Bearpaw Season - Fall 2013

[bearpaw]

UTAH ELK HUNT
We've been elk hunting for the last week. I had a hunter in Utah on a quality draw tag and we passed roughly 30 to 40 bulls in the first few days with many of them roughly 280's to 320's class bulls. Never could find the "megabull" so on day 4 after a stalk and a long discussion my hunter decided to take a big long beamed heavyweight 5x6. Long story short, we didn't get the bull and he is probably off laughing at us somewhere on the mountain.

The next morning we saw a couple more good bulls and a nice one eluded us. About 10 am we heard a good sounding bull in a distant canyon and hiked in to call, I could get him within 130 yards but he wouldn't step into the open. Next he went a little deeper into the trees so we planned a little elk drive. Daniel and the husband worked around to the head of the draw and started through.  At 10 yards Daniel jumped the bull and it jumped up and bugled at him then broke and ran out into the open with 2 cows. I was sitting with Tina and she had the bull in the crosshairs at 200 yards. I whispered, He's a 5x6, not as big as the other 5x6, but we are running out of time, you can shoot him if you want or we can look for a better bull, we can probably find a better bull. She opted to wait.

At long range that evening we spotted roughly a 330's bull with cows, we tried to get on them but couldn't see the bull before it got dark so went after him the next morning. We started in an hour before daylight and just as it was turning light we found ourselves right in the middle of the grazing herd with some cows at 20 to 30 yards. We were pinned down and the wind was shifting, suddenly a cow caught our scent and bolted, it blew up the whole herd, the bull was within 60 yards but we couldn't see him in the heavy cover. So still no bull.

We saw a few more bulls but either too small or couldn't close the deal. That afternoon we stumbled onto a 330-340 6x7 at roughly 150 yards. Tina knelt down to shoot but couldn't see the bull, we told her she had to stand to see him and I think that just flustered her, she missed. We got onto another non-typical bull that evening, we could see his rack well, he just needed to take one more step forward but a calf come running in and nearly ran into us and busted us and blew that up. The elk ran up hill, we quickly backed off to a vantage point and had a couple quick shot opportunities but Tina wasn't comfortable with the shot and let him walk.

Finally it was the last morning of the season, today was the day of reckoning. We set out after the big 6x7 she had missed the day before, shortly after daylight we spotted him working his way out of a burn for heavy timber. We had to stalk out around a big ridge and work our way in for a closer shot. Just as we got within range the big bull bugled and we could hear that he had made it into the heavy timber. I tried to call him out but he went deeper, but another bull was answering from over the ridge. I kept working him and soon he came over the ridge and within range. I told Tina he's only a 4 point but this is the last day, you can shoot him if you want. BOOM! At 200 yards Tina put one behind the shoulder, the bull took a step, I said shoot him again and she hammered another round where it counts, the bull got week kneed and tipped over. It was a very emotional time for Tina and the rest of us, not a big bull, but at least she had meat for the freezer and her first successful elk hunt.

After a few minutes of high fives and such she handed her gun to her husband and we headed over while he and Daniel watched the spot. Halfway over we saw the bull run from where he had been laying and head over the ridge, but we had no gun, we couldn't even try to stop him.

   

I gotta go pull a drop camp, I'll be back in a few hours and finish the story.

(added some additional photos from the hunt)

[elkoholic1]

 

[dewandgin]

Waiting.....

[BOWHUNTER45]

He got away and she did not get him ??

[dewandgin]

It's been almost 12 hrs.... come on man 

[Holg3107]

Pretty sure the owner of this site should know better than to pull a stunt like this!! Come on Bearpaw this is Bush League!!!

[pd]

Oh dear.  This sounds like one tough client hunt; I hope the customers are understanding of the result.

[bearpaw]

OK I got the camp out yesterday, here's the rest of the story!

The Last Day Utah Bull
I couldn't believe what I was seeing, the bull appeared to be in good shape as he headed right over the ridge. I hollered at Phil to bring the gun, he got to us as quick as he could but the bull was long gone. Tina was heart broken, she had just watched her last day bull vanish over the ridge. We continued downhill, crossed the bottom of the canyon and started up the other side to the spot where she had knocked the bull down. Daniel gave us directions from the location where we had shot from, but we couldn't find any blood. Daniel told me to move a little to the right which I did and then I saw it, I hollered, Tina I have something you might want to see! She made her way over to me and there lay the bull Tina had tipped over. She was ecstatic again because we had both thought her bull had walked away.

Apparently there was another bull the same size as the one we knocked down that we couldn't see in the brush. When he heard us coming he decided to leave the area. In all honesty, if we had the gun we would have shot that bull. It's a miracle that we didn't have the gun or it could have been an ugly situation. Thankfully it all ended well and Tina said that in "Tina's Book of Records" that 4x4 was her 350 bull. It was an easy pack out and we had the  bull out in a couple hours, we went to camp and finished removing all bones then we broke camp and headed out. Before leaving Tina told me she had a blast but didn't know if she would do another elk hunt as it was such an emotional roller coaster, I told her to go home and think about all the excitement we had for the last week and that she would be ready to go again. The best hunting memories are the ones that take the most effort, even though we had passed or missed bigger bulls every day of the hunt until the last day, she had certainly put a great deal of effort into this hunt and had experienced the greatest ups and downs that a hunt can offer and after all, that's what addicts us all to hunting.

Congrats Tina!

[Broken Arrow]

Thanks Bearpaw.......great story.

[Machias]

Awesome!!!!!!!! 

[bearpaw]

I added some more photos, you have to check out the size of that sage bush, biggest I've ever seen, I'd like to know how old that bush is?

[Killmore]

Very nice bull and story, Is it hard to draw that tag, public or private land? sounds like a lot of fun!!

[bearpaw]

In Utah half the tags are random draw with points increasing your odds to draw and half the tags go to the applicants with the most points. In my opinion it's the best point system in the west. Tina drew with 3 points, my last hunter drew the first time, on the other hand it takes 10 to 18 points to be guaranteed a tag in most units. There are landowner tags available but they usually run $6000 to $15,000 depending on area. In the unit we hunted the smallest bull we had previously taken was a 326 and the largest a 352. I did see a huge 6x6 go out in a pickup the 3rd day which looked like a 370's class bull.


ELK HUNTING SCHOOL
Next year I think we are going to offer an elk hunting class in Utah during the bugle where students will get a chance to bugle, cow call, score, stalk and basically learn how to elk hunt by practicing on numerous bulls. It should be a great chance for those who are not sure what to do in many elk hunting situations to learn how to react and get within range to close the deal on an elk hunt.

[RB]

Awesome! Nice Bears and nice Bull too 

[bearpaw]

Idaho Archery Elk Hunt
Bill and David were our first two hunters. Bill passed a spike early in the hunt and had a 35 yard shot at a 5x5 but didn't get it, and David passed a long shot on some cows. Our next six bow hunters are hunting now, Jason passed two 4x4 bulls and had a frontal approach by a 6x6 at 26 yards but couldn't get a decent shot. Rob passed on some cows that we called in. Jeff, Gordon, and Mike have been onto one bull and some bucks but no shooting opportunities yet. Nathan killed a 5x5 bull two days ago (photo below).