Wasatch 7x8 Muzzy Bull 2015

Machado

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This is a long story I know but i wrote it so I would remember most of the details for years to come. Anyways the Wasatch was an amazing unit to hunt.I have hunted the Pahvant, Boulder, Fishlake, and Panguitch and as far as experience this was one of the best hunts that I have ever been on as far as being in the action every day for multiple hours each day. Elk were everywhere and we saw a ton of big bulls. 350 plus. If i had 10 + grand to spare every year I would buy this tag every year.

This hunt all started back in April when we found out that my brother and I both had drawn limited entry muzzleloader elk tags on the Wasatch unit. This is where our luck started. We had put in separately, my brother had 10 points and I had 7 points. When the draw results were released, we had thought it was a mistake that we both had drawn. I thought that I had received his email because I used my credit card for both of our applications. However, luck was on our side! We both had received the long awaited SUCCESSFUL result that all hunters dream of. It was one of the best days of our lives! It had been four years since we had been able to hunt together and now we were going to do it together chasing big bulls!

So the search began to see what bulls had been killed on the unit in the last couple of years and any information that we could gather from close friends who had hunted the unit previously. I spent the majority of the next 3 months on the phone with friends talking about elk. Needless to say, my wife was ready to divorce me! She had heard enough about elk. We spent a lot of hours on google earth looking at some of the areas where our friend Nate had seen big bulls in the past.

A little background about us? My brother and I had hunted in central and southern Utah all our lives and had never stepped foot on the Wasatch unit. Nonetheless, My dad had hunted a certain part of this unit when he was a boy and into his teenage years. His dad had hunted this one area for nearly 40 years, but mainly hunted mule deer and the occasional spike elk. My dad had heard that his cousin Darren had still been hunting mule deer in this area and decided to give him a call to see if he wanted to go on the hunt. As luck would have it, he had been hunting mule deer but also big bulls for the last 6 years in this same area.

We scouted the areas that Nate and Darren had suggested as hard as we could. There were 350 plus bulls in both locations and it was up to us which bulls we wanted to hunt. We scouted the last two weeks in June, every weekend in August, and the weekends leading up to the hunt in September. With every weekend that passed, our excitement and anticipation grew. We were hoping that the bulls we wanted to hunt would make it through to our hunt. The last scouting trip of the year helped us decide where we were going to hunt.

Never could we have imagined that 3 different bulls would show up within two weeks of our hunt with two of them being bigger than most of the bulls that we had scouted previously. The rut was coming in full swing and the bulls were going nuts. So with only 3 days left before the hunt we decided to hunt the area that Darren and Nate had suggested! We were chasing 3 bulls. A big six point that we named ?Big 6?, and a unique 8x7 that we named ?Machado? , and beautiful dark horned 6x7. All of these bulls were bulls that we would be happy with opening morning.

this is my bull 2 weeks before my hunt. I made the comment to my cousin that this is the bull that I am going to kill. little did i know how it was going to happen.
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Day 1 ?Close Calls?
Opening morning finally came and my brother and I split up. I went with Nate. My Dad and brother headed off with our good friend Mark. I set out after the Machado bull and my brother headed out after the ?Big 6? and the 6x7. At first light Nate and I only heard one bugle and didn't see any of the bulls that we were hoping to see. As the sun hit the big ridge in front of us, we could see some movement. We looked across the canyon and saw a giant brown bear eating on an old elk carcass. It was actually a bull that we saw get killed during the opening morning of the rifle hunt a week earlier. Knowing that the bear wasn?t going anywhere any time soon and seeing little to no elk activity, we decided to move over a few canyons to see if our luck would change. We left one of our friends on a point to glass the front side of the new canyons while we headed up to the top and around the backside.

