NMPaul
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This was a memorable hunt .
I will try to tell the story of the hunt briefly as possible, but, of course from the beginning. I picked this tag up at a fraction of what they go for only because it was 2 days before the hunt and after those 2 days it would be worthless. Someone could not do the hunt and had to sell the tag at the last minute. Anyhow, I had already drawn out so I could not use it, and checked with Zach and he has a rare light week at school. Only having classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Our good friend Jaime was coming from CA for the same hunt, so we promised him first shot on any bull we found. Jaime after a crazy first day killed a nice bull and we got it packed out Saturday and Sunday. Here are a couple of pics of us dealing with rain, processing the bull, and getting it ready to be packed out.
So, after hunting and scouting just about every elk season this year, we are just not seeing the quality of bulls we have seen in the past. Tuesday morning, we split up . I hike into a high spot about 6 miles from where Zach hikes up to a glassing mountain.
About 8 am Zach radios me and tells me he just glassed up a good bull a few miles away and is gonna try to close the distance. I kinda get an idea where it is and also start heading that way. Then things started to go wrong. Zach lost sight of bull. Then he lost sight of his radio, and we spent time having me calling it hoping he could find it.
Finally we gave up on the radio. We lost cell coverage. I start to get close to where I think he is, and heading up a ridge I glass off in the direction I think he is and I see a bull. I set up my optics and it has to be the bull we had not been able to find for the last couple hours. Some people would say that kinda makes me the MVP of the day. ?
Still no cell service and I can't reach Zach. I leave my gear where I have the bull bedded at 450 yards and head up the mountain to find cell service.
Half mile up I get some bars. Meanwhile the clouds and fog are moving in. After about another 20 minutes I get Zach on the phone and we figure out where each other are. It takes him about 45 minutes to get to me and now it is raining.
We rush down the mountain hoping we still can see the bull. We get there and the mountain he is on is fogged in. It clears slightly and we can see elk, but, not the big bull. Finally it clears a little more and I see the bull on top of the mountain. My range finder has a hard time in the fog, but, my best guess with a couple readings is 600 yards.
Zach gets prone and sends a bullet. I am watching the bull and he takes a few steps , but, no indication of a hit. Then the fog rolls in for good. We are almost 100% sure it was a miss.
We are soaked so we start a fire to warm up and dry off. After an hour or 2 we decide to head up to where we think the bull was last not expecting to see anything. 600 yards and nothing to indicate a hit. We get there and the bull died right where we saw him last. Cant describe the satisfaction.
Packing out zach?s bull . I am convinced after several light rain coats not getting the job done that a hefty bag is the most versatile item in your pack. I now wear XXXL contractor size bag. At least part of me was dry on our 3 mile pack out in the rain.
I will try to tell the story of the hunt briefly as possible, but, of course from the beginning. I picked this tag up at a fraction of what they go for only because it was 2 days before the hunt and after those 2 days it would be worthless. Someone could not do the hunt and had to sell the tag at the last minute. Anyhow, I had already drawn out so I could not use it, and checked with Zach and he has a rare light week at school. Only having classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Our good friend Jaime was coming from CA for the same hunt, so we promised him first shot on any bull we found. Jaime after a crazy first day killed a nice bull and we got it packed out Saturday and Sunday. Here are a couple of pics of us dealing with rain, processing the bull, and getting it ready to be packed out.
So, after hunting and scouting just about every elk season this year, we are just not seeing the quality of bulls we have seen in the past. Tuesday morning, we split up . I hike into a high spot about 6 miles from where Zach hikes up to a glassing mountain.
About 8 am Zach radios me and tells me he just glassed up a good bull a few miles away and is gonna try to close the distance. I kinda get an idea where it is and also start heading that way. Then things started to go wrong. Zach lost sight of bull. Then he lost sight of his radio, and we spent time having me calling it hoping he could find it.
Finally we gave up on the radio. We lost cell coverage. I start to get close to where I think he is, and heading up a ridge I glass off in the direction I think he is and I see a bull. I set up my optics and it has to be the bull we had not been able to find for the last couple hours. Some people would say that kinda makes me the MVP of the day. ?
Still no cell service and I can't reach Zach. I leave my gear where I have the bull bedded at 450 yards and head up the mountain to find cell service.
Half mile up I get some bars. Meanwhile the clouds and fog are moving in. After about another 20 minutes I get Zach on the phone and we figure out where each other are. It takes him about 45 minutes to get to me and now it is raining.
We rush down the mountain hoping we still can see the bull. We get there and the mountain he is on is fogged in. It clears slightly and we can see elk, but, not the big bull. Finally it clears a little more and I see the bull on top of the mountain. My range finder has a hard time in the fog, but, my best guess with a couple readings is 600 yards.
Zach gets prone and sends a bullet. I am watching the bull and he takes a few steps , but, no indication of a hit. Then the fog rolls in for good. We are almost 100% sure it was a miss.
We are soaked so we start a fire to warm up and dry off. After an hour or 2 we decide to head up to where we think the bull was last not expecting to see anything. 600 yards and nothing to indicate a hit. We get there and the bull died right where we saw him last. Cant describe the satisfaction.
Packing out zach?s bull . I am convinced after several light rain coats not getting the job done that a hefty bag is the most versatile item in your pack. I now wear XXXL contractor size bag. At least part of me was dry on our 3 mile pack out in the rain.
