jdmaxwell
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LAST EDITED ON Dec-21-16 AT 05:57PM (MST)[p]I was lucky enough to draw a PA Bull tag in my home state this year.
My wife and i spent every weekend after i learned i drew the tag, scouting.
We hiked and biked many miles, spent every free moment we could learn the area i had drew.
I drew Zone 13 in PA Elk range, which i was told would be the hardest unit of all to hunt.
But my wife and i love the challenge of DIY hunting.
We hunt Colorado every September DIY Unguided for Elk, so this hunt was going to be no different for us. DIY
Although we were unsuccessful this year in Colorado, we were determined to make the most of this once in a lifetime tag in our home state.
We had a running list of bulls we encountered in my Hunt Zone.
As the hunt neared, we had determined the 2 bulls we would focus on pursuing.
We had many encounters with one bull we had nick named "Wally" from trail camera pics. A big 8 x 8 with split ends on his main beams.
The other bull we named "Big Boy" (real original), super heavy mass and dark dark horns. We had only ever saw him once in person.
On opening morning about an hour into the hunt, we heard a bull bulge. We moved toward the location. As we were walking, i spotted a bull about 100 yards away feeding on acorns. After studying him, i determined he was a 6 x 7 maybe 350inish bull.
I turned around to my camera man and told him i was going to pass on this bull.
You should have saw the look on his face!
Everyone even some of my hunting party thought i was crazy.
But i knew of the bigger bulls in the area from all our scouting and my wife and i had decided ahead of time i should hold out.
The rest of the day we did not see any elk.
Tuesday morning we heard some bulls, but never caught up to them.
I was starting to feel the pressure i was putting on myself.
Wednesday morning we thought we had located one of our hit list bulls.
As luck would have it he was bugling pretty good for November 2nd.
We were able to circle around in front of him as he was coming up a valley.
He bugled about 200 yards from us, and i knew after all our scrambling to get in position he was now coming our way.
Just then the camera man whispered to me he saw a cow coming.
8 cows slowly were being pushed our direction by the big bull.
The cows were now 70 yards from us straight down wind with the bull still in heavy cover.
I had one small opening and decided as soon as he stepped into it, i had to shoot before the cows spooked.
His front shoulder stepped into the opening and i shot.
He dropped in his tracks and never took another step.
Walking up to him i did not realize just how big he was until the camera man got to him first.
That is when i realized i had killed "Big Boy"!!!
Sorry for long story, i tried to make it a short version.
Here he is 9 x 8.. Gross Scored 418 6/8..
Biggest Bull ever killed in PA DIY Unguided.
Heavy Packs coming out.
I have to give a Big Thanks to my wife. She put in countless hours with me scouting and gave up her archery season to help scout. This bull was definitely both of ours.
I also have to thank my brother in law, and our retired friend who both accompanied me on the hunt. They were a big help in everything.
This was truly an amazing experience and i am great full to all the organizations that have had a part in the reintroduction of elk to Pennsylvania.
This PA Elk hunt and our Colorado Elk hunt was filmed by Addicted to the Outdoors.
These hunts will air on the Outdoor Channel featuring my wife and I.
My wife and i spent every weekend after i learned i drew the tag, scouting.
We hiked and biked many miles, spent every free moment we could learn the area i had drew.
I drew Zone 13 in PA Elk range, which i was told would be the hardest unit of all to hunt.
But my wife and i love the challenge of DIY hunting.
We hunt Colorado every September DIY Unguided for Elk, so this hunt was going to be no different for us. DIY
Although we were unsuccessful this year in Colorado, we were determined to make the most of this once in a lifetime tag in our home state.
We had a running list of bulls we encountered in my Hunt Zone.
As the hunt neared, we had determined the 2 bulls we would focus on pursuing.
We had many encounters with one bull we had nick named "Wally" from trail camera pics. A big 8 x 8 with split ends on his main beams.
The other bull we named "Big Boy" (real original), super heavy mass and dark dark horns. We had only ever saw him once in person.
On opening morning about an hour into the hunt, we heard a bull bulge. We moved toward the location. As we were walking, i spotted a bull about 100 yards away feeding on acorns. After studying him, i determined he was a 6 x 7 maybe 350inish bull.
I turned around to my camera man and told him i was going to pass on this bull.
You should have saw the look on his face!
Everyone even some of my hunting party thought i was crazy.
But i knew of the bigger bulls in the area from all our scouting and my wife and i had decided ahead of time i should hold out.
The rest of the day we did not see any elk.
Tuesday morning we heard some bulls, but never caught up to them.
I was starting to feel the pressure i was putting on myself.
Wednesday morning we thought we had located one of our hit list bulls.
As luck would have it he was bugling pretty good for November 2nd.
We were able to circle around in front of him as he was coming up a valley.
He bugled about 200 yards from us, and i knew after all our scrambling to get in position he was now coming our way.
Just then the camera man whispered to me he saw a cow coming.
8 cows slowly were being pushed our direction by the big bull.
The cows were now 70 yards from us straight down wind with the bull still in heavy cover.
I had one small opening and decided as soon as he stepped into it, i had to shoot before the cows spooked.
His front shoulder stepped into the opening and i shot.
He dropped in his tracks and never took another step.
Walking up to him i did not realize just how big he was until the camera man got to him first.
That is when i realized i had killed "Big Boy"!!!
Sorry for long story, i tried to make it a short version.
Here he is 9 x 8.. Gross Scored 418 6/8..
Biggest Bull ever killed in PA DIY Unguided.
Heavy Packs coming out.
I have to give a Big Thanks to my wife. She put in countless hours with me scouting and gave up her archery season to help scout. This bull was definitely both of ours.
I also have to thank my brother in law, and our retired friend who both accompanied me on the hunt. They were a big help in everything.
This was truly an amazing experience and i am great full to all the organizations that have had a part in the reintroduction of elk to Pennsylvania.
This PA Elk hunt and our Colorado Elk hunt was filmed by Addicted to the Outdoors.
These hunts will air on the Outdoor Channel featuring my wife and I.