By the time we reached the top of the ridge, our horses needed water. It was an extremely hot day. The closest spring was a thirty-minute ride in the opposite direction of where we wanted to set up and glass that evening. I had turned my radio off in order save battery figuring that the elk were not going to come out for a few more hours. This was a big mistake. Our friend tried calling my radio multiple times because a monster 5-point bull had stepped out and was pushing his cows up the ridge towards us. An hour later when I turned the radio back on, we heard him say the big 5 is out and is almost to the top of the ridge with his cows. We busted down the ridge as fast as we could go to try and catch up with the bull before he crossed the saddle. We were 5 minutes too late. Tired and frustrated we set back to get the horses. We were almost 3 hours from camp on horse back with only a half hour of light left. It was going to be a long ride back to camp. The entire time wishing I had not turned our radio off.

When we arrived back at camp, my brother had told me that he and Mark were within a few hundred yards of the big 6x7 the entire day but couldn't get any closer.

Day 2 ?Bad news Bears?

After not seeing the 8x7 the previous day and with bear around we decided that we would focus on the big 6 and the 6x7. We arrived at the look out point early in the morning where the 6x7 had been opening day. We waited to do anything till it got light. The bulls were in full rut and we were waiting to see where they were before we went in after them. In the first 5 minutes of light we spotted 2 black bears right where the 6x7 had been yesterday. We didn't hear a bugle all morning. We decided that we were going to head around the opposite side of the mountain to see if the elk had been pushed over the top.

From the moment that we went around the mountain we were in elk all day. Bulls were screaming and chasing cows. There were so many bulls bugling that it was hard to decide which bugle to chase. As the day went on we found ourselves meeting up at the top of the ridge with my brother and Mark. After swapping stories of the morning hunt, we realized that we both had passed five or six 300-330-class bulls. With only an hour of light left, my uncle Shane called us on the radio and told us to get to where he was because he had spotted a different 360-class bull. After a quick 4-wheeler ride to him, he told us where he had saw the bull and the chase was on. With only 20 minutes of light left we caught up to the bull wallowing in a spring. He had a hot cow that he wasn?t going to leave. Nate and I were able to sneak within 120 yards before he spotted us. With one quick glance at his antlers I could tell he was a big bull and one that I would be happy tagging. Being in such a hurry to get to this bull I had forgot my shooting sticks. I let out a quick cow call, he stopped and turned broadside. Not having my shooting sticks I was stuck taking a freehanded shot. I gently pulled the trigger. The bull took off down the hill and out of sight. We walked over to where the bull was but couldn't find any blood. We checked the rest of the evening with flashlights but could not find anything. Given the quick shot and the bull not acting hit we figured that I must have missed. The next day we went in there to see if we could find any blood and there was nothing to be found after 3 hours of searching.

Day 3 ?Devastation day?


Day 3 started much like day two with us seeing two more bears and not hearing anything bugle. After coming up empty handed with the search for blood and any sign of the bull from the night before. We ended up heading to where we saw the big 6 a couple of days before the hunt. Having only heard one bugle all morning and seeing a few rag horn bulls, we headed back to camp for some lunch. It had been days since we had seen the big 6 but all of that was about to change.

My brother, Mark, and I decided to head back up to a spring that we figured the big 6 was hitting during the late afternoon. My brother decided to stay a few hundred yards above the spring as Mark and I dropped down to be level with it. We had only been sitting down for 20 minutes when we heard a deep bugle. It appeared to be more of a growl than a bugle. He was 100 yards below the spring. At first we were just going to wait him out, but after bugling 3 more times we decided to go in after him. The wind was in our favor and we had 3 hours til dark. We snuck down a creek bed and got within 80 yards of the bull that was growling. As we were moving a little closer we spotted a cow elk bedded down below two big pine trees only 30 yards away. We set up and waited. There were bulls all around us going crazy and it appeared that the bull with the growl was fighting off all the other bulls. With every bugle our excitement grew. We kept trying to see any movement through the trees to try and see how big of a bull was doing all this bugling. After only setting up for 15 minutes, the cows started to feed out in front of us at 40 yards in a big clearing with some quake and aspen trees with some tall yellow grass. As soon as the cows started feeding the growler bull started coming their way. We caught a glimpse of movement through the trees above the cows, I threw up my binos as quick as I could. It was the BIG 6! I could see his bladed 4ths and 5ths and knew it was him. I got ready and set the hammer back and waited for him to come in to the clearing. After what seemed like an eternity he came right behind the cows broadside at 40 yards. He was dead. So I had thought. With a dead rest I put the cross hairs right behind his front shoulder and squeezed the trigger!

