9-24-17
We camped in another location on Saturday night and tried out some new areas on Sunday morning. Coming in that night we say a great looking bull 340"+ near the road with a cow so the area already had a positive feeling to it. The next morning, my Dad and cousin went one way and I another. I dropped down into a large draw to make my way over to the next ridge. As I was hiking up a hill at about 6:30am I heard the unmistakable sound of pounding hooves. I look up and catch a true spike running toward the ridge top. I quickly cow called and that stopped him for a few seconds. He didn't seem quite as spooked but did trot on off over the hill. I figured that a bigger herd must be down the other side since he appeared to be alone.
Cresting the ridge top I stopped to listen and immediately heard mewing and brush breaking. I then heard what sounded like the raking of a tree down and to my left. Wind was blowing from my left to right down the ridge which was parallel to the herd. All was good at this point. As I stood there listening, the tree raking started to sound like antlers clashing. Not in a fighting manner, but in a sparring manner as it wasn't violent sounding. That wasn't good, I thought, there can't be a big bull here if there is a friendly sparring match going on.
Shortly after I made that assessment, sure enough, down below me I see a bull feeding, he's a small 6x6. I'm still hoping its a satellite. Then off to my left I see another elk and it is a 5x5. Then out comes another 5x5 and another 6x6. I've wandered into a good looking bachelor group of bulls. I kneeled down and just watched and listened as they fed and sparred within 60-80 yards. It was pretty cool, but I had to get moving. I still didn't want to just blow them out so I waited until they had all moved past me headed to some thick stuff up the ridge to bed. Once they were out of sight I continued on down the ridge. Below is some footage from that encounter.
Continuing down the draw and back up the other side it was now about 7:40am and I had not heard the first bugle which was not what I had expected at this point given the elk sign so far. Topping the next ridge, I decided to see if I could get a response so I let out a location bugle. Nothing. I walked about 100 yards and stopped to listen again and caught the back end of a bugle up behind me. I quickly turned and took off running in that direction. This bull would have to be on the other side of a draw, two ridges over from where I was at. As I came up to the first ridge I fired off another location bugle. Immediate response! I started down into the draw trying to get below them. It was about 8:30am so the sun was up and I had to go extra slow to avoid being seen.
As I crept down the hill towards a creek I caught movement a couple hundred yards away and up the other side. Cows were feeding through the trees heading to my right. Thermals were still coming down so I was in what I thought was a good position to get eyes on this bull. I crossed the creek but got pinned down by a wary cow. After standoff that lasted a few minutes she finally calmed down and fed off and out of sight. A calf bedded down right in my way and I realized my approach wasn't going to work after the bull bugled up behind all these cows and bedded calf. He was in the thicker stuff. So I decided to crawl out of there and do a wide half circle and come in on them from the top. The thermals were about to change anyway and I was in a bad spot when that happened.
I worked my way out very slowly as to not get busted in the sunlight. I finally made to some thicker stuff and was able to hoof on up to the ridge top and back around. Hiking up I could fell the wind at my neck so I felt good about my new angle of attack. I came over the hill and spotted the cows down below and so I moved on up the ridge to set in some thicker brush and timber to keep an eye on them. I figured they would be moving up the ridge soon and I could see that bull. After about 10-15 minutes of glassing and watching the cows through the thick stuff they were in I saw them suddenly turn and trot off back down the hill, single file. They were getting out of there for some reason. I wasn't sure what happened, maybe the wind swirled. I was a couple hundred yards above them so that seemed unlikely. As I sat there watching for any other sign that they wouldn't go far I heard the bull scream out a bugle. That was it, they had to be on the move and he was sending out the call to keep his herd together.
It was about 9:30am and my hopes of seeing this bull began to plummet pretty quickly. I had to be out by noon in order to make it to a family event. Time was running out and this was a big setback. So, I decided to parallel the ridge top and head in the direction the herd had ran below me. I figured that they had to come up eventually. I went about 1/2 mile and decided I'd try to relocate and let out a location bugle. The bull answered waaaay down below me. I immediately took off running down hill in that direction trying to make up some ground. I ran about 100 yards and into some thicker timber. As I ran up I noticed a few rubs and some beds and thought that this looked like some good bedding area. As I ran through this stuff making a lot of racket I scanned out in front looking for the best route through the brush and fallen logs. Scanning to my left, while still running I see the broadside outline of an elk at about 50 yards! I put the brakes on and came to a stop behind a 4' sapling. The elk just stood there and now I could see another up behind her. I quickly crouched down and sneaked back up behind a large tree with more cover.
