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Author Topic: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull  (Read 15434 times)

Offline WapitiChaser

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #15 on: October 05, 2011, 07:32:59 PM »
 :yike:  Wow, I have Hunted Clockum about ten years total and have NEVER seen a rack like that one.  Thanks for sharing :tup:
If hunting was easy, they'd call it killing....

Never judge a man til you walk a mile in his shoes.  That way when you do judge him, you will have a mile head start and he will have no shoes.

Offline Elkrunner

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2011, 08:13:54 PM »
cool looking rack

Offline cmiller85

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #17 on: October 05, 2011, 08:31:53 PM »
Thanks everyone! I must say that you all have alot of class.  :tup: I know there are some of you who are wanting to pull your hair out reading that post.... C'mon you can be honest.  :chuckle:

Anyhow, that whole story is made up. We didn't waste a Colockum tag on that little guy. He is actually from the NE corner from a couple years ago.

I'll post the TRUE story and pics of the actual bull we got, but I must warn you, I did a loooong write up! I didn't proof read it so I apologize in advance.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2011, 09:33:58 AM by cmiller85 »

Offline 6x6in6

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #18 on: October 05, 2011, 08:33:11 PM »
 :chuckle:

Offline cmiller85

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #19 on: October 05, 2011, 08:37:40 PM »
Here is the TRUE story.

My Dad and I drew this tag back in ’98, when I was 13, just after the point system began. We got a couple 6 points in the 260-280 range, but shortly after Dad got his that year we saw 2 bulls that made our bulls look like glorified spikes. Even though these were our first 6 point bulls, we quickly realized that we had screwed up!

Ever since that year it had been our dream to get back up there and redeem ourselves on a true monster bull. Well, that dream quickly became a possible reality back in June when we found out that Dad had drawn the only Colockum Muzzleloader Bull Tag. We were stunned.

After several scouting trips, opening day found us back in the area that we had spotted those monster bulls so many years ago. We knew the quality of this permit so our goal this time was to really do this tag justice. We wanted to get a Boone and Crockett bull. In looking for a bull to net 360 + inches we set the “Shooter” bar at 375+ to allow for the deductions that were to be a guarantee.

DAY 1:

 At around 6:15 A.M, we heard our first bugle of the hunting season and we were pumped. The elk were in a draw below the road we were parked on. After the bull bugled they quickly crossed and headed up the hill before shooting light. As we trailed the heard we could hear several different bulls screaming at each other throughout the valley so we focused on the closest bull to us. We wanted to try and get a glimpse of him to determine if he was a shooter or not and then move on up the valley.

Getting a glimpse of the bulls proved more difficult than what we had expected. Closing that last hundred yards was extremely challenging as each bull had about 50+ cows in which he managed to conveniently have disbursed around him at all times. The elk, however, were not too spooky which gave us a good amount of room for error.

After a few hours we finally crept in on the first bull who was a nice 6 point but he had broken tines. So we decided to back out and get a look at a bull behind us whose bugle sounded like he was part domestic cow. We caught a glimpse of him about 100 yards back down the valley as he crossed a clear cut headed into some timber. He was a decent 6 point but not a shooter either.

We heard a couple more bulls up farther on a ridge so we headed in their direction. Once we got to the top of the ridge we could tell that they were headed back down the other side so we started hoofing it to try and catch up to the herd.

After about a half a mile we came upon a bull grazing through the trees at about 150 yards away. He had no cows around him so our first thought was that he was a satellite bull but on second glance through the binos, he was actually a 7x7 and a nice one at that! After sneaking in to about 80 yards, we realized that this bull was a borderline shooter. A quick guesstimate put him in the 350+ range but he just didn’t have that “Wow” factor that we were looking for. We told ourselves that if we had to think about it for more than 5 seconds, he was not big enough.

Being that it was about 11 A.M. on opening morning with elk running and bugling everywhere, we decided to pass on him. He was right near a herd of elk that had a nice sounding bull in it and since this bull was surprisingly acting more like a satellite bull, we wanted to get a look at the other bull.

Well, the 7x7 wandered off and we could see the herd bedded down so we decided to back out and wait for the evening to try and slip back when they started moving again. We had already been busted a couple times that day by cows that we just didn’t see until it was too late. We tried to play it safe this time.

