Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 01:48:55 AM
Between work and family I did not get as much scouting in as I wanted to. My good friend from the WA wet side was coming out to spend a week here in montana chasing bulls in the High country, we did lots of talking and google earthing over the phone. I took a couple days off before his arrival to do some scouting/hunting. I have been hunting this area for 5 seasons now and was feeling pretty confident that we would get into some animals at some point.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 02:10:13 AM
I was planning on gaining some elevation and doing a quick morning hunt and then bedding down under tree to catch up on some much needed sleep. This particular spot is a 2500' elevation gain in just over a mile right out of the truck, I call it the "Elevator Shaft". Pretty much sucks, not trail and brushy as all get out, and of course the occasional cliff to scurry around.
I made it to the top of the ridge just as daylight was breaking. I stopped for a bit and got rid of my head lamp and put on a dry shirt. I stated up the ridge and didn't go very far and jumped a large herd of elk, I was pretty bummed. I didn't see a bull, but assumed there was probably one with them or close by. I let things settle down a bit and let out a locater bugle. The first bugle of the season is always a good feeling. I was a bit surprised when I got a response up the ridge about 500 yards. Of course I quickly for got about being tired :}
The bull sounded like he could be a mature bull by his bugle, The wind was perfect and he was on the same ridge as me. I cut the distance fairly quick. The top of this ridge is big timber with spotty mountain alder and of course huckleberry brush. The ridge started to bench out a bit, so I decided to try and locate him again. I let out another bugle and tried to sound like a young bull. He fired right back with a nasty mown and chuckle. He was sounding better all the time.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 02:50:03 AM
I got a little for aggressive with the cow/calf sounds and he broke loose:} I could her him coming off the bench towards me, the unmistakable sound of brush and limbs breaking as he made his way in. I spotted movement at about 60 yds and could see he was a good bull. He was coming right at me. I had a large spruce tree about 15 yards in front of me and he was coming in right behind it. I drew my bow as he passed the 40 yds mark. I was trying to decide witch side of the tree he was going to come around. As he approached the tree he started out to my right and I made a quick commitment to that side. He walked out from behind the tree and stopped at less than 20 yards. He was staring holes right through me. I was sure he was going to hear my heart pounding in chest. He was facing me head on. I had set up on the edge of the ridge and the ridge fell off steeply behind me. The bull must of thought the cows were on the other side of the ridge and he kept coming.
My 20yd pin never left his side as he walked by me, I had multiple shooting lanes in the big timber, but I wanted him perfectly broadside. At 10 yds he was perfectly broadside. I let out a soft cow call and he stopped instantly. I watched my arrow disappear right behind his shoulder. He lunged forward and took a few steps as I began to cow call very softly. He stopped at 20 yards looking back my direction. He stood there for 30-45 seconds. My heart was about to come out of my chest, I was shaking uncontrollably with the adrenaline dump.
He turned his head and began to slowly walk straight away. I knocked another arrow a drew back. I let out another soft cow call and he stopped quartered away from me. I estimated him to be 35 yds now and sent another arrow right behind his shoulder. This time he took off like a streak of lightning right back up the ridge from where he came. I watched him run for about 70 yds and then disappeared into the thick timber. I did not hear him go down.
I sat down in disbelief of what had just taken place. I said a quick prayer of thanks to God for the amazing experience and a few more prayers asking the Lord to help me find him. I hung a ribbon and marked the location on my GPS. I waited about 20 minutes before even looking for my first arrow. I found it broad head deep in a log on the other side of where he was standing soaked with good blood.
I waited the required 30 minutes and began to take up the trail. The blood trail was not as good as I hoped with two arrows in him. Between the tracks and spotty blood I didn't have too much trouble staying on the trail. After 40 yds on the trail I found about 6" of the fletching end of my second arrow soaked with blood. The blood trail was getting better the farther I went. As I stepped up on to a small bench I spotted a main beam sticking out of the huckleberry brush. He was down for good. We went less than 100 yds and died on a dead run.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 02:58:20 AM
AS HE LAYS
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:02:54 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:04:13 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:05:34 AM
Post by: huntnnw on October 20, 2014, 03:09:33 AM
Post by: bowhunterforever on October 20, 2014, 03:14:59 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:17:02 AM
I sat down and ate my lunch and pounded a bunch of water and was good to go. :tup:
I had the bull deboned and hanging in a tree in about 3 hours. The temperature was in the mid 50's so I wasn't too worried about the meat staying over night. I had 3 days worth of food and my camp on my back, so adding a cape and head made for quite a load.
