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There still bugling, although a little less the last couple of days

Personally, for me a giant is bull I know I want to shoot in less than a second. A big bull is bull I want to shoot after 5 seconds of evaluation.

After spending most of my non working (and some of my working) hours in unit one helping my brother with his elk hunt, his hunt came to an unceremonious end on the last day in the last hour when he took a small six point "meat" bull. He saw and passed on so many bulls I began to think his standards were not attainable. He did miss two shots, one from nerves and one from a bad range from his spotter (me) on some real legends. Fortunately and unforunately, my step dads hunt in 3b started the next day to help ease the pain of spending all that time in unit one and getting the results we both desired. The only picture allowed of my brother's elk, 75 yard shot (he is alot bigger and stronger than me) My step dad has always been a big time fisherman with trips to Costa Rica for Roosterfish and yellow fin, Northern Cal for Albacore and rockfish, and Alaska for Salmon and Halibut, I think all in the last two or three months. Well after a generation of hounding from me and my brothers and half a generation of applying he finally drew an elk tag for his neighborhood in 3b and was finally putting down his fishing poles and picking up a muzzleloader. Some of his fishing expoits; There were some serious obstacles we were facing with this hunt. First and foremost was my dads COPD, I did not know it was as severe as it was. Secondly, are lack of scout time with me and my brother spending all of that time in unit one we did not have as much time as we like to "slum" it in 3b. Finally the weather was not good and my brother was suffering elk hunting burnout if that was possible. We head out opening morning and put my brother as the "eye in the sky" on top of an all seeing mountain that was surrounded by prime elk habitat. We head out and the morning only produces four cows and two sparring little bulls that did not quite make the cut. Throughout the day we see small bulls/spikes and a few cows . Finally, we see a mature bull at 230 in the afternoon that I learned how bad his COPD was after a short walk he was having a very hard time breathing. I decide this bull was not for us and we head back to the vehicle. We stop at a few places seeing a small five point when finally minutes from the house we see a big bull at dusk. Only minutes left of shooting light we out a time consuming stalk on and get within range of the elk with caribou tops. I set my step dad up for a shot on my homemade bi-pod, he settles down and takes aim and squeezes the trigger. Misfire. He tries to settle down after that and complains that he can't get steady, the bull walks off with his cows and spikes in tow. The next morning we put the "eye in the sky" in place and head out to start our day where we left off the night before. Hoping the elk were there and seeing nothing. Then my brother calls me and says he has elk all over the place (the weather broke) including a giant. He guides us into the field with the elk and we promptly blow it, by trying to drive to close. This was the bull from the previous night and he picked up two shooter buddies along with his cows and spikes. I get another call from my brother saying go back they way you came in I have a bull picked out for you. The giant just pushed him down the hill and after you screw this one up I have two more picked out for you. We head back and I am wondering if the obstacles that we our facing were too large to overcome. As we get closer, the eye in the sky calls and says your close you should blow him out of there any minute. Right then my dad goes there he is and we start to get prepared. I position him to shot between two trees roughly a hundred yards from the elk, then he goes I can't see. We move again and this time he is rock solid and just seconds after the elk turns broadside, BOOM, the elks back half crumbles and he trots a hundred yards or so to our right. I grab the gun from him and ask for the speed reloader and he mentions "oh yeah I have that somewhere." After what felt like an hour but was only a few seconds he grabs it out of his pocket and I reload for him. We get closer to the bull that was obviously not feeling good and I have my stepdad sit down and try to put another round in him. Then he goes I prefer the bipod and another fatal quartering a way shot was placed. The elk runs a short ways spins five times and then falls. The walk up Trophy shots Thanks for reading. Next up my limited opportunity muzzy hunt next Friday. We could not have asked for a better first hunt for my dad, although the giant is still out there. My brother and I made a bet during his hunt that whoever killed the biggest bull has the right of first refusal on the next hunt we share.

Thanks, the fish were my price for being his guide. I have a couple of pieces of halibut and tuna and ten or so fillets of salmon. Life is good

No pics (camera broke) but here is three thirty am update as I wait for the coffee to brew and listen to the distant bugles. My brother passed on a legit 350bull in the morning and missed a 365 plus bull in the evening. He was drawn back for over two minutes caught in the middle of a standoff between the caller (me) and a really angry bull that wanted to hurt something.

