Calif_Mike
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-26-15 AT 05:52PM (MST)[p]Some of you know the story, or parts of it anyway, of my dad?s Tule Elk hunt on Grizzly Island Wildlife Area here in California. The hunt was September 10-13, 2015 but the story goes back much farther than that. Back when my dad worked for the Dept. of Water Resources he spent many years working out in the Suisun Marsh and Grizzly Island as DWR managed and supplied the water to the marsh. The Tule Elk herd was much smaller then, maybe 100-150 animals but dad was always impressed with the huge bulls he would see out there. He even has a giant set of shed antlers at home from the Island.
Approximately 25 years ago the animal population grew to a point where the State began offering very, very limited hunts. The tags were few and the applicant numbers were big but both dad and I began applying faithfully every year but never drew a tag. In 2002 the State went to a preference point system and we began collecting points. Each year our point number went up and the number of max point holders dropped a little and we became a little more hopeful each year.
On June 12th of this year I woke up early due to my back hurting so I got up to make some coffee. Figured I would log on and check the drawing results online, I won a coveted D6 tag, and then I checked on Dad?s results: ?Successful-Grizzly Island Period 4 Bull?. Oh my God, it finally happened. Dad won the golden ticket! I reached for the phone to call dad then realized it was 4AM and I should probably let him sleep a little. Called him later that morning and he was ecstatic to say the least.
I began working on gathering information immediately. Found the contact info for the biologist, Orlando, on Grizzly Island and called him that day. He was extremely helpful in explaining to me how the hunt usually progressed, what to look for, what to expect and not expect and areas where the elk could usually be found as well as which private duck clubs the really big bulls had a tendency to go to off the refuge. He told me they had about 450 total elk on the island of which, 83 or so were branch antlered bulls. He also let me know the refuge would be closing to all access on July 26th. We were going to have to get on the ball and start doing some scouting. I have to say, through the whole preseason, Orlando was very helpful in answering many questions as well as sending me pics of various big bulls he spotted through the summer and I am very grateful for his help.
We made our first scouting trip on June 20th and what a trip it was. We saw 150 to 200 total elk and 40 or 45 bulls, so we saw approximately half of the animals. The bulls were all in bachelor herds of 3 to 15 animals and they all looked big! But nothing stood out as exceptional.
Dad and I had a two week fishing vacation in early July then we were back out to the refuge on July 25th for the last scout before the closure. The elk had really moved from their June locations but we finally found them in the late afternoon bedded in a couple large groups. The heatwave made any kind of detailed look almost impossible but we did spot one that was much larger than the rest. We saw about 40 bulls for the day. We realized that 6x6 bulls were average here. Getting dad an elk would not be a problem. Getting him a big one might be.
The rest of the summer passed quickly yet slowly. We got rifles sighted in and built a platform for the back of my truck to make spotting elk much easier. The country is so flat out there it's hard to see very far. Getting up high in the truck allows you to see much farther into the back ponds of the Island. By pure chance I also made some very important contacts. The first was John who I met off of a hunting group on Facebook. He had drawn the Grizzly Island Bull tag the previous year. We had many great conversations on what he learned during his hunt and things he suggested that I check and try during dad?s hunt. Our conversations continued right on through dad?s hunt. The second was Kevin. He saw my post about dad?s upcoming hunt on a fishing website called Coastside Fishing Club. Kevin owns a duck club on Van Sickle Island which is right next to Grizzly Island. He very generously offered to let dad and I stay at his club during the hunt so we didn't have to drive back and forth to town as well as we would get to enjoy the full experience of the marsh.
The last chance to scout for us was Labor Day weekend. We made plans with John to scout Sunday midday until dark, since we hadn't stayed on the Island until dark before. Unfortunately John came down with a cold a few days before the trip and he bowed out as to not get either dad or I sick. Dad and I saw a lot of animals with pretty much everything grouped up into harems. Lots of nice animals again but still nothing special until just before dark. We stopped at one of the parking areas to glass when a bull came out of the tules and I could tell he was much wider than the rest of the bulls we had seen. I put the spotting scope on him and noticed his 4th point on his left side was very large and on the right his 4th formed a split beam. He had a lot of junk on one side but I couldn't get a full count due to the gathering darkness. Dad and I watch him till dark and decided he was a potential taker for the hunt if we didn't turn up anything bigger.
