D
doublehaul
Guest
Just a follow up to my "utah general bull!" post.
My friend helped me pack out my bull on opening weekend and since this is his first year hunting I really wanted to get him on a bull. I did some scouting this weekend in some spots I have hunted before and thought I had a pretty good idea where a bull was hanging out. I call my bro and tell him to come get me on Monday and we'll go take a look. We hike in Monday afternoon, the wind is perfect for an approach on the suspect meadow. When we are about 25 yards from the edge of the meadow I spot a brand new bed with a huge pile of pellets that are about as fresh as they get. We keep going and settle down in some low pines on the opposite side of the meadow from where a trail enters (175 yards away). We sit for 30 min. or so and I hear a very loud branch break in the forest on the other side of the meadow. We wait 15 min. more and suddenly I see something right by the entrance of the trail in the trees that wasn't there a minute ago- binocs up, ELK! All I can see is a body and I'm thinking cow...moves it's head, wait, it's a bull! A big bull! A very big general bull. So at this point there is no shot as it's in the trees still and very hard to see at all- I can tell that this is an exceptional bull though. I'm furiously trying to explain to my greenhorn friend where it is, but he just can't see it. The bull slowly makes his way into the meadow, but now he totally hidden behind a pine. We wait for a solid 20 min. hoping the wind holds. I'm stressing and my friend is shaking with a full blown case of buck fever. My binocs are glued to the pine (and shaking a bit I might add) I finally see movement through the pine and I know he's about to come out at .01 mph. He slowly walks out broadside, head down, feeding. This is the first time I see him in the open at all (he was so obscured by trees before all I got was glimpses of his rack) and that's when I see he's completely broken off on the left side and his 3rd & 4th are broken on the right. Oh well, I think, if he was intact I would probably resent my friend for life and maybe even want to fight him! This is better I tell myself, I mean this is his first time hunting for crying out loud! My friend takes the shot and the bull's only reaction is to raise his head. I know the shot is good. He takes a 165 accubond broadside in the vitals like it's a pin prick. At this point my friend begins shaking so bad he can barely work the bolt and I'm whisper-screaming "hit'm again! hit'm again"! I mean, it's getting late in the day and we are in some thick stuff, I want him to go down right now. He ends up emptying the mag into this bull all in the vitals and he's still just standing there looking around. A few seconds later and he gets wobbly, and faceplants. My friend is basically in shock! Awesome!
We go down and inspect him and all rounds are in the vitals, all broadside shots and all except one are through'n through, massive destruction. Elk ain't no joke.
He is a large 5x 5? 6? that had a rough season and if intact would have been an amazing general bull- well, for a first bull, first anything, my friend isn't complaining one bit actually!
I get to bed at 3am, not bad...not bad at all...
My friend helped me pack out my bull on opening weekend and since this is his first year hunting I really wanted to get him on a bull. I did some scouting this weekend in some spots I have hunted before and thought I had a pretty good idea where a bull was hanging out. I call my bro and tell him to come get me on Monday and we'll go take a look. We hike in Monday afternoon, the wind is perfect for an approach on the suspect meadow. When we are about 25 yards from the edge of the meadow I spot a brand new bed with a huge pile of pellets that are about as fresh as they get. We keep going and settle down in some low pines on the opposite side of the meadow from where a trail enters (175 yards away). We sit for 30 min. or so and I hear a very loud branch break in the forest on the other side of the meadow. We wait 15 min. more and suddenly I see something right by the entrance of the trail in the trees that wasn't there a minute ago- binocs up, ELK! All I can see is a body and I'm thinking cow...moves it's head, wait, it's a bull! A big bull! A very big general bull. So at this point there is no shot as it's in the trees still and very hard to see at all- I can tell that this is an exceptional bull though. I'm furiously trying to explain to my greenhorn friend where it is, but he just can't see it. The bull slowly makes his way into the meadow, but now he totally hidden behind a pine. We wait for a solid 20 min. hoping the wind holds. I'm stressing and my friend is shaking with a full blown case of buck fever. My binocs are glued to the pine (and shaking a bit I might add) I finally see movement through the pine and I know he's about to come out at .01 mph. He slowly walks out broadside, head down, feeding. This is the first time I see him in the open at all (he was so obscured by trees before all I got was glimpses of his rack) and that's when I see he's completely broken off on the left side and his 3rd & 4th are broken on the right. Oh well, I think, if he was intact I would probably resent my friend for life and maybe even want to fight him! This is better I tell myself, I mean this is his first time hunting for crying out loud! My friend takes the shot and the bull's only reaction is to raise his head. I know the shot is good. He takes a 165 accubond broadside in the vitals like it's a pin prick. At this point my friend begins shaking so bad he can barely work the bolt and I'm whisper-screaming "hit'm again! hit'm again"! I mean, it's getting late in the day and we are in some thick stuff, I want him to go down right now. He ends up emptying the mag into this bull all in the vitals and he's still just standing there looking around. A few seconds later and he gets wobbly, and faceplants. My friend is basically in shock! Awesome!
We go down and inspect him and all rounds are in the vitals, all broadside shots and all except one are through'n through, massive destruction. Elk ain't no joke.
He is a large 5x 5? 6? that had a rough season and if intact would have been an amazing general bull- well, for a first bull, first anything, my friend isn't complaining one bit actually!
I get to bed at 3am, not bad...not bad at all...
