7th day 3a/3c Bull

[PineCountryHunter]

  I got the opportunity to help out my good buddy Dan for his archery 3a/3c bull tag this year. After 10 years of applying he was lucky enough to get one of the last tags available. Opening morning we went in to an area we have hunted in the past and as the sun came up we were greeted to a few bugles but nothing to really get your blood pumping. We tried a few intermittent cow calls and bulges but the bulls just were not ready to cooperate. Finally about 8am we got a bull fired up and were able to work into bow range of him and his 10 cows. Being the first day of the hunt we decided to pass on the bull and hold out. it was way to early to fill the tag with a smaller 5x6 bull and end the fun. That evening we moved to another spot and did some looking around and glassed a few canyons. Found a few waterholes that had water still and pretty good sign. We made the decision to hunt this area in the morning.

   The second morning we parked and started our hike into the area we checked out the evening of the first day. With no road traffic we figured the elk should be more vocal and receptive to calling. We were right about the bulls being vocal, we had 5 bulls going crazy bugling all around us. As the sun came up they continued to bulge and could hear one group splashing around in the waterhole near us. We called with no luck, they bulls were not ready to commit and come in to our set ups. we decided to circle around to get the wind in our favor and make a play on the 2 bulls we thought might be worth shooting. After an hour we worked our way down into the draw we thought they would bed in and got in front of a decent 6x6 bull (think this is the bull he ended up taking on day 7).

    That afternoon we decided to sit on a waterhole that was in the area the elk were in and had a good amount of sign on it, we had a bunch of deer and elk come in but no bulls that peaked out interest on day 2 of the hunt. the most excitement came in the form of a sow with cubs coming in for a drink

    The 3rd morning of the hunt was much like the previous morning, lots of screaming bulls all around us but could not seem to get them to interested on our calling. not sure if it was our calling or set up but we could not get them to commit. We again decided to just play the wind and move in quietly and try and get in front of them as they headed to their bedding area. With the wind in our face we slowly moved in to where we thought we could get a chance and everything worked out perfectly. Unfortunately this bull too was not quite what my buddy was looking for and he made the decision to pass, in a year or so he should be a pretty good bull.

    Days 4-6 were much of the same, the only day we really did not get much bugling action was day 5, not sure why but they decided to stay quite. made the decision that morning to call it a little early and head back toward the cabin making a detour over to Three Bears Cafe for a good breakfast to recharge the body. we did quite a lot of glassing as well as sitting water just trying to figure out if there was any type of pattern we could put together. Day 7 of the hunt we hiked in to our area to find the bulls screaming, we were able to get our eyes on three of the bulls and watched them all morning until they headed into their bedding areas. We could not make a play on them due to where they were bedded and the wind direction. We decided to hike back out and head back to the cabin for some breakfast and cat nap. We got to our parking spot and made the hike to our area. we set up on a finger leading down the canyon to where the elk were bedded. I glassed up the bull my buddy Dan ultimately ending up tagging bedded across the draw from us.

We talked back and forth for a couple hours trying to decide if he wanted to make a play on him or not. He decided not to and wait it out, that is when things got a little haywire. About 4pm a bull down the ridge starting piping off pretty good. that is when the hole canyon became a bugle fest. we did some quiet subtle cow calls and had a bull coming running in from behind us. The bull stopped broadside at 43 yards but decided to pass as he was smaller than the bull across from us we did not go after. Dan and I continued to call and made the decision to get a little bit more aggressive. After a few minutes of calling the bull we had been watching across the draw made a bee line down the hill to the bottom and started up the ridge we were on. We could hear him crashing through the thick scrub oak, I told Dan to move around the other side of the jack pine we were sitting by and get ready just in case he changed his mind and wanted to take this bull. The bull kept screaming as he worked his way up toward our position. I got my camera out to record just as the bull crested the top of the ridge and stopped broadside at 32 yards. Dan told me he was going to take him and let the arrow fly, The shot was a little bit back but looked fatal. we called called and got him to stop at 57 yards and Dan was able to put a second arrow in him. The bull got wobbly and fell over just 10 yards from the second shot, we were thankful we would not have to track him. Unfortunately during this whole turn of event my phone did not record, i was bummed to not have it on video. I can only figure I forgot to hit record with all the excitement. When we got to the bull we paid our respects and looked back at the fun we had for 7 straight days. He was not the biggest bull by any means on the mountain but one Dan could be proud to have harvested. We got him taken care of and packed out, we were thankful to have some friends show up for the pack out. I am sitting on 13 bonus points and will hopefully be able to draw this tag next year and do it all over.

for some reason the pics are turned and I cannot turn them

 

 

[muledeerarea33?]

Nice dark horns. Congratulations to him

[Heat]

Heck ya, that's a good one! Congrats to Dan. Awesome report and videos, thanks for sharing.

[muledeerarea33?]

Haha!! Just watched the last video!

[eddielasvegas]

Good story and congrats to all.

I hear the din of traffic in the first two vids.  How close was the nearest road?

 

Eddie

[Chef]

Way to go guys!

Love all the footage you guys took.

I'm certain you'll watch it over and over reliving the hunt.

Awesome!

[PJM]

WOW - thank you for sharing.!

[PineCountryHunter]

24 minutes ago, eddielasvegas said:

Good story and congrats to all.

I hear the din of traffic in the first two vids.  How close was the nearest road?

 

Eddie

The waterhole with the bears is only 3/4 mile from 260 as the crow flies, all the other videos the ness test road over 1.5 miles away. We were hunting a pocket that had a lot of closed roads. Only traffic would be heard on waterhole video being Sunday and all the traffic

[eddielasvegas]

17 minutes ago, PineCountryHunter said:

The waterhole with the bears is only 3/4 mile from 260 as the crow flies, all the other videos the ness test road over 1.5 miles away. We were hunting a pocket that had a lot of closed roads. Only traffic would be heard on waterhole video being Sunday and all the traffic

Thanks for your reply and I must be hearing things in the other vid.  Or my memory is gone.  I vote for the latter. 

 

Eddie

 

[biglakejake]

Congrats!  nothing like big bulls screaming!

lee

[mattys281]

Congrats to him that’s a dandy for sure

[bigorange]

Awesome...huge congrats and thanks for sharing. 

[bigbuckfever]

Don't know if I could have passed on any of those bulls you  have on film that were that close.  My bow would have pulled and released without my being able to stop it.  Congrats to your buddy, sounds like you two had a great time.

[AzRaised08]

Thanks for sharing the great experience! No better way to spend a week than out in the woods chasing bugles. I’m sure your hearts got pumping a bit when that momma came in with her cubs on Day 2 haha. Congratulations on the awesome bull!

[Zeke-BE]

Well done.  congrats