Search the Community

Howdy all, I finally got some time to sit down and slap a video together. There's no fancy footage and because it happened during our "dress rehearsal" for the hunt the video wasn't over the shoulder and not the best, but I think it's awesome…for obvious reasons! Ha! I called it a "dress rehearsal" because my buddy and I had to pull an all-nighter because of a broken Rhino and last minute shopping. We didn't' even have enough time to make it to Plan A before light so we opted to hit the Plan B spot. We arrived 2 hours before light with still a 1 hour Rhino ride to the spot. Our trucks were loaded for the full hunt and had intentions of doing a "backpack" hunt into Plan A but with no sleep at all we figured we would hit Plan B first, take a nap mid day and then attack our backpack hunt that afternoon. We left the trucks loaded and just grabbed the essentials, jumped in the Rhino and off we went. We made it to the parking spot for the Rhino and started our walk in with several bugles up ahead to keep us awake! I had not seen a shooter class bull in this area but I loved it because it had potential for one to show up. You'll see on the video that my buddy hung back and let me sneak in to the bugles and go "shopping". The first bull was a cookie cutter 6x6 and exciting but not what I wanted. I waited for him to move off and then moved up to look down at the other bugling bull in the next draw. When I first located him he had his head back bugling and I could see his insanely long G2's and G3's and turned to my buddy and said "I'll shoot that one"! The video shows what all happened next. What you don't see is the whole time leading up to the shot, I kept questioning what I was doing because I had waited so long for a tag of my own! I had dreamt for many years about all the call-ins, close calls, pass ups, and just the overall experiences I would hopefully get on my own hunt, but there I was getting ready to end my hunt in less than an hour! Once I was where I felt I needed to be and the bull started stepping into my shooting lane all that questioning and hesitation went away. He was indeed the biggest bull I had seen during my scouting and although his top end was shorter than I had hoped, his bottom end made up for it and I knew he would at least hit my predetermined mark of 360" class or better. As you'll see, both my shots hit left which I'm sure was my bad habit of gripping the bow hard when excited, but fortunately with the slight quarter to angle and good penetration this story had a happy ending. Surprisingly, even the second arrow penetrated the chest cavity but wasn't needed as the first arrow did the job. I was using the cut on contact Grave Diggers for the first time and after seeing that penetration through an elk shoulder at 55 yards I swear by em'! They were also the best flying broad head I found.…I just need to remember to relax my grip when the adrenaline's flowing! This was the biggest bodied bull I've ever walked up on and even his head was huge which all made his rack look smaller, so as I walked up to him I realized he definitely surpassed my goal of 360"! As he is he's mid 370's and if his right G1 was intact he would be closer to the 380" mark! You'll hear me say in the video, "Ever since I was a kid", and it's been ever since I went on my first bull hunt at 10 yrs old that I dreamt of walking up to a big bull with my arrow in em! I've killed bulls since but nothing like I had always dreamt about, until that morning! Thanks everyone for all the awesome reply's on that previous thread and for any you post here. I have very little free time nowadays and what little time I have I spend with my daughter so even tho I read new posts here daily on my phone I just haven't had time to log in and post anything up till now, so i'm sorry for that delay and take care, JIM>

Howdy all, I don't have much time as I'm turning right around and heading north again, but wanted to share this with ya. Ever since I was a little kid chasing Elk with my dad I dreamed of the day I would walk up to a big bull with my arrow sticking out of him! It's been 28 years since my first Bull tag and I've had several since but that dream didn't come true until yesterday morning!!! My hunt lasted only 45 minutes but when I stopped this bull in an opening at 55 yards I knew I couldn't pass him up! The bull then gave me a second opportunity at 78 yards so I put a second arrow in em' just for for insurance and It's all on video! I've lived vicariously though others over the years and it's always exciting but nothing compared to wrapping your own tag on that huge rack!!! Thanks all, congrats to the successful hunters already and best of luck to those still hunting! Take care, JIM>