Goldfinger78 Report post Posted December 11, 2018 To tell this story we need to go back 7 years ago when my brother in law Adam starting telling me I should try to hunt big game in Arizona. I have always loved the outdoors and enjoyed fishing, but never truly had the desire to hunt. Finally, after about a year of listening to Adam plead his case on why I should hunt, and also seeing my sister get a bull elk, I decided to put in for the draw. Being that I was a rookie, I had no idea I would have to wait several years before I could hunt elk. After two years of not drawing a tag Adam convinced me to put in for deer as well. Well that was probably the best decision I have ever made. Over the past 4 years I have had the opportunity to go on multiple big game hunts. Some of the hunts have been successful and some have not, but just being in the outdoors and growing friendships is reward enough for me. Through all the ups and downs, I have developed a deep love and passion for hunting. I have also been blessed with the fact that I get to share my passion with my son Thomas, who has been hunting along side of me for 2 years now. Heck the kid has gotten two elk before I have even shot at one!!! I might be a little jealous 😀 Let's move forward to the day I got a call from Adam letting me know that cards were being hit. I was on my way to work and can still remember screaming loud over the phone, "I got MY bull tag!!!" Adam even told me to calm down because I was so loud!!! It was six years in the making, but I finally got MY tag. Since I was involved in a few other hunts this fall and had other obligations, I did not scout as much as I should have going into this hunt. I was able to get out and go scouting the Sunday before opening day and had high hopes. Adam and I went into a very good area and unfortunately we struck out and did not locate any bulls. I was trying to remain confident knowing that I would be back up on Wednesday morning. That would give me two more days to locate MY bull before the hunt started. Well Wednesday morning came and passed and I struck out again. Needless to say I was a bit nervous at this point. Wednesday evening I went into another area and located 15 or so bulls, but nothing that I would consider to be MY bull. Adam came up and joined me for Thursday's scouting. The plan was to split up and cover as much area as possible. Well about an hour or so before sunrise I was on my way into a scouting location Adam selected for me, but to my surprise someone had beat me to the spot. With very little time before sunrise I decided to go to plan b which was a spot I had seen a really nice bull during my son's cow elk hunt this past October. I drove as fast as I could to get to the glassing spot before sunrise, luckily I made it just in time. After about 30 minutes of glassing I had spotted a few small bulls and some cows, but still no sign of MY bull. After about an hour I decided to move locations. Just as I started to move I saw a yellow spot through the trees working my direction. I immediately put the glass up and knew that this was MY bull. I spent the next 2 hours watching MY bull feed across from me at 450 yards. I took several pictures and some video of him all while thinking, "Why can't this be opening day!" Once he disappeared into the thick trees I knew where I wanted to be for opening morning. Going to bed Thursday night I could hardly sleep, opening day was almost here and I had MY bull located. Adam and I went in to find MY bull opening morning, and spent more time glassing fog than anything else. There was a storm forcasted for the first three days of the hunt. We decided to back out and try a different spot in the evening hoping for better glassing conditions. The evening hunt came and passed. We saw several bulls but nothing that was as good or better then MY bull. My sister Tracy joined us for the second day, and we made a plan to go back and locate MY bull. Adam was pretty familiar with the elk movent in the area and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before MY bull shows up again. We just need to stick to the plan. The second morning came and passed. Again we saw several bulls, but we were unable to locate MY bull. We decided to change it up for the evening and tried a different spot. We located a really nice 5x6 bull that was definitely bigger then MY bull. Long story short we made a stock on the 5x6 but quickly realized it was not a good decision to continue. If we continued to chase this bull, we would be putting ourselves into a dangerous situation. He was across a canyon from heck, a storm was starting to roll in, the wind was picking up, and we were losing sunlight. Everything was telling me that this was not MY bull. It was a difficult thing to do but we had to let that bull go. On the way out my sister found a small deer shed. I have never seen her so happy in my life. It was one of my favorite moments of this hunt!!! We regrouped at the hotel, and honestly all of us seemed relieved we stopped chasing that 5x6. After all he was not MY bull anyway. On the third day we met our buddy Chris who came up for the day to help us glass. We stuck to the plan for the morning and went in to locate MY bull. Once it was light enough to glass we instantly spotted a large herd of cows about 400 yards away. We knew that there was a spike and a small 4x4 with this herd yesterday morning. We watched the herd for about fifteen minutes and we did not see MY bull, so we all worked around the hill about 50 yards to glass another spot. After a few minutes I decided to go back to the original glassing spot to check on the large herd. To my surprise there were 5 other hunters glassing right on top of us not 20 yards from our gear. It was pretty clear that we were there first, since our ranger was also parked very close. I was trying to contain my anger, after all it is public land. I personally would have backed out, but obviously these people were not going to do that. I called Adam to let him know what was going on. Adam discussed