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I somehow managed to draw early archery tags back to back. I absolutely couldn't believe it but wasn't going to give it back! I was having a little bit of a hard time getting pumped up as the hunt drew near with being so busy with work, my daughter's activities, and chasing velvet coues around the hills. That quickly changed when the time came to get packed up and head north. Once camp was set we (rut and I) took off to check cams and see what sign was where. Our other buddy Keith came up to lend a hand as well. It was a rather uneventful first few days but I did end up passing a few really nice bulls sitting water in the evenings, one of which I figure would push the tape to around 350". Things slowly started picking up and soon the bull I was looking for was located. A heavy, tall 7x7. The next few days were spent tip toeing around trying to get in on him without bumping him out of the country. I was pleasantly surprised when Chef and his better half were able to join us in the elk woods for a few days. One morning while watching my target get settled in for a mid day nap a bull that I had earlier passed and his cows came storming over the ridge. What happened next was the most unreal fight I've ever witnessed in the wild. I'll try and get some of the videos up when I have them all downloaded. Anyway I was a little too late by the time I crossed the canyon and missed a golden opportunity to get a shot. The 7x7 narrowly won the epic battle and escaped with all of the cows and out of sight. The next day we all were surrounding the area looking for the bull when some distant bugles caught our attention. Keith and I took off in hopes of getting in on the action before they made their way to the bedding areas. It was one of those mornings in the elk woods that just can't be described unless you are there living it. Satellite bulls sounding off giving away the herd's location, sneaking in on bulls raking trees, wading through the small bulls closing the distance on the big boy. We were finally able to catch a glimpse of the herd bull and although he was not the 7x7 I was after he was a great bull that I immediately wanted to get close to. We were able to sneak in and I ended up with a narrow window of opportunity to get a shot as he pushed his cows up a canyon. It was a hard quartering away shot between a tree and his cows that I decided I could squeeze an arrow through. At the release I knew it was further back then I would have liked but the angle looked to be enough to get into the vitals and fortunately it was. I can't thank my hunting partners enough for all of the help on getting this bull which happens to be my best to date. Keith and I were able to keep our tradition of being together when either of us takes a bull and I got to share it with some of the best friends a guy could ever ask for. So thankful that I have a loving wife at home that can take care of things when I'm out chasing critters around the country. My bull ended up measuring 378" and change. I really didn't care what the total came to be as I love the whale tails and have always wanted a bull with them. A great hunt with great people and memories to last a lifetime.

Here is my 2016 archery bull

Just wanted to say good luck to everyone and I really hate all of you that have tags. LOL JK Can't wait to see all this pictures. Cole

Good luck to everyone that have elk tags this year! Here is a few Pictures of some of the elk we have done this past year. Cole

