DCMHunter Report post Posted October 5, 2014 My son and I both had early archery bull tags this year and we both tagged out. I only had the first week of the season to hunt and we looking for a decent bull. The hunt started out slow with the elk talking very little. With the scouting the week before I decided to hunt a stand the first day that I had some good picks on. First thing in the morning I had a few cows come by but no bulls. I came out of my stand mid day to meet up with my son and see how he was doing and he had chased a few bugles but never saw any elk. I only heard about 5 bugles all morning long. I returned to the stand that afternoon and had a bear walk under me. Talk about a day late! The next day I got a late start, having to take the truck back to my wife after I forgot that she needed it to haul some horses. My son said he got into quite a few elk but was not able to get a shot at them. When I did get into the field I decided to work up high and above my stand location and saw lots of elk. The first bunch was coming off my stand and had a few little rag horns and 1 small 5X bull. They walked within 20 FEET of me. Checking my camera later on I had pics of a big bull with them but I never saw him when they walked by. I continued to work around the basin and got to within 40 yards of a spike that was bedded down, before spooking him and his buddy. On around a little further I started to get in a hurry and ended up jumping the big boys up before I saw them and they left the area. I met up with my son for lunch and had done about as good as I had. That afternoon I returned to my stand and had a coyote come in and tried to attack my decoy. I boy said the talk had picked up over where he was with very little by the stand. The next day we decided to work together and things started looking up. We worked an area up above where my son had been hunting and bedded a nice 6X. After doing a stalk through a rock slide we got to within range and I got a shot off but as luck would have it I hit a branch and had a clean miss. The rest of the day was uneventful with chasing spiratic bugles all afternoon. Monday comes around and my hunt time is running short. We decide to work the same area again we get in front of the elk early. We had a good herd coming by us and a nice 5X was pushing the cows and a big bull was following up the rear. The first cows that walked by started to sent us started to leave. I decided to try for the 5X and took a 50 yard quartering away shot. The arrow found its mark just in front of the flank and we knew we had a job ahead of us. After waiting about 45 minutes we started tracking the bull and found him about 200 yards up the draw. The rest of the day was spent getting the pack horses and getting him home, The next day after a good nights rest we were back at it trying to find one for my son. We found the day to be wet and rainy. We chased a few bugles and failed a stalk and found ourselves close to a ground blind that we spent the rest of the day in. We had a nice bull come by the blind just out of shooting range for my son. The next day started out about the same. This was the last day I would be able to hunt with my boy and it was raining. We worked a couple of bugles and got in close to some but nothing worth shooting. We decided to work around to an area we had some good bull pictures from and as we neared the top of the ridge we spotted a bedded bull 60 yards away. The bull got up to a cow call and started working up the ridge angling across in front of us. My boy worked up about 5 yards and got in a good area. The bull stepped out from behind some oaks at 30 yards and my boy shoots. The arrow drops out of my site over the ridge and I hear it hit rocks. Was it a Hit?? We walked up about 10 yards and saw a bull running off. after glassing the bull there was no sign of it being hit and we thought we had a miss. We went up and I found my boys arrow in the rocks where I heard it hit Covered in blood. We looked around and 30 yards away was my boys elk. On Thursday I leave for New England with my wife and my son son and his friend are left with the chore of cutting up the meet, filling our freezer. DCM 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kd300wsm Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Congrads on the bulls Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mc68 Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Nice job Darren. Sounds like you guys had a good time even though they weren't talking very well. Its always a plus when we can stay out of the doghouse with our wives! Congratulations to you both. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
papa Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Congrats to both you and your son on some nice Bulls Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mc68 Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Oh ya, looks like your son made a heck of a shot! What kind of broadhead was he using? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Two nice bulls! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Way to get it done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted October 5, 2014 Awesome! Congrats!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DCMHunter Report post Posted October 6, 2014 Went up to pick up my stands and cameras yesterday and had good time. I am ready to go hunting again, the bulls where talking and just going crazy. They were even responding to mouth calls and acting like our horses were other elk. I wish I would of taken a video camera and some real calls. cant wait for next year. DCM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Willyhunts2 Report post Posted October 6, 2014 Good job getting it done, the freezer is full! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MULEPACKHUNTER Report post Posted October 6, 2014 Nice Job love to see the horses working. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cvw789 Report post Posted October 7, 2014 Nice write up and Congrats guys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted October 7, 2014 Congratulations on your success. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
randyolson Report post Posted October 8, 2014 Congratulations on the nice bulls! Way to get it done! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capoeirajosh Report post Posted October 11, 2014 What an awesome hunt!! Congrats and thanks for sharing! Too bad about that bear. That would have been nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