That afternoon as we sneaked back into the area we caught the herd on the move with two bulls bugling. We tried to close the distance but as is always the case, the bull is just out of sight around the next corner or behind the next cluster of trees. The herd moved down into a draw that was full of elk. There were so many elk that we could not keep track of each herd or bull. They just all seemed to melt together. We couldn’t move without running into elk. With all the bugling from so many bulls going on nearly all day long it got hard distinguishing each bulls bugle unless it was very unique.

After several hours we got back in on a bull and it happened to be the broken tined 6 point again. There was another bull down below us going off so we tried to move towards him but got about 30 yards and ran into cows coming up the draw. We were pinned down again with about and hour left of shooting light.

After a few minutes the cows moved off into the timber and we headed down the draw. About a 100 yards away was a clear cut with more elk! Of course the bull is on the other side and there is no time left in the day to make a move on him so we just sit there filming about 100 head of elk walk past us up the draw about 90 yards away. Suddenly that’s when we heard it. We had been hoping to avoid it but that was not going to happen.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! There it was, about ½ mile away up the ridge we hear large caliber rifle fire followed by 15-20 rounds of a smaller caliber semi-auto; then a few more shots. Being the optimists we are (not) we simply assume that some weekend campers are just target shooting right at dusk next to a large herd of elk.

That was the end of our first day. As we walked out after dark, all we could hear for a quarter of a mile off on our left were bugling bulls and cows chirping. They weren’t as bothered by the gunfire as we were. The elk were all over up there all the way to the top of the ridge, and at the top of the ridge we heard a bugle we hadn’t heard before. We could tell because it had a very unique, deep growl at the end. He sounded big! We couldn’t wait to get back in there.

DAY 2:

The 4:30 A.M wakeup call from the alarm wasn’t dreaded in the least as we got up and ready to hit up the place we had been the night before. We parked at the top of the ridge and began the trek down into the valley where we heard that bull the night before.

Not too far down the valley, about a half hour before daylight, the bulls lit up and there was one about 150 yards up the hill from us so we decided to see if we could get a look at him before we continued heading down. We knew we were close because we could hear cows chirping. A short distance later we realized that they were on the move. They had went to the top of the ridge, crossed the road and went down the other side a few hundred yards.

We heard the bull just down over the hill and were trying to work in on him when we spotted another guy, all camo’ed out, coming up through the trees. At about 25 yards he finally sees us and immediately turns around and heads down the hill in the opposite direction. Hmm, guess he’s not friendly; oh well. We continue heading towards the bull. We can see the guy walking down in the bottom of the bowl away from us still at this point.

Then all of a sudden, as this bull is bugling just a few hundred yards away, we heard someone talking. We stopped to listen and heard the back half of, “…You’re A$$ you stupid fu*king white boys.” Now, keep in mind that this is the same approximate area that we heard gunshots the night before. So we stand there and look at each other and laugh as it took at least 350 yards of distance before this guy felt safe enough to yell out threats at us.

Needless to say, at this point the bull (for some unknown reason) starts getting farther and farther away from us. So, we head on down the road to try and play catch up. A few hundred yards down the road are the elk; bedded next to the road! They see us coming and off they go. We weren’t expecting that. We give them a few minutes and take off after them.

They strolled along at a good pace for about a mile and finally dove down into a steep, steep canyon. We caught a glimpse of the herd bull going over the other side; not a shooter. So we turn around and head back. There were 3 bugling bulls on this ridge. One was farther up in that steep canyon about a mile away and he sounded ok but we never saw him. The other was back the way we came and he sounded smaller. We confirmed him as not being a shooter as we ran into him and his herd on the way back out.

10:00 A.M. Back up at the draw with all the elk we had left to get a glimpse at the bull who led us on a wild goose chase, all was quiet. This, obviously, was unlike the day before. After about an hour or two and disgusted with the occurrences of the morning we decided to go catch up on some much needed sleep and hit up the valley in the afternoon.

That afternoon we went back in, from the bottom of the ridge this time. After about a half a mile in, we finally hear a bugle. There did not seem to be as many elk in there as the evening before, or even that morning. Hmm, perhaps they just aren’t moving and talking yet; so we head towards the one bugle we did hear.