I made it to the truck about 6 pm and was head home. I was pretty excited to show my wife and kids. My son Morgan is 8 years old and was going to loose his mind when he saw it.
My wife was pretty surprised to see me back home and assumed coming was wrong. :}
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:28:05 AM
I told him he had a full time caller for the whole next week.
I gross scored the bull right at 360"
I managed to round up 3 GOOOOOD friends to help pack the meat out the next day. I have a horse and mule, but it was too steep and cliffy to take a chance on using them.
We found the meat undisturbed the next morning and had it hanging in the cooler by 5pm. Praise the Lord!!!!!
My buddy from Wa arrived in town just as we were leaving the cooler.
WE were both pretty excited for the upcoming week. I was really looking forward to calling him in a bull.
We spent the evening going through our gear and trying to decide what we could share and leave behind to lighten our loads.
We were headed in for 4 days and then I had to go back to work for 2 days. The plan was to have two vehicles parked on opposite ends of the mountain range so we could hunt through and come out wherever we wanted.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 03:38:11 AM
About another mile up the trail we head the familiar sound go a human bugling. It sounded like a couple hunters had a bull responding to there calls not too far off the trail in a drainage. We sat and ate lunch and listened to the chess match. I was hoping to talk to the hunters and figure out what there plan was so we could try to avoid any areas they were planning on hunting.
It was 2pm and they were still working the bull so we climbed up the ridge and left them alone. We never did see or hear from the other hunters. Its big country and pretty easy to get away from anyone. :)
We made it to where we were going to set up camp and dumped our gear and headed out for an evening scouting trip in hopes of locating some more bulls for the next day.
We were 5+ miles in and right on top of a big ridge system with lots of drainages to choose from. We didn't manage to get any elk talking that night, but did see 3 bears. Jason didn't have a bear tag and I had used mine in the spring.
We made a plan for the next day and bedded down.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:14:09 AM
We were still a long way from camp and had a couple miles to go. It was about dark and I let out one more bugle into the drainage we had just climbed out of. Of couse we heard a deep throaty response from the bottom of the canyon that we spent all day in. Thats elk hunting for ya. :chuckle: :chuckle:
We made our way back to camp and bedded down. The next couple days were pretty tough with few responses and no close calls.
We headed back to the trailhead to restock on food and make another plan. Jason head back in for a couple days of solo hunting while I returned to work for a few days. The plan was for me to come back in with more food and spend the remainder of the week with him.
A couple days later I got off work at 3 am and headed up the trail. I met Jason at his camp just as it was getting daylight. He said he had been hearing a few bulls and thought he was getting them patterned a little bit. He had two bulls located and one of them seemed to be the head bull.
We head into the drainage and had a bull talking in no time. We worked inon him and set up a few times, but I could not pull him in. He had a deep raspy bugle. He sounded like a mature bull for sure. The bull was pretty fired up, I could get him to respond any time i wanted, he just wouldn't come in. The other satellite bull was occasionally bugling from on top the ridge behind us. The satallite bull was plan B if we couldn't get "Beast Mode" to cooperate.
We bird dogged "Beast Mode" for a couple hours. HE would keep that 100 yd distance between us and I could break him loose. It was 11am and we were running out of drainage and time. I told Jason to take off his pack and go kill him. I would keep him talking and hopefully he could sneak in and wack him.
I have tried this lots of times before and it never seems to work very well, but we were out of options. It was nice big timber with quite a bit of under brush and very steep.
Jason took off up the hill and I kept Beast Mode talking as much as possible. I settled into a comfy spot and would get him to bugle every 5 minutes or so. It didn't seem to matter what I did, he would scream his head off at just about any sound I made. I could tell he was moving back and forth on the hillside, but he wasn't getting any closer or farther.
This went on for about an hour and a half. I was beginning to think something was going to happen pretty soon, either he was going to bump him or kill him.
I heard a couple strange noises from above me. It sounded like a couple dog barks and half howl. I instantly thought we had called in a couple wolves. I grabbed my pistol and video camera and started cow calling softly. Just then I heard the radio in my pocket key up. I heard Jason say, "I think I got him, he is doing some death moans I think"!!!!!!
I grabbed our packs and headed up the hill. Jason was all smiles and high enough to kill ducks with a rake. He told me that managed to get a shot at 40 yds and he thought he hit him good, the bull had spotted him and was getting nervous and started to leave when he got the shot. Jason was pretty confident that he saw the arrow hit its mark.
We waited 30 minutes and headed over to where the bull had been standing. The ground was torn up here the bull had left, he was taking huge strides and it was easy to see where he had run straight down the hill. After 20 yds we found the fetching half of the arrow. There was good blood most of the way up the shaft. After about 20 more yards I spotted the bull bellow us in a dry creek bed.
