Rifle RUT white river tag!!!!

[ctwiggs1]

You did that tag justice.  That's a great bull.

[trophyhunt]

More pics

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Way to go!!!!    

[elkrack]

Looks like a great time around the camp fire! 

[trophyhunt]

Looks like a great time around the camp fire! 

im 100% positive you know how fun it was, that was a great bull you got this year !   

[Lincoln4]

Awesome!   

[bearmanric]

Hope I can do as good as her. Didn't get to the high country. So many people. Got a killer new pack and more knifes. Going to be just me. She got a heck of a bull. Cant wait to get back up there in a week. Rick

[300rum]

What a Bruiser.  Great Job!

[trophyhunt]

So much clean up to do, quick story.  This tag comes with a ton of pressure, mostly on ourselves to do it justice.  This year the rut was really odd where we hunted, the days were too hot and the moon was the brightest I've ever seen.  Bugling ended sharply around 8:30 every morning and didn't start up until around 4:30, made for long hot days.  Saw a drop tine bull day before the opener, he looked nice but not big enough for the first few days, he nevered bugled only groaned.  We hiked in the back country for an over nighter on Sunday, saw 4 bulls in a basin before we went to bed.  Woke up opening morning to find the basin empty of elk, only saw a guy in the middle of the basin! We hike the rest of the day calling at ever new corner, nothing, no responses at all.  We left our back country camp for the trailer and a different area.  We saw Bulls everyday, usually rag horns and always miles away.  Her first opportunity came Tuesday morning, the trail led us to a nice bugling bull.  We got as close as we could, set up, I called back and he stepped out.  I knew right away it was a shooter, shoot, I told her.   Well, she made a clean miss! I'm sure she pulled the trigger, rookie mistake that I've made a few times in my hunting life.  She felt absolutely rorrible about it, I tried to re assure her it's not that uncommon and it's far better to miss than make a bad shot and not recover the animal.   Wednesday morning we were hunting a different area with notelumcreek (hank) as our guide.  NO he wasn't paid!!!!!!   Hank had knowledge of the area and was gracious enough to help out.  We saw 3 bulls that morning all rags and almost stepped on a goat in the dark.  At our final basin a bull screamed from across the canyon, I cow called and he immediately responded!  Game on!  He showed himself through the trees at 556 yards away, we knew right away he was a shooter.  Juli got set up with our packs as a rest and I called again.  The bull was already on his way, he made his way over to us to 100 yards in less than 3 or 4 minutes. He turned up hill when he reached the top of the ridge and offered her a great broadside shot, boom!! He hunched up and stood there, Boom, second shot and he started walking.  He got behind a tree and stood there for what seemed like forever.  he finally turned facing down hill and stepped out from the tree, boom! Last shot destroyed his shoulder and he was done!  We waited about a half hour cause he went behind a tree and was alive for a few minutes, we did not want to chance him running down either side of the canyon we were on.  We found him dead and the work begain, his antler dug into the ground which saved him from rolling down 350' to the bottom of the basin probably saving us hours of packing and broken antlers. We had to tie off his head to a tree to keep him from rolling away during the breakdown of the bull.  We really worked our butts off on this hunt, the day of the results I put up a camera and scouted since June.  I really can't express my respect for Ross (rosscrazyelk) and Hank for helping out on the pack!  Ross left work, grabbed our meat packs and hiked up the mountain to help, priceless having guys like these two on your side!  We owe them big!  Thanks again for tagging along, thanks for ALL the support and kind words.  And thanks to those guys I revived PM's from offering there help to pack, you know who you are and it's greatly appreciated!! Thanks

[bracer40]

Great write up!

[PlateauNDN]

   can't wait for pics

[trophyhunt]

Ross and I with our final pack, I'm using my beaver tail bull pack, very comfortable with a heavy load! 

[trophyhunt]

  can't wait for pics

i kinda went backwards plat, sorry, the pics start on page 5 or 6.

[rosscrazyelk]

Pleasure was all mine.  Glad I could help

[trophyhunt]

Head is ready for Beatles ! Sorry for dragging this out, still celebrating!