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I will post a story and more pics when we when we get done driving all over the state. But for now here is my favorite pic. He’s not a giant per the tape, but there has never been a happier kid. He hasn’t stopped grinning since Wednesday.

Well, last year it took 3 days to get a bull down. This time it only took a few hours. It wasn’t quite the way we drew it up, but I couldn’t be happier for another year with an elk-filled freezer. We left the camper at 0500 this morning and got set up on a small incline overlooking some meadows we’d seen elk in this past Tuesday. After hearing a few different shots around us, we figured the elk must have been in the next valley over and we missed our opportunity for an opening day, first-light kill. Around 0815 we decided to relocate to another ridge line a few miles south so we hiked back to the car and piled in. As we were heading back into the spot, my wife and buddy spotted 2 bulls trot across the road about 150 yards in front of the car. They said one was likely a young 4 point and the other was a more mature bull but they didn’t get a good look at it. We decided to park the truck and see if we could get on their trail. Luckily, a little bit of snow this morning helped us pick up the tracks of the 2 bulls and we were off! As we hiked up the hill, I spotted the younger bull and thought to myself that I was blessed enough with a beautiful 6pt last year, and this year I would be thankful just to fill the freezer and enjoy another year of elk meat. If I caught up to him and had a shot, I’d take it. Unfortunately, the young bull crested the hill and went out of sight. My buddy continued following their tracks while I stayed a bit to the right, trying not to directly follow their trail. All of a sudden we hear a truck somewhere else in the valley. I couldn’t see it, and I didn’t even know another road came back into this same area but all I could think was “this truck is gonna scare these elk off and I’ll never be able to catch up or find them again”. Well maybe that truck confused the elk because all of a sudden my buddy half whispers, half yells at me. I turn and look over in his direction and couldn’t believe what I saw. I was so focused on where I thought the elk had topped the hill that I wasn’t even paying attention to where my buddy was or what he was seeing. I look over and there is the mature bull, broken on both sides, trotting 20 yards in front of my buddy’s face and 40 yards from me. My buddy immediately drops to the ground and I bring my rifle up only to realize that I’m zoomed in at 9x and can’t locate what part of the bull I’m aimed at. I quickly dial back to my lowest setting (3x) and re-aim at the bull, but it dawns on me that my wife, father-in-law, and my buddy’s girlfriend were a couple hundred yards behind us and in the general direction I’m now aiming. I take a second to double check my shooting lane is completely clear, aim at the vitals as the bull continues trotting past, and squeeze the trigger. The bull stumbles about 200 yards before finally laying down under a tree, and a few minutes later I know he’s gone. It still amazes me how fast everything happened and how much I had to adjust/take into account for my quick, 45 yard shot. From my buddy spotting the bull coming back toward us to me pulling the trigger might have been 5-6 seconds but it felt like a lifetime. He’s not quite the bull I tagged last year, but he’s perfect to me. I couldn’t be happier for another successful elk hunt and another year of great elk hunting memories. I’m slightly disappointed we’ll be heading home earlier than planned this year, but it’s for the best of reasons: tag filled.

at 8am on a weekday? probably not.

It's actually 48 hrs before a hunt.

Congrats dude. Having that tag 3 years in a row is pretty unbelievable. You have much to be grateful for this year.

Well done!

mask shaming!

Shame on you woody for that. I bet he’s one of those that pulls mask down to put food in his mouth then back up while chewing.

Easy there yote, I say f nm for other liberal reasons, and motels

You pay out of state tag costs but you are not put into the 10% cap.

I've had a Pioneer one for nine years now. It covers everything that the combo hunt & fish does. Unfortunately, I can no longer do anything. 🤣

I would say the liberal left likes more regulation, more govt to tell them what thay can and cant do. 🤷🏻‍♂️

It's about time they ban them. Banning them is long over due.

I wouldn’t even be mad if they banned them from a hunting standpoint. But I would be sad because I like to look at wildlife

Hunters are a very jealous type. Most people that complain about cams (outside of the strip) are half butt one weekend a year warriors.

Come out opening weekend or before. I’m trying to get everyone so we can kill a giant and have a kill pic like a football team photo.

It only takes one sheep to go from zero to hero. You guys are going to be fine!

Thats wild. almost as bad as ammo. I wont eat the stuff. Ive eaten too much of that stuff when I was a kid. I think I would eat Pigeons and dogs before that anymore lol

caswell and harris same stuff...caswells half the price. Atlas is my go to.

Same here! Absolutely love min but they make you pay for them haha.

Atlas bipods https://www.accu-shot.com/Atlas_Bipods.php

In your example, if max was 31 points and 20 of those tags were drawn, then the remaining 4 tags would be randomly drawn out of the pool of people with 30 points. After that, the remaining 96 tags go into the random draw.

I could be wrong but don't think it will drop as low as 3-7. I think many of the max point holders are applying for the same 3-4 units.

*UPDATE* - ARREST MADE Sheriff detective called yesterday to let me know that an arrest was made regarding my case. With serial numbers on several electronic items that were stolen, the break actually came because of a fanny-pack. I don't own alot of high end gear, but I did have a nice "specialty" fanny-pack. Not Nike or Adidas but a quality piece of gear from reputable backcountry equipment company. Crackheads dont sport sh*t like that...busted! They said that he was a career burglar, and he's headed to prison not jail. I'll update again with any other details. -Patrick

Here is my 12B buck from a few years ago, its my biggest buck to date.