Check out the mass on this bull

[go4steelhd]

This hunt started for me once I confirmed the Wyoming draw results, I logged in seeing the much desired “selected”. A few days after the results came out, I made my first trip into the unit to begin learning the lay of the land, learn the access points, glassing knobs, etc. While getting the lay of the lands I peered down from one of the highest points of the unit. My view cast over the low lands which are filled with sage brush canyons working their way into timbered forests, then up to me in the high country above timber line. The highest point in the unit is nearly 10,000 feet. This unit is also the heart of grizzly country. After learning the lay of the land, I reached out to three past tag holders. Each of them was extremely helpful. After talking to them each individually, they provided very different perspectives on the hunt, access, weather, and areas they would focus on.
Soon the season was just days away, I set up camp, and began scouting. As I looked over the unit for a few days, I noticed nearly every elk was very low near the valley floor. These areas had limited amounts of public access, but large numbers of elk. As I patterned them, they would cross public periodically. Opening morning found me glassing a sage brush canyon just above where I had seen a great bull. In the first few moments of daylight, I had to make a tough decision on a unique drop tine bull, as he fed underneath me at 90 yards. I decided to let him go, wondering if this would prove to be the right decision. The next day cloud cover, and rain came in. Causing the roads to turn to mud, and became undrivable. Also, low clouds blew in and out making visibility zero for hours at time. That evening I found a 350’s 6x7 working his cows towards me coming from private. As they fed closer, large clouds drifted in, I could now see merely a few feet in front of me. I could hear his bugles come onto public, then they continued on right underneath me. Sadly, I was never able to see him when the clouds cleared in the last minutes of daylight. The next day, I found a nice 340 type bull, I stalked into 400 yards, and decided he just wasn’t what I had spent time day dreaming about, and passed him. The next day I went back home to give my hunting report to my young son and wife.

[go4steelhd]

This is what It looked like when I could hear him pass underneath me bugling

[go4steelhd]

The 340ish bull I passed

[go4steelhd]

On my next trip, I added a vacation day to the weekend giving me three days to hunt. On the second day I located a 360 bull a few miles off. That afternoon I had moved in to the canyon the bull was in that morning. I caught some movement just below me to my right, I was a sow and cub grizzly heading to a wallow. They used it to cool off from the afternoon sun. I watched them spin around in the mud for probably ten minutes. When they finished, they headed up the up the trail I was sitting on. I took that as a que to move. Later that night I set up on a different vantage point, viewing the same canyon.  Just before dark the bull I was after fed out on the ridge, but was to far away to get into range before dark. About 10 minutes after he fed out a boar grizzly came out just above him. The grizzly stalked in on the bull and tried to catch him. Luckily the bull seen him with just enough time to escape, running off down the ridge to safety. I never saw that bull again. The next day was much like the week prior, a big storm blew in which turned the roads back to mud, and the high country was covered with about 24 inches of snow.

[huntnfmly]

Nice right up sounds like a good hunt
Please tell me you seen that bull with the big dropper and dropped him👍😁

[go4steelhd]

Then the next weekend I seen the bull this story is about. I watched him feed his way into a draw about 200 yards from public mid-morning. Though I did no see him come out of the draw, I figured at some point that day he would come onto public. I drove around to where the public lands crossed the county road and hiked in about three miles, crossing several canyons. I carefully glassed over each canyon before moving across it, in case he had made it into one of them and bedded. It was about noon when I reached the location just above where I had last seen him. I seen a nice 6 point feeding on public, but it was not him. I hunted until nearly dark, seeing multiple bulls, some of which were really big, but not him. I hurried out of this area trying to cross the brushed in canyons before dark. I was able to make it across the last one just as I needed to turn on my head lamp. When started to descend off of the ridge top, I noticed there was a four-wheeler that had just gotten back to a truck next to mine. They sat there with there park lights on and watched me walk out until I was almost back to the truck. I thought it was another hunter simply wanting to compare notes. But they left, when I was just 200 yards from the truck. The next morning, I seen fresh grizzly tracks in the mud where I had walked out. I believe the other hunter was simply watching to see that I made it out safe. The next day I only located a few smaller bulls, and headed home.

[go4steelhd]

Photos of the bulls

[Sneaky Squirrel]

Keep it coming! Liking the story and pics!

[OutHouse]

I was wondering how long it would take into the season for go4steelhd to start another of his great threads. Thanks for sharing with us once again!

[jrebel]

You've go way more restraint than I do......Tag would have been filled with that dropper on day 1!!  Tagging to see how this turns out....

[go4steelhd]

The following weekend at first light I located a big bull feeding onto public across the canyon from me. While surveying the land in the land, I formulated a plan. I then began a stalk that should allow me to end up just ahead of him in the canyon he was feeding up. In the final stage of my stalk I walked up the draw and began to look over, I glanced to my left seeing an elk with the distinct coloring of a bull. He was feeding up an open sage brush draw just under a large rock out cropping, with a few junipers scattered around, and a small creek running through the bottom. Once I pulled up my bino’s I could tell this was the caliber of bull I had been hunting for. I took a quick range of the bull and it registered a range of just over 300 yards. This was a distance I was very confident at, especially if I could lay down prone. As I laid down to get a solid rest, he turned and looked right at me. I just sat motionless for what seemed like minutes, my heart pounding with suspense. If he took two steps he would be out of sight, possibly for good. Finally, he put his head back down to feed. This allowed me to lay down prone, get a good rest, and prepare for the shot. As I settled in my cross hairs I took a look at his long wavy beams, great tine length, and mass. I took a deep breath, steady my aim, then squeezed the trigger. The gun shot broke the silence of this late October morning, I heard it echoing through the canyon. The bull hunched up; I racked another round. Then I shot a second time, this bullet also found its mark and he ran out of my sight.

[go4steelhd]

The mass

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds like an amazing hunt, all except the grizzlies. 

[go4steelhd]

As he lay

[kellama2001]

Sounds like an amazing hunt, all except the grizzlies.

  tagging for the rest of the story!