Video of my son Isaac and his close calls with a couple bulls

[GRONG]

During my archery hunt my son Isaac got to spend 8 wonderful days out with me. We had an absolute blast together and made some life long memories. I didn't get an elk but it didn't matter to me at all. Just sharing my passion with him was worth every second.

 

Enjoy the footage.

 

http://youtu.be/pDcRa6PK6zQ

 

 

Opening weekend, I think on the morning of day 2, we just happened to walk right in between a cow 50 yards to our left and the bull was about 80 yards to our right. It was a real pretty 320ish bull. I asked Isaac, "Should I shoot it?" He says "YES YES!!" I said don't move a muscle, don't move your head, don't move anything as the bulls was staring at us. This was his first time EVER being this close and the bull finally decided we weren't much of a threat so he continued on up the slope to us. Isaac said, "I'm scared Dad!" I told him not to worry just don't move a muscle. I knocked an arrow as the bull came closer and passed us at probably 25 yards. I really wasn't interested in shooting anything that small on the 2nd day and decided to let him pass. Got all that on the bow-cam video too. Some friends thought I was NUTS for passing that with Isaac right there with me but I knew we'd have a better chance at something better sooner or later. Plus, that just gave us more time in the woods together right? That's the way I looked at it The weekend passed and he went back to school and I put in another 2 days at work then called it quits again. Got back out there Thursday night with Isaac and we were up at 3 am hiking back in again. We had been hiking for about 2 miles we finally heard a bugle a very long way away. Since we hadn't heard anything anywhere else we hiked out in the direction of the bugle. The bugles kept getting louder and louder the closer we got to them. We finally got to the edge of the canyon and could see 8 bulls and 8 cows and they were going nuts! There were 2 herd bulls and 6 satellite bulls. One of the satellite bulls was a GIANT 7x4 that was pretty much the only bull I wanted on the hunt. Since his one side was all jacked up I'm guessing that's why he didn't have the ladies. As we watched them a monsoon storm came over us and DRENCHED us for 20 solid minutes. We huddled under my rain jacket but eventually it became useless. But about then the rain stopped. We/I made a plan to make a huge loop around them which entailed bailing off our ridge and into the bottom of the main canyon and looping around the edge of the ridge and up into the other canyon that the elk were in. We were soaked! After that storm everything was wet so walking through the knee high grass and brush didn't help at all. Isaac being 4' tall didn't help either but he never groaned once. He was a real trooper. After going around the elk and got on them close to 11:00. With that many bulls and just as many cows, the bulls were in a frenzy! We snuck strait up the bottom of the canyon on a cow trail right up into the middle of them. I spotted a small 6pt standing in the trail about 50 yards up so we froze. While waiting for the bull to go away I spotted the big 7x4 raking in a patch of brush at 53 yards. Once the small 6pt bull moved away I told Isaac to sit against the tree next to me and don't move. I hit the cow call one time and the giant threw his head up, ran off the slope and chased that small bull off and I didn't have time to put my release on. I'm not kidding you, that giant horse of a bull came running down the trail and passed me and Isaac at 1.5 yards!!!! I swung around and stood up and was at full draw about the time he was about 12 yards passed us and now quartering away. I was on full auto and never even looked in my peep or had time to. I instinctively let it rip and smacked him square in the shoulder!!! SON OF A…. I thought! But Isaac says, YOU GOT HIM!!! He was wide-eyed to say the least as I had another arrow knocked was trying to get another shot off across the draw at 35 yards but had a sycamore tree branch completely blocking the elk from my view. Sad truth was I got zero penatration and never found a drop off blood or my arrow. After 4.5 more hours of being in the middle of them listening to them screaming and even one nasty sounding fight, we had 3 other bulls come by at 17-28 yards. 2 of them you saw in the video. It was awesome!!!! What a great experience for Isaac's first elk hunt!!

 

Later that afternoon on the hike out I did a little calling as we hiked and got a response out of a thick patch of junipers. After a few minutes of cow calling he finally came out of the trees. It was the giant 7x4!! He had no blood in his hair on the shoulder nor the arrow and he was looking for love. So not only did I feel better about not wounding him but now the hunt was on again! We walked up to pocket that held some water about 300 yards away. Every 50-75 yards I'd cow call and that big dude kept coming. We got to the water and got set up. Isaac was 10 yards behind me with the video camera running as I waited. His last couple of bugles told me that he was hung up about 150-200 yards out and he never came any closer. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

 

Isaac passed his hunter's safety course this summer so he'll be game to go again next year, maybe for himself, if the draw gods are with him So we'll just have to wait for the next hunt at the end of Oct so he can hunt deer with his Grandpa. Thanks for reading

 

Josh

Edited October 7, 2014 by GRONG

[Flatlander]

That was sweet. Props to your boy, it would have been tough to keep cool in that situation.

[Huntmoore]

So awesome!! Thanks for sharing!

[Pine Donkey]

Neat experience for Isaac! The smile at the end says it all.

[C.Shoemaker]

that beats killing any bull.congrats to you and your son

[azpredator@work]

really cool

[bigrackhunter14]

great footage!! thanks for posting

[trkyslr]

Awesome footage and memory for you both!

[huntlines]

Great footage. Having your boy that close to those bulls must have been the highlight of the trip. I think you got a hunting buddy for life!

[AZhunting30]

Awesome video! Makes me excited to get my boy out in the woods one day. Great experience!

[goinhuntn]

That was awesome what a great memory to have on film!!!!!!

[Dustin F]

That kid is gonna be a heck of a hunter I can't even get that close to a bull in camo and he wS in street clothes looks like it's time for a bow

[ElkyG]

Awesome!

[Chris]

Wow..... and to get it all on video! That's cool.

[sandman]

What a great memory for the both of you. I can remember doing things just like that with my dad. It is what sparked my passion for the outdoors. You can't help but be hooked after that