Post by Reaper on Dec 18, 2009 9:01:48 GMT -5
Alright, I realize that it was with a bang stick, but by request, here is the story of my late bull hunt.
Me and my brother got drawn last year for late season bull. It was slim pickins but I managed to take a raghorn 3x4. My brother had come from Texas for the hunt and had comeup with zilch. Since he busted his rear end helping me with my bull & didnt even see one, I prayed that we would get drawn this year and that he could take a bull, ANY bull.
We got drawn again by a miracle and since his work had sent him to PA, the drive was even longer but he was ready! Opening morning, I still hunted in the area where I killed last year's bull. I kicked up a good one and a raghorn, but they were bred with jackrabbits & the thick timber didn't afford me a shot. Brother didn't see squat. The other two hunting buddies saw 2 bulls, no shot.
That evening, one of the other guys popped a spike & we started to track it but ran out of daylight. The next day we went back and used 3/4 of a day tracking it but couldnt find it. 3rd day we were still seeing elk, but not shots on a bull.
Morning of the 4th day, I head out early for my favorite still hunting area. It's drizzling rain & sleet. I get about a mile & 1/2 into my stalk and I get a text from one of the other guys. The big snow storm was coming and their wives were telling them how the news said they were going to close roads, etc., etc. The kicker is that one of the guys had brought an extra ATV for me to use (since my broke butt don't have one) and he had the trailer. So my mobility was cut by 75%. I wasn't exactly a happy camper and was stomping my way back. I happened to look about 60 yards down the trail and thought, gee that's a REALLY big blond rock. Too late, TWO good bulls were over the fence and gone!! Now I was even happier!
They bailed and me and my brother tried to sit in blinds to at least stay out of the snow. Not much luck there. The next morning was pristine white with about 6 to 8 inches of snow in camp. A morning of still hunting showed no sign of elk in an area I KNEW had elk. So we decided to hit some high spots and glass. We were driving a back road at the end of the day and I would get out and glass ridges as we went. At the very last spot, my brother asked me if I was going to glass this last ridge and he spotted elk at the same time. I put glass on them and saw they were bulls, woo hoo get the rifles boys! We get set up and do the 'ol 123 bang trick. We guestimated the shots at about 380 yards. They dropped less than 50 yards from each other.
With about 30 minutes of light left, I hauled but down, across and up the other side of the canyon in about 1 & 1/2 feet of snow. Tagged 'em, took a few quick pics, marked the GPS and tried to haul but back. I was beat!!! Got back to the truck & my brother said a word of thanks to the big outfitter upstairs.
I saw that the bulls had fallen on an old ATV trail, but where did it start? By the time we had figured it out it was 9:00p.m. Since we only had one bike, I went to a neighboring camp and asked for help with quads. These two guys jumped out and ran to help us.
The temps dropped down to 13 degrees and there I was kneeling in 1 & 1/2 feet of snow trying to dress this huge animal. By the time we got them out, loaded in the truck and back to camp, it was 3:30 a.m. One of our new helpers was a spry youngster of 62 years. He left early, since we had it, and headed back to camp. About 30 minutes later, we came around the corner and found him pinned to the ground by his quad, it had rolled over on him. He turned out to be OK, but the next day he was so sore and stove up that it ended his hunt. We felt REALLY low about it, but when we bought them a thank you supper at the cafe the next night, he just blew it off and said that hunters help hunters! Period. End of story! Me and my brother were pretty touched by his spirit of helping. Thanks Jack!!!!!
Sorry for the long read, but it's one heck of a story and I couldn't fit it all in here.
Bill
So I figured it out one pic at a time, I think!
Me and my brother got drawn last year for late season bull. It was slim pickins but I managed to take a raghorn 3x4. My brother had come from Texas for the hunt and had comeup with zilch. Since he busted his rear end helping me with my bull & didnt even see one, I prayed that we would get drawn this year and that he could take a bull, ANY bull.
We got drawn again by a miracle and since his work had sent him to PA, the drive was even longer but he was ready! Opening morning, I still hunted in the area where I killed last year's bull. I kicked up a good one and a raghorn, but they were bred with jackrabbits & the thick timber didn't afford me a shot. Brother didn't see squat. The other two hunting buddies saw 2 bulls, no shot.
That evening, one of the other guys popped a spike & we started to track it but ran out of daylight. The next day we went back and used 3/4 of a day tracking it but couldnt find it. 3rd day we were still seeing elk, but not shots on a bull.
Morning of the 4th day, I head out early for my favorite still hunting area. It's drizzling rain & sleet. I get about a mile & 1/2 into my stalk and I get a text from one of the other guys. The big snow storm was coming and their wives were telling them how the news said they were going to close roads, etc., etc. The kicker is that one of the guys had brought an extra ATV for me to use (since my broke butt don't have one) and he had the trailer. So my mobility was cut by 75%. I wasn't exactly a happy camper and was stomping my way back. I happened to look about 60 yards down the trail and thought, gee that's a REALLY big blond rock. Too late, TWO good bulls were over the fence and gone!! Now I was even happier!
They bailed and me and my brother tried to sit in blinds to at least stay out of the snow. Not much luck there. The next morning was pristine white with about 6 to 8 inches of snow in camp. A morning of still hunting showed no sign of elk in an area I KNEW had elk. So we decided to hit some high spots and glass. We were driving a back road at the end of the day and I would get out and glass ridges as we went. At the very last spot, my brother asked me if I was going to glass this last ridge and he spotted elk at the same time. I put glass on them and saw they were bulls, woo hoo get the rifles boys! We get set up and do the 'ol 123 bang trick. We guestimated the shots at about 380 yards. They dropped less than 50 yards from each other.
With about 30 minutes of light left, I hauled but down, across and up the other side of the canyon in about 1 & 1/2 feet of snow. Tagged 'em, took a few quick pics, marked the GPS and tried to haul but back. I was beat!!! Got back to the truck & my brother said a word of thanks to the big outfitter upstairs.
I saw that the bulls had fallen on an old ATV trail, but where did it start? By the time we had figured it out it was 9:00p.m. Since we only had one bike, I went to a neighboring camp and asked for help with quads. These two guys jumped out and ran to help us.
The temps dropped down to 13 degrees and there I was kneeling in 1 & 1/2 feet of snow trying to dress this huge animal. By the time we got them out, loaded in the truck and back to camp, it was 3:30 a.m. One of our new helpers was a spry youngster of 62 years. He left early, since we had it, and headed back to camp. About 30 minutes later, we came around the corner and found him pinned to the ground by his quad, it had rolled over on him. He turned out to be OK, but the next day he was so sore and stove up that it ended his hunt. We felt REALLY low about it, but when we bought them a thank you supper at the cafe the next night, he just blew it off and said that hunters help hunters! Period. End of story! Me and my brother were pretty touched by his spirit of helping. Thanks Jack!!!!!
Sorry for the long read, but it's one heck of a story and I couldn't fit it all in here.
Bill
So I figured it out one pic at a time, I think!
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