Y
Youtah
Guest
First off, let me first give you some history on my brother. We grew up inseparable, hunting, fishing, skiing, you name it, we did it together! He has always been a positive influence in my life and deserved to have the best possible experience hunting elk. I was excited to help him to say the least!
Opening morning of the 2012 Utah Any weapon Wasatch ELK hunt had us up at 3:00am to make the hour and a half drive to meet my brothers family and good friends. After getting lost twice in the dark, grabbing the best burrito a man could ask for, we finally made it to camp! We were surprised at how warm it was that high up on the mountain, I was a little concerned that it would make the elk keep to themselves...boy was I wrong! We got our gear and took off down a ridge that his father in law had hunted before, almost immediately we were hearing several elk bugle down below us and a few draws in front of us. One Bull sounded growly, so we took off after him. After several miles, we decided he didn't want to play...A few people in our group including myself had prior commitments on Saturday night so we called it a day, we knew we had all week to hunt.
Back at it on Monday morning had us a few canyons over. We were hoping the elk would be more responsive and we soon found out we were right! Not even 200 yards from where we started hiking they were answering our calls. My brothers father in laws cow call nearly put me in heat, he was that luring!!!
3 separate bulls answered in the canyon we were in. After taking off towards the bull that sounded the best, we had a few smaller bulls come tearing up the mountain towards us! One of which got within 50 yards, before deciding we smelt like burritos and busted.
Continuing down the canyon, we still had one or two bulls still talking, we knew they were in the bottom but the wind shifted to our backs, we were a little nervous they would bust! I asked his father in law if he thought it would effect us? His reply, "when our wind hits the bottom of the draw, it will be sucked down south by the wind towards that draw, we should be ok?. Are you kidding me? Who thinks like that?
Sure enough, he was right. 30 yards from the bottom we stopped in an opening in the pines just wide enough to see across the canyon. With the wind now blowing to our right, we knew we were in good shape!
Through the pines we could see a meadow surrounded by bright red and yellow quakes. As soon as we started glassing we spotted a small bull. Not even 30 seconds after that, a bigger bull stepped out and gave us a good view of his size.
My brother from the beginning said he didn't care what size of bull he was going to shoot, in fact, he said he would have shot the first bull. until I talked him into waiting. He just wanted a good clean kill and lots of elk steak! We agreed that this bull was perfect for him! We ranged him uphill at 245 yards so roughly 270-280 with the incline. He sat down, put the crosshairs on the bull, and waited... Two cow calls finally got the bull to stop right as he was entering the trees. I watched my brother take a huge deep breath and squeeze one off...
?Did I hit him clean?? was the first thing he asked. He not only hit him, he dropped him! He was STOKED to say the least! And so was I!
What an amazing experience! I've never been so excited for someone to harvest an animal. I don't post often but love reading other peoples stories! I've been reading on here for years! Hope this will get someone pumped for hunting! Git R DONE!
Here?s some cool pics from the hunt.
Me on the right, my brother on the left.
Me trying to take credit for his bull.
Opening morning of the 2012 Utah Any weapon Wasatch ELK hunt had us up at 3:00am to make the hour and a half drive to meet my brothers family and good friends. After getting lost twice in the dark, grabbing the best burrito a man could ask for, we finally made it to camp! We were surprised at how warm it was that high up on the mountain, I was a little concerned that it would make the elk keep to themselves...boy was I wrong! We got our gear and took off down a ridge that his father in law had hunted before, almost immediately we were hearing several elk bugle down below us and a few draws in front of us. One Bull sounded growly, so we took off after him. After several miles, we decided he didn't want to play...A few people in our group including myself had prior commitments on Saturday night so we called it a day, we knew we had all week to hunt.
Back at it on Monday morning had us a few canyons over. We were hoping the elk would be more responsive and we soon found out we were right! Not even 200 yards from where we started hiking they were answering our calls. My brothers father in laws cow call nearly put me in heat, he was that luring!!!
3 separate bulls answered in the canyon we were in. After taking off towards the bull that sounded the best, we had a few smaller bulls come tearing up the mountain towards us! One of which got within 50 yards, before deciding we smelt like burritos and busted.
Continuing down the canyon, we still had one or two bulls still talking, we knew they were in the bottom but the wind shifted to our backs, we were a little nervous they would bust! I asked his father in law if he thought it would effect us? His reply, "when our wind hits the bottom of the draw, it will be sucked down south by the wind towards that draw, we should be ok?. Are you kidding me? Who thinks like that?
Sure enough, he was right. 30 yards from the bottom we stopped in an opening in the pines just wide enough to see across the canyon. With the wind now blowing to our right, we knew we were in good shape!
Through the pines we could see a meadow surrounded by bright red and yellow quakes. As soon as we started glassing we spotted a small bull. Not even 30 seconds after that, a bigger bull stepped out and gave us a good view of his size.
My brother from the beginning said he didn't care what size of bull he was going to shoot, in fact, he said he would have shot the first bull. until I talked him into waiting. He just wanted a good clean kill and lots of elk steak! We agreed that this bull was perfect for him! We ranged him uphill at 245 yards so roughly 270-280 with the incline. He sat down, put the crosshairs on the bull, and waited... Two cow calls finally got the bull to stop right as he was entering the trees. I watched my brother take a huge deep breath and squeeze one off...
?Did I hit him clean?? was the first thing he asked. He not only hit him, he dropped him! He was STOKED to say the least! And so was I!
What an amazing experience! I've never been so excited for someone to harvest an animal. I don't post often but love reading other peoples stories! I've been reading on here for years! Hope this will get someone pumped for hunting! Git R DONE!
Here?s some cool pics from the hunt.
Me on the right, my brother on the left.
Me trying to take credit for his bull.