Waiting for the smoke to clear, I expected to see the big boy stumbling or tipping over. But I didn't see any of that. He had his shoulders pulled back and he was looking around to see where the loud noise came from. He started walking away from us very slowly and started bugling again. I thought ?are freaking kidding me! I missed? I really missed?? I loaded again and the bull stopped and turned around broadside at 100 yards. I put it on his front shoulder and let off another shot. This time connecting with the bull, he hunched up and started walking very slowly up a little hill. He paused for a moment before following his cows over the small ridge. Mark and I were waiting for him to stumble and tip over backwards but none of that happened. His cows went over and he followed. We slowly walked up to where he was hit and found a good size pool of blood. This was a good sign. I thought for sure he was dead on the other side of the ridge. Fate would not be on our side. We only found 2 more tiny drops of blood and heard him bugle 5 minutes later down below us where we couldn't see him. After searching for more blood for the next hour and half we came up empty handed. That night was the longest night of my life. The big 6 was all of 380 plus. This bull had it all. Giant bladed 4ths and 5ths with awesome fronts and long main beams with antlers the color of the dark pines. He was a bull of a lifetime and I missed at 40 yards. Tears were definitely shed that night! I had missed twice in 2 days at a 360 bull and a 380 plus bull.
I think I may have got an hour of sleep that night. We woke up at 7 am and decided to see if my gun had been knocked off. It took 38 clicks to the right and 18 clicks down to get it centered in at twenty-five yards! I was shooting a foot and a half left and a foot high at twenty five yards. At 8 am we had seven guys up there searching from morning til evening for the next 3 days. We were only able to turn him up once more. My brother and Nate were walking down off the top of the mountain and ran into him with 3 cows. There was only 15 minutes of light left and he was looking straight on and they just couldn't tell what he was until he turned his head and they saw his 4ths and 5ths and saw him slowly walking away. By the time my brother got his gun up he was nearly all the way in the trees and had no chance at a good. With 7 guys we combed the area. Literally from morning til night we did not leave the mountain. After three full days of doing this and not finding blood or hearing an elk bugle we decided it was time to move on.

Day 7 ?time to move on?

With only 5 days left to hunt we decided it was time to move on from the Big 6 and see what other canyons held. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. On the 6th day of our hunt, our dad received a call from his sister saying that our Grandpa wasn?t going to last much longer. So we all decided to head down to say our goodbyes. Our dad decided that he was going to stay with his dad until he passed and told us that we should go hunting. We contemplated staying with my Grandpa but we had already said our goodbyes and that we should let his kids have some alone time before he passed away. We arrived back at camp at 2 am and woke up at 4:30 am. We discussed if we should sleep in or not and just kind of take this day off. It was then that we remembered that our cousin Darren was going to be at camp at 5 with the horses ready to ride in to canyon where the Machado and other big bulls had been.

It turns out that this would be the best decision we would make thus far into the hunt. We saddled up the horses and headed out. We were a little late getting started and knew that we needed to make quick time to be on the saddle that we needed to be on by first light.
It was ten minutes before light and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was my dad on the other end. I thought that he was calling to see what our morning plans were but that changed when I heard him crying. He said, ?Well? your grandpa just passed away.? It was sad but happy at the same time. My grandpa had some serious health issues and his wife had passed away 17 years ago. It was just time for him to go. We must have had my grandpa?s help that day because as soon as I hung up the phone 3 bulls started bugling like crazy and wouldn't stop for the next 2 hours. We were still 3 ridges over from where we wanted to be but decided that there is no reason to leave these bugles for a spot we hoped might have elk in it. With my brother only having today to hunt and possibly the last 2 days of the hunt, it was crunch time. The plan was to put my brother on as many bugles as possible. Being in such dark timber and thick oak it was nearly impossible to see the bulls that were bugling so my brother and I decided to drop down in on them while my brother in law Josh and cousin Darren moved on ahead to the saddle.

