It's kinda long. Hope it don't bore you all out of your minds.
The day didn't start out very good. My alarm didn't go off and I woke up almost two hours later than I wanted to. It was a good thing I had everything I needed for the hunt loaded and packed in the truck. So after the initial shock of not getting up on time wore off, I got dressed and took off for the hills.
I had been scouting this area and knew where the bulls were hanging out. In fact, I had a nice big and I mean big 5 X 5 located. So that was my starting point for the day. I pulled into my usual parking spot about 7:45 A.M. and got my pack, rifle and other gear ready while letting things quiet back down. I started up the ridge trying to be as quiet as possible considering how dry everything was. I was heading to the fence line (the rez/state boundary) where I had a good view of the valley and across to the other ridge. I had not been gone from the truck more than 10 minutes when I caught movement through the cedars. I immediately stopped and tried to see where the elk was headed. I slowly moved toward where the elk had headed, he saw me before I even saw him and he took off for the fence line. I walked up towards the fence and set up. I let out a few cow chirps and waited for a response. Nothing. I let out a few more cow chirps and this time he responded but only with a few grunts and chuckles. I was not being overly aggressive with the calling, mostly letting him know that there was a ?cow? near. He would move my direction but he would not come out to give me a look. We played this game for about an hour, he was interested but not enough to make a mistake. He eventually got tired of the game and moved on.
I moved on through the valley and onto the ridge to the west. Lots of sign but no elk to be seen or heard. By now the heat of the day is starting to creep in and its only 10 in the morning!!! I slowly moved along the top of the ridge and down to the south towards the main road. I find a lot of rubs, a lot of meadows that are being used to court the ladies. I still-hunt trying to locate bedded elk but they always seem to have the best hiding spots. I'm starting to think that I'm the only one crazy enough to be out in this heat. I continue south, pass the main road and into the ?flat? areas where there is a lot of sign of elk activity in the cedars and pines. I moved towards a dirt water tank to see how active the elk are on this particular tank. Talk about hitting the mother lode. Tracks galore coming from every direction imaginable. More tracks than the week before so I decide to sneak out and come back to sit in one of the natural blinds later in the afternoon. I continue through the ?flats? and on up to the point of another slope so I can look down into the canyon and have a bite to eat.
After having lunch and not spotting any elk, I decide to move back around to the head of the canyon. As I started making my way back to the head of the canyon, I could hear the buzz of a chain saw. I eventually found the wood cutters and they told me about some elk they had seen a couple hours before. I made my way in the direction they had seen the elk, which happened to be in the ?flats? and thick cedars. I still-hunted through the cedars and pine, glassing every few steps hoping to catch a glimpse of bedded elk. I had gone about 100 yards into the cedars when below a little rock outcropping, the elk exploded out busting up the trees in their way. Talk about leaving me in the dust, literally. I was unable to follow them due to the fact that there was so many tracks in this area. I continued on my way back to the water hole that I planned to sit at.
I reached the water hole around 4 that afternoon and crawled into one of the natural blinds on the downwind side of the water. I cleared all pine needles, pine cones and whatever else might make more noise than necessary. When that was all done, I took a short 30 minute nap to rejuvenate for the afternoon/evening hunt. I woke because I was dreaming of the big boy coming in. Too bad it was only a dream.
I figured it was about time to try some calling, I would do intermittent calls with no response. Finally, about 6:15 or so, I heard a faint bugle to the north of me but he sounded like he was way up in the canyon. I waited for a few minutes and let out a few cow chirps and got no response. I waited another 5 minutes or so to try calling again. Just as I was going to let out a few cow chirps a bull bugled about 150 yards to the east of me. I let out a few cow chirps with no response. Next time he bugled he was closer, appoximately 100 yards. Since he was coming in, I got set up and comfortable. I couldn't see him moving in because of how thick the trees were. I cow chirped again, again with no response. He finally bugled and he was about 75 yards out. I chirped again. No bugle. I waited for any kind of sign he was still moving in, a bugle, some kind of movement. Finally, to my left I heard the branches breaking. I got set, waiting for him to come out into view. I finally caught his movement through the trees but I couldn't see his rack. He stopped about 60 yards away behind some trees. I could see him looking for the cow and that's when I finally got a glimpse of his rack through the trees with my binoculars. I cow chirp to see if I could bring him out into a shooting lane that was 10 yards in front of him and 50 yards away from me. He didn't initially move, then he moved across the shooting lane a little faster than I was anticipating. He stopped with his head behind a pine tree and his vitals behind a small dead pine. I cow chirped again to see if he would turn enough to expose his vitals. He did not move at all so I looked through my binoculars to see if I could get a shot through the dead pine. The tree was thin enough that I wouldn't hit anything other than the bull. I pulled my .270 up, put my elbows across my lap, got a good sight picture through my scope, clicked the safety off, took a deep breath, slowly exhaled. BOOM!!! I immediately heard the ?WHAP? of the round hitting the bull. I looked and the bull was still standing there. I loaded another round into the chamber so I could get another shot off. Just as I was going to shoot again, he turned and started walking directly away from me not giving me a shot. I watched him as he turned into the trees, so I decided to give him some time.