The hunt was to start on Thursday, September 10th and run through the 13th. There was a mandatory orientation at 5pm on September 9th. We decided to head up on Wednesday morning, get setup at the club, glass from the club property, since we couldn't go on the Island and just enjoy our day. On the way to the orientation that evening we spotted the bull with the spilt beam from the weekend before. The orientation went quickly where they covered hunter safety, ethical shots and animal recovery. On the Grizzly Island hunt they have about 25 years? worth of data on elk total weight, overall length, hoof measurements and tooth data. They manage this by retrieving your elk for you with a cart and ATV. We also got to meet the two spike bull hunters and the other bull hunter who would be out there with us.
After the orientation they turned us loose for some more scouting until dark. Dad and I had not been east out of elk camp into the closed zone so we hiked straight from the orientation and were immediately into elk. Groups of cows with one to three bulls were moving north into the pheasant fields for the evening. We stayed until dark glassing dozens of elk and listening to the bugles.
Thursday morning found us sitting on the ditch bank where we closed out Wednesday night waiting to see if the animals that went into the fields the night before came back out as the sun came up. We saw a lot of animals but nothing worth going after. With 15 minutes of light I heard the first shots by the other hunters and heard the ATV head out to retrieve an animal. As the morning progressed I heard two more series of shots and heard the ATV head out two more times. Once the sun was well up we headed out along the eastern boundary of the Island to check on some areas in the northern pheasant fields. Found a couple more harems with bulls bugling but none met the standard so we moved on. We returned back to elk camp around 11 AM and it was already in the mid 90?s. We arrived to find the other bull hunter, one spike hunter and the last cow hunter had animals hanging. We headed back to the duck club for some lunch and rest.
Thursday evening as we left the club we spotted a bull on the refuge that was pretty interesting. He had a club brown tine on his left side and his right antler was nontypical with all kinds of things going on. I really like this bull but he was tall and narrow, dad wanted a big wide bull. Once on the refuge we glassed from all the parking spots along the main road, turning up lots of elk but again nothing special. We made it as far as the pheasant fields to find them full of elk, approximately 150 animals total with about 15 bulls. The bulls were all bugling, many were sparing and chasing cows. Was an amazing experience. We sat with these elk until it was too dark to judge racks through the spotting scope and slowly made our way back to the duck club. On the way back we again spotted the bull with the split beam.
Friday morning we again glassed from the main road parking lots then walked into the west side of the Island to check and area where the bulls cross to the private clubs. We turned up more elk but nothing better than the split beam bull. We decided to check a road called Pole Line that runs north and south but is east of the main road since we really hadn't been into that area during scouting. Spotted some elk and some nice bulls but again not ?the one?. Along the way we again ran into the split beam bull. This guy was getting to be like that brother in law who turns up all the time. Lol
Friday evening we worked our way back up Pole Line Road then down the main road and then back north on the main road, turning up the split beam bull along the way. We decided to go check the pheasant fields again since there had been such a concentration of cows and rutting behavior we hoped that maybe one of the big off Island bulls might have come to check it out. Again lots of elk but not the one we wanted. On the way back to the club we spotted the split beam bull. The last spike hunter tagged out.
Back at the club I talked with dad on what his thoughts were. He really liked the split beam bull and I could tell he was getting tired from the long days and the heat. It had been in the high 90?s all three days we had been there. I had been watching the forecast and saw that the temps were going to drop significantly on Saturday. We talked about going after the split beam on Saturday or waiting until Sunday. Dad felt like trying for him Saturday morning in case we couldn't turn him up, we would still have Sunday. So we went to bed with the plan in our heads.
Saturday we began working our way north, glassing all the locations we had spotted the bull over the previous days. He was nowhere to be found, oh-oh. Since we had first spotted him the week before, he and his harem had been working their way north towards what is called the ?Closed Zone?. The area is closed for the ducks during the duck season and has very thick tules and is flooded. I didn't want to have to drag dad into there to try to root him out of there. Before making that decision I found a high spot to park the truck and climbed onto my platform so I was high enough to look to the areas west of the main road across the canal. Guess who had changed his habit and swam the canal during the night? Yup, Mr. Split Beam.
