Yesterday was the BEST day of my entire hunting career!!!
After a few pretty messed up short trips this year, I had an outstanding day on the hill yesterday. A friend and former banking client of mine drove into some pretty rugged mountians to the north of here and were glassing into a VERY steep (as in dropped about 2,000 vertical feet) canyon just before 1st light and saw a herd of cows along with a MASSIVE herd bull and a couple of smaller satellite bulls.
After figuring out how in the heck we were going to get down there without a helicopter, we began a treacherous sidehill down and around and through a couple of small crevices to drop the 1,700 feet to where we expected the elk would bed up. The descent took the better part of 2.5 hours due to the treacherous terrain and the slow going to keep from taking the Nestea plunge straight to the bottom....
Upon getting down to approximately 4-500 yards from where we expected them to be without breaking any significant appendages, we dropped our packs, checked the wind, took off our boots, donned face masks, and begin to SLOWLY and CAUTIOUSLY advance across the shale and scree covered hill side (my feet are now cut to hell and back) to the oak brush we believed them to be in.
Keep in mind that it had now been almost an hour since we last saw them as they went into the oak brush. As we got near to the area we expected them to be, we found two trails, one going slightly up hill, one going slightly down. As we were working into the wind, we knew that the chance of ecountering the elk unaware would be in our favor, so John elected to descend slightly lower, while I took the trail higher into the brush.
I had cautiously proceeded less than fifty yards from our point of seperation when I heard faint "cow talk" just above me in the brush.
I took a knee, knocked an arrow and let out a soft mew. Unexpectedly, I immediately get an answer, so I mewed again.
This time there was definite movement in the brush headed towards me! I came to full draw and had my bow focused where I expected the elk to step out. Suddenly, the rate of advancement coming towards me began to pick up and I saw massive tines in the brush less than ten yards from me!!
Within 2 seconds I found myself face to face, approximately 7 yards away from a massive 350" plus herd bull! Upon seeing something in the brush, he locked up and bugled RIGHT IN MY FACE! I almost lost all composure! As he stood there eyeing me, I already had him mounted on my wall. I counted six long tines on each side, with MASSIVE swords for fifths. All I needed was him to angle a little to one side or the other as he was facing directly towards me. Instead, he began to walk STRAIGHT AT ME! (keep in mind, he was only at about 7 yards in the first place!) He closed the distance to approximately 10 feet and then just stood there staring straight at me! After her realized something was wrong, he whirled into the brush withot giving me a shot, but did not go but approximately 20 yards below me.
I immediately let my string down and softly mewed again, bring him right back at me! I heard him down below me and proceeded to make the biggest mistake of my hunting career. I thought he was still 10-15 yards out and came to full draw and raised up. What I did not know was that the trail I was on dropped off about 10 feet straight down just to my right. As I raised up, there he was less than 15 feet away, staring straight at me, and he dashed back into the brush!! I immediately went through the routine again, dropping to my knee whie simultaneously lowering my string and mewing again.
All of the sudden, I saw tines move into sight towards me on a trail 12 yards to my left. Thinking it was the big bull coming back in, I came to full draw and readied myself. Out stepped a 4x4 satellite bull broadside, standing perfectly still at 12 yards! While thinking about it for a minute, then deciding not to shoot him as I wanted my first archery bull to be a monster, ANOTHER bull came walking up right behind him!! The two bulls turned towards me and started walking right at me! As they advanced I heard a slight noise to my right and without moving, shifted my eyes over and once again saw massive tines moving through the brush towards me. The king had returned AGAIN!
Now I have a problem. Two small bulls now inside of seven yards and coming straight at me, a massive herd bull 10 yards to my right, finally giving me the money shot, and I am at full draw facing the wrong way! I said a silent prayer that the two small bulls would veer off, look back, anything, that would allow me to make the 45 degree turn to my right that would allow me to take the large bull. Fate decided it was not to be. They kept approaching until the lead bull was less than 10 feet away and STILL COMING!. Suddenly he stopped and a look of terrified realization washed over his face. There was a bear inthe woodpile and he know KNEW it. Without hesitation, he whirled and ran straight towards the larger bull, taking both the big bull and the other small bull well into the oak brush below me. I let my string down with trembling arms and once again began mewing. Although I got answered by bugles, and movement and crashing inthe oakbrush, I could not get the big boy to come back in.
