First Archery Bull - long story

[Bhunter24]

Finally getting around to it and posted my story and picture of my elk hunt this year. I don't post often but I figure this is a good one to post. First off, I need to thank BC777. He didn't really know me but he offered to help me out and show me an area that ended up producing my bull! Thanks again, man!

 

For the first week I hunted all over my unit from the higher pines into the lower PJ country. I was able to get into bugling everyday from the start and saw elk everyday. Opening morning I was unsure exactly where I wanted to go. I had several areas scouted out and I pulled a couple of cameras that I had on water the day before the opener. Unfortunately, there was either little to no activity on a couple of them and others only had smaller bulls on them that I wasn't interested in shooting early in the hunt. I was going to hunt the entire time. The night before I heard lots of bugles from camp. I decided I would hunt those bulls in the morning.

 

Opening morning I drove into the area adjacent to where I heard the bulls bugling and waited for it to get light. It wasn't long after waiting I heard bulls bugle so off I went with my friend Bart. It wasn't 10 minutes before we spotted a couple of cows coming our direction that eventually crossed by at 50 yards. I chased bugles for the first hour but it wasnt long before they went quiet. On the way back to the truck I ran into another fellow hunter on the road who informed me of a few water holes in the area and he was nice enough to let me know where they were, which one his friend would be sitting, and even lent me his ground blind to put up if I wanted too. He told me to check his trail camera and see what was on the there and if I wanted to sit the tank, feel free. I went and checked the camera and there was a 320 type 6x6 that had came into the tank the night before. I decided to sit the tank after seeing that so I set up his ground blind and got in. As it started to get dark I heard bulls bulging all around the tank at least 4 or 5. I was for sure one bull would come in. No dice. Nothing came in and after it got dark I got out and went back to the truck and headed to camp. The next afternoon I went back to the blind at 12:00PM and checked the camera. The 6x6 was back but came in an hour before I got to check the camera. Seriously? lol... I sat this tank for serval days only to have cows come in and the bugling in this area slowed down and a lot of hunters moved in to the area. I could hear people driving around and saw people driving around at 6:00PM. I decided to switch it up hunt a different area.

 

I headed into an area on day 5 which I scouted the months prior to the hunt and heard bugles from where I parked. I waited for it to get light enough to see and headed after them. After a couple of hours of playing cat and mouse and listening to the bulls bugling back and forth, it got quiet except for a really faint bugle over the ridge. I got down into a bottom of a draw that had some really fresh sign and really green grass. I thought this was where the closes bugle was headed but I didn't hear anything for awhile. Again, I heard the faint bugle over the ridge so I thought to myself "well.. Ill see if i can get close to this one and if nothing Ill go back to the truck." I hopped out of the bottom of the draw and walked a little ways and ripped a bugle to see if he would answer again. To my surprise, a bull bugled from directly down the draw I was just standing in as soon as I finished my bugle. It shocked me so much I jumped for a second lol. Then a bull bugled from behind that bull. For the next 5 minutes, a bugle fest between the three of us. It got quiet for a second and then I could hear antlers clashing. I took off sprinting towards the fight but it didn't last very long. I only went about 50 yards before it stopped. It was so thick I couldn't see all the way across the drainage. I listened and looked for a minute and then a bull bugled so I bugled right back at him. This continued for a couple of minutes until he had enough and came looking for me. I could see his antler tips coming through the tree's so I drew my bow and waited for him come up the draw. Of course, he decided to stay at the bottom and cross broadside behind some trees with no shot opportunity. I let my bow down and bugled a him again. For whatever reason he never wanted to come up the edge. He stayed in the bottom and kept bugling walking away from me. I have no clue why but he just kept going and went up and over the ridge bugling the whole way. I tried to hurry up and get over to where he went over but the dang things move so fast I couldn't catch him. As fast as all that happened, it ended just as quick and he quit bugling. The next day this area was dead quiet.

 

I can't recall exactly what day it was of the hunt, but TrphyHntr gave me BC777's number and had me get in contact with him. BC777 picked me up from my camp early one morning and took me to an area that he knew well and thought we would get into some elk. He wasn't BSing. As soon as we got into the area, we had elk standing in the road and across the fence. We shut off the truck and listened to the bulls bugling. After it started to get light we made a move and tried to get in front of several herds working in our direction. We got close but not close enough. We saw several mature bulls and had elk cross by just out of bow range. As we were trying to creep in on several bulls working and crossing a fence line, we got busted by a 6x6 with his cows we never saw. The ended up coming in from behind us and ran off the other direction. I can't tell you the number of elk we saw that morning. After several hours of chasing these elk, BC777 had to get back for work so we headed back to camp and he went home. I saw more elk and heard more bugling in this one morning than I did in all of the previous days combined. I was pumped! I decided I would keep after it in this area and see If I could get close enough to one of these bulls.

