk right below me through some aspens at about 50 yards, they knew something was wrong, or possibly smelled me and they moved off at about half speed. Right after that I decided to call the house to see if a call I was waiting on had come in, and right after I got off the phone a bull came walking right towards me. I had the safety off and was completely drawn down on him at 40 yards, but, I decided he was not a first morning bull. I think he was following the other elk from a distance. When he finally saw me he took off. That was a great rush.
Zach in his scouting that morning saw 6 bulls and a bunch of cows, but, no shooters.
That evening I hiked into an area that is about 2 miles from any road, but, had a nice meadow and lots of springs. Wind was swirling, and even though I was way off the edge some elk came in close and winded me. Hiked out in the dark. Zach had scouted another area that evening, saw a couple but, nothing worth going after.
The next morning, I basically wasted my time. I went into an area that I had seen a good herd of cows driving home the night before. A couple bugles from small bulls, but, I never caught up with the herd. Zach came home and had seen a really big 5x5. I have a thing for big 5x5s, so I was all over going back.
The problem with it was he had watched the bull from a couple miles away enter a P/J forest that borders private land. He thought the bull may have hung up on the edge, but, could not be sure.
I said, it is sunday, my phone wont ring today, lets go for it. If I was smart, we would have waited for monday morning for a better chance of catching him on public.
Off we went late morning. Zach watched me from an opposite mountain, and I hiked the mile plus to the mesa he has seen him last. The wind was good and I moved through it slow, hoping to see him before he saw me. It was about 1/2 mile by 1/8 mile strip of forest along the private land. I worked my way through it and was able to verify he was not there.
I started the long hike back, and decided to go another way and lok for sheds. I got off the mesa and was working through scattered P/J when I heard a racket and could hear a large animal running and crashing through the brush. I hurried after it. I came over an arroyo and saw the bull on the other side a couple hundred yards away, before I could get the cross hairs on him he was off again. I could tell he was not very wide or long, but, he looked to have decent mass, and to be honest my blood was up and I had gotten a rush when I heard him running away. I wanted to get him regardless.
I watched high and I watched low, and knew he had to be running away along the side of the mountain. He was not in complete panic mode, but, he was definitely pushed.
I came around the 2nd arroyo and was looking everywhere, finally I saw him in the binocs hit the range finder and he was at 268 yards (the new swaros binocs/rangefinder had served their purpose, I was able to quickly find and range in one motion). I dropped to the ground and set up on my pack. I tried to get the crosshairs to stop moving, but, was having no luck. He hung up for a good 5 count and then he had enough. He started trotting off.
I lead him and pulled the trigger. I knew it was a poor shot choice, but, I was not getting a good shot when he was standing still.
When I pulled the trigger I was thinking, dont take that shot. Not a great bull and I could not get a site picture when he was standing still. Also, I had chosen to hunt with my old .270 instead of one of the bigger calibers.
Well I pulled the trigger and he dropped like a bag of rocks. WTF??? I stayed on him and it was all over but the kicking. I got Zach on the Radio and walked him into the bull, as I stood on the away hill to make sure he did not get up and run. I have seen that happen to many times. Lost my best ever barbary because of dropping down into an arroyo and having the sheep run away while I was in the bottom. I had lead him a little to much and had hit him in the top part of his neck. No meat loss and a lucky shot.
It was right at noon. This was not a 2nd day bull, but, I would have been happy with him on the last day, so with mixed feeling, I am happy with him. As it turned out, today ended up being a hectic day, so hunting in the morning and evening would have been a difficult thing.
Here are some pics.
Here is Zach carrying 2 shoulders and the head. He did not want to make that 4th trip out. I stuck with 1 hind quarter at a time.