He had only gone 50 yds and piled up. :IBCOOL: :IBCOOL:
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:21:14 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:27:28 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:33:39 AM
We made quick work of quartering and caping. It was really warm out 80+ degrees. We hung the meat in the shade and headed for the truck.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:41:44 AM
We made it the the truck at about 11:30 pm and we were both as tired as you can get. I had hiked in after working all night and am not really sure how long I had been up (TOO LONG) :tung:
We pounded some Power aid and headed for home.
We hit the rack about 2am after doctoring Jasons feet.
Post by: boneaddict on October 20, 2014, 04:47:46 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:50:34 AM
WE got to the ponies with the last of the meat right at dark, and made it to the truck just before midnight. Long days of fun :tup: :tup:
WE slept in the next day and doctored on Jason's feet some more. The blisters had got infected and his feet where all swelled up like he was pregnant :yike: :yike:
Good thing we were done hunting.
I forgot to mention that Jason hit the bull right in the heart, arrow shaft was still in the heart when we found it :tup: :tup:
Post by: Wanttohuntmore on October 20, 2014, 04:53:09 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:57:00 AM
We got a big greasy burger and spend the rat of the day at the taxidermist and limping around in our flip-flops
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 04:58:51 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 05:10:34 AM
I touched base with one of the other guides that had been in on the previous hunt. He said the wolves had moved into the valley where our base camp is, I was going to have to spike out and find the animals because they had left with the wolf pressure.
I had a couple buddies from Wet WA that I was going to be guiding. They are tough as nails and good hunters. I knew it was going to be tough, but was confident we would find some animals.
We met in Kalispell and geared up for the 30 mile ride the next morning. We were all pretty excited. They had booked the hunt 9 months prior and we had been talking and planning ever sense. The 30 mile ride the next morning was uneventful which is always a bonus when your dealing with horses and mules.
We arrived at base camp in the evening and quickly geared up for spiking out the next day. We packed light so we could stay mobile and cover the country. We left early the next morning with one horse and 4 mules,
We hunted our way to spike camp and got into some elk sign.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 05:15:46 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 05:19:59 AM
The weather was hot and sunny during the day. The moon was a bright as I have ver seen it. I woke up a couple times during the night thinking I had over slept because the moon was so bright
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 05:35:31 AM
I grabbed enough food to last us the rest of the hunt, so we didn't have to waste time at base camp or travel to refuel.
We headed south about ten miles and arrived at spike camp right at dark. We make quick work of camp and hit the rack in preparation for the 4am alarm clock.
We headed up the ridge 2 hours before daylight to one of my favorite spots. We managed to find 4 small whitetail bucks that were passed on. It was nice to finally see some horns though.
We made it to the look out point and immediately spotted some muley does.
I had been randomly bugling trying to locate some elk on the way up the ridge. As we were glassing the ridge I let out a bugle and got a response from a bull. We quickly repositioned and spotted the 4 cows moving down a ridge at 700 yds.
We set up for the shot but the bull never showed himself, he was just out of sight over the ridge. He bugled 4 or 5 times as he pushed his cows into the timber.
We made our way over to the ridge with the wind in our favor. I thought the bull had already made it to the timber. I let out a few soft cow/calf calls to try and relocate hime.
Right after I called we headed the sound of hooves on the hollow ground coming fast down the hill. We quickly set up as best we could. I caught a glimpse of a cow at 50 yds coming fast. Right behind her was the bull on a dead run right at us. He came through an opening at 40 yds, but my hunters couldn't see him. HE stopped at 30 yards right in the middle of a horribly thick brushy mess. We could hear him walking and hear him breathing, but not shot. :bash: :bash:
He must have snuck off straight away from us because we never saw him or heard him leave. He was a solid 370" type of bull. A real pig for the Bob.
We figured we would hunt him in the evening and the next few days, but never heard or saw him again. :dunno:
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 05:55:15 AM
We spotted a few nice bulls in small opening from a long way off and tried to hunt them with not luck.
The evening before the last day we hiked out to a ridge and decided to glass true same ridge we had been hunting the last 3 days. To our surprise as the evening shadows stated to block out the sun we started spotting elk, lots of elk. Over the next hour we had 70+ elk spotted and a few bulls. It was tough to size them up from 2 miles away. I could see good main beams on one of them and new he was a shooter.
We rode back to camp excited for the morning hunt. The moon was going to be full again, we hoped they would bed down on the big oven ridge for the night and be there in the am. It was our last day to hunt.
