Sorry this took me so long to get to, better late than never…
This will be a long post, but I swear, It could be longer
2020 was a very challenging year for most people, but I was blessed with a healthy and loving family, a job that has kept me employed throughout and the words “Selected” next to a dream Washington state muzzleloader elk tag.
The hunt started the day I got the draw results. I’ve spent time in the permit area, but never really hunted it for elk. So I had lots of questions… What are the crowds like for archery and muzzy? Where do the elk like to go when pressured? Where are the best places to camp? Glass from? Etc… I reached out to a few people and got very helpful jumping off points and tips from past experiences. A few of you are on this site and I want you to know that I’m very grateful for the help and encouragement along the way. Even with the helpful advice, nothing compares to getting out and laying eyes and feet on the area. So that’s what came next. Got to know the road systems; what roads you can or cannot take, and what roads I never want to take again 😉.
I decided to focus my time and energy on one of the two GMU’s and a fairly large area inside that one GMU. Picked a central location for a consistent camp spot and began exploring the unit. With all the time pouring over maps I found multiple locations that I wanted to set up game trail cameras. Ended up hanging 11 cameras all throughout my desired location. These cams did a great job of showing me the top end caliber of bulls that were calling the area home for the summer. Living on the westside, I get excited when I see 100 pics on my trail camera. I was blown away by the amount of pics I was getting off these cams! Ended up with over 50,000 pics from these cams being up from early July to the end of September (and only 2 got stolen!) At this point it is critical to bring up my family. I have an incredible family in which I am blessed in the fact that they are selfless, loving and share the same passion I have for the outdoors. We spent a very memorable season up in these hills. Time I will cherish forever. Hours and hours of glassing, miles and miles of hiking/checking cams, and great quality time in camp. There wasn’t a weekend that went by from July to the hunt that one of us wasn’t up there glassing or scouting.
The hunt was getting closer and we knew that the rut would start distributing these bulls all over from where they spent their summer. From the trail cam pics and time spent glassing, I knew the caliber of bull that I was going to be aiming for. My brother and I put together a game plan and listed out our target areas. With the rut going strong, we figured the right thing to do would be to hit these locations in order and spot check bugles and see what we see. Well, turns out all those months of planning and scouting put us in the right spot on day one.
Day one found my brother and I leaving camp on foot and getting to a target location about 4-5 miles in before daylight hit. This general jumping off point was an area that produced a lot of big mature bulls on the cameras and was one of the main areas we could see from our favorite glassing spot. We glassed up LOTS of trophy caliber bulls here as well. It was a clear moon lit night and we started hearing and seeing elk (in the moonlight) just a few miles in. Everything in me wanted to sit and wait for light to see what each screaming bull was before we moved on, but the plan was to get to the spot that gave us the ability to hear/see animals with a lot of different avenues to take. So we pressed on. Elk were bugling all over. We got to our spot about 30 min before shooting light. There was a bull less than 100 yards from us screaming. It wasn’t light enough, so we needed to wait before we tried to go have a look (it was killing me, but was the right thing to do). As the visibility increased we tried to get a peak at the screamer. Everytime we would get to where I was sure to see him, he would be on the next bump down. Then the next one, and next. He was taking his cows down and away to a timbered hillside. There were other bulls bugling, but we were on this bull and decided to follow. He was taking us in the direction of multiple other bugling bulls. The elk were steady moving sidehill at this point and were keeping just out of eyesight. They weren’t on to us, but they were moving. As we continued to follow the music got better and better. Bulls bugling above us, below us, in front of us. I’ll never forget it. At first I thought the bull we had been following was driving his cows and the bugles from above and below were satellites following the action. Come to find out, all three locations (above, below, in front) were groups of cows being pushed by multiple bulls! The group of elk that were traveling above us peeled off and 3 bulls pushed those cows up and over the ridge. We could make out one of the three bulls and could have taken a 90 yard poke. He was a good 330-340 class 7pt. He just paced back and forth on the ridgeline until all his cows moved up and over. Wasn’t able to verify what kind of bulls the other two were. With the elk still in front of us and below, we kept on. As we started to catch up to them the bugles now shifted from going away from us to coming toward us. Then movement. A smaller 5pt come first followed by cows. They were passing just below us, less than 20 yards. Then the screams were steps away from being in sight. The first bugling bull came up to the bench we were on and started walking right to us. First thing I could identify was his great backs! Good 6pt! As he cleared some brush I could see that he was a really solid 6pt bull, but the fronts were just a bit shy (Please know that I am not a true trophy hunter. I like targeting mature animals but have no problem going home with anything legal. I just knew what kind of bull this tag could produce). After a quick once over, ok, probably a twice and a third over, I decided not to take the shot and wait for the next bull to come. The 6pt spots me and freezes. He doesn’t spook, but slowly walks up the hill around us. The next bull is coming in and he was the primary bugler. He has been screaming non stop and had a constant cluck coming out with every step. He is a really nice 6x7 bull. My brother in law caught some footage of him from the opposite ridge first thing in the morning. After a general muzzy tag holder fired off on a spike this 6x7 took his cows across the drainage and right into our lap. The bull comes out and follows the cows on the same line just below us. He’s a stud. He walks back and forth right below me a couple times, and somehow I don’t shoot. If I would have taken the shot I would have been more than happy to take him home. But I felt like something was missing with the length of his fronts and a big part of me just didn’t want the hunt to be over so fast. So I passed. The elk walk off and the bugler below us has faded off. It’s creeping on 9am at this point so my brother and I take a second to gather our thoughts and reflect on what just happened and what we should do next. Conversation went like this… Brother, “I though you were going to shoot.” Me, “I did too...”