We let out a few cow calls and two bulls started bugling like crazy. We moved as fast as we could to close the distance. After dropping 500 yards below the horse trail, we decided that I should stop and call and have my brother drop down the bulls. It wasn?t 20 minutes later that I heard him let out a cow call of his own and then a loud BOOM. I completely expected to hear a yell of excitement but nothing. I knew quiet at this time wasn?t good. It turned out that he shot right over the top of the bull. We were on a really steep incline and the bull was below his feet. We spent the next thirty minutes looking for blood. But found Nothing! It was a huge let down. I had my radio sitting on my pack as we were deciding what to do next when the best words anyone could ask for after missing a bull came through ?hey get your butts up here we have two huge bulls spotted down below us pushing some cows.? My brother decided to keep looking for blood for 10 minutes while I got a head start.

I knew I had to move fast but it was so steep. The oak grew more sideways than up. It was a constant fight the entire way up the hill. I was a 200 hundred yards from the top when Darren called on the radio and said ?Hey it's the big 8x7 and he is with another big 6 point!? I hiked as fast and as hard as I could to get to the horse trail. 15 more minutes passed and I made it to Darren and Josh. This is when I first caught sight of the bulls!

The 8x7 and a big 6-point were bugling about every 30 seconds to a minute! There was an old horse trail 150 yards above where the elk were feeding. It was 9:00 am and we figured that they would either bed down or feed into the bottom of the canyon and we would just wait them out to see what they did. Ten minutes passed and the elk had fed into a little patch of quakes in the middle of the ridge. After talking with Darren and Josh, we figured that the best plan would be for me to sneak down the horse trail above them and wait. This way I would be in a better position to make a move. Knowing that Chase was not going to be to far behind me I picked out a spot for Darren and Josh to send Chase once he reached them. There were two bulls and two tags to fill. Could we really pull a double on two big bulls? Would the elk still be there when I made it down there? It was worth a shot.

I was only on the horse trail for 5 minutes when Darren called on the radio and said ?Hey the elk are out and the bulls are pushing the cows over the top! You better hurry!? Having been close so many times and not being successful, I was determined to not let this opportunity pass by without going as hard as I could. I took off running until I reached the old horse trail that went down the top of the ridge towards the bulls. I was running down hill full speed praying that I wouldn't fall. Knowing that the bulls were a little distracted, I wasn?t too concerned about being quiet until I was within 100 yards of where I wanted to be sitting.

I was now 20 yards from the point where I could look over and potentially get a shot. I put the cap on my muzzleloader and took a minute to catch my breath. I slowly walked and then crawled to the crest of the ridge and peaked over the top. NOTHING! I didn't see anything. Betting that the elk had moved down the ridge, I moved off the top about ten yards to stay out of sight and quickly kept working my way down. The ridge split in a Y. I didn't know what fork to take. One would lead me closer to where the elk were supposed to be and one would keep me working my way down the top of the original ridge. I decided to stay left.

Not sure where the elk would be, I kept moving quietly down the ridge. I hadn't made it more than 50 yards down the ridge when I heard some limbs break in front of me. I pulled my gun up as cow elk started crossing the top of the ridge 75 yards away. As each one of the elk went in front of me I kept waiting for one of the two bulls to cross. A minute had passed and nothing followed. I heard a crash above me, but I didn't want to take my eyes off of what might come behind the cows. All of a sudden a big bull jumped out where the cows had crossed. Not wanting to shoot while he was moving, I started making a deer bleating noise with my mouth. After making the noise twice the bull stopped and turned and looked at me. You could tell he was confused. And so was I. I guess my adrenaline got to me and I wasn?t? thinking straight. I couldn't believe he stopped. I placed the cross hairs on his front shoulder and pulled the trigger. He whirled around and started running up the ridge away from me. He went through some tall oak and the only thing I could see were the tops his antlers. After 50 yards, I could see his antlers start to sway back and forth and then they disappeared!

