My old man has never really been a hardcore hunter and has only elk hunted a couple seasons over the years. This year I told him if he got his weyco permit I would, at the very least, get him a shot at a bull.
I've been following this herd around since august and had a pretty good read on their routine, but the spikes and cows were the only ones showing themselves. I knew there were at least 5 legal bulls running with them so it was only a matter of staying with it. We hunted hard every day we could get out and finally on Sunday morning it paid off.
We got into the area we were setting up on for the AM hunt and I immediately smelled elk! It was on and I knew they were close. We crept out to the opening they had been using to feed and I saw a small legal bull staring at us at 80yds. I got the old man set up on it and waited for the boom, nothing. I saw him twitch forward and I knew he forgot the safety. The bull bolted, but it ended up being the best thing that could have happened. As the small bull took off, the other elk lifted his head and I immediately saw he was a much bigger bull, Dad did as well. He gets lined up and BOOM. bull its hit, but takes off across the field. I told him to put another one in him so he did. My Dad is usually a crack shot, but bull fever took over big time. 6 shots later he finally goes down!! After further inspection he got a front leg, a brisket, a hind quarter and finally spined him. This all happened very quickly and the bull was down within 100yds. Lots of high fives and a huge sigh of relief. The look on his face when I told him to get the guts out while I went for help was priceless lol.
He's not the biggest bull in the woods, but he's a keeper for sure and the old man was happier than I've seen him in a long time.