I start gathering my water, calls and all my other junk that I have scattered around me. I start putting them back into my pack when I hear him kicking rocks and shuffling trying to keep his feet. Then I hear what we all like to hear, I hear him fall into the trees. I wait for another 5 minutes or so before I crawl out of the blind. I slowly make my way to where he was standing when I took the shot. As I near the spot, I catch movement through the trees. I pull up my binoculars to see him walking away and I don't have a shot. I know I should have waited longer but I guess it was the excitement of getting my first bull. As I watch him move through the trees I can tell that his walk is getting very deliberate, like its taking every ounce of energy for him to move. I stay put where I'm at so I don't push him any further than I already have. I give him another 20 minutes before I get to where he was standing when I shot. I immediately see the frothy blood of a lung shot. I start following the blood trail that ends up petering out after about 15-20 yards. The blood stops almost right from where he fell. I can still see his tracks so I follow them until I come up on him laying under a tree 30-40 yards from where he initially fell.
Talk about elation at seeing that bull on the ground. I tried moving the ?big guy? out from under the tree but couldn't do it by myself. I ended up coming down off the mountain to get help. By the time I get home to make some calls for help, it's 8:15 PM. I gather up the help and we get back up to the downed bull around 11 P.M. We get started dressing him out and lucky for us he's only 100 yards or so off the main road. We drag him to the road and eventually get him loaded into the back of my truck. We finally get home about 1 that morning.
Here we are getting ready to load him into the truck
Here he is inside
Sorry it's such a large post. Hope you enjoy any way.
Droptine
The day didn't start out very good. My alarm didn't go off and I woke up almost two hours later than I wanted to. It was a good thing I had everything I needed for the hunt loaded and packed in the truck. So after the initial shock of not getting up on time wore off, I got dressed and took off for the hills.
I had been scouting this area and knew where the bulls were hanging out. In fact, I had a nice big and I mean big 5 X 5 located. So that was my starting point for the day. I pulled into my usual parking spot about 7:45 A.M. and got my pack, rifle and other gear ready while letting things quiet back down. I started up the ridge trying to be as quiet as possible considering how dry everything was. I was heading to the fence line (the rez/state boundary) where I had a good view of the valley and across to the other ridge. I had not been gone from the truck more than 10 minutes when I caught movement through the cedars. I immediately stopped and tried to see where the elk was headed. I slowly moved toward where the elk had headed, he saw me before I even saw him and he took off for the fence line. I walked up towards the fence and set up. I let out a few cow chirps and waited for a response. Nothing. I let out a few more cow chirps and this time he responded but only with a few grunts and chuckles. I was not being overly aggressive with the calling, mostly letting him know that there was a ?cow? near. He would move my direction but he would not come out to give me a look. We played this game for about an hour, he was interested but not enough to make a mistake. He eventually got tired of the game and moved on.
I moved on through the valley and onto the ridge to the west. Lots of sign but no elk to be seen or heard. By now the heat of the day is starting to creep in and its only 10 in the morning!!! I slowly moved along the top of the ridge and down to the south towards the main road. I find a lot of rubs, a lot of meadows that are being used to court the ladies. I still-hunt trying to locate bedded elk but they always seem to have the best hiding spots. I'm starting to think that I'm the only one crazy enough to be out in this heat. I continue south, pass the main road and into the ?flat? areas where there is a lot of sign of elk activity in the cedars and pines. I moved towards a dirt water tank to see how active the elk are on this particular tank. Talk about hitting the mother lode. Tracks galore coming from every direction imaginable. More tracks than the week before so I decide to sneak out and come back to sit in one of the natural blinds later in the afternoon. I continue through the ?flats? and on up to the point of another slope so I can look down into the canyon and have a bite to eat.
