"The Hunt For Deuce"

[COOSEFAN]

Howdy folks. Sorry for the long delay in posting and for the equally long delay in responding to emails and PM's here. Not only was I without a computer and internet for a long time, I also had a mishap with my phone which meant being without a phone for a long time as well. I lost my entire contact list in my phone so if I haven't already talked to you recently and you've had my number, please text me with your name so I can enter it, thanks!

 

 

Ok now, here's a short and condensed version of our hunt with Mike Schnable aka "Deuce Bigelow". He's working on a much more in depth article but here's my thoughts and details of the hunt.

 

Mike lives in Maryland and just happened to know Clark Guy, the lucky recipient of a previous Super Raffle elk tag. We had helped Clark kill his bull which was that giant velvet bull from a few years ago. Mike was wanting to improve his odds at getting an elk tag out west and Clark told Mike where to apply and told him to buy tickets for the AZBGSR here in AZ. Mike did just that and amazingly he won our Super Raffle elk tag...with 1 ticket in the bucket!!! Clark couldn't beleive it and thankfully told him to call us immediately and the hunt was booked!

 

I've been very fortunate with the folks I've shared hunts with, I don't know if it's because we have a small outfit or because we get mostly referrals or what, but I've thoroughly enjoyed and feel very fortunate to consistently hunt with great people every year. Knock on wood, but I've never hunted with someone that I felt didn't deserve the tag or the trophy they took! That has made my job much more enjoyable and rewarding, but I gotta say, I've never met someone who I felt was more deserving of a tag than Mike! Mike had a life changing experience that i'm sure none of us can relate to, we were all there watching in disbelief on our TV's, but Mike was in the Twin Towers on 9-11. He was only a few floors below when the 2nd plane hit and previously had a front row seat to the horror taking place with the first building. I'm not wanting to dwell on this, just illustrating how Mike had his life turned upside down with something so tragic. Mike rebuilt his life through what sounds like a ton of effort and determination and to say Mike is a very deserving recipient of our special elk tag, that would be a huge understatement!!! Mike couldn't believe he'd won the tag but indeed, with Clark's advice and I'm sure some devine intervention, his 1 raffle ticket was picked!

 

Mike hunted with us at the end of August and after the general elk tags in October last year. He spent 30 days out here chasing bulls in the pre-rut and the middle to end of the rut with us. We had a blast hunting with Mike and had immediately become good friends. Our goal was to kill a 400" class bull with a bow and several stalks were made on bulls that would come close to that mark but with Mikes determination he held off and passed some bulls any of us would have taken on any other hunt! It was tough hunting but we had a blast and enjoyed a ton of new memories made while chasing big bulls! Mike had a baby on the way and our hunts with him would have to wait until the last 3 weeks of his hunt in 2010. We knew we'd be watching some great bulls at that time and felt confident we could pull it off in the last inning of his hunt and the long wait was hard on Mike! We were sending him pics of the bulls and that didn't help matters much, Mike was chompin' at the bit! Finally the bulls were finishing up on their growth and Mike was flying out for his hunt!

 

We had several shooter bulls picked out but with the heavy rains arriving the same time Mike arrived it made the hunt very tough! The elk had no reason to stay in smaller areas now that water was available everywhere and the big bulls made their move. We hunted hard every day, getting only 3 hours of sleep at night and sometimes a few hours midday but we were determined to hold out. Some great bulls were passed up and even a couple in the 380-390" range that would have been fairly easy archery kills! Mike was trying his hardest to hold out even though he knew that with a full moon, hot temperatures and scattered bulls we had our work cut out for us! We were hunting a huge 6x6, that we named "King Henry the 4th", in some flat cedar country but could never get a shot at him. We spent several days trying to figure out his pattern and only had one opportunity at him but it was too low light for the situation because the bull had 6 other bulls surrounding him. We were so close and time was winding down on his hunt!

 

From the beginning, I had a bull that I would get pics of just a few times every year. I had named the bull "Deuce Jr." several years ago because he was smaller than another bull that had a double G2. Last year and this year he really put on the inches and was now bigger than the other double G2 bull so he outgrew his "Jr." label. I thought the bull was one of our higher scoring bulls but like years past, he would dissappear for long periods of time. I could never figure out where he went and once he dissappeared this year I felt we would be wasting time hunting him. I placed a camera about 5 miles from where I'd gotten his pic last and in an area that I thought was his hidin' spot. While chasing "King Henry" for several days I kept thinking about "Deuce" but had not gone to check my cam yet. On the 7th day in the morning we gave up on Mr. King Henry but because of heavy cloud cover all night blocking out the moon and a cool morning we had good late morning activity still with the elk. We decided to take advantage of the morning and run over to check my cam to see if "Deuce" indeed moved down into that spot. We glassed our way into the spot seeing nothing and our hopes were about done for the morning. My cam wasn't locked so as we approached my cam I said out loud "Yes, nobody stole it"!, but just then, as I looked over the top of my cam, Manny and I both said at the same time "DEUCE"!!!! Manny was behind me and saw him at the same time and immediately recognized him! Deuce was walking straight away at a fast pace, Manny grabbed the video camera as Mike grabbed his rifle! This bull was big enough and the we were late enough in the hunt that the bow didn't even get a second thought!

