Draysen's 2019 Archery Elk Hunt (Our Epic Fall Part 2)

[rossislider]

Hi CWT Community,

This is part two of the story of this years elk hunts for my son and me. I wrote it for the purposes of journaling for my family. Rather than retype a shorter version, I am just posting this one. I recognize that it is quite long. I wouldn’t be offended if someone just skipped to the pictures rather than the full play by play.

Part one of our story left off with me returning home from my hunt, butchering the bull, resupplying, and heading back up the mountain with my son just a day and half later. As I mentioned, he had a JV football game Thursday night (he is a freshman on the ALA Queen Creek team) and went 6 for 6 on his PATs. After the game, we ran home to load up the coolers while he had a quick shower, and we were on our way. We rolled into camp (actually a small VRBO cabin I rented) and got to sleep about 1:00 AM. We got up at 4:00AM and headed into an area I had looked over with Shane the previous week. There were quite a few bugling bulls in there the week before, including a couple I had passed up. Given the short amount of time my son had to hunt, and it being an archery hunt (crossbow given his broken wrist), he and I agreed that anything 330 class or bigger would get serious consideration. After all, he just turned 15 the week before, it was his first bull hunt, and we wanted to be very realistic in our expectations. I had talked with Shane prior to coming back up and he said he did not have plans to be hunting that area with his archery hunter, and that we were more than welcome to give it a go.

Before we jump into the hunt, here are a couple of important details:

• As I mentioned in “Part 1”, Draysen would be using a crossbow due to a broken wrist and recent surgery to repair his wrist. We were using a Ravin R10 crossbow, and had put in quite a few hours of practice in the months leading up to the hunt with the crossbow to finetune his shooting, arrows, and broadheads.
• We couldn’t find a broadhead that didn’t tune extremely well out of the crossbow. Ultimately he decided that he wanted to use Iron Will Broadheads (we only had 3 due to cost) and would follow those up with Ramcats if necessary. They were both stacking on top of each other in groups the size of a quarter at 100 yards.

Friday - It was a rough opening morning. We had anticipated that the rut would have kicked into full swing by this point, but that was hardly the case. Moreover, the few bugles I had heard the previous week were even fewer and far between. We heard a couple of bugles before sun-up, but once it started to get light, everything was dead quiet. The only excitement that we had that morning was Draysen telling me that he misplaced his cell phone. Fortunately we had a weak cell signal and I was able to use the Life360 app on our phones to pinpoint his phones location, FOUR MILES BEHIND US. We backtracked to the phone, and that was pretty much it for opening morning. The remainder of the day didn’t get much better. The bugling was terrible. We chased a couple of distant bugles in a different area, and just prior to dark turned up a good looking 310-320 class bull about 120 yards in front of us. But he wasn’t what we were looking for that early in the hunt, so headed back for the truck.

Saturday – Since the bugling was pretty bad in the places we had checked the previous day, we had decided to check out a different location that he and I had found together a couple of years previously while helping a friend on their bull hunt. When we had found that area a couple of years prior, we found ourselves in a bugling frenzy with more bulls all around us than we could count, so why not check it out? We headed out about 4:00 AM, but never made it to our predetermined spot. After turning off the highway and driving up the dirt road for several hundred yards we pulled the truck over adjacent to a large open meadow that had a 100 yard wide strip of trees between us and the meadow, that would provide us some cover. We hoped out of the truck and I hit the bugle. In the still pitch dark we were hit back with immediate replies by three different bulls out in the meadow. These were the best and closest bugles we had heard yet so we took off after them. I knew that once we hit the meadow (it is a huge meadow, at least 3/4 mile wide by 1 mile long) there would be very little cover for us to get in close. So my goal was to get into position while we still had some cover from the darkness. It was a good plan, but we just didn’t have enough time. We located a big 360 class heard bull while moving into position with A LOT of cows, but it was just too light to get around them and at about 150-200 yards we got busted in the open by a cow and they started moving off. Despite our best efforts for about an hour, we were not getting back ahead of this group. By the time we got back to the truck, everything had been dead quiet again for at least 45 minutes.