Working our way up a small hill toward the bull I hear a loud CRACK! We’re getting close I’m thinking. We start sneaking further up the hill and we hear CRACK, POP, POW! Stop! Something is coming I whisper to Dad. We get ready and that’s when I catch movement off to my right coming through the trees on the clear cut about 80 yards away. It’s Big! It’s Brown! It’s a….Chevy blazer! Here it comes off-roading right up through all the elk about a half a mile from the nearest legal road. Well I wasn’t expecting this. So I just start filming these guys mobbing up through the trees on up toward the top of the ridge. (Which coincidentally was in the same general vicinity of some of the gunshots we heard, and which, we found out later, was an area that had attracted about 50 ravens and magpies. They were everywhere.)

Well, we just stayed put in disbelief, but there were now two bulls bugling up behind us some 200 yards so we decided to check them out. We stalked on up the ridge and there they were. There was a nice five point running some cows and a scraggly 6x6 came in and ran him off. We watched them both bugle and run around for about a half hour before heading back out at dark.

On the way back to camp we stopped to listen for some bugles to try and relocate the elk for the next mornings hunt. We found them. About a mile down from where they had been, we heard 5 or 6 bugles. Spirits went back up! It was game on!

Day 3:

We got within a few hundred yards of the elk well before daylight and decided to sit and  wait for them as we assumed that they would be heading back up toward where they had been the day before.

Sure enough, right at daylight the cows started crossing a large clear cut headed back up.
There were two bugling bulls on the other side and one that crossed that we hadn’t seen about 150 yards up a small ridge from us on our side. We waited for a short while after daylight and spotted a 5 point tending and breeding a cow on the other side of the clear cut. Those elk seemed as though they wanted to stay over there so we decided to head up the hill and check out the bull closest to us.

The bull seemed to be hanging in the area pretty good so we decided to slip in on him. We got up on top of the little ridge he was on and it opened up to where you could see for about 150 yards. We spotted the elk messing around up in there and so we slowly began making our way there. I hung back as dad busted out the Montana decoy (whitetail) and eased forward. We decided to use the decoy after getting busted several times. We figured the deer profile would put them at ease and sure enough it did. Dad got to within about 30 yards and setup behind a small cluster of pines.

Shortly after we were all set up, the elk worked their way closer and started heading over into the timber to our right. At about 20 yards from where Dad was positioned, the herd, in a single file line, made their way across the open area; each one pausing for about 2 seconds to look at the decoy before moving on.

Then the bull came up behind the herd. He was a good looking 6 point but not a shooter. He ran past at about 20 yards bugling and herding cows. Finally after a few minutes he pushed his cows on up the ridge and out of sight; bugling the whole time.

It was only about 8:00 A.M. so we decided to head back across the big meadow to where that five point was and see if we couldn’t get a glimpse of the other bull over there. We ran into a few cows right away so we headed down a draw to try and get below them and keep the wind in our favor.

We could here the bull a few hundred yards up the hill from us just bugling his head off. We crept up to about 80 yards away taking care to avoid any bedded cows. We made it to a small patch of pines and finally caught sight of him up in the trees. It was either the same 5 point from that morning or another 5 point altogether. Either way, he was not a shooter so we headed back out.

At this point, we have been seeing quite a few smaller sized bulls with large groups of cows. We started to question whether or not we made the right decision in passing on that big 7x7 on the first morning. But there was no use in worrying about it now; it would have to pay off, right?

Now it was about 11:00 A.M. and we needed to head back home to get some business done. Our goal was to get back early enough to do an evening hunt. We figured the fastest way to get back in the woods would be to stay up on the Naneum side. We would just hunt over there that evening and see what we could find there the next morning. We had seen a nice bull, probably 340+ on a scouting trip over there on September 25th, so we were excited about getting back over there.

Well, as is usually the case, we didn’t get everything done as fast as we thought we could. We ended up being so scrapped for time that we decided to go to a different spot down lower than were we wanted so that we could begin hunting sooner and possibly get an opportunity before dark.

There was only about 45 minutes of shooting light remaining before dark. As we hit the woods we stopped immediately to see if we could locate a bull. I did a quick locator bugle and before I could even finish a bull answered and he sounded BIG!! Now up until this point we had heard some nice bugles that didn’t turn out to be large bulls, but just based on this bull’s bugle he sounded like and absolute monster! He was just roaring at anything making noise is his neck of the woods.

