My Unicorn Bull

[buckmaster_wa]

First off I will clear up the heading of "My Unicorn Bull". I say this not because the bull has a 3rd antler or a single antler but rather he is a great bull that was harvested in a very low elk population area.

So the 1st weekend of Muzzleloader deer season I found myself hiking around the same chunk of property that I have been hunting for the last 10 years.  I got on a few bucks, but with the multi season tag I decided to pass on them. On Sunday evening myself and my hunting partner put eyes on a group of 6 cow elk and a small 6pt bull. We have seen the elk on the property maybe 4 times total over all the years of hunting, and never have we seen them while they were in season.

We decided to make another trip to the property the 2nd weekend of Muzzleloader deer season and we were hoping that maybe the elk would still be around since they would be in season now. We pull up to the landowners house to drop off the homemade apple pie as I do every year. From the owners house we put eyes on a group of 9 cows and a really good sized 6 point bull. We come up with a game plan for the next morning and we hit the sack. Now, I'm usually a pretty positive outlook type of guy,  but I just had a feeling that things wouldn't go as planned in the morning and either the elk would be long gone or we wouldn't get close enough for a shot. After all, they were bedded down on the top of a wheat stubble hill and we had muzzleloader's.

The next morning we put eyes on them right at daylight.  They are in the exact same spot they were the night before.  We decide to send one guy around the back side of them and myself and Denny would try to get into a position to intercept an escape route. We crawled up to within 200 yards of the elk. We are in a nice saddle on a wheat stubble hillside. A thick cattails filled draw is on our right, a huge game trail through the wheat stubble shows that they frequent this particular draw. I peak over the hill top every so often to confirm the bull is still one ridge away from us. We have no idea where our other partner is, but we figured things would happen soon. While watching the elk, the bull starts sniffing the air and then runs his cows in a circle.  He does this 3 times. I'm not sure what's going on. If it was our buddy then the bull would be taking off like a rocket. But, I dont pay much attention as to what's got the bull fired up. A few minutes goes by and the bull has had enough,  he starts heading our way right to the saddle we are on. I have already ranged it and the shot will be within 90 yards. He stops right at the top of the saddle.  Only problem is hes right in the middle of the cows. He starts to trot down the other side and I throw out a cow call.  He stops in his tracks, just in time. Another 5 steps and he would have been on the downward side of the Crest and out of sight. I take a fine aim and squeeze off a shot. The bullet impacts and the bull starts down the hill. He goes about 50 yards and piles up. I hit him right behind his near side shoulder and blew out his off side shoulder.  We start towards the bull and as we got closer he grew. He has a 22" G3 sticking up out of the stubble.  I was in disbelief.  I just shot a monster OTC Bull elk in an any elk are with my Muzzleloader in open country.  God was definitely guiding me that day.

After snapping a few pictures.  Denny tells me " I'm going to go over the hill and try to get one of the cows". He proceeds over the hill and figures out what had my bull all worked up earlier.  A 6 pt bull was up wind of us on the ridge and I'm guessing his scent was blowing right down towards my bull earlier in the morning.  Denny watches as the new 6pt bull wanders his way into some 12' tall cattails brush in the bottom of the draw. After almost 3 hrs of waiting for the bull to step out, Denny got tired of waiting and sent in Josh our buddy to try and push the bull out. The plan worked and Denny shot the bull as he exited the end of the draw.

Between the time that Denny and I got our bulls, our 4th hunting partner text me that he had just shot a 3pt bull out of a herd of elk that was on the north side of the property. 

We were fortunate that we were able to retrieve 2 of the bulls with the truck. We only had to pack out one bull. This was definitely a day of elk hunting that will never be forgotten.  I told the guys not to expect another day like that anytime soon. Looking back on it, I wish I would have taken way more pictures of my bull. But, he will be getting a shoulder mount and I will be able to look at him on the wall daily. He ended up with a gross score of 358 3/8". 

[hunterednate]

Unicorn is right!! Unbelievable. Congrats!

[buckmaster_wa]

Let's see if this works.

[buckmaster_wa]

Heres pics of him after Karl helped me Cape and score him.

[Archry]

Epic!congratulations to you and your hunting buddies

[TheStovePipeKid]

That is a really cool rack. The shoulder mount is going to look amazing.

[jmscon]

Incredible, congrats!

[X-Force]

Epic!congratulations to you and your hunting buddies

 

[TVHunts]

Congrats!  What an epic hunt and fantastic bull!

[full choke]

Congratulations! 

Great bull!

[Widgeondeke]

That truly was an amazing day of hunting for your party 

Congrats

[Milkman]

 
Great work!

[Tschaefer72]

Incredible bull. Congrats on making the most of a rare opportunity.

[redi]

Great story and awesome bull

[Mfowl]

Congrats! Thats awesome!