We decided to make a move about 15 miles into the high country to see if they were bugling any better in the pines. The bugling wasn’t much better higher up. We were doing a little running and gunning in the truck at this point since our prime morning hours were running short. We would drive the road a ways, jump out, hit the bugle, listen, and move on. It was probably the 4^th of 5^th time into this cycle that we got a response, and a close one. It was a deep raspy response, probably within a few hundred yards. I grabbed my pack, he grabbed the crossbow, and we were off. Once we got moving, we had a few different bulls in close proximity talking back and forth. I would bugle, they would respond, and we would creep closer. It wasn’t long before Draysen whispered to me, “I see a cow!”. About 50 yards ahead of us was a cow through the trees, then a second one, third, and so on. They were moving past us slowly unaware of our presence (we were very aware of and working the wind). Eventually the bull showed himself, a solid 330 class bull that Draysen decided he wanted to shoot. As we came closer, the bull took a hard right rather than following his cows. This worked out perfect for us as he was coming right at us. He slowly worked into about 30 yards, where I had determined to cow call to stop him for the shot. Unfortunately I stopped him one step to soon and he froze up with everything exposed to us, except for his vitals, which were directly behind a tree. There was a stare down for probably a minute before the bull decided he didn’t like what he was seeing (or not seeing). He wheeled around and started to more off. I cow called to him and he stopped and started to come back, but more cautiously. I worked him back into 60 yards into the wide open and called the range out to Draysen. “THWACK” I watched the arrow sail forward, but about a foot underneath the bull. What happened there is still a contentious point between Draysen and I, and probably will be for many years to come. He claims he re-ranged the distance later and it was actually 90 yards, I claim that my yardage was dead-on and he pulled the shot. This debate won’t end anytime soon. The bull spun around at the sound of the crossbow, ran off about 40-50 yards, and stopped. Try as I might, I was not able to call him back in a third time, and he began to slowly work away from us. I told Draysen to keep an eye on him while I backed off about 30 yards and raked a tree to see if I could bring him or one of the other bulls in. I was successful in bringing a small 5x5 to within 10 yards while raking, but are target bull was working away from us. We still had the wind right, so Draysen gave a slow pursuit. Somehow we got separated at this point and I lost sight of Draysen. We still had multiple bulls bugling, but I did not know which one he was working towards. I made the decision that I would be best able to assist him by staying put and working my bugles to keep them talking for him. After about 10-15 minutes I started to get a little worried. I had all of the extra arrows, hadn’t heard from Draysen, had no idea which way he went, and cell service was at one bar at best. Then my phone went to life showing Draysen’s image on the screen. I answered and he reported that he had stalked into an even larger bull (he estimated it at 360 class), had taken a shot, but couldn’t find any blood or his arrow, so thought he had missed. I worked my way to him and we began to search the area in the direction the bull had run off. About 30 yards from where the bull had stood I came upon this!

I called Draysen to me and a mini celebration took place. The blood was thick, heavy, and left a trail ahead of us as far as we could see through the trees. We agreed to give the bull some time and sat down on the blood and waited for about 45 minutes. After 45 minutes se started to track, but to our horror, after about 50 yards the blood completely disappeared. Not a drop!!! I was able to follow his hoof prints for an additional 50 or so yards, but then we got into such a mess of different elk tracks that we lost his tracks completely. We spent the next several hours working every possible directions from the last track looking for an sign of him. Draysen was visibly upset. He was very angry with himself at the prospect of wounding an animal that was now suffering. We talked over the shot, took a hard look at the blood, and came to the conclusion that the hard quartering away shot he had taken likely resulted in him only hitting one lung. After looking for several hours we headed back for some lunch and a little break, but that afternoon continued our search. Unfortunately, as the day grew later and we continued to draw blanks, we came to the conclusion that we were not going to find the bull. It was a very frustrating and discouraging day, but a day in which we were both taught a number of valuable lessons. With the poor state of the rut, we decided that we would give it our best all day the next day (Sunday), return home late that evening, and save the absence he was planning on using for school on Monday for the following Friday when the rut would hopefully be better. My friend GR from Taylor and I had been keeping each other updated on what we were seeing throughout the hunt. That evening we were discussing the rough state of the rut, and he said he knew a couple of spots that usually held a few solid bulls that we might consider checking out. We, Draysen and I, were both pretty discouraged over the days events and welcomed his help. We arranged to meet up with him the following morning well before sun-up.