the situation with the other hunters who were trying to get a kid a bull regardless of size. They agreed that they would give us an hour to locate MY bull, and after the hour we would let the kid shoot the spike or 4x4 in the herd just in front of us. After about 10 minutes of some high pressure glassing, our buddy Chris said, "I got a small 5x5 over here." We took a look through the glass and sure enough it was MY bull. He was about 1300 yards away so Adam told the other group to give us 15 minutes to get set up, and if we don't shoot by then they can have the kid shoot one of the other bulls that was still in range. Adam and I went on a fast paced stalk to get in range of MY bull. We got to about 500 yards and tried to set up for a prone shot. MY bull was slowing moving through the trees not giving us a shot opportunity. We needed to move positions and we knew we were running out of time!!! We knew at any moment the other group was going to shoot. After about a 75 yard army crawl we got back into a shooting position. MY bull was still not cooperating. He was not presenting us a shot opportunity. I watched him in the rifle scope for several more minutes, then BOOM!!!! The other group started shooting. The kid that was with the other group took 6 to 9 shots at the 4x4 that was in the herd from earlier. I honestly lost count but kept thinking please don't scare MY bull!!! The other group did give us well over 15 minutes before they started shooting. I was very thankful for that and the fact that all their shooting didn't spook MY bull. After about 5 more minutes MY bull finally gave me a 580 yard hard quartering away shot. BOOM my rifle went off. I did not see the hit through the scope but followed the bull up the hill about 15 yards and he stopped broadside. BOOM, I sent another round. MY bull just stood there like I missed completely. I asked Adam, "Where did I hit?" Perplexed he replied "I don't know???" Then my bull started a fast paced walk up the hill. I followed him through the scope for about 5 seconds and then I saw him drop. MY bull was down!!!! I told Adam "He is down, he is down!!!" We sent one more round just to be sure and watched him for a few minutes. He was not moving. After reality hit me, I punched Adam in the arm yelling, "I got MY bull!!!". Needless to say I was excited and relieved that it all worked out. The other group of hunters were also successful. They were able to get the kid the 4x4 from the large herd. In addition to that, Adam glassed up another bull for another member of that very same group. The third hunter was able to take a bull at over 900 yards. Pretty good morning to say the least!!! 3 bulls down in about a 30 minute time frame, including MY very first bull!!! Huge thanks to my sister Tracy for helping us pack MY bull out. She packed out a front and hind quarter. Also huge thanks to Chris for glassing up MY bull that morning under a high pressure situation. Finally, huge thanks to my brother in law Adam for convincing me to put in for this hunt 7 years ago. Hunting has tought me alot about myself and because of hunting I have developed some great friends. I can wait for the next adventure but won't soon forget this hunt, and being able to harvest MY first bull. VID_20181129_075956.mp4 14 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bojangles Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Woot woot!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Browns Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Great story Chris! You have come a long way since your first year of hunting. You have definitely grown to become a great hunter! This was a really fun, but challenging hunt! You made 3 great shot! Congrats!!!! Adam 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildwoody Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Sweet bull, I know right where you were, awesome story. Ya you gotta love Adam 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Good for you man! Adam is a great guy to have at your disposal. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRDATR Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Thanks Chris for inviting me to share your hunt, and doing something you didn't need to do which was sharing some of the meat. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Congrats Chris on great bull. I hope to finally get in on one of your hunts. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nw07heavy Report post Posted December 11, 2018 Very nice bull. Congratulations. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
randyolson Report post Posted January 3, 2019 Right on!! Good read! You definitely could tell the excitement!! Congratulations on your bull!! Thanks for sharing! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lancetkenyon Report post Posted January 3, 2019 Great bull! I talked to Adam while you guys were hunting up there. And heard the story of the bull. Congrats. So, did you use Adam's rifle? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Goldfinger78 Report post Posted January 3, 2019 5 hours ago, lancetkenyon said: Great bull! I talked to Adam while you guys were hunting up there. And heard the story of the bull. Congrats. So, did you use Adam's rifle? Thanks Lance!!! And no I did not use Adam's mini cannon 😀, I used my 7 mag. The bull was it's first blood. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted January 4, 2019 Very nice. Congrat's. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flatlander Report post Posted January 4, 2019 Congrats! Very nice work. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hamboneaz Report post Posted January 10, 2019 Nice work! Glad to see the rifle is working out for you! Congrats on a great bull 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Goldfinger78 Report post Posted January 11, 2019 3 hours ago, justinhamblin said: Nice work! Glad to see the rifle is working out for you! Congrats on a great bull Thanks it did great!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