I figured at this point that I was either busted or had just stumbled into a completely different herd. I knew a bull had to be nearby and that I must be right on top of him. I quickly grabbed my bugle before those cows had too much time to think and through out a lip bawl bugle in hopes to set the bull off trying to round up his cows. About 100 yards into the thick stuff I got an immediate response from the bull. Then I got a response from the bull down below that I was chasing and then another bull up the ridge and behind me fire off too. I hit the closest bull back with a challenge and began raking the dead limbs and stomping around me. The nearby herd bull bugled back and I challenged him again, cutting him off as quickly as I could. After about 5-10 minutes he didn't seem to be storming in. I looked around and didn't see the cows so I jumped on the trail they were on and cautiously, but hastily made my way towards the bull. I had to keep an eye out for those cows in order to keep from being busted. I hugged the thicker timber to avoid giving them a good visual but I still had to cross some open areas. I came to the next spot of green timber and good looking bedding and I kneeled down to look and listen.
I caught movement out in front at about 40 yards. A cow just stood there looking for me. I could here chirping and brush breaking off to my right. I had ran right up on them again. The cow just moseyed around and then started heading straight to me. The bull bugled up behind her and the the right. He sounded CLOSE! I thought, Oh No! this cow is going to walk straight to me and bust me, when suddenly to my right an elk took off and the cow in front of me swirled and headed back the other direction. They all congregated around where the bull had bugled and after about a minute they all started trotting away. Then the bull bugled again. This time farther away. He had rounded up his cows and took off!
I trotted through some thicker timber trying to stay out of sight as I tried to catch up again to the herd. The bull was heading away and once again I found myself hastily moving through some open country with little cover, wondering where this herd had gone. Then out front I saw an elk. I ducked down and found cover behind a larger tree. There they were again at about 80 yards just feeding and milling around. I had just bugled about 50 yards back but they weren't paying me much attention. They had already written me off as an invading bull. They didn't seem to be on alert at all.
So after finding some cover I rip off another insulting challenge bugle. I tried my best to call him a big fat sissy for taking his cows and running like a school girl. I still hadn't seen him at this point. It didn't take 15 seconds after my challenge bugle and the cows all began running. They all took off to my left and headed into a clearing. Seconds later I say why they were running. The bull was pushing them again and he soon came into the clearing as well bugling. There was another bull coming in/bugling off the the left of this herd so he was being hit from 2 sides. I quickly grabbed the camera and hit record. When he stepped out my initial thought was WHOA! SHOOTER!
Buuuuuuut! The more I think about it, I'm thinking the bull I want to shoot is the bull that he apparently has seen (that he thought I was) and that would cause him to run away like a raghorn 5x!
Below is what I caught on video.
After dogging the herd like I did, seeing this bull and not getting busted I was pretty happy to back on out after this and head back down over the ridge to try and locate the original herd bull I had located earlier that morning. I hiked a 100 yards or so back over the hill from the above bull and let out a location bugle. I got an immediate response from that original bull and he was only a couple hundred yards away. I quickly ran back the way I had originally came, paralleling the ridge to to keep the thermals in my favor as the bull was at about my elevation if not slightly below. After about 150 yards I got to and area with decent visibility and found some cover. I fired off a challenge bugle and he responded. He was CLOSE! I saw a true spike down over the hill at about 100 yards and so I sneaked about 15 yards further, sat down on a log with some cover, fired one last challenge bugle back up behind me to cast it as far away as possible, and sat down with my camera and waited. About 30 seconds later I hear a twig pop and catch antlers coming up out of the timber in front of me. He came in to about 40 yards. Didn't see what he wanted to see, in terms of the annoying intruder, and turned broadside and walked back down to his herd. Once he was out of sight, I quickly moved on and back towards the truck. I had accomplished what I had started out to do and was happy once again to have not disturbed them at all. This bull is probably around the 350" mark. His G5 has a few inches broke off on his right side. Awesome bull! Below is the footage.