Oh the pain.... Texts like that sure do make you hate where you are, esspecially if you are at work.... I have the same thing going on with 2 of my buds.... I am about to shoot myself.. I try to have a little fun with it though, text them back....... "Another miss????" "SShhhh, look behind you" and my personal fav... "Man, you have the wind all F'd up, pull yourself together man!!"

I always wanted to try it, but I can not find anything in the regs that say you can't.

I went up high over the weekend saw some good bulls that had thick antlers, but the fronts were very short. Went to a lower spot in unit one and found the mother load of elk. Remember when your out there to take bug spray, there very bad. Sorry no pics I finally broke my camera.

Thank you Tony. I have taken a lesson from snoop dog and a jack n the box commercial. If you don't like it do something about it.

There is an email for the rules committee. I'll see if I have it somwhere. If not I'll track it down this week.

or clone a wooly mammoth and get a bunch friends in loin cloths with spears.. Tony do you know the protocol to change the rules with G&F? I know I am out of luck for 2014 but I can get started on 2015.

Kinda weird herd this evening. I followed bugles hoping to get a couple of pics and then I got a little to close and stuck in the middle of a field. After the herd settled Weird part Fuzzy bull, two full sized bulls, several raghorns and spikes and a ton of cows. The rut could be weird this year.

What unit? +1 very curious to know as well! Hopefully one of the lower rim units! 3b, Went back to see him today and get a picture of his fronts. Some D-bag in a plane harassed them until they left the area. I have pictures of the plane, but the serial number is just a little to blurry. I will get him next time.

Took this pic about one o clock today. Elk were calling until about 11:00

Herd some small talk, nothing really starting yet. These little guys are still friends one fuzzy, one not. I took the picture yesterday.

My primary hunting attire for early season is a pair of camo shorts I got at ross for 19 bucks, a brown haynes t-shirt for five and a pair of running shoes. Its not a fashion show just get out and hunt. I use the running shoes because they are two pounds lighter than hunting boots and ten times quieter. Last year I spot and stalked and took a 95" buck wearing a. collared green golf shirt and levy's (after work) and the last day of my brother's antelope hunt after watching him make several wrong turns,I took the lead getting him into range for three shots on the lead buck of a herd of thirty antelope wearing a black rain jacket, levy's, and a brown golf shirt. Just remember the fashion show is secondary, so wear what you want. have fun and good luck.

Seen a few, my wife has a rifle tag so i have been watching a couple of bucks with great interest.

After about a million practice shots I can shoot my recurve out to about 27 yards or so. With my real bow on loan to my self centered Brother this year will be really interesting. One more thing my new overloads decided on having are grand opening on opening day. Fortunely I know a couple of places within the 15 minutes of my office. I excited for the challenge of instinctive bowhunting. I'll be hunting (scouting) 1 and 3b for the most part and wherever else I may end up. Good Luck, I cant wait.

I have seen nearly every kind of illegal there is from the families that I rout for to make it, to the drug runners with the heavy back packs, to the militia style, to the guys walking back south after a drop off, to three dozen plus people walking straight at me. (see some of my previous post). I would not hesitate to spend a week down there by myself in some of the most used areas if the hunting was good.

I would save your money. I watched several be the decoys, a couple of montana decoys, and a couple of guys in white paint suits tried to stalk antelope during my brothers antelope hunt last year. The antelope did not let them get them within three hundred yards.

Which unit and month or week would you hunt if you had a tag that was good for coues all year in any unit???

Had a few minutes to scout after work yesterday saw a few bulls.

I'm taking my daughter this weekend, bears fit her personality and I am starting to instensify my scouting for upcoming hunts.

There's a reason I ask, my friend won the super raffle and I get to take him for a few days

I would not camp around Pintail Lake unless your into that Brokeback Mountain style of romance. Saw an older gentleman and a native entrenched in a passionate embrace and I will not mention what my brothers saw when they were cutting wood in the area.