huntlines Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Dallon’s First Bull What a year my son has had! He is seventeen, a senior in High School and has taken a 115 Coues buck with his bow (see Persistence = Monster buck for my Son) and now has taken a 360+ bull! My father has told him he might as well start golfing but he now has the “itch” as I refer to it. He says he now will be after a 120 inch Coues and a 400 bull. I will start out by saying all you archery elk hunters had the best part of the rut. The rifle hunt was during the full moon and the temps started to climb with no rain. The rut appeared to me to be about over. The bugling was light to say the least and only lasted for about 30 minutes after first light. The bulls didn’t start bugling again until well after dark. With these tough conditions I knew we were going to have to be much more aggressive. To make matters worse my son came down with a really bad cold/strep the day before opening morning. Opening morning seemed great, we had several bulls bugling before light and just at first light had a bull at about 100 yards but I told my son “no!” after getting a good look at him through the binos. He was about a 330 bull and a satellite bull for sure. We were able to get onto the herd bull a short time later but he was across a canyon in burned out trees. I never got a real good look at him before he topped out. The bugling abruptly stopped at about 7am and the elk were all in their beds after feeding all night under a full moon. Getting to the successful day, after a few days of tough conditions, we had got in close to the main herd before light but they were already on the move to their bedding areas. We even tried to run and get around them (with the wind right) in order to get a look at the two different herd bulls but just couldn’t do it. My son was hurting from the illness he was fighting and we had just drained what little energy he had. I decided to head back very concerned for my son and in disbelief of the rut. Back at the truck, my dad and I decided to see if we could find a road that might get us behind the area I thought these elk were bedding. As luck would have it we found one and got somewhat close to the possible bedding area. According to the GPS we were a mile or so from a ridge I figured they were bedding. My son was a trooper and after a snack and brief break we decided to hike into what I thought would be the bedding area. When we got close I let out a few soft cow calls and was rewarded with a halfhearted bugle that I figured was a bull letting the cow know where they were bedded for the day. The wind was not perfect so I decided to back track a little and head south to get the wind right. It wasn’t long before we jumped a decent bull that must have heard the soft cow call and was coming to find the wandering cow. Even though the bull busted us I was able to coax him back to seventy yards and get a good look at him. Another satellite bull, so we let him get out of sight before moving into the beds. As we got close I saw a cow in the dark timber stand, I knew we were in the bedroom now so we slowed way down. The two herd bulls were now up and trying to get their cows gathered back up while trying to keep the other bull away. This helped because they were bugling again. A few times I thought my son was going to get a shot but the timber was just too thick. The cows finally figured something was wrong and decided to move, this was great because they were headed for open country. My only fear at this time was my son getting excited and shooting one of several smaller satellite bulls. I kept him close to me and told him not to shoot until I gave him the green light. We made it after a short sprint to the edge of a small meadow just in time to catch one of the two shooter bulls crossing it. He had almost made it to the other side but a soft cow call stopped him and my son made a perfect shot with the 300 short mag. I hesitated a second or two before giving him the green light to shoot but after walking up to this bull I’m glad I didn’t have him pass. This bull was one of a very few that wasn’t broke and after a tape on him determined he will score just over 360. One last interesting thing, this bull was shot during the archery hunt! We found a bulge about 5 inched in diameter and it was swollen up about 2 inches high just about midway down his back and just below the spine. On the opposite side I noticed what appeared to be a two bladed broadhead hole. While skinning it we found about 3 inches of an arrow shaft tipped with a two blade Rage broadhead. Someone ALMOST got this bull during the archery hunt. The arrow was just under the spine and the broadhead was just under the skin on the opposite side. He was healed up enough that he was back to chasing cows and doing battle with another bull his size for the cows in the area. These animals never stop amazing me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fatfootdoc Report post Posted October 8, 2012 WOW!! He is going to have a tough time topping this year!!!! Congratulations!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcoues Report post Posted October 8, 2012 thats awesome way to get it done especially being sick in high altitude,congrats,thanx for sharing.B ack in the day one of my classes in high school was meat processind at gilbert high school and we would process wild game,anyways a hunter brought in a huge 8x8 on the early rifle hunt and he said the bull was limping real bad and could barely walk when he shot him,wel when we were processing we foung about 6 inches of arrow shaft with a broadhead stuck in the hip jint and the whole hind quarters were green spoiled meat so needless to say that bull was tough but would not have survived the winter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
6ANut Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Great looking bull. Amazing being sick and still hunting that hard a well deserved bull. Glad that arrow was a little high so your son could finish the job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CATERPILLAR Report post Posted October 8, 2012 way to stick with it being sick and all, that is an awesome bull Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alpinebullwinkle Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Great job Dallon and team. That is a beautiful bull to be proud of for the rest of your life. The bull sure looks awfully familiar. Think I saw him the first day of the archery hunt managing a large sized herd. Was Bill W. with you folks when you got him? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues Sniper Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Congrats on a beautiful bull - not only does he score well, but I really like the look he has. Your son is having a heck of a year, I'm glad your hard work has paid off. Congrats. And is that the dude from Duck Dynasty with you??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bow.hunter8971 Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Congrats to your son and a good write up to boot awesome bull good job to everybody evolved hope all the meat was good and not to much got wasted sweet deal Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkaddict Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Great bull, congrats! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Packer Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Congratulations to your son on a great looking bull. That is definately one that will be hard to top. Aaron Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greenback Report post Posted October 8, 2012 thats awesome way to get it done especially being sick in high altitude,congrats,thanx for sharing.B ack in the day one of my classes in high school was meat processind at gilbert high school and we would process wild game,anyways a hunter brought in a huge 8x8 on the early rifle hunt and he said the bull was limping real bad and could barely walk when he shot him,wel when we were processing we foung about 6 inches of arrow shaft with a broadhead stuck in the hip jint and the whole hind quarters were green spoiled meat so needless to say that bull was tough but would not have survived the winter. Good ol Mr. B's class Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
couespatrol Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Can you say "ruined", lol. Congrats on an awseome bull. Can't wait to to see his 120 coues and 400 bull! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted October 8, 2012 Great bull! What year is the Foreman? Just sold ours and it looks exactly like that! PS, that is one helll of a beard! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted October 9, 2012 Congrats to Your boy he is having one heck of a yr of hunting. That is a pretty lookin bull. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted October 9, 2012 thats awesome way to get it done especially being sick in high altitude,congrats,thanx for sharing.B ack in the day one of my classes in high school was meat processind at gilbert high school and we would process wild game,anyways a hunter brought in a huge 8x8 on the early rifle hunt and he said the bull was limping real bad and could barely walk when he shot him,wel when we were processing we foung about 6 inches of arrow shaft with a broadhead stuck in the hip jint and the whole hind quarters were green spoiled meat so needless to say that bull was tough but would not have survived the winter. Good ol Mr. B's class Not sure if I am more impressed with the bull or that beard! Greenback / AZCoues What year did you take Mr. B's class? I was there in 99-00 and 00-01. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
