Burglar Bull

[dobbs07]

Many of you my have read my story in the campfire section, but if not here's the short version. My home was broken into about a month before my elk hunt and the thieves stole my bow, my back up bow, my swaro 15's, my vortex razor hd spotter, my rino gps, my rangefinder, my arrows, and my pack along with some other miscellaneous items. I was pretty bummed out and feeling like I had a huge mountain to climb in order to try to be successful on my hunt. Fortunately I have some good family and friends who were able to loan me some items, and my credit card unfortunately got a bit of a work out for others, but at the end of the day I was able to get almost back to where I felt confident going into my hunt. Wasn't quite as confident with my replacement bow set up as the previous one, but that's kind of par for the course with a bow. Anyway I'm writing this as a follow up for those of you who wrote words of encouragement as well as offers to let me borrow anything and everything I might need for me hunt from gps's to bows to swaros to spotters, you guys know who you are and are truly amazing. I even had an insurance adjuster and police officer reach out to me through here who were unbelievably helpful. Really appreciate all the help guys. Anyways I'm writing to let you all know that in spite of this adversity I was still able to have tremendous success on my hunt and take a great bull. The story of my 2016 archery bull follows:

 

When I found out I had drawn an archery bull tag, I determined early on that I would try for a 350"+ bull or bust. I was fortunate to have already taken a 330" caliber bull 6 years ago and so I really wanted to get a bull in the next size tier up or better. I knew that I would have my work cut out for me and the odds were better that I would go home with my tag than be successful. As I began scouting and my hunt approached I really began questioning my goal as I still had not located a bull that I wanted to hunt.

 

The first 3 days of my hunt were fairly uneventful. I along with two friends Brandon and Chris spent most of our time behind our binos trying to find a big bull for me to hunt. During this time between all of us we looked at approximately 40-50 different bulls and none were what I was after. Unfortunately, these two guys had to head home after the weekend and I was a little bummed that we hadnt been able to locate a bull that I wanted to hunt. My wife was able to take a couple days off work and spend some time looking with me and sitting a water with me. We had two rag horns come in and swim in the tank and spar right in front of us and seeing how excited and happy my wife was really helped to put things in perspective for me and to just enjoy the experience. My wife had to head back to town and I got a surprise when my step dad told me that our buddy Carl called and said he was on his way up to help us. Carl arrived later that evening and asked me where I wanted him to look in the morning. I had a spot in mind that I thought might be a decent place to look and hadnt been able to make it there yet so he agreed to check it out. That next morning I was in a nearby area and had located two bulls bugling before light. I got all my gear together and started heading towards the nearest bugle just as the eastern sky was starting to lighten. I got about 1/4 mile from my truck when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I took it out and saw that it was a text from Carl: "Got a herd due west of me. Can't tell about bulls yet." I put the phone back in my pocket and took another 20-30 steps when my phone buzzed again. "Big guy in there, real wide." Ok, well that sounds encouraging I thought as I put the phone back in my pocket. I started to take another step and my phone buzzed again. I took it out and read the words "I found your bull." Now I was getting excited. I called Carl on the phone and listened as he described the bull to me. He thought it was going to be right at the 350" mark but that I should definitely take a look at him. I had yet to see a bull that I thought was better than 320" so I agreed that I should probably check him out. While I was heading over I received this picture from Carl:

 

I was getting even more excited, this definitely was the best bull I had seen so far on my hunt. When I got the area I parked my truck and began working in on the elk. I got to within about 150 yards of the herd when I heard the bull start raking a tree, I started making a bee line for the bull and all of a sudden saw some cows step into the opening. I froze as they fed across. After they cleared I again quickly headed toward the sound of the raking bull. I got to about 100 yards when he stopped raking, turned and followed after the cows. I tried angling to cut him off but the best I could manage was about 80-90 yards. Too far. It was about 8 o'clock by this time and the elk decided they were ready to bed down. The lined out and headed over the ridge into a thick drainage. I backed out and joined Carl on the hill above the elk. He showed me where they were bedded and I decided to try to sneak in on them. I dropped down off the ridge and crossed into the thick drainage. When I got to where I thought I was within 150 yards or so of the elk I tried a couple cow call to see if I could get an answer. Nothing. I moved another 50 yards closer and tried bugling. This time the bull answered right away, but it sounded like I was still 150 yards or so away. So I closed the gap another 75 yards or so. This time when I bugled he screamed right on top of my bugle from about 60 yards away. I started raking a tree with a stick, and I heard him start raking a tree in response. I started toward the sound of the raking when I spotted the tree moving, I was about 50 yards away but the bull was behind some thick trees. I had a lane to the bull if he would step forward a few feet so I nocked an arrow and got ready. At this point since he didnt hear any more from the challenger bull he must have felt he had intimidated me, so he stopped raking, turned and walked back to where he had been and laid down. So I stalked in closer. I ended up getting to 37 yards of him and his 13 cows. Unfortunately, they were lying in a thick tangled mess of junipers/cedars and I had no clear shot to the bull and could move no closer without being in sight of several cows. Right about this time I felt the whispers of the wind on the back of my neck, the bull lunged out of bed and ran off taking the cows with him. I was pretty bummed. I felt like I had just blown a great opportunity at a great bull and i knew those don't come around too frequently during the course of a hunt.

