Now for the story of my bull. Brett and I packed up the llamas and hit the trail at first light on Fri Morning the 23rd. Our camp is 6 miles back in some nasty country. We arrived in camp with time to set camp and stake llamas before the heat of day rose and took hold. The remainder of the day we assembled gear, poured over maps and generally rested. Jason had family obligations that would prevent him from joining us until Sunday night. Our plan was to hunt Sat and Sun with hopes that at least one of us would tag a bull. We felt pressured and slightly stressed at the prospect of needing three tags filled with so little season remaining. All of us have had some significant personal obligations that prevented much real hunting this Sept. Now it was the top of 8th inning and we had some serious catching up to do.
Sat morning we hiked the ridge and got into a good position to assess the elk herd. No Bugles... Now we were more than a little stressed. We sat down to talk it over. We discussed how this particular spot often sees late morning action and maybe we had just beat the bulls.
Lesson #1 from Brett: Be where the elk want to be... and be there first.
Sure enough, faint bugles started making there way across the valley. HERE THEY COME. And come they did. I decided I would call the first two days in hopes of paying back my friend for such great hunting the past several seasons. As the elk marched up the ridge, I called in several small bulls that just didn't present the shot we needed. Then... the bawl and growl that makes even veteran elk hunters take notice. We had a very big bull working in to find out what all the commotion was about. Brett and I traded smiles and he bailed down the hill to set up in front of me. The big bull entered a meadow below us and screamed and bawled as his 6X6 headgear gleamed in the sun. One problem, he angled around Brett and was heading straight for me. I laid off the calling and let him drift back down a bit. Slowly I slipped 50 yards to my left to get on the other side of Brett's position. Now with a better angle I laid into the bull again and he stopped. He slowly turned and trotted back our way and this time right inline with Brett. I was about to burst with joy.... until he hung up. He stood broadside to Brett at about 40 yards and began to pace. He had drawn his line in the sand. I gave him everything I had and he wouldn't budge. So... we let him drift back down and cross the meadow out of sight. I rushed down to Brett to hatch the next move. Brett said, lets get to the next fold and see if he'll commit again. We were off... We crossed the meadow and slowed to stalk as we approached the blind lip. We called back and forth quietly to see if he would answer. Nothing.... Then Brett ducked his shoulders and turned slowly to mouth "he's right there". I saw just antler tips moving through the timber just over the lip as the bull circled. He circled all the way to my left before he crested the hill to look...... A FOUR point materialized instead of our giant.
I'm no trophy hunter, so I kept a close eye as he worked to my position. The bull lingered and made a fatal mistake. He turned broadside at 25 yards and put his nose to the ground to sniff for scent. The arrow struck him mid height and mid way back. As he whirled I could see the broadhead gleaming as it protruded out his opposite side. He was center punched. We heard him crash 30 seconds later. Brett gave me his funny grin and said "You shot him?" We started laughing as he said "Welp... you're an elk killing machine" The greatest of compliments from the true master. I confessed I felt bad for not holding back a bit. But it fell on deaf ears. We both know how hard an elk is to kill. You take em where you can get em.
Topic: 3 bulls in 6 days... MT public land DIY (Read 1011 times)
