Colockum Archery Bull

[High Climber]

A few days later I went back In to try and keep some tabs on him. Sure enough I got back on his herd close to the same area, unfortunately they were right on the trail and some of his cows winded me. I could hear his bugle and caught a glimpse of him but the herd moved off I was pretty ticked at myself again for bumping him so close to the season. I ended up getting eyes on another big bull the next day that I would have went after if presented the opportunity.

[High Climber]

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[mtndew]

Following along….. great story so far, and one hell of a great bull! Congratulations!!

[Rainier10]

I can’t believe you haven’t told them you were going to pass this bull lol.


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See my side note above about under judging 

You are exactly right, the massive body neck and head on these bulls throws off your ability to field judge unless there is another bull close by.

[High Climber]

I was slated to be back to work Tuesday-Thursday then straight to E-burg but I was pretty much a safety hazard at work Tuesday and Wednesday so I took Thursday off and headed to elk camp! I had to locate my bull before the opener.  Got a glassing session in Thursday night seen some decent bulls but didn’t find the big 7. Friday morning I softly went back in where I originally found him and didn’t turn anything up. Friday night was a different story. Went out to a knob where I could glass the top of the drainage I had seen him in and heard a familiar bugle from down in a hole. Sure enough we found him he was in a frenzy again running cows and strutting around! I through up the spotter to confirm it was him… sure enough it was but he had broken his g6 since I had found him a few days prior I was pretty butthurt about it right there decided not to pursue him Saturday morning.

[High Climber]

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[High Climber]

From there on it was a whirlwind, a buddy had eyes on a good bull 5 miles away so we jammed out and hoofed it as fast as possible getting to his last know location. Walked past multiple bugling bulls I felt kinda silly! A couple hours later we were on the bull my buddy had spotted I could hear him bugling above me headed for bed. We dogged him for about 500’ vertical feet and we’re closing on him. Caught a glimpse of him going over a small ridge into some dark timber from about 100 yards back it was go time was going to cover that ground asap and be within range!we made almost to the top and here comes a few six points a 280ish bull and 320ish bull right back at us! It was all making sense the big dog pushed them out of his spot this was gonna be perfect! Then a few seconds later here comes all his cows and the big bull back at us also! He was 30 yards broadside for maybe 5 seconds but I wasn’t comfortable sticking him without getting a good look on opening morning. Let him walk and kinda instantly regretted it    We figure that bull was around 385! Super massive kinda narrow maybe 35” but long tines incredible fronts.  A minute later here comes two dudes that were scouting for general muzzy spike season bumped them out    I wouldn’t t personally pick opening day of archery to bomb through the elk woods to scout a spike tag but hey it’s public land and something we just gotta deal with out there. We kept our heads up and pressed on 

[High Climber]

Crappy Screen shot of the one that we let walk opening morning but you get the idea

[High Climber]

The next five days were all pretty similar, burn boot leather locating bulls, glass them up or move in and size them up and then decide to pursue or not. We were seeing lots of bulls that are no brainer shooters anywhere else and to be honest I was thinking how silly I was for walking away from some of them. I was holding out for a 380 + and the opening morning bull I had at 30 yards was  starting to haunt me just a little bit. There was a few more sightings of the big broke 7 and we were finding him on some cams and we were getting him on video through the spotter when we could. At one point I had myself convinced that his main beams were only 48-49” he just wasn’t that photogenic because of that big ol’ Angus head on him.

[High Climber]

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[High Climber]

By this time in the hunt I had a few guys whose judgement I trust ( time2hunt is one of them!)  as well as the guys that were by my side basically telling me that I needed to make a play on this bull as he was bigger than I thought even broke I finally got it through my thick head and once again the hunt was on for the  big broke 7

[dvolmer]

Congratulations on a great hunt and your success!!!  Looks like you did your homework and deserved every bit of it!!

[High Climber]

The evening of day six we planned on heading over to the bulls last known location and my buddies were gonna do some cow hunting while I looked for the bull. By the time I got out to the country he had been running in it was approaching 6:00 pm and I heard that growly bugle of his! I checked in on the radio with my buddies and let them know I had found him and was dropping in. His herd was feeding on a small bench about mid slope in some steep country. I figured I would have some good thermal winds as it was the shady side and found a landmark that I would be able to find once I got over there. I had about a 300’ descent and 400’ climb to get in the zone.

[High Climber]

The wind was perfect and fairly strong as I approached the bench I was feeling pretty good about the stalk. Almost immediately I could see his antlers moving from right to left at 55yards and he ripped a bugle at a 300ish 6point satellite that was cruising the hill. Just as quickly he turned and walked backed to the far edge of the bench at 120 yards or so and got busy raking some brush. I wasn’t worried as every time I had witnessed this bull he would circle his herd every 20 minutes or so just super aggressive, but today was the exception. He ended up staying in that corner for the next hour or so not talking much even though his cows were spread out on the bench and some within 40yards of me. At this point it was starting to get dark and I was in plain view of cows so I was going to stay still until pitch black and hike out so I didn’t spook his herd. I could hear him down in a wallow out of sight from me and it seemed the game was up for the night. My pins were starting to get fuzzy and about then I heard him rip a bugle getting closer. A few seconds later and I could see his tines walking parrallel to me he was gonna be in the open at 18 yards. I waited for his head to get behind a tree and drew my bow as soon as he cleared I put one in the pocket at close range! He went about 50 yards and stopped his cows were alarm barking and I got another arrow in him! He went another 30 yards or so and stumbled and I watched him go down

[High Climber]

My pictures suck pretty bad I was solo and it was getting dark and it was freaking steep!