Sunday – Our luck did not improve!!! Early that morning, I went to unlock the truck with the keyless remote to load up the packs, but nothing. Best case scenario, the battery was dead. Worst case, who knows. I got ahold of GR who was more than willing to come our way to pick us up. By the time he got to us, and we were at our predetermined hunting area, we were way behind schedule. It had been light for some time. We did hear one bugle, but between the super thick and dense country he was in, and some other hunters making a lot of noise in the area, the morning was a total bust. We headed back to camp to deal with the truck, and were fortunately able to jump start it. The one bright spot to the morning was that the battery was still under full warranty. Despite some terrible customer service at the Show Low Walmart, I was able to get the battery swapped out and around noon, we were back at camp. We didn’t stay long before heading back out to the area where Draysen had shot the bull the previous day. While still early, we were hoping for crows or any sign of the bull. We found no further sign and decided to continue to search for bugles to chase. Sadly that was the worst night of the entire hunt for bugles, we didn’t hear a thing until after dark. We headed back to camp, loaded up the truck and headed for home, discouraged but determined.

Thursday  - I had work on Thursday, and Draysen had school and a football game on Thursday night. Just like the previous week, we were going to head out immediately after Draysen’s game and get to camp late that night. About 9:00 AM I received the following text from my friend Shane (Shane Koury of Koury Guide Service):

Shane - When are you coming up?

Me -  Tonight after Draysen’s game. Probably get up there between midnight and 1:00 AM.

Shane – Good deal. You want to roll with me tomorrow?

Me – Seriously? Of course we do!

That night Draysen’s team won their game with Draysen going 4 for 4 on PATs and we were on our way.

Friday – We met up with Shane and headed into the area Draysen and I had hunted on day 1. After we had gone home, Shane went in there with his archery hunter and had turned up a giant. Unfortunately his hunter was unable to connect on the shot, and we believed him to still be in the area. We got on the big bull and were stalking him from 400-500 yards out. Unfortunately, he worked his way really close to a dirt road. We were probably within 250-300 yards and closing the distance fast when we watched in horror as some other hunters rolled up their diesel truck to within 50 yards of the bull and blasted their hoochie momma out the window of their still running truck. To our dismay, the bull bugled back to them. They made an absurd racket as they parked their truck and gathered their gear. It was at this point that we cruised past them giving the exasperated death stare. You could tell by their reaction that realization had hit them about what they had just done and they jumped back in their truck and took off. Sadly, the next time we hear the giant bull bugle must have been from at least a half a mile away. He had been blown far from the area. Fortunately for us, bugling was substantially better than when we had headed home earlier in the week, and we had the legendary Shane Koury helping us, so we were feeling pretty good.

That afternoon we decided to check out an area closer to where we were staying for this part of our trip. As we had loaded up the truck that morning, prior to meeting up with Shane, we had heard several bugles in the distance. We told Shane and he mentioned a couple of spots back in that direction where they had killed some giants in past years. So the plan for that evening was to check out those bulls. It wasn’t long before we had a bugle down in an adjacent canyon. The bugle sounded weak, but we decided we needed to give it a look over anyway. When we finally got a glimpse of him about 150 yards in front of us, we realized that his antlers were as big as his bugle was small. He was a 380+ class giant and appeared to be working his way into a great position for us to put a stalk on him. We worked our way down the canyon to get the wind right and slowly started working our way back to him. It wasn’t long before we spotted him destroying a tree about 60 yards ahead of us. We continued to work closer until Draysen was straight in front of the bush/tree the bull was working at a distance of 32 yards. Everything was PERFECT, we had the wind right, the crossbow was ready and on the sticks, and as soon as this giant took two steps either right or left to clear the tree, he was dead. I filmed this through my phone, so I know that this tree vandal ripped this tree apart for just over 5 minutes while we waited. Then, he took one step to the right. His head and neck were exposed, only one more step and it would be time to celebrate! Right then the wind swirled and that was it. The bull whipped around and took off up the mountain leaving us in a state of disbelief. Fortunately we could tell that he had been working the trees in that area for some time. We felt that we were likely in his bedding area, and that we would be right in the area the following day. So we carefully hiked out of the area an went in search of other bugles, but didn’t turn up anything that could get Draysen’s mind off of the big bull we had just watched. In the fading light I did locate a BIG 190 inch class mule deer buck. Did I mention I have a 3A3C deer tag in a few weeks…

