2009 Archery Bull Elk at its finest

[Archery Southwest]

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2009 AZ Bull Elk Hunt

 

Our highly anticipated 2009 Elk hunt finally came after many months of waiting since the draw results. This year was more than just a hunt, we drew 5 tags in the same unit with family and friends and we were going to make it a hunt to remember for a lifetime. I was lucky enough to draw with a great friend, Matt Mullins, his father Jim Mullins Sr., his brother Tom Mullins, and Chrissy Wright who is on the Archery Southwest team (ASW). To top that off, we had Jim Mullins Jr. in camp who just came off the successful 2009 Auction tag with a “445 inch bull”, also a teammate on ASW, as well as ASW team members Manny Madrid and Damion Thomas. Finally, we had Lamannas Outdoors in the field capturing as much of the hunts as possible on film. This was truly set up to be a hunt to remember, and it was….

 

The scouting for this hunt started in the summer and sure paid off. The night before opening morning, we all had our game plan set and were pretty spread out to ensure we could capitalize on all of the big bulls we had been seeing. On day one, we set out to check out some areas, listen for some bugles, and see what we could find. After a few areas with no luck, Damion and I decided to head off to another section of the unit. We set up mid-day and I settled in for the afternoon wait. After about 3 hours, I saw some cows coming in, then a spike, and a few more cows. My heart started pumping, would I get to see one of the giants that afternoon… Then my bull came in running after the cows, head back, with a few short bugles. He was a clean 6X6 and looked extremely wide. I let him come in to get a good look and he looked extremely wide. I was looking for an unbroken, wide, 6X6 and I decided to get ready to shoot. I ranged him at 37 yards and I drew back my Hoyt Alphamax but while my heart was pounding I thought, “should I shoot on opening day?”, and I let down. After a few more minutes looking at this bull, I decided to shoot for sure and ranged him now at 48 yards. I drew back and the bull walked about 4 more yards and stopped to give me a slightly quartered shot, I put my Spot Hogg pin on him and let the arrow fly. I hear that unmistakable “Thwack” as an arrow hit the bull and watched this bull take off, jump over a log, crash down and skid into the dirt 30 feet. Then, as I am watching with amazement, the bull gets up and takes off again and I watch his direction until he is out of sight.

 

At this point, I am so excited I can feel my heart beat in my toes, I just shot a Pope & Young bull with a bow and the wait to go find him was painful. After about an hour, I go to the site where I hit the bull and find the back half of my Axis Nano arrow and it was full of blood. I them started to follow the blood trail but decided to hold tight until Damion could come back and help. We tracked the bull for about 150 yards and started to loose light. I then started to realize how extremely tough these animals are and how far they can run even with a good hit. We lost good tracking light and we decided to come back in the morning since the night was going to be cold.

 

I hardly slept that night and was ready to get after the tracking at daylight. This time, we had the whole team out looking. It was not long before Manny used his blood hound techniques to find a huge pile of blood. I started to get excited again to find my bull and walk up to him. Within the next 30 minutes of following each track and blood spot, we look under this cedar tree and see the rack glistening in the morning sun. I cannot express the feeling you get to walk up to such a magnificent animal with all of your friends there to see. It was awesome. We took in the moment, took our field photos, and the real work began to get this bull out of the woods and get the meat prepared. The rest of the crew took off to get back to their hunts.

 

The next 5 days were full of incredible experiences and we ended up with 5 out of 5 great Pope & Young bulls. I cannot thank enough the Mullins’, Manny, and Damion for all of your help, your friendship, and am glad to be joining you guys in the field. This was a hunt to remember for a lifetime.

[Chef]

Gaggers. 5 out of 5 to top it off. awesome.

[tjhunt2]

Them Mullins seem to be at the right place at the right time and hanging out with a bunch like that just has to be awesome. Congratulations to each of you 5 hunters. Great writeup by the way.

 

TJ

[bonecollector]

Congrats to all on some beautifull bulls, great write up thanks for sharing. It makes me more excited for the draw results hopefully this week.

[Butters]

Great story again and congrats Twinkle Toes and the ASW / Mullins Team keep up the good work. What a year to remember.

[CouesWhitetail]

Outstanding!! Congratulations on some great hunts and great bulls!

 

Amanda

 

[hunterdude]

Dang good looking elk you all killed!

[COOSEFAN]

Very cool Wayne! Again, thanks for sharing your story with us here, that was a hunt to remember for sure! I'm not sure if you had Popps photo or not but I'll post t up. Popps was holding out for a big bull but on his last day he couldn't pass up this nice 6x6. The best part was that his grandson "Drake" got to be there to experience it all! LOL! Drake got his paws on more elk in 3 days than ever before!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, here is a link to Matts video of his bull. The Lamanna's are good friends of ours so keep an eye out for them on TV in the near future with more of our hunts!

 

 

http://blog.lamannas.com/Shows/GrandCanyon...11/Default.aspx

 

 

 

 

 

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[Archery Southwest]

Thanks Jimbo, I could not get Pop's pic that I had to load... It was an awesome hunt and look forward to getting drawn again someday if the good Lord is willing...

 

[el diablo]

Nice bulls, sounds like one heck of a hunt!