 

We headed back to camp and started trying to strategize for the evening hunt. As many of you know it was very dry and warm on this hunt, so i felt like I needed to identify this bulls water source. I found two tanks on the map that looked like they were likely candidates. One I had already been to and it had minimal elk sign on it, and with a bull and 13 cows I felt like there should be a whole lot of sign. I headed to the other tank. When I got there, first off I was relieved and surprised to not find any other blinds or cameras. Secondly I noticed multiple fresh wallows and lots of tracks. This appeared to be the tank they were using, or at least a good number of elk were using. I got my blind all set up and brushed in and settled in for an evening wait. Carl was up on a different hill where he could see the tank I was sitting as well as much of the country around me. Nothing was spotted that night, and nothing came in to the tank I was sitting. So pretty much a bust. Crazy as it seems the next morning I decided not to hunt that bull, we were still thinking he was right at 350" and i was really hoping to find a "no doubter" shooter bull. Carl went back to the same hill to see if he could relocate the herd and i went to another area and chased around some other bulls. Got a good look at one herd bull and he was great on the bottoms but weak on top, which was a common theme for the majority of the bulls I saw on my hunt. Didnt get a look at the other bull which was really frustrating. I really hate when that happens, your mind always assumes that it was a giant bull when odds are it wasn't. Anyway Carl wasn't able to locate that bull again or his herd, but he said he heard a couple bugles from the direction they had gone the previous day.

About this time I got a call from home and realized I was needed there. My 2.5 year old daughter needed someone to watch her for the day and was missing her dad. As much as it sucked to go home and be in the valley while I had a premium archery bull tag burning a hole in my pocket it was a great mental break and really helped to refocus me for the second half. I also was able to do some laundry and resupply. I headed back up north on the evening of day 8, with plans to stay the remainder of the hunt. The morning of day 9 I again headed to a different area still looking for a no doubter bull. I got into some pretty good bugling action and saw 4 or 5 satellite bulls and one herd bull that was a solid 340 class bull. Right about this time the thought of that other bull started nagging me. between my friends and I we had probably looked at 60-70 + bulls by this point, and he was clearly the best bull we'd seen, I could keep looking for a bigger one that may or may not exist, or hunt that bull. I decided I need to focus on him for the rest of the hunt.

So i headed back to the tank where I thought he was watering. It's funny how your mind can really mess with you. Once I decided I wanted to hunt this bull, I started getting really paranoid that someone else might be hunting him or had already killed him. I decided I better go to the tank early to make sure I beat anyone there... so i went there.... at 11:00 am. Needless to say it was a long afternoon of napping til around 4:00 when I finally shook myself out of my daze and got ready for the evening hunt. It was about this time I noticed there were a lot of crows around. Oh great, see someone did shoot him i thought. I even texted a buddy that I was worried he was dead because there were 5 or so crows flying around. Like I said the mind is a funny thing. Anyway the evening was mostly uneventful til around 6:30 when 4 coyotes showed up at the water. They got a drink then started playing tag and chasing each other all around the tank, it was pretty interesting to watch. I heard a bugle quite a ways off in the distance and got excited thinking maybe he was coming my way. 5 minutes later the same bugle, same distance, more time passed I heard the bugle again, this time it sounded if anything maybe further away. Now i was feeling disappointed. Then I heard what sounded like a vehicle driving up the road toward the tank I was sitting. "Awesome these guys are going to drive up right at prime time, perfect." I was so frustrated I packed up all my gear inside my blind. put the arrow bck in the quiver, put my rangefinder away and was just waiting out the last 10 minutes or so figuring the truck would be there at any minute. After a few minutes I stopped hearing the vehicle, not sure if they turned around or what happened, but right about this time i heard elk walking from off to my right. I frantically rushed to get all my gear back out as quickly and quietly as possible. Right as I got my arrow nocked on my string again I looked out my blind window to see a spike come walking in and start drinking. " Awesome, i got all my gear back out for you?"I thought for a split second before another elk walked into sight this one a much bigger bull. I only looked at his horns for a split second to determine this was a shooter bull. I quickly ranged him at 42 yards as he reached the tanks' edge and started sucking down water. I then clipped my release on the d-loop, leaned into the corner of the blind and drew my bow, as I leaned back out to where I could see out the window I realized I could see the elk clearly but my pins were a bit tougher to see it was getting pretty dark inside my blind. I focused on making out the outlines of each individual pin, counted to my 40 yard pin and positioned it right on his front shoulder. I slowly squeezed the trigger and sent the arrow on it's way. I heard solid contact and saw the bull lunge forward into the water. He quickly ran across the water that was only probably a foot deep or so and 15 yards across. He headed up the other side and angled away from me as I watched in my binoculars looking for sign of blood on him. I was not seeing any blood as he got to about 40 yards from where I hit him, and right as i started to get slightly concerned I saw him pause then do a couple side steps, then his hind end dropped followed shortly thereafter by his front. He was down!!! I couldn't believe it. It happened so fast. I didn't even have time to get excited. When he went down the wave of adrenaline hit me like a truck and I started shaking like it was 32 degrees outside. It was all I could do to contain some celebratory whisper yells inside my blind. As i sat there watching him in my binos making sure to give him adequate time to expire, I reflected on how surreal the evening had been. One minute I'm feeling frustrated because it's day 9 of my hunt, I'm thinking the bull I'm hunting could be dead, and I've got a truck driving in on me, I'm packing up my stuff and leaving, the next minute I've just arrowed a great bull, and the hunt is over.