We were up at 4am, broke camp, and got our loads really in hopes we would be too busy packing meat the rest of the day. We tied the horses up and headed up the timbered ridge in the dark. We arrived at the edge of the timber just before daylight. We waited in the timber until it was plenty light enough to shoot, as we eased to the edge of the timber I started glassing the ridge where we last saw the bull. I spotted the old dead snag he was standing next to night before and there he was not 50 yds from where he was 10 hours before.
We quickly set up for the shot, Cody was shooting a 300 weatherby topped with a 5-25 power ziess. I know he is a shooter and was confident he could make the shot. I ranged the bull at 600 yds. Cody proved out with his bipod shooting slightly uphill. The bull was quarter to us and had not idea we where there. The 60+ other elk would make it impossible to get any closer.
The rumble of the shot was followed by the distinct "WHAOP". The bull stumbled about 20 yards and fell down. Cody hit the bull right in front of the shoulder. We found the bullet in the hide on the off side last rib.
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 06:01:11 AM
They worked hard enough to earn ten bulls, but thats how hunting goes some times. We loaded the head and meat and started the long walk back to camp
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 06:10:03 AM
WE got back to camp late afternoon and hung the meat. We had a long ride back to base camp.
We arrived at base camp right at dark. I turned around and headed back to get the meat and camping gear.
I arrived back around 10pm
We were up early at 3am to start the long ride back to the trailhead
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 06:16:28 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 06:18:06 AM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 06:21:03 AM
Made for some nice trophy shots :beatdeadhorse: :IBCOOL:
Post by: huntnnw on October 20, 2014, 06:25:16 AM
Post by: MADMAX on October 20, 2014, 06:40:52 AM
Post by: boneaddict on October 20, 2014, 06:58:43 AM
I wanted to do that for real with an occasional mule.
Post by: boneaddict on October 20, 2014, 07:02:01 AM
I suppose I should congratulate you on you guys' success as well. Beautiful Bulls.
Post by: archery288 on October 20, 2014, 07:19:55 AM
Post by: Hornseeker on October 20, 2014, 07:46:23 AM
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on October 20, 2014, 07:56:59 AM
Post by: TheHunt on October 20, 2014, 08:10:39 AM
Post by: jackelope on October 20, 2014, 08:16:07 AM
Post by: elkoholic1 on October 20, 2014, 08:21:27 AM
:tup: :tup: :tup:
Post by: JPhelps on October 20, 2014, 08:24:39 AM
Great Bulls and awesome write up.
Post by: runningboard on October 20, 2014, 08:41:02 AM
Post by: puyallupaul on October 20, 2014, 09:13:44 AM
Post by: pianoman9701 on October 20, 2014, 09:23:47 AM
Post by: X-Force on October 20, 2014, 09:50:39 AM
Post by: h2ofowlr on October 20, 2014, 09:51:18 AM
Post by: wapiti hunter2 on October 20, 2014, 10:00:59 AM
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on October 20, 2014, 10:15:44 AM
Post by: byrd221 on October 20, 2014, 11:42:30 AM
Post by: mikelonsford on October 20, 2014, 12:22:54 PM
Post by: huntinluva on October 20, 2014, 12:35:36 PM
Post by: gunnarnewt on October 20, 2014, 12:39:01 PM
Post by: deerhunter_98520 on October 20, 2014, 01:15:14 PM
Post by: cedarriver on October 20, 2014, 01:31:04 PM
The raw emotion of walking up on a mature bull after a year of thoughts, preparation, and hard work is a feeling thats hard to put into words. I was elated with joy and sober with regret for harvesting such an amazing animal that I have some much love and respect for.Wow Well said congrats!
AS HE LAYS
Post by: boneaddict on October 20, 2014, 01:40:48 PM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 20, 2014, 01:42:43 PM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on October 20, 2014, 01:44:53 PM
Post by: skills on October 20, 2014, 01:51:53 PM
Post by: dreamingbig on October 20, 2014, 01:54:54 PM
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: go4itlab on October 20, 2014, 07:31:41 PM
Post by: MtnMuley on October 20, 2014, 09:24:48 PM
Post by: Stein on October 20, 2014, 09:27:15 PM
Post by: LittleJohn on October 21, 2014, 09:41:20 AM
G5's rule :tup:
Post by: LittleJohn on October 21, 2014, 09:42:52 AM
Post by: de0827 on October 23, 2014, 12:28:37 PM
Post by: BowBender87 on October 23, 2014, 09:34:59 PM
Post by: Elkpiss on October 24, 2014, 09:41:27 AM
Post by: GregE on October 24, 2014, 03:19:00 PM
Great write up, glad you added the last Bob bull pic!1