Well it all started in April when the credit card got hit, i was in shock, both me and my wife had both applied with only three points and it just didn't seem possible. When i called my wife on the phone to tell her one of us had drawn, she told me that it was her! We had to wait a week before the official results came out, and sure enough it was her! I had put my wife in for Boulder late, and myself for dutton early so the odds were definitely in her favor. Well this is when i got really excited, i couldn't believe my wife was actually going to go big bull hunting. I started planning right away, getting a list made, booking trailer spots, talking to guys on MM, just doing all the usual, and my wife would always tell me, "this is going to be just like Christmas morning all the planning that goes into it, and then it is over in ten minutes". Well the spring showers came and gone, the summer heat did the same, and fall was knocking on the door, the bulls were screaming on the Manti, and I was just itching to get down there. General elk hunt came and passed same with the rifle deer, she took a nice little meat buck, and i took a 5x6 bull on the any bull hunt. So we had a great start to the year.
Well it's now November 1st, 6 days before the opener and i have some Parker mountain doe antelope tags, so we load our two kids in the truck my 3 year old daughter and my 10 month old boy, and leave price at 4 a.m. to make it to the boulders by day light! A real good friend of mine gave me some great advice were to look, and sure enough as the sun came up there were 4 bulls standing on the hill side. We glassed them over real good, and didn't see any shooters. So we moved on and checked some more places. Well the morning was over so we headed to Parker to shoot some goats. It was great to be out with the kids, i shot my first goat and took care of it, and then something happened, i couldn't touch one, 100 yards to 400 yards not hitting a thing. Well for some reason i looked at my scope and the bolt that holds the base on the barrel was completely backed out and you could see the barrel!! Ya new gun new scope, shouldn't be like that, so needless to say i was pissed! And i was going to Colorado in the morning for 4 days to work. We had five days before her hunt started and my gun was all jacked up.
Well friday morning before her hunt i was once again looking at the ridge from the previous weekend, and this time there were 8 bulls on the ridge, and one Big ole 5 point. But still no shooters, we glassed up some more elk and started back to the Parker to see if i couldn't get me gun sighted back in and take my last goat. On the way over, i ran into a great guy and his buddies, that i had been able to talk with her on MM for the previous months before the hunt. It was great to meat you Jeremy and all your friends and family that were there helping you. And great bull two!!!!! So lucky enough i get me gun sighted in and get my last goat and a coyote on the way two.
Well guys that afternoon my wife calls me balling her head off, both kids are running fevers and i am taking them to the doctor, well one long hour later she calls me still balling, "both kids have croup and a sinus infections and i am not coming down, sorry".
Shocked i comforted her and told her ok, what ever you need to do, well her dad and mom talked to her and convinced her that it would be ok and to go, so she did, she got to Torry Friday night at Midnight. I was tickled to death that she came down.
Saturday morning started slow, not glassing any bulls but seeing tons of people, so we made a big move and started toward the other side of the mountain, on the way i stopped and started glassing, buy now it's like nine and wasn't expecting to see anything, well was i wrong, hidden some 3 miles off the road was the biggest elk i have ever seen, myself and my Buddie both agree that this bull would push the 380 mark, excited we are trying to figure how to get to him and there is no way at all except from a gated road, about three miles from the bull. My wife was excited so we took a lunch break and headed in, a couple hours later we arrive on top of the ridge looking 300 yards away from were the bull had been that morning, we just new he would come back out, well he never did, we hiked in again a couple mornings and the bull never showed himself. So discouraged and tired we moved on to find another bull. And we did, my wife passed on a lot of nice 6 points, and big 5's. we got her in the middle of 3 bulls that were just screaming there heads off, and she loved it.
Well after 4 long days of hunting, she was getting tired and ready to get home to tend to our sick kids. Another really good freind gave me some advice on were some bulls should be, so we headed there in the morning of day 5. Well it wasn't long and it literally started off with a BANG, we seen 4 bulls and one good one, so we mad a move, at 400 yards the pinned us and she settled in for the shot, it was a little low, and so was the second one, now she was pissed! The bulls never ran hard just walked into the timber, so i told her lets them and come back tonigh, well we didn't have two 1/4 mile down the road there were 8 more bulls feeding, it's now 11:30, she looked over them and picked out all the flaws int them and decided to pass. So we went to a spot to glass and took lunch to calm her down. Now it's one and we decided to go get a drink and come back later, on the way down we spot two nice bulls, and decided to make a move, we got into shooting range quick, we just couldn't get the bulls to step into an opening. so we moved a little higher on the ridge when i spotted a bedded bull, he looks really i good i told her, she of course wanted to know how good, after real quick deliberation, she looked at me and said " I miss my kids, i want to go home".