Saturday – The weather reports were predicting extremely high winds as we got further into the weekend. They weren’t wrong. By early Saturday morning we were in 20+ MPH winds with gusts closer to 30. We were high up in the pines that morning and in some thick fog. It made for a picturesque morning to bring in a bull through the fog, and we did just that. It was a pretty great morning. We were able to find several deep pockets out of the wind and put Draysen within his range of multiple bugling bulls. Unfortunately, he had a giant on his mind from the evening before and most everything we turned up Saturday morning was in the 320 class range. So one by one, he passed on several shot opportunities. In the back of my mind was the looming concerns that all we had left was today and tomorrow, and the wind was only supposed to continue to increase. I was eager for him to not push it until the end. Afterall, he is barely 15 years old and on his first bull hunt. He didn’t need to kill a giant, but with that 380 on his mind, he wasn’t willing to settle. The three of us had a great morning, the bugling was finally getting good, we looked at a lot of elk, and put A LOT of miles on the boots before we called it a morning and made plans to look back in on the giant. Draysen and Shane have a good time trash talking to each other, both seem to have a lot of alpha male in them and spent a fair amount of the weekend going after each other. It made for a lot comical and entertaining banter. I did my best to keep my head down and stay out of the crossfire.

In the afternoon we headed back into the bedroom of our giant. As we snuck into the canyon Shane let out bugle. To our delight we were treated to a reply bugle, exactly where we had stalked the giant the previous day. We continued our bugling dialogue only as much as needed to sneak within range. As we got close we realized (via OnX) that the bull was bugling from his bed within 30 yards of where he had watched him tear up the tree the day before. The wind was terrible, but in the canyon, we were in a good spot. We crept to within 40 yards and saw bedded antlers through the brush. Draysen got set up on the sticks and we waiting. Before long our bull stood up an walked towards us and out of the brush. NOT OUR GIANT!!! This was a good looking up an coming 320-330 class bull, but not the one we were looking for. We let him walk and continued to work the canyon looking for our bull. Unfortunately there was not another bugle to be heard in the area. We had a quick conversation and determined that given the limited time Draysen had remaining, we need to move on, get out of there, back to the truck, and find some other elk. Shane chose this opportunity to literally run up the mountain to show Draysen who was the big dog really was. Draysen kept right on his heels leaving me, the innocent bystander in their crossfire to give pursuit. By the time we got to the top of the mountain my lungs were on fire. I shared my opinion of their  **** measuring contest, we had a laugh, and were on our way.

We were rolling through a rough back road listening for bugles in the slowly fading light. With about 20 minutes of light left we hopped out of the truck and hit the bugle. We had an immediate and loud response from a bull right on top of us and he was headed our way and fast! We grabbed the crossbow and headed to get into position away from the truck. Unfortunately, the bull was a little to quick. We were maybe 10-20 yards from the big white truck, with it directly behind, us when the bull walked into the opening. He saw the truck, stopped dead in his tracks, and stared at us. He was well within shooting distance, and Draysen made it clear that given our limited time, this 330-340 class bull was an shooter. Unfortunately, we were in yet another situation where there was one tree between us and the bull. That one tree was blocking his vitals. It wasn’t more than 10-15 seconds before the bull realized that the big white truck wasn’t a good thing for him, and he bolted leaving us without a shot. We gave pursuit, but by the time we had him back in sight, we has back with his cows (a lot of cows) and we were just about out of light. He had come in angry to our bugle before, so we decided to give it one more go. I backed off and began raking a tree while Shane and Draysen kept an eye on the bull about 150 yards in front of us. As he began raking a tree of his own, Draysen and Shane worked into about 50 yards, but with the tree he was raking between them, they had no shot, and our light was gone. We were down to our final day and the forecast was for 30 mph winds with gusts up to 40. It wasn’t looking good. Draysen was clearly getting worried and second guessing the bulls we had passed on throughout the day in hopes of getting a shot at the big 380 bull. As we headed for bed, he told me that any 6x6 would be getting his arrow tomorrow.

