Mady's Bull

[huntjunkie]

2013 Arizona Elk draw results: "Draw Successful"! Mady drew her second bull tag in 3 years. Her first bull was a great 5x6 she took in New Mexico at the age of 10. When she got home from school the afternoon she was drawn, I told her the news. She was excited! Her tag was a late rifle bull hunt (Nov 29-Dec 5), so we knew she would be taking a long shot. We spent all summer building her a long range rifle she would feel comfortable with.

Fall was very busy with other hunts and we didn't have any time for scouting. A few weeks before the hunt, a friend had seen a few good bulls in a canyon while deer hunting in late October. He gave us some general areas to focus on. We studied maps and picked a good glassing spot for opening morning. Unfortunately, my work caused us to miss opening morning. On the way up to hunt I told Mady that we really need meat in the freezer and that she should take the first legal bull we see. Of course, she agreed with Dad. Arizona late hunts can be extremely hard to find elk after opening morning. We set up camp late opening night about 10 pm. My buddy Justin Ehmke(palivs2hnt) arrived about midnight.

At 5 am the alarm rang, we stumbled out of bed grabbed our gear and jumped in the ranger. We arrived at the road that would take us to our glassing spot, but the road was so over grown we couldn't get the ranger through. We walked up the road about 100 yards to the top of a small hill to glass for a minute. Within a few minutes, I located an elk about a mile and half to the south. We decided to move closer to get a better look, so we cut the distance in half. I sat down, put my binoculars on the tripod and…holy smokes! "That bull is a monster!" I looked at Mady and said: “you’re going to kill that bull”! We couldn't stop looking at him. I'm sure we were all drooling. We came up with a plan to get closer for the shot.

After about an hour of hiking through thick brush, we topped the ridge that we though would give us the best chance to shoot from. I told Mady and Justin to wait while I looked over the top to see if I could re-locate him. As I peaked over the top I could see him standing in the same place and position he had been for the past 2 hours. I motioned for them to slowly move up to me. Now, we could see him really well. Man what a sight, our jaws were hanging to the ground! We ranged him at just under 600 yards. Let me tell you, this girl can without a doubt shoot! One week prior, Mady had been shooting paper plate sized groups at 600 yards. That’s when I got the shakes! I realized that she was going to put her tag on this once in a lifetime bull. We found a spot that she could shoot from a rest on the tripod. We'll she got the shakes too! "Dad I can't get a steady shot”, she said. After a few agonizing minutes, the bull bedded down. What a blessing! This allowed time to find a place that she could shoot prone. It gave her time to calm down and prepare for the shot.

We could see, the tips of his massive antlers while he was bedded. She set everything up herself and practiced the shot many times. After 3 long hours, Justin says, "he's up"! Ok Mady, get on him. "I got this Dad"! When she said that, I knew she was calm and ready. Justin and I were spotting for the shot. BOOM! We both watched the vapor trail through our binoculars all the way to the bull. SMACK!! He dropped in his tracks! Justin yells, "he's down!" I raise my hands up and scream! Knocking my brand new binoculars and tripod down the mountain! Mady stood up, I hugged her and we both started crying! Justin came over and we're all hugging, jumping and crying at the same time. I couldn't believe it. She dropped him with one shot at 575 yards!

After a brief and intensely emotional celebration, we got back on the binoculars just to make sure he didn't get up. We waited 30 minutes before packing up our gear. Getting to him was a chore. The canyon was very steep and extremely over grown with all kinds of brush, including the nasty Arizona manzanita. We dropped down to the bottom of the canyon and hiked the creek up to where we thought we could climb back up to him. The climb up was difficult and pushing through brush up hill was brutal. After 30 minutes of bush whacking we finally got to her bull. Unbelievable!!! We just stood there in awe not saying a word. We untangled him from the brush and cleared an area to take pictures. It truly seemed like a dream! Did this really just happen? We would look at the bull, then each other, then smile and laugh knowing that she had just done the impossible!

Many thoughts raced through my mind. The one that troubled me, was how would we ever get this massive rack through all the brush. We quartered him up and made our way back to camp in the dark leaving the antlers on the mountain, causing for a very sleepless night! On the way out, we found cell service and made a few calls and sent a few pictures. I called two hunting buddies, Nick and Dustin. They came up in the morning to help retrieve Mady's bull. Packing the antlers, was the hardest pack out I've ever done. It took us 3 hours to go the 1.5 miles. The main beams were so long they would drag the ground if I didn't pay attention. I had to grab the G4's like I was riding a Harley to maneuver the massive antlers through the brush. Mady was right there the whole time holding brush back and helping the entire trip out. She is an amazing hunter! She’s not your "typical" 13 year old teenage girl. She loves to shoot, hike mountains and clean her trophies.

We got back home late that night. Several friends immediately wanted to see Mady's elk upon our arrival. Word got out quickly to several well know outfitters(A3 Trophy Hunts and AZ Ground Pounders) they wanted see her bull. A3 Trophy Hunts came and told us the story behind this bull and it was incredible! We also met with Arizona Ground Pounders, who had also been chasing this bull. They gave her 45 minutes of video of her bull. We are truly humbled to have taken this bull. After the drying period, 60" of mass, 62" main beams and an inside spread of 43", gave Mady’s 6x7 Typical Bull, a score of 416".

[firstcoueswas80]

Goodness!!!

[HuntHarder]

Beast for sure.

[rossislider]

Awesome, congrats Mady and Stan!

[palivs2hnt]

Finally posted on CWT! Glad that Eastman's finally published their story. Thanks CWT for your patience and understanding with the delayed posting. Huge congrats to a very well deserving young girl. She worked her butt off on this hunt! Without a doubt the coolest hunt of my life! Thanks for letting me share the experience with you guys Stan!

[Critter]

Unbelievable bull! Nice job Mady and crew.

[6ANut]

Wow, about all I can muster up. Congrats to you and your daughter on an experience of a life time. That was well worth the wait.

[Big Browns]

Awesome! Amazing Bull!

[Eagle Eye]

Wow huge bull! Good story.

[AZHog]

Wonderful story! Thanks for posting and congratulations to Mady and all those involved! Great job and story!

[jmall]

Congrats. What an amazing bull !!!!!!! Thanks for the great write up.

[papa]

Outstanding bull!. Congrats to your daughter.

[azgutpile]

Great Job!!!

What's the story on the rifle and what is the back story you received from the outfitters?

[rageinthesage]

Congrats on a great story and a heck of a bull!

[firstcoueswas80]

What caliber rifle and bullet did she use?