Toutle Bull season 2010

[520backyard]

Well I finally filled my tag, not the huge bull I had hoped for but I ain't chewing on my tag this winter. I saw quite a few nice bulls and even more rag horns and tons of cows. Here are a few highlights.

I did quite a bit of scouting pre season so I had a pretty good idea where I wanted to hunt in the early season.

The early season started out with quite a bit of action on the first day and I did get a broadside shot at a 6x6 at 52 yards but the shot got deflected by a branch that I couldn't even see.  I saw and heard it deflect and saw it hit the bull in the horns and he shook his head and it was dancing around in his horns for a second. I found it sideways lying exactly where he was standing. It turns out that would be one of the three biggest bulls I would see during the early and late season.

I did notice that the lack of bugling all early season and only heard a couple bugles which I am pretty sure originated from other hunters. I tried bugling but never got any takers. For the most part it was just spot and stalk. I saw and got on a couple more rag horns but with no success during the early season.

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats! whats the story on your bull? you know we need pictures

[520backyard]

The week before my late season opened I decided to hunt with a couple friends in the Winston and had scouted an area for us to hunt. And before I tell you about that I'd like to thank WDFW for changing the regs this season to making it antlerless only. The snow was on the ground and we had seen quite a few elk the day before the season opened so in we went on opening day of late season. We parked our rigs and got our gear on and were walking down to where we were going to go in and wouldn't ya know it standing 35 yards away looking at us broadside was a 4x4 bull and we could only watch him slowly walk away. About then I decided I wasn't going to burn my tag on a cow and would wait for my season to start in a week. Instead I scouted around for my buddies and told them where I was seeing elk.

 During one of my walks I had just crossed a stream and walked up an old overgrown road and sat down on a alder log across when I noticed elk color and horns about 80 or 90 yards from me, so I rechecked the wind and it was coming from my 10 o'clock to my 4 o'clock.  I got behind this 10 inch log and leaned my bow against it andcrouched down and watched as this bull was grazing straight towards me. I put my gloves up to cover my face and he stepped out and looked at me for a second and went back to eating. He continued to graze in my direction for another 40 yards or so then just started walking right at me. I started counting points and it was a 5x6 with double eye guards. He just kept coming and at 10 yards I started thinking do I want this bull right next to me and then getting startled but I decided to just ride it out. He just kept coming and as he passed me at about 3 yards I slowly turned my head and watched him and he was BIG. About 3 steps past me he winded me and bolted away from me down the hill stopping about 60 yards away to look back. I was still just speechless as to what had just happened and slowly stood up and he busted into the timber.

[520backyard]

So given the fact of what I had been seeing right before my Toutle bull late season I was up at 4 am on opening day and waiting for daylight right where I wanted to be. I walked down the road into my area and as I got to the bottom I spotted a bull 100 yards or so off and checked the wind, it was good so in I went. I'd see him now and again as I moved in and as I got to the last spot I had seen him I stood and scanned the near by timber. I spotted him about 55 yards away facing me and he was a old timer really really grey and had a weird left horn that was like twice as thick as the right at the base and as it got to the top was palmed out like a moose kinda, not huge but palmed out like maybe 6 or 7 inch's and had 3 or 4 points sticking out. The right side had points going everywhere at every angle and I did not count them all, but there was a lot. I was watched him and he turns his head and is looking at something so I look over at what he's watching and its a huge bull maybe 150 yards away. He then turns and slowly walks away and I decide to go for the big symmetrical bull.
So I cut through a draw and slowly start working up on this one cutting the wind. I get to within about 60 yards of him at the top of this ridge and he vanishes. So I work the area and don't find him and decide to walk back down the ridge into the wind.
 I get maybe 300 yards down the ridge and all of a sudden I see horns and they are are close. I range him as he's walking and I get 37 yards and then he stops right behind a log so that all I can see is head and horns facing away from me and legs. So I pull back and get on my knees to see if I can get the shot and its a no go and as I get to my feet he must have winded me cause he busts. And that's how opening morning went for the late season. I sure as hell had plenty of adrenalin going and had to make a effort to slow it all down. And all this happened in like 45 minutes.

[Lightning_Rider]

Need pics 

[ser300wsm]

Ummm Pics ?? Please....

