Over Too Soon

[Ron G.]

Even though I wasn’t lucky enough to draw any of my own tags for the fall 2007 season, I have been blessed to be able to tag along and accompany several other people on their fall hunts. The one I was most anticipating finally arrived. It was my Dad’s 2007 rifle bull elk hunt. We had been talking about it for months, and it was hard to not let it be the only topic of conversation at Thanksgiving this year. My dad was very excited, and since he lives in the unit he was drawn for, he has been out scouting morning and most evenings for the past 2-3 weeks before the season started. However, he had not seen much due to the warm weather making most of the elk go nocturnal. I had taken off the entire hunt to go up and help out.

 

A friend of my dad’s mentioned he had several bulls coming into water on his property. With his permission, we put up a trail camera to see just what was coming in. We didn’t get that many pictures, but one that stuck out was this beat up old boy. My dad brought this picture with him to Thanksgiving dinner to show me.

 

 

Opening day was finally here, and the temps had finally cooled off some, raising the anticipation. My dad made the final decision of where he wanted to start out, a couple of small feeder canyons that fed a much larger canyon nearby where he lived. We split up first thing to cover more ground, with me glassing a southwest facing ridge he was going to circle around and walk along back towards me. I was greeted by an awesome sunrise to start the day. I glassed for a while until the sun started rising, and then jumped over the ridge I was on to glass the northeast facing side of another side canyon.

 

 

My dad soon radioed me and asked where I was. I told him my location, so he headed down lower on the ridge from where I was at to get a different perspective on the opposite side of the canyon. A couple of minutes later, I saw a branch shaking through my binoculars, and then noticed sunlight reflecting off of a nice set of Coues’ antlers. I radioed my dad and said I wish I had a deer tag and that it was deer season, as I was watching a nice buck. As my dad and I talked, he told me he saw a bull, and described where it was. I took a few pictures of the deer, and then moved a little higher on the ridge to try to get a glimpse of the bull he saw.

 

 

 

 

I found the bull across the canyon and started watching him. I had left my camera with my pack, and didn’t want to risk making any noise to retrieve my camera, thus possibly spooking the bull. I told my dad I was watching the palmated bull from the trail camera pictures. I asked my dad if that was the bull he had seen, but he wasn’t sure. I figured we were both watching the same bull, but I wasn’t absolutely sure. As I sat admiring the bull through the binoculars, he fed up behind some small pine trees. At this point I could see his rack and the top of his back. An unexpected KABOOM! jerked me out of the binos. I temporarily lost site of the bull, but was pretty sure my dad had just shot the same bull I was watching as he was nowhere to be seen. The terrain above him was pretty open, so I was sure I would have seen him run up there if he had moved from where he was standing. My dad got back on the radio and asked me if he hit him. I described where I was looking and confirmed he had shot the bull I was watching. We both agreed he went right down at the shot.

 

My dad had a good setup and could see the area all around where the bull went down, so it was decided I would go across the canyon and check on the bull. I packed up my gear as quickly as my shaking hands would allow and headed across the canyon. I had dropped about halfway down into the canyon when another elk exploded out of the trees below me. I saw a brief tan flash, but wasn’t able to confirm if it was a bull or a cow.

 

I covered the distance quickly, and popped out of the small stand of pine trees to find my dad’s bull laying almost on his back, stone dead. My dad had shot him through the neck, and put him down right where he had been standing. I radioed back to my dad and told him his bull was down over here and to come on over. While my dad packed up his gear, I found him across the canyon and ranged him at 210 yards.

 

 

I ate a snack and waited for my dad to make his way over to me. My dad circled around the draw instead of coming straight across, so he came in from above me. The look on his face told the whole story.

 

 

After admiring the bull for a couple of minutes and rehashing out the story, I took a few pictures, although my dad would say it was a lot more than a few!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dad and I were pretty stoked! After the picture session, we went to work. He shot his bull at about 8:15am opening morning, and finally had him back to the house hanging under the back deck by about 3:30pm. It was a long day, but very fulfilling. While it seemed like it was over too fast, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

 

Here is a picture of me on my way out to get the quad.