It took us about 3 minutes to grab what we could and we headed up the hill. It was steeper country and heavily timbered so I was very skeptical that we would be able to get a shot on this bull, but I was hopeful we could at least see him and determine if he was a shooter. So I made a few cow calls as we headed up the ridge. He kept just screaming! As we worked our way up the hill he started sounding like he was getting CLOSE! We stopped for a few minutes and suddenly I saw a cow coming down through the trees. I alerted Dad to hold still; they were coming right too us.

I’m scrambling to get this cow focused in my viewfinder when all of a sudden my screen is filled with nothing but antlers. I looked at Dad and said, “Holy crap! He is BIG!” He came strolling in at about 30 yards and Dad fired one off through the trees as I was fumbling with the camera.

The herd took off but they didn’t go far; maybe 50 yards or so. I made a couple cow calls and we waited for a few minutes. I couldn’t see very well up through the trees but Dad came down and told me that he saw the bull’s legs wobbling and watched him go down.

We decided to sneak up that way and put another shot on him if we could since there was about 20 minutes of shooting light left. As we made our way up through the woods, much to our surprise, we bumped into the cows who took off up the ridge. We got to where Dad had seen the bull go down and he was nowhere in sight. ”CRAP! We shouldn’t have pushed him! Who knows how far he’ll run and it’s suppose to rain tonight.”

As we stood there with that sick feeling in our guts we wondered about what to do. Should we give him a couple hours and go get some flashlights? What if we bump him a second time, if he is nearby he’ll likely run for miles next time.

Then with about 5 minutes of shooting light left we heard him in the brush just up around the ridge about 40 yards away. At that point we knew he was down for the count. What a relief! After getting up on him we realized just how big he was! He had a massive rack and look to be the size of a horse! Definitely the biggest elk I have ever seen downed.

He is a typical 6x7. I grossed scored him at 366 1/8 and he comes out at 356 ¼ net. I’m not quite sure if I’m measuring the points right. So hopefully I’m doing it wrong and he can squeak in at 360 for the books. That is assuming he doesn’t shrink much. If only he was a matching 7x7 it would give him over 6 inches more! We are very happy with him regardless. It just goes to show what a true monster a bull has to be to make the books.






« Last Edit: October 05, 2011, 09:48:37 PM by cmiller85 »

Offline cmiller85

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #20 on: October 05, 2011, 08:52:46 PM »
Here are the pics for those who don't like reading stories.

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Offline Ranger91298

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #21 on: October 05, 2011, 09:06:29 PM »
Great Story...thank you for taking the time to write it.... fantastic looking bull....congrats to your father...

Offline WenHunter

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #22 on: October 05, 2011, 09:07:47 PM »
Very nice story and congrats to you both. That is a hunt that you will remember for the rest of your life. You and your father must be very proud

Offline muzzlebuck

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #23 on: October 05, 2011, 09:08:36 PM »
...
« Last Edit: December 22, 2011, 07:29:01 PM by muzzlebuck »

Offline 6x6in6

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #24 on: October 05, 2011, 09:22:29 PM »
One of the best write-ups I have read on here.
Sweet bull.  Congrats!!!

Offline time2hunt

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #25 on: October 05, 2011, 09:30:23 PM »
Congrats on a great bull you made me cry with the first post :'( Make sure you give the game dept a copy of that video of the chevy blazer off roading and harassing the elk.
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Offline wastickslinger

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #26 on: October 05, 2011, 09:39:07 PM »
Awesom Bull!! I take back all the stuff I said in  PM's I sent to few other members.  :chuckle:

Offline Rooster1981

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #27 on: October 05, 2011, 09:45:42 PM »
great story, I really enjoyed reading about your hunt. That is a great bull and one to be very proud of. :tup: :tup: :tup:
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Offline stickbuck

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #28 on: October 05, 2011, 09:55:52 PM »
Unbelievable story. Thanks for all the great details. I told myself I wouldn't scroll down to the pics until I finished the story. Great job to you and your Dad. Definitely an awesome bull!!!

Offline SniperDanWA

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Re: 2011 Colockum Muzzleloader Bull
« Reply #29 on: October 05, 2011, 09:59:38 PM »
No, that story must have taken an hour to write.  Well worth reading.  Nice, darn nice bull.  It was worth the hoax.  Congratulations.
"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as
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