Then silence. Glassing across the hill, the two small bulls re-appeared a couple hundred yards away, but the big boy was no where to be seen. Not wanting to blow the elk out of there, I backed off and met my hunting partner John at our rendevouz point and sat down to eat cold MREs and granola, excitedly recounting the play by play. After lunch, we decided that since the wind was still in our favor, to quietly stalk some of the trails through the oaks and timber, softly cow-calling to one another.
It worked!!! Sort of.... I had a cow come within 5 yards of me, with me already at full draw and ready. But it was not to be. Given the severe angle of the mountain we had to climb, and not knowing for sure how we would get back up anyway, we had made a decision it was a bull or nothing down in this hell hole, so she got a pass.
After we made a slow stalk, spotting nothing but cows and the two smaller bulls, we decided the better part of valor would be to try and figure out how on earth we were going to get back up the mountain while there was still enough light left to allow us to try it at least semi-safely.
A look at the topo revealed a slight angle around the side that looked to be not quite as severe if we attempted to sidehill our way to the top. Upon beginning our ascent, the hunting gods once again smiled on us and revealed an ancient trail winding around the side of the mountain that provided us with solid footing up the steep, exhausting climb.
An hour and half later, sitting back on the top, thoroughly winded and beaten, we began to glass back down in the canyon to see if we could find the big bull again. Within seconds, John spotted him, gathering up his cows and herding them into a small meadow to feed!! Both of our hearts lept back up as we realized that not only had we not spooked him out of the valley, but he was already back to business as usual!!
Since neither of us is going to be able to hunt for about a week, we agreed right then and there that NO ONE would know the location of the canyon, or the trail we found leading ito it. This bull is either going to die by one of our hands or die of old age. The even better news is that with the impending rut, the bull will become even more susceptible to calling and attepting to defend his heard from intruders.
In less than 4 minutes, I had been face to face with a massive herd bull three times, had him bugle in my face less than 7 yards away, and had been at full draw three different times! All of this took place on public land, in an over the counter unit, unguided, with truly wild elk, making it that much more special to both of us.
If my hunting career ended tomorrow, I would name this as the crowning achievement of my career and die a happy man. Despite two world record animals, several P&Y class whitetail, and hunting around the world, none of it seems even remotely significant when I reflect on that massive bull screaming right in my face. Today, I am a happy man.
And he's still out there!!
After figuring out how in the heck we were going to get down there without a helicopter, we began a treacherous sidehill down and around and through a couple of small crevices to drop the 1,700 feet to where we expected the elk would bed up. The descent took the better part of 2.5 hours due to the treacherous terrain and the slow going to keep from taking the Nestea plunge straight to the bottom....
Upon getting down to approximately 4-500 yards from where we expected them to be without breaking any significant appendages, we dropped our packs, checked the wind, took off our boots, donned face masks, and begin to SLOWLY and CAUTIOUSLY advance across the shale and scree covered hill side (my feet are now cut to hell and back) to the oak brush we believed them to be in.
Keep in mind that it had now been almost an hour since we last saw them as they went into the oak brush. As we got near to the area we expected them to be, we found two trails, one going slightly up hill, one going slightly down. As we were working into the wind, we knew that the chance of ecountering the elk unaware would be in our favor, so John elected to descend slightly lower, while I took the trail higher into the brush.
I had cautiously proceeded less than fifty yards from our point of seperation when I heard faint "cow talk" just above me in the brush.
I took a knee, knocked an arrow and let out a soft mew. Unexpectedly, I immediately get an answer, so I mewed again.
This time there was definite movement in the brush headed towards me! I came to full draw and had my bow focused where I expected the elk to step out. Suddenly, the rate of advancement coming towards me began to pick up and I saw massive tines in the brush less than ten yards from me!!
Within 2 seconds I found myself face to face, approximately 7 yards away from a massive 350" plus herd bull! Upon seeing something in the brush, he locked up and bugled RIGHT IN MY FACE! I almost lost all composure! As he stood there eyeing me, I already had him mounted on my wall. I counted six long tines on each side, with MASSIVE swords for fifths. All I needed was him to angle a little to one side or the other as he was facing directly towards me. Instead, he began to walk STRAIGHT AT ME! (keep in mind, he was only at about 7 yards in the first place!) He closed the distance to approximately 10 feet and then just stood there staring straight at me! After her realized something was wrong, he whirled into the brush withot giving me a shot, but did not go but approximately 20 yards below me.
