Upper Smith Creek Bull Hunt

[pianoman9701]

  Keep it going!

[D-Rock425]

I've been there in the fog can't see a thing.

[kellama2001]

Great pics and story so far 

[2MANY]

I'm guessing these last few nice days will result in a dead bull for them as they will feed into the more open/visible stuff.

[blackveltbowhunter]

I assume we are just waiting for 3nails to finish the write up. Didn't the hunt close the 23rd? Maybe Its not the one I'm thinking of.

[D-Rock425]

I assume we are just waiting for 3nails to finish the write up. Didn't the hunt close the 23rd? Maybe Its not the one I'm thinking of.

I believe you're right.

[2MANY]

Hope they succeeded.
I just assumed they were still hunting like I wish I was.

[3nails]

 After about 3 hrs and 3 or 4 miles we headed back to the truck to try and wait it out. We drove back and forth to different vantage points hoping for an opening that never came. The funny thing is, the north side of the ridge was fairly open and we were continually teased with sightings of good bulls. My son and the packer (that's how I'll refer to his buddy that tagged along for the hunt) pretty much slept in the truck all day apparently needing rest from spending too much time with their girlfriends.
 That night the rain poured down again until maybe 3 a.m. When the alarm went off we were pleasantly surprised to see a few stars out giving us hope for the day. The weather forecast was for very heavy rains throughout the duration of the hunt so this little break was the opportunity we needed. Upon arriving at the parking area again we were greeted with a nice skiff of fresh snow and a high ceiling. We headed west towards Ape Canyon glassing as we went.

[3nails]

.

[Dblstks]

Good luck

[3nails]

 After reaching the far west end of the canyon and not seeing any elk, we decided to work our way back towards some of the finger ridges descending into the basin below. Hunting down one of these revealed a tremendous amount of sign. The footing in these areas is very unique. The best I can describe it would be like walking on hollow golf balls and marbles. You step into it and ooze/slide 4 inches every step. It's a little hard not to get distracted by this incredible environment. We continued glassing our way down and I located a giant blacktail buck on the ridge to the east. I know what a good blackie looks like and if it was open for deer and I had a tag I would have gone right after him! We admired him for a bit then continued down the ridge. We got to a point several hundred yards down and decided to just sit for a bit and look for movement. At this point the weather began to deteriorate. The wind picked up and clouds were rolling back in. Right before I was going to suggest another ridge I located a bull about 800 yards away on the opposite side of the basin. It looked really good to me and my son agreed. I was thinking in my head that it was a solid 5x5. Dark antlers with ivory tips. We decided to get back to the truck, drive to the other side and make a play from there. I should say that since my son had never killed an elk, "any" elk would have been a good one. I dropped him off at the top of that ridge and he began cutting the distance which was around 600 yds. After maybe 20 minutes I started getting antsy and began looking around for a place to get a view of where the elk was. I located an area, grabbed the packer, and went that direction.

[sagerat]

Awesome story, keep it coming!

[dewandgin]

tagging along

[X-Force]

I wish you had a picture of the blacktail.

I wonder what huge is to a guy with a 150” BT avatar!

Story is getting good

[3nails]

 We glassed for the bull for an hour or so with no luck. I could see my son working back up so I decided to leave and pick him up. I knew he had to be exhausted. After walking maybe 10 yds the packer said he saw something move in the direction of the bull. I stopped, glassed, and sure enough, the bull was working his way into the next basin which we were in. I told the packer to stay put and keep an eye on him while I went for my son. We came back over and the packer said he lost him in some thick brush. I ranged said brush at 600 yds. We then looked to drop into the basin and cut as much distance as possible. After cutting out about 150 yds my son set up on a stump hoping he'd step out. We then waited 15-20 minutes. About that time we caught movement and sure enough here he comes. At 400 yds I knew he could make the shot but I told him to hold off believing the bull would work closer with the line he was on. He entered more brush and turned uphill away from us adding distance. At 500 yds the bull finally stopped in an opening broadside and I told my son if he felt good to take the shot. One second later he shot and I heard the impact of the bullet. The bull turned and ran downhill towards us. He paused at 350 yds broadside and my son hammered him again. 30 yards later the bull went down. I told him to keep the gun on him, elk are tough. We then began to get a bit excited. After about 15 more minutes we began closing the distance to where the bull lay.