My Wife's Valle Caldera Bull 7x7 gross 362 Muzzle Loader

[NMPaul]

Kim blew my bull out of the water.

This is the bull she shot with a muzzleloader on the 2nd day of her hunt. Kim and I had one scouting day and hunted hard the next 2 days seeing many bulls and found it hard to pass on a couple of them.

After passing on many other bulls she got this one about 2.5 miles from our vehicle. This bulls teeth were worn down to the gums and had battle scars all over him. He was by himself and may have lived thru the winter but, i doubt if he had a 2nd winter in him.

He was scored at 362 and was the largest bull taken on the Valle Caldera so far this year and from what i can tell one of the top 4 bulls taken from Valle Caldera since it became public land.

Be hard for us to ever beat this bull.

Having a hard time resizing pics to post. I can email them to someone. Thanks in advance

 

[TripleK]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-11-07 AT 00:06AM (MST)[p]Nice bull Kim! Score another one for us girls!!
Jenn

 

[mozey]

Glad to see some NM bulls popping up. Beautiful bull, congrats to your wife and thanks for sharing.

 

[PleaseDear]

What a wonderful year you are having with your family and these sweet tags/hunts!

You Rock Paul!

Congrats to the Mrs.

Robb

 

[HunterHarry]

What a great way to use that tag.
Looks like you guys had a wonderful time.
Great when everything comes together like that.
Congrats to the lady hunter, you must be proud.
HH

 

[ridgerunner]

Awesome bull, what a great tag to draw.....

 

[vinihunt]

nmpaul

what a beauty bull! big CONGRATS to ur wife and your daughter on her antelope!

and your bow bull!! awesome season for you!!

vinihunt

 

[nmmuley]

Another beautiful NM bull. Great job!

 

[nmtaxi]

That is awesome. Way to make the most of a primo tag!!!

 

[sjhgraysage]

WTG!!
Thats a way cool bull.

 

[slider]

WOW!!! Split 4's Awesome

 

[animalannihilator]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-11-07 AT 12:13PM (MST)[p]I talked to you on the phone about the hunt. sounds like you had a great hunt. Was that bull in unit 1 or 3? I think i saw that bull on the first archery in unit 3. can someone help me post a pic of my unit 3 vc bull. let me know and i will email pics

 

[SweetBull]

WAY TO GO MRS. PAUL!! that thing sure is a brute, plenty of character also! i bet hunting on the vc was awesome too..

 

[NMPaul]

Animal, I remember talking to you. Would sure love to see a pic of your bull. Hope you can get someone to post for you.

Gonna have one helluva taxi bill this year.

When she shot this bull she had about a paper plate size window thru brush and trees and even though i had plenty of time to glass him i could see very little of his rack.

I could see some of the top and i only told her to shoot because there was enough mass on his upper tines that i judged him to be a mature bull, but, i had no idea how his top antlers crowned out.

This is one of the few times that when we walked up to him in that tall grass i was taken back on how big he really was.

We were only 50-70 yards away and the first shot was a complete miss. It may have hit the tree or i dont know. He stopped eating for about 10 seconds and went back to eating. I reloaded her muzzle loader as quiet as i could and the 2nd shot got him good. I reloaded a 3rd time for her and she shot him again but it was really not neccessary as he had only moved away 15 yards and went down once got up and went down again.

I knew he was big, but he made a big commotion when the Valle Caldera staff saw him. They were awesome and the excitement built from there. This old bull made it very hard to guess his score as i did not think he was particulary heavy (except on top), particularly long (though each tine was very consistent) or wide. I guessed him at 330 trying to be conservative but was very shocked when they measured him out at 362.

As i told my wife i would rather shoot a bull like this with character and give up 20" for a typical. The cool part about him is that he is very old, his cape is very rough and course as if he may have not been getting the nutrition out of his food.

My wife now understands why I call the Valle Caldera the Jurrasic Park of elk.

 

[NMHUNTNUTT1]

Man that is a great bull! I agree what character on that big toad. Sounds like you guys had a great time and she sure smacked a stud. Tell her congrats .....Larry

 

[toughshed]

LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-07 AT 03:52PM (MST)[p]That is a great bull...all tines look perfect...were the battle scars old or fresh?

I have lots of 330 bull sheds...I'd been thinking 350+ at my first glance...

Congrats.

 

[ktc]

Mrs. NMPaul,

What a great bull! Lots of unique character also. I also enjoy seeing great bulls fom the neighboring states of Utah! Nicely done in any state! One more notch in the women's pistol grip.

 

[NMPaul]

Battle scars were pretty old, however, he had a ear that was kinda crusty from this year.
His cape is gonna be kinda rough because his hair was course and he has lots of scores. Still, lots of character and one of the few bulls or bucks that got heavier the higher he got up to the tops of his antlers.

 

[JFWRC]

Paul-Were you guys in the red Ford Ranger? I hunted 7 the 1st day sucked bad.....Got a fat dry cow the last day in 4. It was awesome, bulls going crazy. I had a beautiful 360ish walk right by at about 30 yards. It was so cool. Viva VC. Congrats to your wife!!! My wife and I have had some great fun in the VC.

 

[hunting1]

You will have a tough time beating your wife!!! Congrats on a great animal!

 

[NMPaul]

JFWRC, we were in a 2000 Gray Tundra and hunted unit 8. Glad to hear you got a good Cow. That place is awesome.

 

[JFWRC]

The folks from NMSU were in the Red truck and hunting 8 as well. Congrats!!!

 

[Cookie2]

Hey Paul, Congrats to your wife! That's a great bull. Apparently she is still the "talk of the town" up there! My cousin took his wife on the rifle hunt this weekend and he says the park people were still talking about that bull! Good job.

 

[littlefoot]

sorry 'nm'....i missed this one....that is a great bull. congratulations to your wife...what a thrill...who was happier....she or you?..probably a 'toss-up'...thanks for the pics.

 

[NMPaul]

I was the most excited. It just kept getting bigger. When she shot it I was sure it was a mature bull because there was so much brush covering his antlers.
When he went down and we walked up to him it was obvious he was something special.

 

[jamaro]

That is awesome...
Jason

www.thenewmexicosportsman.com

 

[Dub]

Wow, congrats that's awesome! Great character.

Dub

 

[joesikora]

Tell your wife congrats. My wife is going to draw with me next season. Can't wait. How was it to hunt the Caldera? Is it everything I hope it is?


Joe

 

[NMPaul]

Joe, the place is way over rated. Save your money.

Seriously, 78% of the tags go to NM residents so i buy what i can afford. Would really like to go back again.

The place is awesome. You would have to refuse to hike, have to high of standards, in order to not get a bull during one of the firearm seasons.