The crash and noise above me was my brother running down the ridge to catch up to me. He had heard the shot but didn't see the bull drop because he was making his way through the thick oak when it all happened. I was pumping my fist in excitement when I saw him. We high fived, hugged and hoped that the bull had went down. We didn't want to chance bumping the bull so we waited for 20 minutes before we followed the blood trail. The suspense was killing us. Thoughts kept going through my mind? Did I hit him good? Was this going to be a repeat of earlier? My stomach was in knots.

I had my brother walk to where the bull was standing when I shot and then I walked to him. We started looking for blood and headed towards where the bull had hopefully tipped over. Forty yards into the search we got a strong whiff of an elk and knew he had to be close by. The oak was so thick and tall that we could not see to well. As we made our way a little farther through the oak we finally caught a glimpse of some white ivory tips! Big bull down!!

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There were a lot of emotions as we grabbed the antlers and started taking pictures. It was almost as if our grandpa was there with us in spirit. So many things happened that day that typically don't happen. It was a moment where time felt like it had stopped. It was a moment of humility and respect for the animal and of closeness to our grandpa that we will forever remember. What a bull. What a hunt. What an amazing memory we'll have for the rest of our lives!
This hunt was made special by a lot of people. Darren, Nate, Mark, and my cousins and family members. thanks!!

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this trail cam pic was taken 2 years prior although the picture says 2012. Do you think its the same bull?
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Hey that's a hell of a story, thanks for sharing and thanks for being honest! Mostly anyway lol.
That's a huge bull and I would bet it's the same critter in you cam pics. How cool is that?
What'd you paint over the upper portion of that pic for?

Man that would be hard leaving gramps and dad at the hospital and all, not sure what I would have done in that situation if it were myself. Good on ya for getting it done.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jun-01-16 AT 11:28PM (MST)[p]He tagged out on the last day of the hunt! It was a freaking sweet story as well. I was hoping that he would write his story and post it for people to read. I'll share a pic and then share a little bit of the story. I am trying to upload a picture but it keeps telling me there is a problem with the site. so hopefully it will. I'll share the story while I am waiting.

I killed my bull that Saturday and my brother had to go take midterms at college on Tuesday and Wednesday so he was unable to hunt. Thursday was our grandpa's funeral so we were only able to make it to the evening hunt which turned out to be uneventful. So it came down to the last day. He was content on taking home tag soup if it was not a respectable bull. That morning we woke up to a little bit of rain and some cold mountain air. We saddled up the horses and headed in to some steep country about 3 miles from camp.
As we arrived at the saddle where I had killed my bull, we heard some bugling down below us. We caught a glimpse of a few elk. A few cows and some rag horns chasing each other. As we were watching these bulls we heard another bugle on the ridge opposite of the rag horns. It was a deep bugle and he sounded like a better bull. But Just as we were about to get a glimpse of him the fog set in like a thick wool blanket. We could barely see 10 ft in either direction. Then it started to rain and then the rain turned into hail. This lasted 30 minutes. It killed us because we could hear the bigger bull bugling the entire time. Once the fog lifted enough to see, my brother and I headed down after the bugle to see if we could get a closer look while my dad and cousin's stayed up on the saddle to glass for us.
With it being so wet we were able to move pretty fast and stay quiet. As we came up over a little knoll at the top of ridge we spotted a herd of elk 200 yards below us. All we could see were small bulls and a lot of cows. As we were glassing, we heard a the deep bugle just below the elk. We decided to sit him out and wait. We would let off a few cow calls and he would respond but he never followed his cows over the ridge. He stayed in the deep cover and worked his way to the bottom of the canyon and we never saw him again.