We quickly put together a plan on how to go after him. Took the truck back down the road to the nearest parking area, can't park along the road except for in parking areas, crossed the canal on the bridge and hiked about a half mile back north until we were even with the bull and his cows. They were about 500 yards in but way farther than my dad could or would shoot. We paralleled the elk until we put a tule clump between them and us and then we stooped over and duck walked toward the elk, which were bedded down on a small rise. Once we were to the tule clump I ranged the elk and they were still 300 yards out, farther than comfortable for my dad. Open country, elk relatively close?. ?ok dad time to belly crawl?. We did our best imitation of G.I. Joe and got to about 180 yards, wish I had thought to take a pic of my 78 year old dad belly crawling through the grass.
We still had another 30 yards to go when a second bull showed up. I quickly glassed him and realized he was smaller than the one we were after but he made the split beam bull nervous and he stood up. Oh, this is going to happen now, and fast. I rolled over and got the shooting sticks setup, helped dad get into a kneeling position and got the rifle on the sticks. Told dad to give it a minute and let's see how things develop? BOOM! Well I guess they are developing fast. Dad hit him two more times and his quest for a big Tule Elk bull was over.
The cows in the background were with the bull dad took. As soon as he went down, the other bull that was coming in, along with another, ran in and stole the cows. There is no honor among elk.
I didn't realize it until later but Orlando the biologist had sent me a pic earlier in the summer of a group of bulls that included the split beam bull.
We took some pics then I called Orlando and he headed out with the ATV to pick up the elk and give us a ride back to the truck, talking about full service. We arrived back in elk camp with the bull and Orlando and one other employee quickly made short work of the measurements and sample collection. Dad?s bull weighed 712 lbs on the hoof and he was a 6 on the left and 9 on the right, if you count all his little junk. Afterward they helped us get it under a gantry and dad and I started the process of cleaning and breaking down the bull. My buddy Keith drove out from his house and helped, which was a big help with an animal this size. The four quarters hanging weighed 198 lbs and we had another 80 to 100 lbs of trim meat plus two of the biggest backstraps and tenderloins I have ever seen. Will be a great supply of grass fed venison.
The hunt and trip was an amazing experience to share with my dad. To help and watch my dad achieve a 25 year dream was absolutely awesome. My dad at 78 had to give up elk hunting in the Colorado high country after last year due to the cold and elevation so this hunt couldn't have been better timing.
Approximately 25 years ago the animal population grew to a point where the State began offering very, very limited hunts. The tags were few and the applicant numbers were big but both dad and I began applying faithfully every year but never drew a tag. In 2002 the State went to a preference point system and we began collecting points. Each year our point number went up and the number of max point holders dropped a little and we became a little more hopeful each year.
On June 12th of this year I woke up early due to my back hurting so I got up to make some coffee. Figured I would log on and check the drawing results online, I won a coveted D6 tag, and then I checked on Dad?s results: ?Successful-Grizzly Island Period 4 Bull?. Oh my God, it finally happened. Dad won the golden ticket! I reached for the phone to call dad then realized it was 4AM and I should probably let him sleep a little. Called him later that morning and he was ecstatic to say the least.
I began working on gathering information immediately. Found the contact info for the biologist, Orlando, on Grizzly Island and called him that day. He was extremely helpful in explaining to me how the hunt usually progressed, what to look for, what to expect and not expect and areas where the elk could usually be found as well as which private duck clubs the really big bulls had a tendency to go to off the refuge. He told me they had about 450 total elk on the island of which, 83 or so were branch antlered bulls. He also let me know the refuge would be closing to all access on July 26th. We were going to have to get on the ball and start doing some scouting. I have to say, through the whole preseason, Orlando was very helpful in answering many questions as well as sending me pics of various big bulls he spotted through the summer and I am very grateful for his help.
We made our first scouting trip on June 20th and what a trip it was. We saw 150 to 200 total elk and 40 or 45 bulls, so we saw approximately half of the animals. The bulls were all in bachelor herds of 3 to 15 animals and they all looked big! But nothing stood out as exceptional.
