Short but sweet.

[creed_az_88]

Nock, draw, anchor, release, repeat. That was how my entire summer was spent. By the time the archery deer hunt came around, I carried more confidence than ever before. I was for the first time ever, shooting fixed blade broadheads, and I was amazed at how accurate my setup had become. I was also for the first time ever, preparing for an archery elk hunt. Thanks to my good friend Cody Malbouef, I had a few more bonus points going into this years draw than in years past. He sacrificed a few points by letting me put in with him and it payed off for both of us. We were fortunate enough to draw unit 1 bull tags. I was only able to make one scouting trip prior to the hunt, and he was not able to make any due to commitments to work. With what I saw during my one scouting trip in august, and past years experience in this unit, I felt very confident for the upcoming hunt. Rather than scouting during late august, I chose to stay near home and deer hunt. With a few updates from my Uncle living in the unit, I was eagar for Mid September to arrive. The Tuesday before the hunt started I pulled my bowtech out of the closet for one last shooting session before opening day. I followed the same routine that I followed all summer long. Nock, draw, anchor…….snap! My upper limb folded in half!!! I couldn’t believe it. My heart sunk immediately. The only postive thing about it was that it happened prior to the hunt rather than during the hunt. The next few days were stressful to say the least. I contacted bowtech, and they were helpful but it seemed that the was nothing that could be done before the hunt started. Purchasing a new bow was out of the question, so I pulled my old faithful Alpine out of the closet. I threw a few new accessories on it and had it tuned by lunchtime, the day before I left on my hunt. I sighted it in out to 60. I never before realized before how hard this bow was to shoot. It was hard to adjust after being used to the bowtech but I was hitting where I was aiming and that’s all that mattered. In a matter of days I went from being the most confident that I had ever been with my setup to the least confident I had ever been. Negativity started to take over and I wondered if I should even head to the hills, or just wait for my bowtech to get fixed. I thought about the animals that I had taken in the past with the alpine, and remembered how reliable it had always been. I left the negativity at home and put tread on the blacktop, headed in the direction of the country that I had dreamed about all summer. Opening morning didn’t start as well for me as it did for Cody, but I did lay eyes on some 300+’’ bulls and a toad of a mule deer. Cody really got into them and passed on some oppuurtunities on some nice bulls. The bugling stopped around ten oclock where I was hunting so I headed to camp to shoot my bow. Each arrow I shot left me more confident. Cody showed up at camp around 2 oclock and told me of all the bulls he had seen. Cody said the bulls were still bugling when we had left so we both hunted the same spot that evening without much luck. Cody decided to hunt the same spot the next day and I decided to hunt an area nearby where my uncle had said he heard a lot of bugling the day before. At sunup we were closing in on some bugles. The elk we were following were headed up a ridge into a deep canyon. We got a good look at the herd bull on that ridge and I decided that I wasn’t interest in shooting him. There were two more bulls still in that canyon that we had not yet seen but we saw a truck parked in the bottom of the canyon so we decided to leave that canyon alone. We moved two canyons to the south and I got a bull to respond to me. We made an aggressive move towards him and ended up 60 yards fom him and his cows. His cows busted us before I could get a shot at him and they ran into the next canyon, with him bugling the whole time. The satellite bulls in the area followed suit, as did we. Some bulls bugling in the distance made their way into the same canyon and before long there were about 6 or 7 bulls bugling withing 300 yards of each other. All of the bulls were were across the canyon from us on the same ridge. We setup to call but shortly into our calling sequence we saw a few other hunters right below us. The wind was blowing from north to south down the canyon so we decided to go to the southern most bugle in the canyon and start working our way north, hopefully calling in each bull or somehow getting a look at each bull until we found a shooter. We got to where we felt we could call in the southernmost bull and got setup. All of the bulls in the canyon were lighting off and the bull closest to us sounded very close. Before started calling my good friend, and at the time of this hunt, cameraman, Dana Mcclean spotted the bull across the canyon. He was feeding towards us and my Uncle Vince hit the cow call a few times. The bull continued towards us. I had yet see him good enough to decide if I was going to shoot, but as he came around a tree and I saw his second on the right side stick out and around the brush, there was no stopping me. He continued towards us and got to 12 yards with no shot. He spotted me and bolted, stopping at about forty yards, still offering no shot. A few cow calls got him to take a few steps to right into a very small shooting lane. I drew and crouched as low as I could to the ground, hoping that my arrow would clear under the branches I was trying to fling it under. The arrow flew true, pushing perfectly through his heart. Shortly after, we heard his last attempts at bugling before he expired. What an experience! We gave the bull some time and while waiting, a few other hunters walked up on us and had decided to tag along on the track job. I cant remember their names but one of them is a member of this site. On our way up to the bull a different bull bugled just above him and the other two hunters headed up after him. On their way up they spotted my bull and signaled to us that they saw him. I never got a chance to thank them, but if you guys happen to read this, thanks for your help. I couldn’t believe the character on this bull. It fit my desires to a tee! My old alpine came through, and put an arrow through the bulls shoulder and through one rib. I couldn’t have done it without my uncle Vince Waters and Dana by my side. Thanks Guys. Cody tagged out the next day, which was the last day that his dad could hunt with him. We spent the next few days videoing some incredible bulls. Good luck to all of you still out there hunting.

 

 

Creed

[lucky2hunt]

Two great looking bulls! Congrats to both of you! Enjoyed the write up, thanks for sharing.

[Pine Donkey]

Thanks for posting he story. Those are great bulls. I love that crazy brow tine. Congratulations.

[tjhunt2]

Great write up and congratulations on 2 very nice bulls.

 

TJ

[antlerfreak]

man your story made me feel like i was part of the hunt. congrats on a awesome bull, memories forever

[reganranch]

Congrats on you guys's success.

[mje1]

Very nice Bulls Congrats. Way to put all together with the back up bow and keep youre confidence, Tough to do. I followed a Black Dodge Home on tue. from Alpine and he turned off on 191 heading youre way Elfrida, Douglas area with a Toad of a Bull looked like an 8x7 maybe you know him.

[bonecollector]

Very good write up. Congrats to you and your buddy on some nice bulls. Good thing you had a backup bow that you were confident with.

[rossislider]

Beautiful Bulls! You certainly put in the practice before hand to make sure you were prepared for the shot. Glad you had the backup bow handy. I'm a unit 1 hunter myself and love to see pictures of the big bulls in there. Great unit, but it can be tough to get away from the other hunters. To many roads.

[gonehuntin]

congrats! that bull has some great character.

[joe hunter]

Just the other day I was thinking.....I should sell my Switchback XT because I never shoot it anymore since I bought a new Z7X last year. After reading your story I think I'll just keep it. Congrats on two good bulls and a great hunt !!

[JTElk]

Great Story and awesome bulls!

[azcouesfanatic]

Great job. You definitely made some memories.

[aznate]

Awsome bull and a great write up! Better than reading a field and stream article, thanks for sharing.

[Mrs125coues]

Congrats to both of you!!! great bulls and story. Thanks for sharing