We were far enough down the canyon that we were committed to this area for the morning and early afternoon hunt. We worked our way over a few ridges and let out a few cow calls. Immediately getting a response and we knew the elk was close. We sat down and called a young 6x7 bull within 15 yards. My brother decided to pass. We had a few other bulls answer us but they kept their distance. We sat on this ridge for about a half hour until the weather took a turn for the worse. Lighting started hitting the pines all around us. We decided to drop down even further and take cover in the thick pines. The came and it stayed a heavy rain for an hour and a half. Our family on the horses decided to head back to the trailhead and wait out the storm. While we were sitting there, my brother and I talked about life and the hunt and about our grandpa. We got a call on the radio and was asked if we wanted to call it a day because the weather didn't look like it was going to let up. As we contemplated what we were going to do, the weather let up just enough for us to decide to keep hunting the entire day no matter the weather.
We dropped into the bottom of the canyon and up a couple of ridges. Two hours had passed and the storm decided to give us a break. The sun started to shine through and with it brought out some of the most amazing elk hunting with it. 7 different bulls in one long canyon were bugling like crazy. Cows were being chased all over the ridge side. With only 4 hours of light left we went aggressive after every bugle.
We worked our ways along some quakies that bordered a big grassy meadow. Walking through the trees we were keeping our eyes on the ridge for any movement. We kept moving down the canyon because of some bugles we heard a long way off. To our surprise we heard a bugle that was extremely close. We slowed down our walk and tried to get a look at the bull that bugled so close. I started to take another step when my brother grabbed my shoulder and yanked me to the ground. "There he is up on the ridge side closest to us!" We ranged him at 250 yards away. He was bedded down and bugling from his bed. With each bugle we moved closer. 220 yards...then 200...then 185 yards and the bull had us pegged. My brother got set up to shoot. I said whenever he stands up and gives you a shot let him have it. Just as I was getting the camera on him to get the video he stood up and my brother shot. With so much smoke in the air, I had to stand up to see what the elk was doing. The elk was stumbling, but he was still up. My brother quickly reloaded and put another shot in the wheel house. the bull rolled to the ground and slid down the hill. We started screaming and hugging each other like we were little school boys. Tears were shed and high fives were given about every 10 yards as we made our way closer to the bull. The first thing we noticed was his mass. We didn't know how good of a bull he was we just knew he was a mature 6 point. We were ecstatic! We called our family on the radio and told them we had a bull down. They didn't believe it. My dad got a little choked up and said "Hell ya! we'll be down there as soon as we can!" The rest is history. He wasn't the bull he was after but he was a sweet bull with great character! It was awesome to see my brother go from such a low to such a high in a matter of hours. This was a hunt that will never be forgotten!
 
Thanks Hokkaido,
I think its the same bull as well. It was hard leaving but my dad said that we should do that and so we listened to him. I am glad it all worked out.
 
What an awesome write up, with good pictures even! That sounds like an awesome area..how many to draw that for a nonresident? It's hard to read your article and not want to go there. Glad you guys pulled it off. I have been in the woods when the rain stops and the stags start roaring hard like you had happen. Midday even, would never guess. Just awesome stuff!
 
Congrats on a couple of great Bulls. The 8x7 has a lot of wow factor, he's a heavy old warrior. Care to sure a score on him for curiosity?
 
Shadow, thanks! He is just shy of 370 gross. He was a little short on his first two points. I'll try and put up a picture from the front to give you a little different perspective.
 
For some reason the pictures on my computer were not working so I had to take a picture with my phone and it finally worked.
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I have a tag this year muzzleloader for Wasatch.
If you have any places for me to scout or anything you can share I would appreciate it.
Dan
 
Dan,
I would love to help out but my brother in law drew the muzzleloader tag this year as well! Good luck to you! I hope you have amazing success!!
 

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