[520backyard]

So after not seeing much the rest of opening day I headed up to a clearcut that over looks a reprod line. As I got up there I got out of my rig and head down it a bit to get a better view and saw a bull about 600 yards away grazing right on the reprod edge. I hopped back in my rig and drove down and around and parked at the begginning of the road aways from where I had seen it and slowly moved in on it. The wind wasn't that great it was cutting me but not exactly in my favor. I slowly came around the corner and there he was a nice 5x5, the wind as I faced him was coming from my 4 o'clock blowing to my 10 o'clock and he was at my 12. I watched him and moved in as his head dipped down out of sight. I stopped 45 yards away as that was a s close as i could get I figured without him seeing or hearing me since there was nothing between us and every step seemed way too loud for my liking. I watched him for about 3 or 4 minutes knowing the wind could bust me anytime and daylight was about gone. He finally turned so he was maybe an 1/8 turned towards me and I drew back settled in and let it fly. It struck him about 3 or 4 inch's off centerline and 3 inch's towards his shoulder at a about 15 or 20 degrees off 90 and buried up to the fletchings. He bolted about 10 yards and downhill and the only thing I could see was his neck and head so I reloaded and tried a follow up shot but he moved right as I let go. I felt sure he was going down so I went back to my rig and called in help to get him out.

I waited about an hour and went in and picked up his blood trail. As I worked it and ribboned it help arrived and we blood trailed him for about 250 yards till about 9 0clock when the trail went blank. I got up there the next morning and got back on and tried to find more blood trail, but no luck so I started doing a grid on the reprod and after about 2 hours I bumped an elk that I thought I saw stagger but was so thick I didn't see horns. And the elk went up towards the clearcut, so I worked up that way but didn't see anything.

[520backyard]

So I went back to doing a grid on the reprod for the rest of the day till just about dark. About a hour before dark I went back up to the top of the clearcut to have a look back down and didn't see him so I took the other road over the top of the clearcut to see the far corner and as I went around the corner I thought I saw branches moving but it wasn't branches it was the bull I had hit standing right in the middle of the road with my arrow buried up to the fletchings right where I had seen it go. It had been him I bumped earlier in the day and he had climbed the clearcut which was almost vertical to the top which was like 600 yards away while I worked the reprod he had been bumped out of. Anyway he turns around and starts running down the road and he was limping pretty good and I jump out and grab my bow and give chase but even a three lagged elk is faster than you think. He took off across the clearcut and I 'd get within 100 yards of him and he would turn and run and this went on for 4 or 5 times like that but I was never able to get closer than 100 yards from him. He dived into another reprod stand and I went in after him and trailed him for about another 30 minutes when I lost the trail right at dark. The next morning I worked the timber around that reprod unit and pushed through it for the rest of the day and half the next. I never saw that bull again and felt like *censored* for not having killed that bull outright. Maybe I should have waited another minute and he would have turned completely broadside. Should have could have would have. Anyway I went back up to that area everyday for the rest of my season and spent at least an hour or two looking, never saw him or found his carcass. 

[520backyard]

So after that I got back on the elk and saw a couple more rag horns but never had a clear shot and still had that blown bull opportunity fresh on my mind. I had scouted and found a nice valley that held quite a few elk and wanted to work it but wanted to do so when the weather was on my side so I hunted a few other areas to kill the time. Finally on Sunday I had my weather and so I went in early and hiked the mile or so in. As I got into the area I immediately saw a herd of about 30 or 40 I figured. By this time I only had 4 days left so I figured a spike would do just fine. I saw a group of about 3 spikes but they were in the middle of the herd and there was no getting to them without getting busted. The wind was in my favor and blowing into my face as I watched them for about a half an hour. Finally a group kinda started  working towards me and I kept looking for any horns but didn't see any. Then out of nowhere I see a spike about 30 yards from me and he's grazing right at me. I ranged him again at 20 yards and as he took a few more steps then went behind a tree and I drew back and as he stepped out I had a nice shot at 17 yards and let it go. I found him not too far away piled up.  So I tagged him and hiked back to my rig and got my packboard. As I hiked back in I saw another herd of elk. And as I butchered him I heard elk calling all around me. And every trip in and out  of about a mile I saw elk.

It was a great elk season and I saw some really nice bulls, lots of rag horns and tons of cows and had a few chances at glory but came up short. In the end I got a spike but I think for me the greatest moment was the bull I didn't shoot that passed me at 3 yards. That ranks as the second best moment I have ever had in the woods, the first would be taking a 9 7/8  mountain goat and having to rope myself and the goat off to so we both didn't end up at the bottom of the cliffs. And now I am just waiting for next season counting the days.

[520backyard]

I'll post a pic as soon as I get them off my phone and into my computer. Like I said not a trophy just a spike, but I'm sure he will taste better than my tag would have.

[520backyard]

here is a couple

[ser300wsm]

nice bull, congrats to you.. 

[520backyard]

nice bull, congrats to you.. 

Thanks, it could have been better but then again it could have been worse.

[gonehuntin68]

hey good job brother

[400out]

Way to go!