A couple days before I had told Mark I wouldn't take a cow that had a calf, I didn't want to have the image of a calf standing there watching us unzip its mother be my only memory of my hunt, and it surely would have been.
We went a little farther and again Mark made the spot, deep in the bushes. I got out and went through to get a better look and shot when again a calf appeared. It turned and trotted off and then all of a sudden his mother stood up 30 yards in front of me
with the look of death in her eyes. Mark is in the truck saying "get back in here, don't get trampled" I slowly backed out watching her the whole time.
3:00 PM, only about 75 minutes of light left. Its getting down to pucker time and we figured I had used 60 days 22 hours and 45 minutes. We headed down the road and there was another one, once again a cow and calf
4:00 PM, about 15 minutes of light left and I'm thinking thats it. Mark being ever the optomist says "you just never know" I told him the fat lady was warming up her voice. All of a sudden Mark says "STOP! STOP!" Up go the binos and there about 30 yards off is a moose. We get the binos up one more time and take a good look. We cant see a rack so assume its a cow and start looking for a calf. I get a good look through the Swaros and tell Mark it looks like it has a dewlap or bell. Mark says "I;m going to check to see if it has balls"
and he jumps out with his binos. He get back in and cant tell. We take one more good look and I told him it looked like he had bloody pedicles. Sure enough it was a big bull that had just dropped his antlers, the third one I saw on this trip.
4:05 PM, 10 minutes of light left I grab my bow and get out, Mark waits watching. I worked around the truck and into the trees and bush. The bull is watching and standing behind a couple X-mas trees and I have no shot or way to get around them without him busting. I motioned for Mark to start the truck and drive off hoping it would keep his attention long enough for me to make a move. Mark changed seats and fired up the diesel, the bull bolted
I watched where he went so I followed him through the trees and bushes when I saw him stop. Running out of light I told myself no time to sneak, if he bolts then so be it. I just start walking through the trees making all kinds of noise but knowing I didnt have a choice. To my amazement the bull just stood there. I had quickly cut the distance and had one small tree to get around. I tried to catch my breath real quick and took the side step to my left drawing back at the same time. I estimated 30 yards and quartering away so I put the 30 pin right behind the leg. It was amazing, every pin on my bow was on him, the only thing I needed to worry about was windage. I let it fly and heard the crunch of bone and grunt as he shot off through the trees. Right then the nerves kicked in and adrenaline started pumping, I was shaking like a leaf. I walked up to where he was standing and looked for blood on the ground, following his direction. My frist reaction was that I hit him a little back but at the angle I thought it would go right up into the vitals.
I spotted some blood drops and kept going when I heard soemthing. Looking up there he was about 30 yards in front again. I grabbed another arrow out of the quiver but he bolted again, this time with renewed speed. I went back and grabbed mark and took him to where I had last seen him and explained what happened. He suggested we leave him be and come back in the morning so not to push him too far.
One sleepless night was next. I would have sent out a post from Joes puter but didn't want to say I got one and then not be able to find it, hope you guys understand.
The next morning we hit the area and here is the first pick.