Dad and I had a two week fishing vacation in early July then we were back out to the refuge on July 25th for the last scout before the closure. The elk had really moved from their June locations but we finally found them in the late afternoon bedded in a couple large groups. The heatwave made any kind of detailed look almost impossible but we did spot one that was much larger than the rest. We saw about 40 bulls for the day. We realized that 6x6 bulls were average here. Getting dad an elk would not be a problem. Getting him a big one might be.
The rest of the summer passed quickly yet slowly. We got rifles sighted in and built a platform for the back of my truck to make spotting elk much easier. The country is so flat out there it's hard to see very far. Getting up high in the truck allows you to see much farther into the back ponds of the Island. By pure chance I also made some very important contacts. The first was John who I met off of a hunting group on Facebook. He had drawn the Grizzly Island Bull tag the previous year. We had many great conversations on what he learned during his hunt and things he suggested that I check and try during dad?s hunt. Our conversations continued right on through dad?s hunt. The second was Kevin. He saw my post about dad?s upcoming hunt on a fishing website called Coastside Fishing Club. Kevin owns a duck club on Van Sickle Island which is right next to Grizzly Island. He very generously offered to let dad and I stay at his club during the hunt so we didn't have to drive back and forth to town as well as we would get to enjoy the full experience of the marsh.
The last chance to scout for us was Labor Day weekend. We made plans with John to scout Sunday midday until dark, since we hadn't stayed on the Island until dark before. Unfortunately John came down with a cold a few days before the trip and he bowed out as to not get either dad or I sick. Dad and I saw a lot of animals with pretty much everything grouped up into harems. Lots of nice animals again but still nothing special until just before dark. We stopped at one of the parking areas to glass when a bull came out of the tules and I could tell he was much wider than the rest of the bulls we had seen. I put the spotting scope on him and noticed his 4th point on his left side was very large and on the right his 4th formed a split beam. He had a lot of junk on one side but I couldn't get a full count due to the gathering darkness. Dad and I watch him till dark and decided he was a potential taker for the hunt if we didn't turn up anything bigger.
The hunt was to start on Thursday, September 10th and run through the 13th. There was a mandatory orientation at 5pm on September 9th. We decided to head up on Wednesday morning, get setup at the club, glass from the club property, since we couldn't go on the Island and just enjoy our day. On the way to the orientation that evening we spotted the bull with the spilt beam from the weekend before. The orientation went quickly where they covered hunter safety, ethical shots and animal recovery. On the Grizzly Island hunt they have about 25 years? worth of data on elk total weight, overall length, hoof measurements and tooth data. They manage this by retrieving your elk for you with a cart and ATV. We also got to meet the two spike bull hunters and the other bull hunter who would be out there with us.
After the orientation they turned us loose for some more scouting until dark. Dad and I had not been east out of elk camp into the closed zone so we hiked straight from the orientation and were immediately into elk. Groups of cows with one to three bulls were moving north into the pheasant fields for the evening. We stayed until dark glassing dozens of elk and listening to the bugles.
Thursday morning found us sitting on the ditch bank where we closed out Wednesday night waiting to see if the animals that went into the fields the night before came back out as the sun came up. We saw a lot of animals but nothing worth going after. With 15 minutes of light I heard the first shots by the other hunters and heard the ATV head out to retrieve an animal. As the morning progressed I heard two more series of shots and heard the ATV head out two more times. Once the sun was well up we headed out along the eastern boundary of the Island to check on some areas in the northern pheasant fields. Found a couple more harems with bulls bugling but none met the standard so we moved on. We returned back to elk camp around 11 AM and it was already in the mid 90?s. We arrived to find the other bull hunter, one spike hunter and the last cow hunter had animals hanging. We headed back to the duck club for some lunch and rest.
Thursday evening as we left the club we spotted a bull on the refuge that was pretty interesting. He had a club brown tine on his left side and his right antler was nontypical with all kinds of things going on. I really like this bull but he was tall and narrow, dad wanted a big wide bull. Once on the refuge we glassed from all the parking spots along the main road, turning up lots of elk but again nothing special. We made it as far as the pheasant fields to find them full of elk, approximately 150 animals total with about 15 bulls. The bulls were all bugling, many were sparing and chasing cows. Was an amazing experience. We sat with these elk until it was too dark to judge racks through the spotting scope and slowly made our way back to the duck club. On the way back we again spotted the bull with the split beam.