 

I hunted several days in this area and some days were hit and miss. The morning were the best while the afternoons were very very slow. Day 12, I went back in there one morning and heard a couple bulls bugling. There was not near as much activity going on from when I first went into this area with BC777. I ended up getting close to a bull bugling and ended up walking in on him in his bed. There was little wind and the ground was very crunchy. As he was bugling in his bed I ended up moving to quick. He caught movement and turned and looked back at me. He was unable to make out what I was and after looking at me for a minute he decided to stand. I dropped to my knees and drew my bow. The bull walked out to the left in a little clearing and stopped and I let it rip at 60 yards. The arrow got about halfway to the bull and hit a limb and deflected off to the right. The bull trotted off unscathed and that was the end of the morning. At this point, I was feeling pretty bummed. On the way back to the truck I texted TrphyHntr what had happened and he told me to stay positive and there was plenty of time left to get it done. I think he told me this every day of the hunt lol which was really appreciated.

 

Day 13 my friend Bart came back up to help me the last two days. I had been hunting alone for a few days which was fun, but sucked all the same. After arriving just before the sun came up we heard all types of chaos going on the the east of where we parked. I was sort of surprised where these elk were as they haven't been in that general direction since I started hunting this area. We took off after a couple of miles we finally were able to glass up several bulls on the ridge with a ton of cows. Spikes, Raghorns, big bulls. There was elk everywhere again! After getting closer and after about an hour after daylight we noticed some of the elk either went over the ridge or they stayed on our side of the ridge and dropped down into a flat area. The elk quit bugling but we knew they were in there most likely bedded down. Since we didn't want to spook them and we were not sure exactly where they were bedded down we sat down in the shade of the tree and waited for them to make a move. I remember pulling out my phone and texting TrphyHntr that we were in close and waiting for them to make a move. It wasn't long after that a bull bugled in his bed so we decided to get up and make a move on him. I put the phone back in my pocket and off we went. He wasn't that far off. After 20 minutes the bugling got intensified and all of the bulls started bugling hard again answering each other over and over again. We went around and a tree and a big bodied 6x5 stood at 120 yards and had us pegged. After staring at us for a few seconds he busted and trotted off. We kept sneaking in on the rest of the bugling bulls but we just couldn't get close enough. A couple of times the wind swirled and a small group of raghorns and spikes caught our wind and trotted off. They never barked. We kept pushing after the rest of the bugling bulls. We tried cow calling and and bugling had several cows come check us out. The wind swirled again and the cows caught our wind and they barked and took off. I thought for sure we were done. After sitting for about 5 minutes we heard another bugle. Screw it, we were off again! After about another mile I spotted a cow bedded on top of small rolling ridge. Bart spotted a small 6x6 below her and across the fence another big heavy 6x6 was standing with a couple cows and a calf. Bart decided he would step back and try and call one in. He got back at an angle and started calling and I ranged the trees in front of me. Several bulls answered right away. Bart called again and all of a sudden I could see a bull trotting through the trees. I drew my bow back and the bull came bugling and looking for the cow. The bull came in at an angle so I glanced over and tried to figure out what tree he was closest to. To me, he looked like he was 30 yards. He must have been 40. I let the arrow go and it hit lower than I was aiming but it stuck him. The bull trotted off about 80 yards broadside behind a small tree and looked back. Bart came out from behind me and said, "I heard you shoot." I said, "yeah It hit toward the shoulder I think? But he's standing right there in the trees" He just nodded okay. All of sudden the bull spun around in a circle. Then he started wobbling. I said, "Oh wait.. he's going down!" Bart said he couldn't see him. The bull fell down into the dirt and it was over just like that. I dropped to my knees and we started laughing and celebrating. We walked up to the bull and I looked at my phone and it was 11:30AM. I couldn't believe that just happened and at almost noon?! As long as it took for it to happened, it ended so quick. I learned more during this hunt than I have on any other hunt I have ever been on. It was such an great experience and I am very thankful. He may not be a giant, but he's a great first bull and I'm proud of him!

 

Sorry for the long story! Thanks for reading!

-Brandon

 

[Willyhunts2]

That's a great bull whether it's your first, second, third, or 10th. Thanks for posting the story with your pic and congrats!

[chico]

Congratulations. Very nice way to start your elk fever with an arrow to say the least. I think you will be hooked for life. Great job !

[duarte64]

Nice Job Congrats

[Ed67]

That's a great bull. Congratulations.

[Mountainman99]

Congrats!

[trphyhntr]

You had the best hunt of the season

[bonecollector777]

Congrats! Glad I could help out.

[PRDATR]

Great story, congrats.

[redline410]

Great story and bull. Congratulations!!!

[Shedhunteraz]

Nice job guys. Kudos to blake helping out. Lots of good people out there

[bgshooter]

Great story. Congrats!!! Great job.

[Wyatt Earp]

Congrats! Thanks for the story!

[Will K]

Very nice.

[Zeke-BE]

Congrats well done