Scouting for this hunt started back in late winter. I was so confident that my brother was going to draw a November Rifle Elk tag that I placed a trail camera in some winter range while I felt the elk would still be there. As luck would have it my brother was not drawn, but I drew a September Archery Elk tag in the same unit. I placed more trail cameras throughout the spring and went on a handful of family camping/scouting trips. I was getting pictures of some really nice bulls and seeing plenty others. Here's a few: As is always the case, everything changed once the calendar turned to September. Some of the bulls disappeared while some new ones showed up. I headed up late Wednesday after work to set-up camp and scout the day before the hunt. My uncle and a couple of his buddies came up to hold down the fort at camp and make sure there was plenty of good food and crazy stories to go around. My brother Brian and nephew Easton got up there Thursday afternoon and I hunted with them the first three days. We got into some great rutting activity, passed on some small bulls, and saw some really good bulls that I couldn’t close the deal on. Easton had to go home Sunday afternoon for school. Our friend Dan hunted with Brian and I days 4-6 with more of the same. I was starting to think that maybe luck wasn’t on my side. I had plenty of the normal archery bad luck with wind shifting right when you are getting in tight, bulls deciding to take their harem a different direction, elk getting bumped by other hunters. I also had some incredibly bad luck like a bear getting in the middle of the herd when I was under 80 yards, and a tree falling down and scattering the bedded elk when I was under 60 yards. My cousin Jess hunted with me on day 7 and we got to within 38 yards of a big bull that had over 50 cows but he turned around just before his vitals came into my shooting lane. Jess hadn’t been in the middle of rutting elk like that before and his excitement was apparent. Day 8 I hunted by myself and passed on some smaller six points including one that had already been shot a little too high but appeared to show no ill effects. Day 9 (Saturday) my friend Chase came out to hunt with me. We went to the same area that I had hunted a few days with my brother where the bulls were screaming all day long. This day was no different. There were three growler bulls bugling pretty close to each other. We started to close the distance before it was light enough to see. We spent most of the morning chasing these bulls, pretty close the whole time but they were moving a bunch. By late morning two of the growlers were still close together and ended up bedding less than 100 yards apart. They both had good sized harems and we knew that with them being bedded so close they would stay vocal throughout the day. We got the wind right and crawled to where we were in between the two groups of bedded elk. We couldn’t see either bull but could see elk from both herds. We were prepared to wait there until evening if we needed to. At about 11:40 AM one of the cows from the lower herd got up and started feeding toward the upper herd. This immediately got the lower bull up and he came and rounded that cow back into his harem. We could see that he was a very nice 6x6 bull. He was only 60 yards away but way too thick to even think about a shot. By now the upper bull was bugling a bunch and it was clear he was coming down the hill. The upper bull showed himself and we knew he was the big 7x7 from the morning. The two bulls came together screaming at each other, posturing, and bluffed at each other a few times. We were sure they were going to fight. They continued this while moving in our direction. The 6x6 passed at about 40 yards in the thick oaks as I tried to fasten my release. I finally got the release fastened and the 7x7 was right on his heels only slightly closer. I was in a squatting position because the shooting window I had was small. Chase made a quick cow call to stop the bull. I knew he was close and sharply downhill but I didn’t have time to range. I drew my bow, settled the 20 and 30 yard pins on his kill zone, and let it fly. As he crashed off we saw the arrow barely sticking out of him, center punched. The shot was a couple inches higher than a perfect shot but we were really confident he was double lunged and with the sharp angle possibly the heart too. We ate lunch and then went down to where he was. Found blood and quickly found about 15-inches of arrow broken off with about 10-inches of it covered in lung blood. We waited a little bit longer and then began tracking but there was no blood. We knew with the higher shot he was bleeding internally but were worried that without a blood trail he could be very hard to find in the thick timber. We searched for blood for about 40 minutes and then began zig-zagging in the direction he ran off. I had a very sick feeling but at 2 PM I saw elk hide with tines sticking up. He was down for good and only travelled about 120-yards. Chase and I took pictures and then got to work. Hung meat in a tree for the night. I packed out the head and cape while Chase packed out the backstraps and tenderloins. The next morning we went into town and got Chase’s mule and Cricket packed out the rest of the bull. This was an awesome hunt with some of my best friends and family sharing in the adventure. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way, especially my wife for tagging along on all the scouting trips and keeping the household running while I was gone. The hunt definitely had the highs and lows that go with archery elk hunting. We hunted in a few different places and the rutting activity was nonstop in some areas and slow in others. We saw some really awesome bulls, nice antelope bucks, muley bucks, plenty of turkeys, a bear, a wolf, along with some of the prettiest country in the state. The bull I shot was probably the 5th largest that we hunted but I would have shot him any day of the hunt.

Dewey aka "rabidApache" took this bull during the Malay Gap Archery Elk hunt last month, congrats to Dewey on his hard work. 43" inside spread 20+" royals 54" main beams DAN

Gavin got this very unique bull in Unit 27. 85 yard shot.....9200 feet elevation! For those that don't know Gavin, he and his dad run Weller's Wildlife Studio, a great taxidermy shop and sponsor for many years here! (sorry for the small pic, I think it's from a phone and it's all he sent me)