After having lunch and not spotting any elk, I decide to move back around to the head of the canyon. As I started making my way back to the head of the canyon, I could hear the buzz of a chain saw. I eventually found the wood cutters and they told me about some elk they had seen a couple hours before. I made my way in the direction they had seen the elk, which happened to be in the ?flats? and thick cedars. I still-hunted through the cedars and pine, glassing every few steps hoping to catch a glimpse of bedded elk. I had gone about 100 yards into the cedars when below a little rock outcropping, the elk exploded out busting up the trees in their way. Talk about leaving me in the dust, literally. I was unable to follow them due to the fact that there was so many tracks in this area. I continued on my way back to the water hole that I planned to sit at.
I reached the water hole around 4 that afternoon and crawled into one of the natural blinds on the downwind side of the water. I cleared all pine needles, pine cones and whatever else might make more noise than necessary. When that was all done, I took a short 30 minute nap to rejuvenate for the afternoon/evening hunt. I woke because I was dreaming of the big boy coming in. Too bad it was only a dream.
I figured it was about time to try some calling, I would do intermittent calls with no response. Finally, about 6:15 or so, I heard a faint bugle to the north of me but he sounded like he was way up in the canyon. I waited for a few minutes and let out a few cow chirps and got no response. I waited another 5 minutes or so to try calling again. Just as I was going to let out a few cow chirps a bull bugled about 150 yards to the east of me. I let out a few cow chirps with no response. Next time he bugled he was closer, appoximately 100 yards. Since he was coming in, I got set up and comfortable. I couldn't see him moving in because of how thick the trees were. I cow chirped again, again with no response. He finally bugled and he was about 75 yards out. I chirped again. No bugle. I waited for any kind of sign he was still moving in, a bugle, some kind of movement. Finally, to my left I heard the branches breaking. I got set, waiting for him to come out into view. I finally caught his movement through the trees but I couldn't see his rack. He stopped about 60 yards away behind some trees. I could see him looking for the cow and that's when I finally got a glimpse of his rack through the trees with my binoculars. I cow chirp to see if I could bring him out into a shooting lane that was 10 yards in front of him and 50 yards away from me. He didn't initially move, then he moved across the shooting lane a little faster than I was anticipating. He stopped with his head behind a pine tree and his vitals behind a small dead pine. I cow chirped again to see if he would turn enough to expose his vitals. He did not move at all so I looked through my binoculars to see if I could get a shot through the dead pine. The tree was thin enough that I wouldn't hit anything other than the bull. I pulled my .270 up, put my elbows across my lap, got a good sight picture through my scope, clicked the safety off, took a deep breath, slowly exhaled. BOOM!!! I immediately heard the ?WHAP? of the round hitting the bull. I looked and the bull was still standing there. I loaded another round into the chamber so I could get another shot off. Just as I was going to shoot again, he turned and started walking directly away from me not giving me a shot. I watched him as he turned into the trees, so I decided to give him some time.
I start gathering my water, calls and all my other junk that I have scattered around me. I start putting them back into my pack when I hear him kicking rocks and shuffling trying to keep his feet. Then I hear what we all like to hear, I hear him fall into the trees. I wait for another 5 minutes or so before I crawl out of the blind. I slowly make my way to where he was standing when I took the shot. As I near the spot, I catch movement through the trees. I pull up my binoculars to see him walking away and I don't have a shot. I know I should have waited longer but I guess it was the excitement of getting my first bull. As I watch him move through the trees I can tell that his walk is getting very deliberate, like its taking every ounce of energy for him to move. I stay put where I'm at so I don't push him any further than I already have. I give him another 20 minutes before I get to where he was standing when I shot. I immediately see the frothy blood of a lung shot. I start following the blood trail that ends up petering out after about 15-20 yards. The blood stops almost right from where he fell. I can still see his tracks so I follow them until I come up on him laying under a tree 30-40 yards from where he initially fell.
Talk about elation at seeing that bull on the ground. I tried moving the ?big guy? out from under the tree but couldn't do it by myself. I ended up coming down off the mountain to get help. By the time I get home to make some calls for help, it's 8:15 PM. I gather up the help and we get back up to the downed bull around 11 P.M. We get started dressing him out and lucky for us he's only 100 yards or so off the main road. We drag him to the road and eventually get him loaded into the back of my truck. We finally get home about 1 that morning.
Here we are getting ready to load him into the truck
Here he is inside
Sorry it's such a large post. Hope you enjoy any way.
Droptine
