After getting my wheelie friends out of the way, Bill (names have been changed to protect the guilty) and I headed up for a three day hunt. It started out bad, having to not leave the house till 6 in the morning due to family issues on his side, getting us a start hunting time of roughly noon after getting camp up and such.
After some doing and alot of work we had multiple missed opportunites on good bulls. The elk were really coming in for us, but he just couldn't quite get set up in the right spot, or draw at the rigth time, etc... Finally, after throwing two arrows over the back of the same bull at a dozen yards, Bill was starting to see it as his fate. Eventually he went home, stating that it was the time of his life, having drawn his bow more in that time than the rest of his trips put together. I am still bummed we couldn't make it work.
Mixed in here was one of the most incredible experiences I've had in the elk woods, and I've had a few.
While calling to a bull that was out front of us and with the wind right I suddenly haerd a bunch of cow calling and hard running thumps behind me. Twisting my head backward I got a glimpse of a giant of a bull running down through the sagebrush hillside we just crossed, mewing constantly. He came into the aspen grove I was kneeling in with all the enthusiasm of a bird dog on opening day, headed right at me. He had me pinned! Though I was there to get my buddy his bull, I decided right off I was shooting this bull if I get the chance. With anxious trepidation I slowly pulled an arrow out of my quiver and got ready, and somehow he never noticed. Problem was he didnt stop either. Walking stiff legged and chuckling staccato thumps under his breath he approached me till he was standing directly beside my frame at a yard, kneeling and slightly trembling in pure joy. Looking down the hill the same way I was facing we sat there like we were watching a show together on a sofa, me just waiting for him to make the next move. We sat on the hill like that for what seemed like an eternity, as everyone of our senses were at their peak, me wallowing in the smell and presence of a mature rutting bull with in arms length and waiting for him to overcome his hormones and smell my sweaty human flesh. Eventually, my left eye and his right eye made contact, though he weighed 800 lbs plus, he found that to be unnerving. Slowly turning to leave as if he was honestly reluctant to do so, he took a few steps dead away from me, still confused where that cow went. As he was leaving I tensed my bow arm and got ready to spin and draw. Mindlessly, I mewed a short and ever so soft cow call through my nose.
Upon hearing that sound of his lost date down the hill he spun like on a top, facing me again, and reached down from somewhere in those massive lungs, letting rip a high pitched and mournful scream that undualted up and down with all the urgency of a husband watching his wife go out on the town. As his breath rolled from his lips I could literally feel it on the back of my neck, the vibrations of sound pounding into my skull. MY ears were absolutley ringing and my nerves completely shot.
I decided right there that I could be done for ever. My life complete. With the bull unawares, he literally connected with my spirit on a level I previously only thought could be accomplished by seraphim gurading the throne.
More confused and worked up then I have ever seen a bull he finally turned to leave again, I was however in no position mentally to kill this bull, thouhg I figured I'd give her a go. Good thing that he walked dead away to 35 yards, never giving me a shot, glunking and peeing all over the place on the way. He hung out just out of range for a long time, singing love songs and searching anxiously, eventually fading into the bush and out of my life. But not before leaving me with what is one of the most incredible moments I will ever experience.
After getting Bill home, I drove back up to the mountain for my selfish hunt, hoping to find that bull in the same moood!
Topic: Full of bull 2012 (pic update on 6) (Read 1248 times)
