Saw this guy the last day of my hunt. I first spotted him 5 miles away across a meadow up in the hills feeding away at first light. My buddy had a visual on two other bulls so we split up and tried to get it done. 15 minutes later I'm on the ridge my bull was last seen and he's no where to be found.......I start lobing rocks into the thick stuff and nothing moves I know he's here somewhere but WTH nothing seems to make him move in this 200 x 300 yard bowl.
I decide to walk the top ridge of this bowl and get on the other side. I look into the bowl and see nothing I give up on him because across the next canyon I see more elk.....Then while I'm glassing I hear rocks sliding down hill coming from the bowl behind me. I turn and sure enough he got up and is heading down hill and he's big! I decide not to go after him and setup for a 400yd cross canyon shot on a group of 15 elk feeding on the slope close to the bottom of a dried up creek bed. I start to line up my shot and think which one is going to be going home with me when I hear that BIG bull coming back up the hill trotting behind me. He's under 200 yds and broadside......WTH this guy wants to die so I flip around and squeeze a 180 SST out of the 06 right into his neck and down he goes.
He's a 7 X 8 with some broken tips a little light on the mass for any big score but a mature bull!
After that it took 6 hours to hack and haul, 190lbs of deboned meat, two trips, 1.5 miles each way! Got it done just before sundown and the snow fall. I think I have the DIY thing out of my system for awhile!!
My buddy got a nice 6 x 6 that same morning, as soon as I shot 4 bulls busted out in front of him and he took the smallest one he was just on the other side of the ridge my bull was on.....overall couldn't ask for anything more in a hunt to tag out on the last day with two great bulls!
I decide to walk the top ridge of this bowl and get on the other side. I look into the bowl and see nothing I give up on him because across the next canyon I see more elk.....Then while I'm glassing I hear rocks sliding down hill coming from the bowl behind me. I turn and sure enough he got up and is heading down hill and he's big! I decide not to go after him and setup for a 400yd cross canyon shot on a group of 15 elk feeding on the slope close to the bottom of a dried up creek bed. I start to line up my shot and think which one is going to be going home with me when I hear that BIG bull coming back up the hill trotting behind me. He's under 200 yds and broadside......WTH this guy wants to die so I flip around and squeeze a 180 SST out of the 06 right into his neck and down he goes.
He's a 7 X 8 with some broken tips a little light on the mass for any big score but a mature bull!
After that it took 6 hours to hack and haul, 190lbs of deboned meat, two trips, 1.5 miles each way! Got it done just before sundown and the snow fall. I think I have the DIY thing out of my system for awhile!!
My buddy got a nice 6 x 6 that same morning, as soon as I shot 4 bulls busted out in front of him and he took the smallest one he was just on the other side of the ridge my bull was on.....overall couldn't ask for anything more in a hunt to tag out on the last day with two great bulls!