We decide that there were at least two other bulls that we didn’t get a good look at that went up and over the ridge above us. Plus, there were other bulls that we passed in the dark that were also in that general direction. So up and over we went. It was starting to get warmer out and I figured the bugle session was going to stop. Wrong. We hear two bulls bugle. With the wind up top it was hard to pin down their location. So we took a guess and quickly cut the distance. They fired up one more time on our way to them so we had a good general idea as to their whereabouts. We slowed down as we got closer and tried to get the wind right. As we were getting close we catch movement, they’re coming our way! Then they start screaming! The first two bulls even lock horns for a second. They are passing between myself and some trees, so it’s hard to make out the first two bulls that pass by. I can see backs and one of them looks like the 7pt we saw on the ridgeline from earlier. Other bull looked like a big mature 6pt, but I wasn’t able to make out his fronts through the trees. I see legs of multiple elk still coming through. Then, through a small window I get a glimpse of the backs of a third bull following more cows. His backs look great! I spin around and get my brother’s attention and tell him that we may have a shooter. I’ve already made up my mind that if he shows me his fronts and I like them, I’m probably going to take the shot. The elk are following the same line as the other elk that just passed. Just then, for some reason, the bull shifts course and steps out of the trees and walks right toward me. I see his fronts and they are solid. He walks out, snaps a branch off a tree and boom, smoke filled the air. After a shaky reload, we take a short trip to where we find him down about 30 yards from where I shot him. I’ve tried to keep my composure to this point, but upon laying hands on this beautiful animal I’m filled with emotion. We said a thankful prayer to the Lord for the blessing of such an incredible experience. Then comes the surreal feeling of reflecting back on the months of excitement, anticipation and great memories made with family and friends. It was the perfect hunt. Well, “perfect” might have been more accurate if he was shot 10 yards from a road, ha.
We are about 5 miles from camp at this point and somehow I am able to get enough reception to give my folks a call. They were glassing a spot that required an hour+ drive to get back to camp. I explain the area I’m in and they said they’d get back to camp and start heading our way. My brother and I get to work on the bull. The whole time we are processing the bull we have music playing in the background. The same group of elk that we shot this bull out of hung tight to our location and the two remaining bulls were still screaming the whole time. It was awesome. We get done with the bull and start packing loads up to the top of the ridge to stage for the long pack out. With each trip I’m praying I hear my folks on the radio. With one load left to pack up to the ridge we hear the calvary chime in. My dad, mom, sister and brother-in-law are here to help with the pack out! Have I said my family is incredible yet? They are something else. Everybody maxes out their packs and off we go. My mom carried 2 front shoulders!! 5 miles with plenty of breaks and lots of heavy breathing and we make our way back to camp. Something really special for me, my wife and two boys (7 and 9) were at camp! As they come running and I set my pack down I am overwhelmed with accomplishment, fatigue and joy.
This was a dream hunt. The bull I ended up harvesting was a bull that I got on cam in the summer. He was on our “potential shooters” list. I ended up shooting him about 7 miles from where he was caught on camera. I wish I could say that I knew it was him when I pulled the trigger, but I didn’t. Just knew he was good. We had rough scored him from the game cam pics at over 370”. He ended up with a green score of 366-3/8”. And honestly, I do not care. There are bigger bulls in this unit, but I am extremely happy with him. A guy reached out to my brother after he posted it on Facebook and he sent us some really cool video footage of my bull that he caught on his game cameras. That was really cool of him. I got to know some awesome people during the process of this hunt. Got great help and info from members of this forum too. Sorry for the long winded post. It’s an experience of a lifetime that I wanted to share with you all. Hope you enjoy
