nmelktrout
Very Active Member
- Messages
- 1,152
Guys, finally got some pictures from my hunt this past weekend. Stinking computer is still down but here's what I got. Had another fun hunt with the old man who drove down from Colorado and met me in Chama. I left on this hunt with only 1.5 days to hunt as the boss man wouldn't give me any time off. So, my hope to spend some serious time in the unit and look over a few elk never came to fruition. But, I'm not really a trophy hunter so I could not be more happy with my bull and all of the meat my family will have for the winter.
Here's the short and sweet of it. Dad and I left camp at 3:45 Saturday (opening morning) and hiked 4 miles into the Sargent in the dark until we got into 8 screaming bulls and were surrounded by cow elk. A few minutes before legal shooting light I could hear some poor soul cranking on a hoochie mama and looked down the trail to see three yahoos walking straight into us and the elk we had gotten into. I intercepted them before they could spook the herd and asked them if they would mind going after some of the bulls below us and they said they would. Right at shooting light I started hearing the damned hoochie mama coming from directly across the slope from me where the idiots had snuck around and tried to sneak into the bulls we were set up on but they were trying to do so from upwind... Needless to say it was like that scene in Bambi where every animal in the forest is fleeing the forest fire. There were literally deer, elk, coyotes, and even a porcupine running away from those idiots and into dad and I. It was pretty funny but for the bigger sounding bulls taking their cows and heading up and into the dark timber away from us.
So, after passing on a couple of smaller bulls, dad and I hoofed it as fast as we could up the trail attempting to stay on the bugling bulls and their cows. And, like a bad case of diarrhea that just follows you around and won't go away, here came the freaking hoochie mama calling dudes pushing every animal in the forest right up the mountain. We got a ways in front of them, getting closer and closer to a deep sounding bull that had been screaming his head off most of the morning. Finally, I crept up and over a small ridge to where I could see a bench full of downed timber and mixed with pines and aspens I could see several cows feeding and walking through the trees but could not see the bull. I could hear the bull bugling just out of site up the slope from the cows but he would not leave cover. I motioned for my old man to bugle and as soon as he did the bull came trotting out of the timber and through the aspens. I saw that his left antler had a good sixth point and decided that as I only had two days to hunt that I would take him. He stopped broadside in the widest opening between the aspens and pines about 100 yards in front of me and I squeezed off a shot...except that I had left the safety on and the trigger wouldn't pull. By the time I thumbed the trigger off the bull had started moving again. I could see one more lane that he would cross as he followed a cow and I put the scope on that opening until he crossed through it. As he came into my scope at around a 120 yards I could only see the top half of his body. I tucked the cross hairs directly behind his left shoulder as he walked through the opening and at the shot all I saw was cows thundering and the bull's legs in the air and his antlers spinning in circles upside down on the ground. So, at 7:20 on opening morning my bull was down and the fun was over. We had shot the bull just under 4 miles into the Sargent and after 3, 8 mile round trips (just under 24 miles in total) and 11 hours later, we had the 296 lbs of quarters and meat (total weight from the butcher shop scales) back to camp. Oh yeah, half of the time it was pouring rain. Easily one of the least enjoyable pack outs on foot that I have ever had. But, the bull should be some great eating and I was one of only two hunters to harvest on opening day. I feel lucky considering how crappy the weather got and how little time I had to hunt. Anyway, this bull is a lot smaller than my bull from last year but I could care less as he was big bodied and should make for some great eating! Didn't notice that he had broken off his sixth on the right side 'til I got up to him, but I feel blessed to have harvested such a great bull this year.
Good luck on your hunts this year and keep the pictures coming!
-Cody
Here's the short and sweet of it. Dad and I left camp at 3:45 Saturday (opening morning) and hiked 4 miles into the Sargent in the dark until we got into 8 screaming bulls and were surrounded by cow elk. A few minutes before legal shooting light I could hear some poor soul cranking on a hoochie mama and looked down the trail to see three yahoos walking straight into us and the elk we had gotten into. I intercepted them before they could spook the herd and asked them if they would mind going after some of the bulls below us and they said they would. Right at shooting light I started hearing the damned hoochie mama coming from directly across the slope from me where the idiots had snuck around and tried to sneak into the bulls we were set up on but they were trying to do so from upwind... Needless to say it was like that scene in Bambi where every animal in the forest is fleeing the forest fire. There were literally deer, elk, coyotes, and even a porcupine running away from those idiots and into dad and I. It was pretty funny but for the bigger sounding bulls taking their cows and heading up and into the dark timber away from us.
So, after passing on a couple of smaller bulls, dad and I hoofed it as fast as we could up the trail attempting to stay on the bugling bulls and their cows. And, like a bad case of diarrhea that just follows you around and won't go away, here came the freaking hoochie mama calling dudes pushing every animal in the forest right up the mountain. We got a ways in front of them, getting closer and closer to a deep sounding bull that had been screaming his head off most of the morning. Finally, I crept up and over a small ridge to where I could see a bench full of downed timber and mixed with pines and aspens I could see several cows feeding and walking through the trees but could not see the bull. I could hear the bull bugling just out of site up the slope from the cows but he would not leave cover. I motioned for my old man to bugle and as soon as he did the bull came trotting out of the timber and through the aspens. I saw that his left antler had a good sixth point and decided that as I only had two days to hunt that I would take him. He stopped broadside in the widest opening between the aspens and pines about 100 yards in front of me and I squeezed off a shot...except that I had left the safety on and the trigger wouldn't pull. By the time I thumbed the trigger off the bull had started moving again. I could see one more lane that he would cross as he followed a cow and I put the scope on that opening until he crossed through it. As he came into my scope at around a 120 yards I could only see the top half of his body. I tucked the cross hairs directly behind his left shoulder as he walked through the opening and at the shot all I saw was cows thundering and the bull's legs in the air and his antlers spinning in circles upside down on the ground. So, at 7:20 on opening morning my bull was down and the fun was over. We had shot the bull just under 4 miles into the Sargent and after 3, 8 mile round trips (just under 24 miles in total) and 11 hours later, we had the 296 lbs of quarters and meat (total weight from the butcher shop scales) back to camp. Oh yeah, half of the time it was pouring rain. Easily one of the least enjoyable pack outs on foot that I have ever had. But, the bull should be some great eating and I was one of only two hunters to harvest on opening day. I feel lucky considering how crappy the weather got and how little time I had to hunt. Anyway, this bull is a lot smaller than my bull from last year but I could care less as he was big bodied and should make for some great eating! Didn't notice that he had broken off his sixth on the right side 'til I got up to him, but I feel blessed to have harvested such a great bull this year.
Good luck on your hunts this year and keep the pictures coming!
-Cody