 

The chase was on! We followed the bull for what seemed like forever in an open draw. He seemed to know we were behind him but just maintained a steady walk which we were dang near running to keep up with! Several times Mike took a knee or a branch on a tree and I would bugle at him or cow call or even yell "HEY BULL", but he would never turn for a clean shot! Mike was using a 300wsm so a Texas heart shot would've done the trick I'm sure, especially because we were only 150 yards in open country, but Mike wanted a good broadside or quartering shot. I tried everything to turn the bull but he was heading straight into the thick, flat, elk swallowing cedars! The tension was mounting as we were wearing out and breathing heavy with the long, fast stalk, and I knew that once the bull made it into the trees we would need a ton of luck to relocate him! There was a big group of cows and small bulls paralleling us on the ridge and out in front of Deuce, so following this bulls tracks would be impossible! Just as Deuce hit the treeline Mike took a knee and had the crosshairs on Deuce in hopes he would slow down or stop before entering.......but nope, he seemed to know what we wanted and when he turned slighty to go into the trees he did it too fast!

 

Now I'm frantic and running up the opposite slope of the draw. I was glassing through the herd of cows and small bulls trying to relocate Deuce. I kept ranging the yardage and running forward trying to cover as much country as quickly as I could! I noticed the draw we had been following came to a head further up and if Deuce had stayed low in the trees he could reappear up there! We moved fast and just as we got in veiw of where the draw flattens out I see Deuce walking slowy out of the draw!!! The roller coaster of emotions from the previous 15-20 minutes caused me to quietly stare at Deuce as he walked up the draw but then I came back to reality and realized we had relocated him and needed to shoot fast! I motioned for Manny and Mike to hurry because he was ahead of us and quickly they both seen him and had a clear window. The shot was 175 yards and for the very first time in this whole adventure Deuce decided to stop, turn almost broadside and look back.......BOOM...WHOP....."HE'S DOWN"!!!!!!!

 

I couldn't see the bull when the shot went because I was running out of the way so Mike had plenty of room to shoot. Manny gave me hand signals that they had the shot and he caught it all on tape! I heard the hit and saw Manny's reaction so I knew it was good. It was an extremely emotional event shared by us at that moment. It was my favorite bull and the one I didn't think we would get. I was glad that Manny was there and couldn't have done it without him but I really wished my brother Matt was there. Matt had put in a bunch of time away from family and work for this hunt and deserved to be there but instead he had to settle for a phone call! Pops, Chrissy, Gary, Monty and Matt all dropped what they were doing at home and work and drove up there to see the bull. Because of the heat we snapped some quick pics and had every last bit of the bull in the truck in record time! The afternoon rains came which made it nice and cool for us as we boned out and got the meat on ice just as the boys rolled in to see the velvet beast! We had a great time around the fire that night, reflecting back on a long, tough but insanely awesome hunt with family and friends!

 

Thanks if you read through my very long story, I've been away too long and it feels good to be back on here sharin' my adventures with you all! Thanks! JIM>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[COOSEFAN]

A side note, you may notice an ear tag in Deuce's right ear. He's had that for as long as I've watched em' and was a neat charateristic when identifying him in pictures. AZGFD has the details about the tag and we are anxiously waiting to hear what info they have about him! Hopefully they can tell us where he was captured and how long ago, how big he was and any other info! I'll keep ya all posted if they get back to us with anything cool!

 

Also, he does score around 415" as is, and for those of you wonderin' about the extra G2 measurement, I figured the G2 tines as having a common base so I did not measure that base twice and I took the 2nd mass measurement above the extra on the beam. I was very conservative and am certain he would score at least 410-412" without velvet. He was done growing and had very little fluid in the velvet, all the tines were tipped out as well.

 

 

couple measurements that I remember....

 

Beams average 56"

4ths average 24"

3rds: right 24" / left 21.5"

 

[Schmitty]

Awesome Bull!

 

Congrats to all on a job well done!

[mjmhunter]

As Jim stated, Mike is extremely deserving of this bull. A huge congratulations to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will definatley be a highlight in my memory bank to have shared the excitment and the emotions with you and Jim when you took "Duece.">>>Manny

[lefty]

that thing is a toad!

[Ernesto C]

WHAT A BRUTE!! Thanks for sharing!

 

Ernesto C

[anthonyrmatthews]

Congrats! Thx for sharing the story...

[stanley]

Thanks much for sharing the story and pics Jim!!!! Great write-up!

 

Congrats on a great bull Mike, and congrats to the entire Mullin's crew!!

 

S.

 

[Coach]

Holy moly! Great bull, and great job putting the hunter in a position to take such a great bull!!! Thanks for sharing the whole story with us!

[Az_Outdoors]

Congrats. Awesome Bull!

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Awesome job guys! Really cool to see the SFM in all those pics, too Jimbo! Great pics and story! Very happy for you all!

[couespatrol]

Speechless!!!

[.270]

dang, that's a big ol' bull. looks like a lotta happy folks. good job all around. Lark.

[Chef]

Great story Jim!

Congrats to the lucky raffle tag winner and the entire Mullins team.

[ScottAdams]

Great write up and a fantastic bull Jim!! I'm glad it was Mike who won that raffle, what a great story!!