Redemption Bull

[jbeaumont21]

Incase you missed my earlier thread here is my whole elk hunting story.  I was able to take a day off from work on Monday and go hunting and try my luck at the late ML season here on the West side.  I was slowly walking along a creek bottom (that we now call Christmas Canyon) when all of a sudden I look up and there is a huge 6x6 bull laying next to the stream at about 50 yards away.  I was immediately over taken by the shakes of bull fever and it felt like my heart was going to bounce right out of my chest.  Not only is it a blessing to see a bull of this magnitude or even just an elk period, but here this monster is standing in front of me with just a couple of branches blocking my shot.  I slowly crept about 10 yards closer to a clearing when all of a sudden another elk jumps up in front of me and boogies out there.  I wasn't able to get a good look at that elk mostly because I was so focused on the Big Boy. Anyway, the elk that I spooked alerts big boy that had been lying down and caused him to stand up for a perfect broad side shot.  I put the sights of my beautiful Thompson Hawkins muzzle loader right on his chest, pull the trigger, the cap goes pop and nothing happens. Then the emotional rollercoaster sets in and my heart goes from beating a million beats a second to a sudden stop.  I felt like screaming, crying, punching a tree, throwing my gun into the creek and many other things all at once.  The feeling of disappointment and disgust was overwhelming. After all the time spent scouting, driving, hiking, hunting, etc I finally get the opportunity of a life time and my stupid gun fails me....  

Well here is the rest of the story! After moping around the house for a week and being a complete downer for friends and family I was able to drag myself back out this morning to try and find Mr. Big Boy. I was able to back out of the area without really spooking him too much on Monday so I was hoping that he had settled back down into his little honey whole.  I had spent many hours during the week cleaning my gun inside and out so I was sorta confident that it would maybe, probably fire this time if the opportunity arose.  Anyway, back to the story... I had just got into the woods and was slowly making my way along the creek bottom when all of a sudden I look up and see white hair ahead.  I try to control the emotions and the nightmarish thoughts running through my head and focus on the white.  I carefully crept to within about 90 yards of the bull to where I could count at least three points on one side and see that it was a legal shooter. Although he wasn’t the big boy I was still trembling with excitement and was struggling to rest my sights on him. I got down on one knee, took a big deep breath, said a little prayer and squeezed the trigger. To my amazement the cap went pop and the gun immediately roared to life with a loud blast.  As the smoke cleared I noticed that the bull was still standing there in the same spot. I instantly thought oh no I missed him! Then I noticed he started to get the bobble head and watched him make a quick 20 yard dash straight into the creek where he collapsed. (Why is that elk always tend to run to the nearest body of water when you shoot them?).  Yes!!  I had just totally redeemed myself… well kind of.  It wasn’t Mr. Big Bull, but it was a beautiful 4x4 that I am extremely proud of and we will now have meat in the freezer! 

It turned out to be an amazing season with a great ending. I am very proud of the long 90 yard shot I made on Little Brother Bull that hit both lungs dead center (sorry if the last pic is too graphic) and I have decided not to retire my old traditional Hawkins to the wall.  I wasn’t lucky enough to get Big Bull this year, but who knows, maybe he will be an even bigger 7 or 8x8 next year??

[jbeaumont21]

Sorry have to upload each individually

[jbeaumont21]

Another

[jbeaumont21]

Last one

[chester]

Great story, way to bounce back 

[krout81]

I love having a creek to clean-up
Nice Shot
Nice Bull 

[salmonslayer1]

thats a awesome ml.great kill.

[400out]

Good job    Thats a fine bull 

[Wacenturion]

Congratulations.  Seems unusual you first encounter ended with just the cap going off, as those older TC's were pretty dependable....type of cap...loose....old residue in the nipple?  Made for a great story though.

[jbeaumont21]

Thanks all!  It's hard to say what caused the misfire.  I had good airflow the night before and I even fired off a couple caps in the morning to dry everything out before loading.  It could have been a combination of some residue from the caps and a couple rain drops.  Hard to avoid the rain around here this time of year. When my partner unloaded his Thompson Northwest Explorer yesterday the powder was completely soaked inside.  Probably never would have fired. I feel very fortunate that my gun fired and that I was able to harvest this bull.  I guess that's the gamble we take when we decide to hunt ML.

[Lightning_Rider]

Congrats, thats a nice looking bull

[PacificNWhunter]

Great job!

[sportsman002001]

Congrats to killing a bull. Should be good eating

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats on the bull

[agchawk]

That was weird! Does anyone know why my thread was locked up?

  I was wondering the same thing earlier. No idea.

[Pathfinder101]

Nice!

[steelhead13]

Looks like you even got the old wood ramrod with your muzzy. I love the traditional hawkins muzzys.  Shot an elk at 210 yds with my .54 cal hawkin a few years back.

[jbeaumont21]

Wow steelhead13!  That is a long shot with a muzzy.  I'm not sure I would have the confidence to pull the trigger at that distance without a scope.  I wish I had the original wood ramrod, mine is actually composite.  It's not so bad though, it is pretty strong yet flexable.

[Charlie]

Congrats! It will taste much better with all the effort you put into the hunt.