So.. I posted a few pics in the 2013 bulls thread and a few people wanted a story to go with it.
For how early our season started and how warm it has been we have had a pretty active season, We bugled several bulls and were in and around elk nearly every day. 3 days prior to me taking my bull my dad and I had located a bull before daylight so we had moved in as close as possible before shooting light. As we sat there and waited another hunter started moving in on the action so we made a quick move right at light and called a decent 6 point in to about 30 yards. Dad had the only shot so he let it fly.... but in the low light of the morning there was one twig in his path that deflected his arrow for a miss.
The next day we hiked into an area 3 hours in the dark, at light we headed down the ridge we expected to find elk on, we located 3 bulls and went after the one that seem closer to the truck we left at the far end of that ridge. As we closed the distance we were trying to find an area that might offer a shooting lane (very thick and nasty where these bulls were living) we were about to hit some nice open dark timber when the bull decided o come charging in, needless to say I was not able to get into the dark timber so I set up in an area that I could have taken a couple 15 to 20 yard shots if the bull walked thru those lanes. A really nice 7x7 marched right in to 35 yards and hung up there and rubbed his antlers for nearly 40 minutes then headed out.
The next morning we were up early (about 2 AM) and headed out for another hunt, we stopped in a few places to bugle on our way and didn't hear anything. In the process I managed to kick my wallet out of the truck (which I did not realize until later that night). On this hunt we hit the top of the ridge well before daylight.. so we waited for a little while then decided to bugle the basin at the top (planning to head out down another ridge if nothing was heard)... this ended up being a mistake, 2 cows and a calf came charging in to about 12 yards in the dark. Aside from the cows we did not get a response from any other elk, after they left we headed down the ridge, we bumped elk several times that morning but none that wanted to bugle.
For the next hunt we had planned to go back in after the 7 point from earlier, but then I realized that I had lost my wallet so we decided to get up early and try to locate a bull for an easy hunt... we ran all over the country looking for a bull that would bugle at us. We finally found one an hour before light that screamed back at us so we made a plan and went after him, covering most of the distance in the dark.... right at daylight we located the bull again and started working in for a shot. The bull was extremely fired up and charged in to about 30 or 40 yards but again it was so thick I could only see maybe 20 or so yards, he hung up there and rubbed a tree for about ten minutes.... then I started to hear brush breaking across the draw from me, his cows started working in towards us. This got the bull fired up again and he charged across the draw to round up his cows and escort them out of there. But the cows were just a little too curious and started to cross the draw about 30 yards below me, I had one window and the bull was going to have to cross the draw a little higher than the cows for me to get a shot, but when he came thru he was on the same trail as the cows... when he got to my window he took one step above the trail and into my sights.......... and THWACK!!.... my arrow flew true and got a complete pass thru and the bull piled up in about 15 yards. We had him deboned and back to the truck by about 12:30. Hope you all enjoy!
P.S. The only camera I had at the kill site was a disposable which has not been developed yet so no kill site photos yet.... and later that evening I searched for my wallet to no avail.