I immediately let my string down and softly mewed again, bring him right back at me! I heard him down below me and proceeded to make the biggest mistake of my hunting career. I thought he was still 10-15 yards out and came to full draw and raised up. What I did not know was that the trail I was on dropped off about 10 feet straight down just to my right. As I raised up, there he was less than 15 feet away, staring straight at me, and he dashed back into the brush!! I immediately went through the routine again, dropping to my knee whie simultaneously lowering my string and mewing again.
All of the sudden, I saw tines move into sight towards me on a trail 12 yards to my left. Thinking it was the big bull coming back in, I came to full draw and readied myself. Out stepped a 4x4 satellite bull broadside, standing perfectly still at 12 yards! While thinking about it for a minute, then deciding not to shoot him as I wanted my first archery bull to be a monster, ANOTHER bull came walking up right behind him!! The two bulls turned towards me and started walking right at me! As they advanced I heard a slight noise to my right and without moving, shifted my eyes over and once again saw massive tines moving through the brush towards me. The king had returned AGAIN!
Now I have a problem. Two small bulls now inside of seven yards and coming straight at me, a massive herd bull 10 yards to my right, finally giving me the money shot, and I am at full draw facing the wrong way! I said a silent prayer that the two small bulls would veer off, look back, anything, that would allow me to make the 45 degree turn to my right that would allow me to take the large bull. Fate decided it was not to be. They kept approaching until the lead bull was less than 10 feet away and STILL COMING!. Suddenly he stopped and a look of terrified realization washed over his face. There was a bear inthe woodpile and he know KNEW it. Without hesitation, he whirled and ran straight towards the larger bull, taking both the big bull and the other small bull well into the oak brush below me. I let my string down with trembling arms and once again began mewing. Although I got answered by bugles, and movement and crashing inthe oakbrush, I could not get the big boy to come back in.
Then silence. Glassing across the hill, the two small bulls re-appeared a couple hundred yards away, but the big boy was no where to be seen. Not wanting to blow the elk out of there, I backed off and met my hunting partner John at our rendevouz point and sat down to eat cold MREs and granola, excitedly recounting the play by play. After lunch, we decided that since the wind was still in our favor, to quietly stalk some of the trails through the oaks and timber, softly cow-calling to one another.
It worked!!! Sort of.... I had a cow come within 5 yards of me, with me already at full draw and ready. But it was not to be. Given the severe angle of the mountain we had to climb, and not knowing for sure how we would get back up anyway, we had made a decision it was a bull or nothing down in this hell hole, so she got a pass.
After we made a slow stalk, spotting nothing but cows and the two smaller bulls, we decided the better part of valor would be to try and figure out how on earth we were going to get back up the mountain while there was still enough light left to allow us to try it at least semi-safely.
A look at the topo revealed a slight angle around the side that looked to be not quite as severe if we attempted to sidehill our way to the top. Upon beginning our ascent, the hunting gods once again smiled on us and revealed an ancient trail winding around the side of the mountain that provided us with solid footing up the steep, exhausting climb.
An hour and half later, sitting back on the top, thoroughly winded and beaten, we began to glass back down in the canyon to see if we could find the big bull again. Within seconds, John spotted him, gathering up his cows and herding them into a small meadow to feed!! Both of our hearts lept back up as we realized that not only had we not spooked him out of the valley, but he was already back to business as usual!!
Since neither of us is going to be able to hunt for about a week, we agreed right then and there that NO ONE would know the location of the canyon, or the trail we found leading ito it. This bull is either going to die by one of our hands or die of old age. The even better news is that with the impending rut, the bull will become even more susceptible to calling and attepting to defend his heard from intruders.
In less than 4 minutes, I had been face to face with a massive herd bull three times, had him bugle in my face less than 7 yards away, and had been at full draw three different times! All of this took place on public land, in an over the counter unit, unguided, with truly wild elk, making it that much more special to both of us.
If my hunting career ended tomorrow, I would name this as the crowning achievement of my career and die a happy man. Despite two world record animals, several P&Y class whitetail, and hunting around the world, none of it seems even remotely significant when I reflect on that massive bull screaming right in my face. Today, I am a happy man.
And he's still out there!!
Of course, we will also need GPS coordinates so we can verify the pics!
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