My First Bull Elk 2006 (Long Story)

[firefighter4607]

I finally got my computer back up and running so I found my pictures. I know that this was killed a few years ago but since I am new to this site I thought that it would be OK to post. Hopefully everyone enjoys the story.

I got drawn for the Walla Walla Watershed. My father had drawn a tag back in the 70's so he kinda of knew the area in which he was wanting to hunt. In September my father and I took a scouting trip to see if we could hear any bulls bugling. The first night we heard a few and saw 5 bulls walking on a open hill side. The second day we woke up early and walked about 3-4 miles in on the boundary trail. We got to the peak where my father saw lots of elk years ago and watched for any sign of elk. While we were sitting there we heard 3 bulls bugling, the one bull that we were intersted in seeing would let out one big grunt.While the other 2 would bugle. It was quite intersting to hear them bulge. On our way back to camp we came upon another person walking up the trail, when we got close to him we stepped off the trail to let this person by. He stop where we were and ask "who are you and what are you doing here" so we explained to him and he told us that since we were on the watershed side of the trail that he could have us arrested and that our vehicles would also be towed and taken away. He was a NFS Watershed Ranger! We had no idea that they patrol that area year around. After he found out that I was going to be hunting there; he told us all there is to know about the watershed. If any of you get to go into the watershed look out for Able Gracia(spelling) he will more than likely find you and talk to you he is a mountain goat. Once you get to know him he is a very nice person.

Now on to the hunting part. The first night we set up camp and went out to the point where we saw the 5 bulls at in September. There were 2 other hunters that were sitting there looking at 4 bulls in the same area. They were really nice bulls. My father and I hoped that we would see them their in the morning. We went back to camp to get some dinner and hit the sack. While we were eating a truck came up to the camping site, a man got out of the truck and started walking our way, it was dark and we could only see a shadow so my dad was ready to pull his side arm if it was some loony; what do you know it was Able, the first thing he said was "Hi, Joe." He remembered what type of truck I was driving and he pulled up because he didn't notice my dads truck with a horse trailer, he brought up his jeep in September. He was just checking his area to see who was around and hunting.
Opening morning we rode in on horses to where we heard that bull grunt in September. We left camp a little early and half of the ride in we were in the dark. I walked into where I had a good vantage point of some ridges and openings and just sat there glassing the hillsides. At about 12:30 I saw a total of 10 bull elk coming from the eastside of a ridge down into a cannon in front of me. They looked really big but then again I have not seen my elk in my life. They were all following each other and made their way into the canyon. It was probably about an hour from the time I saw them to the time they went into the canyon. I have some really fuzzy pictures of them I will post. I was thinking about going after them but my father wanted to make sure we had enough daylight left to ride back to camp. Which it was dark by the time we got into camp. We had marine grade radios that we used to talk to each other on. They work a lot better than the FRS radios for long distances. I packed up and walked to where we had the horses. At dinner I told my dad what my plan was for the next morning and he said that it sounded great, that is the same area they got a spike in the 70's. As I tried to sleep I keep thinking of the big bulls I saw that day and couldn't wait to go shoot one.

The next morning we left camp a little late, and it was light on the way in, but it actually helped us. While we were riding the boundary trail, my dads horse stopped and looked off into the watershed dad kicked him to move and the horse just stood there. Dad was wondering why the horse stopped so he looked off to his right and saw antlers walking just below us. Dad pointed over to the edge and whispered it's a four point bull!!! I looked and just saw the antlers and my heart started pounding. We could just see the antlers of the elk, I thought to my self hell it is a bull and I didn't care how big my first bull was as long as it wasn't a spike I would be able to say that I got a branch antler bull in the watershed. So I dismounted the horse and got my gun. Loaded one into the chamber(clip was already in the gun) and walked slowly to where we last saw him. It seemed like it was an hour but it was just a few minutes. I lost sight of the bull and didn't see it then all of a sudden from about 10-20yards he appeared. I saw that it was a bull pulled up on him and could only see blonde in my scope and "BOOM!". The bull turned down hill and started to crawl futher down the hill. I got up to the edge again, "BOOM!"  then he rolled about 20 yards and started tossing his head so I shot again since I didn't want him to move any more, "BOOM!" his head laid down. I am not sure if this next shot was a necessary one but my heart was pounding out of my chest and my adriena was running high, I though I saw him move his ears so I took another shot. Then went running back to where dad had the horses and told him I needed more ammo. I shoot a Browning 270 WSM Stanless Steel Stocker, which only holds 3+1 in the chamber. He asked me how big was he I said I know he is a bull but I thought he was still alive since he twitched his ear. I got more ammo and went back and really took a good look and I started to shake and . I just saw half of his rack. This is a picture I took from where I was at. My dad came up and was speechless. We went down and started to gut and bone him. Able found us a while after we took this guy down. It was about 8:30 in the morning when we got him and we got him all back at camp at dark. We had horses to carry out the meat, but my dad wasn't sure on how to pack the head out on the horse. He has been packing for a long time but mostly he has packed out small bulls and lots of spikes. Before anyone starts to say you should of caped him out I regret not doing it but at the same time I packed that out on my back for about 2 miles and it almost killed me the next day. We thought that he might be a 300 bull but we didn't know until we measured it at home what he really was. I just wanted everyone to enjoy my story and wanted to show some pictures. I know that this is a once in a lifetime bull and I am really proud to have killed it. I am really happy because my dad was with me and he got to see his son kill a real nice elk.
Here is what it scored: 353 6/8 Gross
                                     342 5/8 Net