 

We spent the next day resting, taking the meat to be processed, and hanging out with the family. I had a friend from work who also had a bull tag for the same unit. I got hold of him and mentioned I could accompany him and his brother if they wanted for a couple of days. He welcomed the help, but they had to go back into town Saturday afternoon and wasn’t sure when he’d be back up Sunday morning. We decided to meet up Sunday afternoon at my parents.

 

I headed out Sunday am to see if I could find anything in case they weren’t successful Sunday morning. I headed out to an area my dad and I had previously scouted, but hadn’t really seen anything but sign. As I left the truck it was about 10 degrees. Dressed for the cold, I hiked in a ways until dawn broke, and then glassed and moved, glassed and moved. At about 8am I stopped and looked down below me to see a nice bull feeding and milling around below me.

 

 

 

 

I excitedly watched him and snapped a few pictures of him. He was a respectable 6x6, and there was a tall 5x5 that was traveling with him, although I didn’t get any good pictures of the 5x5. I ranged them at about 560 yards below me.

 

 

I watched them as they disappeared out of my site behind a ridge. Looking at the terrain, I figured they wouldn’t go far, and since I told the family I’d be back around 9 or so, I packed up and headed back to my parent’s.

 

I hooked up with my friend from work and his brother. We went back to that area that afternoon hoping to glass the bulls up, but never did see them again. They might have kept on moving, but chances are they just holed up in one of the brushy draws. We did see about 5 cows that had moved into the opposite ridge since I was there that morning.

 

We headed back to the same spot the next morning, but again, no luck.

 

 

 

I had decided I would go home Tuesday night so I could get some things done around the house and then go back to work Thursday and Friday to have a couple of extra vacation days on the books. (Archery deer and Javelina is coming up!) I went out again Monday night and Tuesday morning with them, but while spotting a few elk none of them offered a shot opportunity. Below is a picture of Monday night’s sunset.

 

 

All in all, it was a great hunt with my dad, and one that I will remember for a long time. Hopefully one or both of us will draw a couple of tags next year and be able to repeat the success of this hunt. I think my dad will do a Euro mount with his bull. We never did put a tape to him, so I’m not sure what he scores. Maybe next time I’m up there we’ll score him. We did age him by comparing his teeth to those in an aging book my dad has, and figured him to be about 12+ years old. His teeth were pretty worn down and he only had one tooth on each side of his lower jaw with an Infundibula (pits in the teeth) left in it.

[cjw2222]

Awesome write up!!

 

that really gets the old bull fever goin again. And great pictures, i finally learned that taking pictures is one of the best ways to relive and enjoy the hunt after it is over.

 

What a monster bull you got there. TONS of character from the eyeguards to the huge mass and palmation. looks like he messed up his right side during velvet which really adds to the uniqueness of the bull. Congrats on a great hunt

[azcouesandelk]

Great job Ron and that is a magnificent looking bull!!! Tell your dad I said congrats!

[cramerhunts]

Great story, great pictures, and of course a great bull! A huge congrats to you and your father!

 

Phil

[firstcoueswas80]

OK so i know its the wrong species that you are writing about, but that coues sure got me shaking for a minute! I loved it! thats one heck of a bull to!

[coues7]

Congrats.....those hunts with your dad are always the best....great bull!!!

[CouesWhitetail]

Congratulations to you and your dad! Thanks for the writeup, it's great to be able to "go along with you".

 

Amanda

[ScottAdams]

Loved the story Ron. I was there!!!!...for a few minutes while reading it. Great hunt.

[Buckhorn]

Thanks for sharing Ron. And congrads to your Dad.

 

Buckhorn

[azpackhorse]

Congrats to your father! Spectacular photos and write up!!

[COOSEFAN]

Awesome pic's and fantastic bull!!! Congrats to you guys! JIM>

[azhuntnut]

Once again, great story. I will be up there next weekend I hope. Tell your dad I will stop by and check out he rack, and congrats. David