Ok gentleman. Sorry for the wait. I hunted 8 days in early November but saw only small bulls with 1 shot at a masher. The stock on the big guy was good, but we lost the bull in some heavy timber.
Once I saw what the unit held in terms of bulls, I wanted to hold out for a good one. I came back for the last 4 days to hunt Friday thru Monday. I was joined by a local guy the first 2 days, and another local guy Tom aka caseknife on the forum on Sunday and Monday. We saw 1 small bull on Friday, and a bull that was about 40". I passed on both. On Saturday, we saw another 2 bulls. One was a paddle bull, and the other a yearly. During this time we saw plenty of cows and calves which was great to see. On Sunday we couldn't find a bull to save ourselves
We did however see about 4 cows and 3 calves.
Fast forward Monday. The last day of my hunt. Tom was with me, and we were joined by the Clayton and Colton Vining. They wanted to join in, and I just didn't have the heart to say no, we have plenty of help.
We ended up going to the spot where we saw the big bull on the first hunt. We set up on a ridge, and Tom spotted a moose from about 2 miles out. We then set up the spotter and counted bulls feeding in the ceanothus. We decided to drop off Colton to do some spotting on the middle ridge. The 3 of us drove up to the high ridge to go after a good bull. We were making our way thru some heavy cover when we ran into the first bull. His paddle looked great, but he was missing his right side
We then continued up the ridge when a cow blew past us moving down hill. I thought game over at that point but it was far from over
We kept creeping up the hill when Tom whispered " bull" I couldn't see the bull, so I traded places with Tom and saw the back 3/4s of him. I only saw a flash of his antler and decided to take a the shot. I took a quick 70 yard shot. He bolted and we started tracking him. We didn't find any blood off the bat. I knew I hit him but my mind was paying games with me.
Within a couple of minutes we caught up with him and he was standing dead on his feet. I put him down with 2 more quick shots at 10 feet. To say I was elated is an understatement
We all did some high 5s and took some good pics. Colton joined us and we started processing the moose. I shot him at 9:15 am and we were back at the truck at 230pm. If I had it to do again I wouldn't change a thing.
During my hunt I made some great friends, saw some beautiful country and made some great memories. I am thankful for all the help I have gotten from people on the forum. You all know who you are.
I truly wish everyone could draw this tag once in their lifetime to have the great experience that I had. I am thankful to God for keeping us all safe and during the time and making it all possible in the first place.
Thanks
Bryan