 

After giving him sufficient time, all the while watching him like a hawk through my binos. I finally got out of my blind and approached him. When I got over to him, I checked him and confirmed he had expired, and then there was no muffling my celebratory yell. I realized then that it was in fact the same bull Carl had found several days prior, and that he just might be a bit bigger than we thought....

 

 

My parents arrived shortly thereafter and helped me get some good pictures and then we began the lengthy process of getting him field dressed and the meat all taken care of.

 

 

 

 

 

The next day after dropping off my meat at a processor, we took the horns to a friend who is an official measurer for B&C and P&Y, and had my bull unofficially scored by him. When he handed me the score sheet I quickly read down and found the score at the bottom and read 354 6/8. Sweet! I said as I read the score out loud to everyone gathered around. Everyone was congratulating me when he then said "well you know that's the net score right?" I re-read the paper and about dropped it,

366 2/8, when you add in his 2 2/8 extra point he grosses 368 4/8. I couldnt believe it. Never would I have guessed he'd be closer to 370 than 350, and boy I felt silly for not hunting this bull for every second after Carl found him. Needless to say I will be getting this bull mounted and in fact just dropped off the cape at the taxidermist today.

 

As with most big achievements, I had a lot of help to make this hunt a success. First off thanks to Carl for finding this bull, big thanks to my mom and step dad, thanks to my buddy Brandon and Chris and of course thanks to my wife for her taking care of the home front while I was away on this hunt. I could not have been successful without the support and contributions of each and every one of them. This is a hunt I won't soon forget. I had a ton of adversity prior to the hunt, but good family, good friends and even good people on CWT.com all helped me overcome it to make the hunt a huge success. Thanks everybody! I hope you enjoyed my story.

 

 

[cohntr6]

Awesome bull, congrats!

Jeff

[azdonw]

Great bull and story; congrats!

[Couzer]

Wow great Bull!!!!

[DUG]

Congrats! Nice job on a great bull!

[creed_az_88]

That's awesome man. I didn't realize that you had a bunch of stuff stolen. Makes this story all that much sweeter. Congrats again.

[creed_az_88]

That's awesome man. I didn't realize that you had a bunch of stuff stolen. Makes this story all that much sweeter. Congrats again.

[SO I HUNT]

Congrats on a great bull!

[trphyhntr]

That's a big ol fatty. i had the same thing happen in 2013, got my house broken into and my bow stolen.

[223VARMINTER]

Congrats on scoring a great bull after all you went through.

[Wyatt Earp]

Wow, great story! Congrats! Thank you for sharing!

[AZ8]

Congrats on a great bull!

[deercrazy]

Great story, and a real nice bull. Glad everything worked out for you, and good to know that there are still some standup guys in this world. Now to nail the scumbags who got your stuff!

[eagle#eyes]

That's a sweet bull. Congrats

[Viper]

Wow! Great bull and great story! I think thieves that take your hunting gear should be punished like a horse thief of the old west.....hang by the neck until dead. Glad you was able to rebound and get it done.