Sunday - We met up with Shane about 4:30 AM and headed into an area nearby to check for bugles. We had decided that this would give us plenty of time to shoot up high and get into the canyons out of the nasty winds if the bugling was bad down low. However, the bugling was fantastic! In the darkness, we had bulls bugling from every direction. Shane’s younger son Skyler (an excellent hunter as well) came out that morning to spot for us from up high. Shortly after it began to get light, we got a call from Skyler telling us that one of the bulls in the meadow we were sitting on was big. Shane asked how big, he responded, “just shoot!”.  The bull was working south into the trees with his cows several hundred yards from us on the far edge of the big meadow. We moved fast to cut them off and were closing in. We spotted cows in front of us about 50 yards ahead walking through a perfect shooting lane in the trees. Assuming the bull was bringing up the rear, Draysen got all set up for the shot. About that time a calf became interested in something in our direction and turned right at us. He/she walked to within about 10 yards of me, figured out we were something he/she didn’t like and bolted taking all of herd with her. We pursued, having never seen the bull, for several miles before we accepted the fact that we were only losing ground and decided to check in on some of the many other bugles in the area. Within minutes we had a close bull responding to us. It was clear he was coming in so we once again got Draysen all set up. Within seconds a solid 5x5 bull broke through the trees with a single cow. At 23 yards he stopped hard, giving Draysen a perfect shot. My insides were screaming for Draysen to shoot, but for whatever reason he wasn’t feeling the same urgency, and his finger never touched the trigger. Once the bull cleared out, I had to fight myself from losing my mind! What was he thinking? This gift was a beautiful last day bull, especially given the rough conditions? I was a little put off with Draysen and venting my frustration via text to my wife so as not to explode on him. I kept most of my words in check, but did make the comment, “I don’t think you realize the decision you just made.” Before long, I regained my composure and told him I was sorry for letting my frustration show and that I loved him. I was feeling pretty bad. I could see that he was second guessing himself hard and that my frustration wasn’t helping. As many of you know, hunting is TOUGH on a dad. Once again, lessons were learned, especially by me. For the balance of the morning we got on and chased several other bugles, including another giant that gave us a half second glimpse of him. But he was just too quick through the canyon and we were never presented with shot opportunities.

Now, we were down to our final afternoon/evening. Shane suggested we go to the far opposite end of the unit to check out a wallow he had a camera on, but had not checked in a while. We headed out earlier than usual to give us plenty of time to check the camera and hopefully get back to other areas if we turned up empty. Despite terrible winds and very little time left, we were still having a good time and laughing as we drove. Eventually we rolled into the area, grabbed the crossbow (just in case) and made the hike into the camera. The camera was only about 400-500 yards from the two track road, so we left our calls and most of our gear at the truck, assuming that if the camera showed anything, we would come back to get the rest of the gear. We were trying to more fast and light. As we checked the camera, we noted several solid bulls hitting the area. We also heard a faint bugle that we decided we should check out before leaving. We were getting ready to leave when I spotted something butterscotch in color a couple hundred yards behind us. I grabbed my binos from my chest, looked, and whispered “ELK”. One cow at first, but behind them, antlers in the trees at about 200 yards! Shane asked if he was a shooter. I didn’t have a clean look, but at that point, anything over a spike was a shooter as far as I was concerned, so I replied “Good enough”!

They appeared to be slowly headed into the water we were standing at. We located what would serve as a natural blind on the far side of the tank and snuck into it. After several minutes, it became clear that the herd was coming in extremely slow as they grazed up the hill. So Shane decided he would sneak out (we had good cover) and run to the truck for our calls and other gear. If the elk came in while he was gone, Draysen and I would let him know to stay back (we had cell service) and take the shot. Instead of coming in directly to the water, the head cow broke off to our right and started angling up the hill. Shane had returned after a few minutes. From our position, the herd was about 150 yards out. The bull was still to low on the hill for us to see him, but the number of cows coming into view was growing. We whispered to each other and agreed that it we were probably going to have to make a move to close the distance. Shane went first and crawled to where we had originally been standing on the other side of the tank. Once he felt it was clear, he motioned for Draysen and I to also sneak over. At this point the bull was now coming into view, an absolute beautiful 100% shooter for Draysen on any day of his hunt! We were at about 100 yards but felt we needed to get closer to get a better angle. There wasn’t a lot to hide behind between us and the bull now. So as to minimize our movement, I decided to stay put and watch while Shane and Draysen edged forward. At about 90 yards I watched Draysen drop the crossbow on the sticks and look through the scope. It turned out the angle wasn’t quite what they wanted, so they inched forward another 20 yards and once again go set up. I had a perfect view of both them and the bull. The bull was slowly working up the hill as Shane let out a soft cow call. The bull stopped and looked their direct. “THWACK” went the crossbow, followed by a quiet thump! I didn’t see the arrow (the crossbow shoots at 400FPS) but thought I heard the unmistakable sound of impact. But the bull didn’t even so much as flinch! He continued to look down in the direction of the noise for a few seconds, decided he didn’t like something down there, turned and very slowly started walking back down the hill, taking his cows with him. Once he was out of sight I rushed up to Draysen and Shane. We were all a bit confused. Draysen felt solid about the shot, none of us saw the arrow hit, but I had heard the sound of impact. However, the bull had not reacted. Worse, there was not red spot forming on the bull as he walked away. We were at a loss.