Friday morning we again glassed from the main road parking lots then walked into the west side of the Island to check and area where the bulls cross to the private clubs. We turned up more elk but nothing better than the split beam bull. We decided to check a road called Pole Line that runs north and south but is east of the main road since we really hadn't been into that area during scouting. Spotted some elk and some nice bulls but again not ?the one?. Along the way we again ran into the split beam bull. This guy was getting to be like that brother in law who turns up all the time. Lol
Friday evening we worked our way back up Pole Line Road then down the main road and then back north on the main road, turning up the split beam bull along the way. We decided to go check the pheasant fields again since there had been such a concentration of cows and rutting behavior we hoped that maybe one of the big off Island bulls might have come to check it out. Again lots of elk but not the one we wanted. On the way back to the club we spotted the split beam bull. The last spike hunter tagged out.
Back at the club I talked with dad on what his thoughts were. He really liked the split beam bull and I could tell he was getting tired from the long days and the heat. It had been in the high 90?s all three days we had been there. I had been watching the forecast and saw that the temps were going to drop significantly on Saturday. We talked about going after the split beam on Saturday or waiting until Sunday. Dad felt like trying for him Saturday morning in case we couldn't turn him up, we would still have Sunday. So we went to bed with the plan in our heads.
Saturday we began working our way north, glassing all the locations we had spotted the bull over the previous days. He was nowhere to be found, oh-oh. Since we had first spotted him the week before, he and his harem had been working their way north towards what is called the ?Closed Zone?. The area is closed for the ducks during the duck season and has very thick tules and is flooded. I didn't want to have to drag dad into there to try to root him out of there. Before making that decision I found a high spot to park the truck and climbed onto my platform so I was high enough to look to the areas west of the main road across the canal. Guess who had changed his habit and swam the canal during the night? Yup, Mr. Split Beam.
We quickly put together a plan on how to go after him. Took the truck back down the road to the nearest parking area, can't park along the road except for in parking areas, crossed the canal on the bridge and hiked about a half mile back north until we were even with the bull and his cows. They were about 500 yards in but way farther than my dad could or would shoot. We paralleled the elk until we put a tule clump between them and us and then we stooped over and duck walked toward the elk, which were bedded down on a small rise. Once we were to the tule clump I ranged the elk and they were still 300 yards out, farther than comfortable for my dad. Open country, elk relatively close?. ?ok dad time to belly crawl?. We did our best imitation of G.I. Joe and got to about 180 yards, wish I had thought to take a pic of my 78 year old dad belly crawling through the grass.
We still had another 30 yards to go when a second bull showed up. I quickly glassed him and realized he was smaller than the one we were after but he made the split beam bull nervous and he stood up. Oh, this is going to happen now, and fast. I rolled over and got the shooting sticks setup, helped dad get into a kneeling position and got the rifle on the sticks. Told dad to give it a minute and let's see how things develop? BOOM! Well I guess they are developing fast. Dad hit him two more times and his quest for a big Tule Elk bull was over.
The cows in the background were with the bull dad took. As soon as he went down, the other bull that was coming in, along with another, ran in and stole the cows. There is no honor among elk.
I didn't realize it until later but Orlando the biologist had sent me a pic earlier in the summer of a group of bulls that included the split beam bull.
We took some pics then I called Orlando and he headed out with the ATV to pick up the elk and give us a ride back to the truck, talking about full service. We arrived back in elk camp with the bull and Orlando and one other employee quickly made short work of the measurements and sample collection. Dad?s bull weighed 712 lbs on the hoof and he was a 6 on the left and 9 on the right, if you count all his little junk. Afterward they helped us get it under a gantry and dad and I started the process of cleaning and breaking down the bull. My buddy Keith drove out from his house and helped, which was a big help with an animal this size. The four quarters hanging weighed 198 lbs and we had another 80 to 100 lbs of trim meat plus two of the biggest backstraps and tenderloins I have ever seen. Will be a great supply of grass fed venison.
The hunt and trip was an amazing experience to share with my dad. To help and watch my dad achieve a 25 year dream was absolutely awesome. My dad at 78 had to give up elk hunting in the Colorado high country after last year due to the cold and elevation so this hunt couldn't have been better timing.