And sure enough we did. She mads some great shots on this bedded bull, and as you can see he just keep taking them, and she kept giving them to him. I am extremely proud of how hard she worked on this hunt and how dedicated she was to it. O and boy was she wrong we could only wish that Christmas would last 5
days!!!
Here is my wife with her beautiful 6x6 330" bull!!
Well it's now November 1st, 6 days before the opener and i have some Parker mountain doe antelope tags, so we load our two kids in the truck my 3 year old daughter and my 10 month old boy, and leave price at 4 a.m. to make it to the boulders by day light! A real good friend of mine gave me some great advice were to look, and sure enough as the sun came up there were 4 bulls standing on the hill side. We glassed them over real good, and didn't see any shooters. So we moved on and checked some more places. Well the morning was over so we headed to Parker to shoot some goats. It was great to be out with the kids, i shot my first goat and took care of it, and then something happened, i couldn't touch one, 100 yards to 400 yards not hitting a thing. Well for some reason i looked at my scope and the bolt that holds the base on the barrel was completely backed out and you could see the barrel!! Ya new gun new scope, shouldn't be like that, so needless to say i was pissed! And i was going to Colorado in the morning for 4 days to work. We had five days before her hunt started and my gun was all jacked up.
Well friday morning before her hunt i was once again looking at the ridge from the previous weekend, and this time there were 8 bulls on the ridge, and one Big ole 5 point. But still no shooters, we glassed up some more elk and started back to the Parker to see if i couldn't get me gun sighted back in and take my last goat. On the way over, i ran into a great guy and his buddies, that i had been able to talk with her on MM for the previous months before the hunt. It was great to meat you Jeremy and all your friends and family that were there helping you. And great bull two!!!!! So lucky enough i get me gun sighted in and get my last goat and a coyote on the way two.
Well guys that afternoon my wife calls me balling her head off, both kids are running fevers and i am taking them to the doctor, well one long hour later she calls me still balling, "both kids have croup and a sinus infections and i am not coming down, sorry".
Shocked i comforted her and told her ok, what ever you need to do, well her dad and mom talked to her and convinced her that it would be ok and to go, so she did, she got to Torry Friday night at Midnight. I was tickled to death that she came down.
Saturday morning started slow, not glassing any bulls but seeing tons of people, so we made a big move and started toward the other side of the mountain, on the way i stopped and started glassing, buy now it's like nine and wasn't expecting to see anything, well was i wrong, hidden some 3 miles off the road was the biggest elk i have ever seen, myself and my Buddie both agree that this bull would push the 380 mark, excited we are trying to figure how to get to him and there is no way at all except from a gated road, about three miles from the bull. My wife was excited so we took a lunch break and headed in, a couple hours later we arrive on top of the ridge looking 300 yards away from were the bull had been that morning, we just new he would come back out, well he never did, we hiked in again a couple mornings and the bull never showed himself. So discouraged and tired we moved on to find another bull. And we did, my wife passed on a lot of nice 6 points, and big 5's. we got her in the middle of 3 bulls that were just screaming there heads off, and she loved it.
Well after 4 long days of hunting, she was getting tired and ready to get home to tend to our sick kids. Another really good freind gave me some advice on were some bulls should be, so we headed there in the morning of day 5. Well it wasn't long and it literally started off with a BANG, we seen 4 bulls and one good one, so we mad a move, at 400 yards the pinned us and she settled in for the shot, it was a little low, and so was the second one, now she was pissed! The bulls never ran hard just walked into the timber, so i told her lets them and come back tonigh, well we didn't have two 1/4 mile down the road there were 8 more bulls feeding, it's now 11:30, she looked over them and picked out all the flaws int them and decided to pass. So we went to a spot to glass and took lunch to calm her down. Now it's one and we decided to go get a drink and come back later, on the way down we spot two nice bulls, and decided to make a move, we got into shooting range quick, we just couldn't get the bulls to step into an opening. so we moved a little higher on the ridge when i spotted a bedded bull, he looks really i good i told her, she of course wanted to know how good, after real quick deliberation, she looked at me and said " I miss my kids, i want to go home".
And sure enough we did. She mads some great shots on this bedded bull, and as you can see he just keep taking them, and she kept giving them to him. I am extremely proud of how hard she worked on this hunt and how dedicated she was to it. O and boy was she wrong we could only wish that Christmas would last 5
days!!!
Here is my wife with her beautiful 6x6 330" bull!!