Since the bull had not run we decided to try to work our way back to him for another shot. As we started walking we heard him bugle not far ahead of us through the trees. Shot bulls don’t bugle. So what happened? What did I hear impact? How could Draysen have missed that shot? It was 70 yards, but with our crossbow, a 70 yard shot would be like a 15 yard shot with a compound. After slowly creeping forward for about 100 yards in bewildered confusion Shane turned to Draysen and said, “I need you to do something for me. I need you to stay calm and not freak out!” Confused we looked at Shane as he pointed and said “Your bull is laying down right there!” 50-60 yards ahead of us, Draysen’s bull was laying down between some trees! The shot had been good! We crept to 40 yards from the bull where we would have a perfect angle should another shot be necessary. His head was still up, but he wasn’t going anywhere. Over the next 5-10 minutes we sat and watched while he tried to stand a couple of times, each time immediately crashing back to the ground. It was agreed that we should he stand again, Draysen would but another arrow in him to speed his passing. A few moments later he attempted to stand again and Draysen made a perfect center punch shot through his vital. The Ramcat broadhead clearly hit him hard (the initial shot was our last Iron Will broadhead) giving him a surge of adrenaline, and he bolted through the trees. He probably made it 60-80 yards before crashing back to the ground where he took his final breaths. Celebrations were had, pictures were taken, and the process of breaking him down and getting him off the mountain took us well into the night. We got back to camp with just enough time to get a couple of hours of sleep before we had to get up at 3:00 AM and drive for home to get Draysen to school. I didn’t make it to work that day as I had planned. I had another long day of butchering ahead of me.

 

A little unknown battery corrosion may have suggested we were headed for a problem

 

A nice young 320ish bull that was given a free pass.

 

 

 

These wounds are the two exit wounds. Both arrows were clean pass throughs. The further back shot is the first shot. The second shot entered much lower on the other side. We spent a while searching for the arrows, but at 400FPS they went through so clean and hard that they may be half way to China. We are big fans of the Iron Will broadheads for big animals like elk. I probably wouldn't spend the money on smaller boned animals. But they are ridiculously sharp and well made. I have come to the conclusion that the first shot that hit this bull was moving so fast and the broadhead was so sharp, that he might not have even felt it initially. While still a top choice of broadheads, he clearly felt and reacted to the Ramcat.

 

Two long full days of butchering two big elk. We had to buy an additional freezer, but now have close to 600 pounds of amazing meat.

[DUG]

Wow! What a hunt! You had all the highs and lows that come with hunting. Great job and great write up.

[Coueser]

Fantastic story.  Thanks for taking the time to document and share it with us.  Way to go Drayson!  I predict many more successful hunts for you two in the future

[Will K]

Awesome.

[HuntHarder]

Great Year for you guys so far.  Congrats to both of you and I hope you knock down a giant Muley soon too.  

[CatfishKev]

Very cool man. Your son is about to outdo you as a hunter!

[bigorange]

Awesome...huge congrats!

[firstcoueswas80]

First of all, much respect to Shane for helping out.

 

Second, I felt every ounce of your frustration in all the passing!

 

Nicely done guys.

[rossislider]

1 hour ago, CatfishKev said:

Very cool man. Your son is about to outdo you as a hunter!

That happened a long time ago! 

[rossislider]

38 minutes ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

First of all, much respect to Shane for helping out.

 

Second, I felt every ounce of your frustration in all the passing!

 

Nicely done guys.

100%!!! 

Shane is first rate outdoorsman, class act, and probably the best hunter I know (no offense to any of my other hunting friends/mentors. I have been extremely blessed to know, associate with and learn from some of the best out there). Spending almost two weeks learning from Shane taught me a lifetime of lessons about chasing elk. 

[Flatlander]

Congratulations Draysen, glad it all worked out for you!

[az300wby]

Mine son will turn 10 next year and I can’t wait for the ups and downs of hunting!  I hope to share an awesome hunt like yours some day.  Congrats on killing two Studs bulls!  The most important part are the memories that will live forever.  Thank you for sharing  the detailed story.  

[Flatlander]

11 minutes ago, az300wby said:

Mine son will turn 10 next year and I can’t wait for the ups and downs of hunting! 

You will never know hunting stress until you come down to the last day of a hunt your kid has been talking about for months...

[Goldfinger78]

Wow very nice bull.  You guys are having a dream season so far.  Congratulations!!!

[olmos1010]

Congrats on a great bull.