[huntnphool]

Looks like a monster

[cascademountainhunter]

have any close up pics of him?

[firefighter4607]

yeah there are more pictures up I hit the wrong button while I was writing it. Sorry

[TheHunt]

That is a real nice bull...  You should be real happy with bugger...

[Huntbear]

Awesome bull......

[C-Money]

Great Bull Joe! Well deserved. Nice story, it never gets old.

[NW-Eric]

GREAT BULL!!!

[croix]

 

Did you ever get a mount? - even antlers? Just too nice not to have on a wall.

[Buschingc]

DAMN... .. NICE BULL

[tlbradford]

Great story and a beautiful bull.  I have shot around 40 big game animals and if they move they are getting shot again.  It kills me watching the tv folks shoot, load another round and then wait to see if the animal falls.  I am always yelling at them to put another through the chest.

[Dameion]

Nice story and Awesome Bull!!

[X-Force]

Awesome bull. Congrats. thanks for posting it.

[270Shooter]

great bull

[fc2038]

Nice Bull! Congrats

[C-Money]

Croix, Yes he had a Taxi do a horn mount. It Looks great!

[wackmaster]

good job

[steeleywhopper]

Thats a beautiful represenative of the Blue mountain bulls. I love that country. Good job

[Let er Fly]

Great Bull and great story.   Those kind of hunts are once in a lifetime.

[GoldTip]

Very cool, a true 7x7 bull, don't see many of those any more at all. Heck never used to see many years ago either!  Thats a great bull, congrats.

[spur_ride]

the story never gets old joey. i love it. and those pics never get old either.

[firecrotch]

thats some nast country up in there... our family owns property around the watershed, and its about as rough as it comes. hell of a bull congrats

[bowsandhose]

great bull, congrats

[bowhunterforever]

Awsome bull and story!

[tmike]

Nice "4 point" you had to be stoked! No ground shrinkage there!

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Congratulations on a Beautiful Bull. Well done.

[Dekker]

That's a great bull!  How many points did it take to draw that tag? 

[firefighter4607]

That's a great bull!  How many points did it take to draw that tag? 

Dekker I had 8 points, the next year my dad drew that tag with 10 points.

[bow-n-head]

Great story, congrats on an awesome bull.

[robb92]

Sorry I missed this earlier! Congrats on a very nice bull!!!!!

[Pathfinder101]

Great Bull Joe!  Thanks for the story too.  Would LOVE to draw that tag!

[bowhunter1972]

  good job and ya it's a great bull

[skipper]

I would love to get a bull like that

[MichaelJ]

That's a great bull!  How many points did it take to draw that tag? 

Dekker I had 8 points, the next year my dad drew that tag with 10 points.

Great Bull!  Love the fact he's a 'Royal' (7x7)!!

So what happened on your DADS HUNT?   

Michael

[C-Money]

FF4607's Dad had a few chances. One bull he was on he let a young boy shoot that also had a tag in the same area. It was a 6x6. I think the kid was from the same home town as FF4607's Dad. I dont think he saw anything that he wanted to shoot after that.

[Buckrub]

Nice bull.

[guardian]

awesome bull

[jroc92980]

Sweet Bull