My Dads Bull

[deserthntr]

Well I figured I better type this up now since i have some time. My dad finally got another archery bull tag with 13 pts... we were beyond excited to see his results say drawn. Neither of us got a chance to get up and scout due to work, and i was busy chasin bears but we knew we would have no trouble since it would be during the rut. We got up to camp late Thursday night and listened to some bugles and got a game plan ready for the morning. My uncle showed up shortly after, and was glad to have him since he didnt have hardly any hunting experience and had never been up to listen to elk rut.

 

Opening morning came and we were on bugles, trying to pull the elk off the rez, my dad had given my uncle a hoochie mama so he would feel more apart of the hunt, i had the bulls screaming at my calls and one sounded like he was gonna come off the rez, then my uncle started pushing on that hoochie mama and all the elk went quiet. We moved on and heard a bugle, so we set up and i jumped a few yards back to call. The bull didnt sound to hot and wasnt answering my calls very often, but one of the cows started calling so i did my best to piss her off and bring her in thinking the bull would follow. I called those cows in to less than 10 ft of my dad but the bull stayed out of sight. The cows left and so did the bull and he quit bugling ending the morning hunt.

 

I told my dad we needed to get off the rez line because when we heard a bull we couldnt go straight at him, he agreed and we moved spots for the evening hunt. As we were working our way up a hill we jumped a group of elk, but never laid eyes on them, the bull bugled as he followed the cows out of there and sounded like a small bull anyways. we got to the top of the hill and sat down to listen, shortly after we heard a bull screaming and quickly worked our way to set up on him, the bull was a 250 class 6 pt and across a canyon and hammering my calls but sounded like he wasnt coming any closer so we started to move up and get closer when my dad spotted him running down the other side of the canyon to get to us, i called the bull from 400 yds to 100, and had him coming on a string when the wind swirled and he boogered out of there. it had gotten dark on us so we headed back to camp with a plan set for the morning.

 

we got in early and head 5 bulls screaming, we set up on one but he wasnt having any of my calls, so we set up on another bull and the same thing, so we moved on to another bull and had the wind perfect. I brought the bull to about 80 yds but he stayed in thick cover out of sight for about 5 minutes screaming at us but then he moved on. we bird dogged him up and over a ridge when he quit bugling, so we sat for a minute listening for a bugle, it was about 730 am, and i spotted a spike about 80 yds away, and some other elk that we couldnt tell if they were bulls and cows. i only had time to jump about 10 yds back for fear of being spotted and started calling, the spike beelined to us with a small 5 pt in tow trying to beat this spike to the montana decoy, the spike got about 20 yds from my dad and saw something he didnt like. My dad had stated he was gonna shoot the first branch antler bull i called in for him so he could get back to work. the 5 pt stopped behind thick brush about 40 yds away and my dad had no shot (thankfully) the spike spooked a little scaring of the 5 pt but i couldnt get him to stop before he was out of sight. i continued calling as all of a sudden the canyon lit up with bulls screaming. the 5 pt came back in but stayed 60 yds out behing brush presenting no shot. another spike and 2 pt came in to about 20 yds, but it wasnt enough to lure the 5 pt out. those bulls moved off and we started after the other bugles.

 

we had only moved about 100 yds when we spotted some cows working a ridgeline, and i told my uncle to just sit down as me and my dad worked closer since he was having trouble working the rangefinder. my dad and i moved to about 60 yds from the cows and knew their bull was gonna follow them. soon the bull came into sight and i saw it was a decent 6 pt, i started ranging the cows and was getting 55-60 yds, i was shaking like a leaf and quickly told my dad not to look at the antlers and shoot this bull. I asked him where he wanted me to stop him and he said right in front of that black pine tree, the bull came out and i mewed at him, he stopped and turned and screamed at us! i whispered for my dad to shoot for 55 yds. but some small branches were in the way of the vitals and so my dad held at full draw. the bull took one step and he released. i watched that arrow center punch that bull and immediately cow called trying to calm the bull, he took off out of sight and my dad and i started high fiving and hugging as i told him he smoked the bull and it was a dead bull running. my uncle came over to us and stated he thought the bull had winded us and then saw us high fiving and hugging and got all excited. i had to calm my dad and uncle down telling them we needed to wait and give the bull some time before we moved bc we didnt know how far away the bull was.

 

after 10 minutes i couldnt take it any longer and we headed to go find the arrow. the arrow was no where to be found and neither was any blood. i started to get worried and second guess if i had really seen that arrow smoke that bull. we waited another hour and started tracking the bull. i finally found blood after 50 yds but it was only the size of a pea. not looking good. we did our best to follow blood and tracks never finding anything bigger than a nickel to follow. i was following what i thought was the bulls tracks when my dad and uncle said they had found more blood. but still minimal amounts. i walked over to them and could see an elk body about 120 yds away but couldnt see its head. i motioned i see an elk and my dad gives me a yeah whatever look. i finally get him to take me serious and we start moving towards it ranging the whole way incase we needed to put another arrow in him. we couldnt see the antlers as we were getting closer and started to think is this someone elses elk?? we get about 20 yds away and can make out the antlers in the tall grass and realize he is down for good! the hooping and hollering began! and so did the work... big thanks to my cousin houston (WHTMTNMAN) for coming up and saving us from a very long initial pack out since he was able to get about 1/2 from us with his truck on a road we werent sure if we could get to! it was one of the funnest hunts id been on in a while, and even topped getting 3 young girls get their first deer last year and finally the pics! he is no monster but a good bull in our books!

 

 

[johnnie blaze]

Score one for the ol man

['Ike']

Excellent, congrats to your dad...

[ElkyG]

Awesome! Congrats to your Dad and also to you

[azelkhunter69]

Congrats to you and your dad. Making memories with your dad outweighs the score of any elk. Especially when they start getting older. I will be in the woods in a little over a week with my 2 boys and my dad on the boys muzzleloader cow hunt. My dad just turned 76. I can't wait. Congrats again, may you enjoy many more hunts with your dad.

[kidso]

Monster enough for me! I would have shot him!!

[Pine Donkey]

Nice bull! Thanks for posting the story. Congratulations to your dad for taking care of business.

[Flatlander]

Dude, that's a good bull. Congratulations!

[Lucky Draw]

Nicely done! Congrats on a great experience with your dad and uncle.

[sjvcon]

Very nice!

[Shedhunteraz]

That is a very good bull. Congrats to your dad on his trophy. Great story. Thanks for sharing

[CouesWhitetail]

Very nice! I enjoyed the write-up! Thanks for sharing your hunt with us!

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Great job guys!!! way to get it done.

[bwp22]

Congratulations! Thats still a nice bull and the memories with family are priceless.

[6ANut]

Sweet write up, nice bull, and way to get it done with your pops.