Quest for the bigger one....
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sorry to keep you guys hanging but if been very busy lately. Here's the rest of that day.
Oct. 14th continued...
A few minutes later, John called me on the radio and asked if it was me that was shooting. I told him, “Yes,” and to get down to me ASAP to help me look for the bull. About five minutes later Terry showed up to see if I needed help. He was just about ready to head back home when he heard the shots. I quickly told him the story and where I had last seen the bull. I had a hunch that the bull might be still close by, hiding up in a patch of 10’ tall gambol oak.
After John showed up, he and Terry started to track the bull, while I set up where I could see the hill above the tall oaks. After what seemed like 45 minutes, but could have only been 10, I called John to get a report. They were finding a little bit of blood, but not much. The only thing that had me a little nervous that they could be missing something is the fact that both John and Terry are colorblind.
I figured that if I hadn’t seen the bull by this time, it was either dead or had gone over the top of the hill while I was waiting for John to arrive. I started to hike back over to where I had seen the bull last, when one of the local cowboys came up the road. As the cowboy got close to my location, he suddenly slammed on the brakes, jumped out of his truck and started walking right towards me. I waited for him to get a few feet from me before I turned around to talk to him because I was still watching the hill above the oaks. When he saw my face, he looked really confused and said, “You’re not Terry!” I guess when he had seen my father-in-law’s truck parked on the side of the road he assumed I was he. I quickly told him my story and that Terry was up in the trees tracking the elk.
During the time I was talking to the cowboy, my back was to the hill. Suddenly the cowboy pointed toward the hill and said, “There’s a nice bull.” When I turned around again I could see a bull just passing through a small opening in the brush as it entered the thick stuff. All I could see of the bull was its head and antlers moving through the brush at about 200 yards away.
The cowboy got excited and started yelling at me, “Shoot it in the head! Shoot it in the head!” He must be a much better shot than I am because I wasn’t about to try and take a head shot at a running elk at that distance. The bull quickly moved out of site heading toward the ridgeline. I called to John and told him I was heading around the hill to look at the hillside the bull was heading toward. The cowboy went on his way. When I got over the other side of the hill, I moved out into another big sage flat. From this point I could see most of the oak, pines, and aspens, and hopefully any movement.
As John was coming through the trees toward me, the cowboy came tearing back down the road. When he got close to John, he quickly stepped out and started yelling something to John, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. John quickly came up to me and said the cowboy had seen my bull about a mile up the road heading down into a canyon. He said the bull was limping. John and I hurried back to my truck and up the road, while Terry kept tracking the bull.
John dropped me off and I headed into the bottom of the canyon the cowboy told us about. John headed for a high point to glass the area. It’s funny how when you searching hard you start to convince yourself that every log might be a downed elk; every strange sound might be the bull’s last breath. After circling around the canyon for an hour or so and not finding any fresh tracks and with John not seeing anything from his position, we decided to head back and start tracking again where Terry had found the last spot of blood. Terry needed to get back to town and wished us luck. We ended up tracking the bull for a couple hundred yards further, but found no more blood. It appeared the bull was trotting because of the stride of its tracks. If my bull was the same bull the cowboy saw a mile away only 15 minutes later, I hoped it maybe wasn’t hurt too badly.
We looked much longer, but by late after conceded defeat and headed for home. My wife, kids and her parents all went back up the following weekend and rode their horses looking for my bull. They found no sign of him, though they did discover a small five-point bull dead from an older wound.
To this day, it still makes me sick to think of that bull getting up and running off.
NOTE: I was shooting a 154 grain Hornady sst Bullet. After my experience, I advise against anyone else using this bullet for elk. It appears the bullet completely failed on impact. The bull clearly didn’t have a broken leg.
Here’s a video clip of a bull I saw in early July, just a little more than a mile from where I shot my bull. I’m pretty sure this is the bull I shot or maybe his twin brother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXkHt-LSMs
Oct. 14th continued...
A few minutes later, John called me on the radio and asked if it was me that was shooting. I told him, “Yes,” and to get down to me ASAP to help me look for the bull. About five minutes later Terry showed up to see if I needed help. He was just about ready to head back home when he heard the shots. I quickly told him the story and where I had last seen the bull. I had a hunch that the bull might be still close by, hiding up in a patch of 10’ tall gambol oak.
After John showed up, he and Terry started to track the bull, while I set up where I could see the hill above the tall oaks. After what seemed like 45 minutes, but could have only been 10, I called John to get a report. They were finding a little bit of blood, but not much. The only thing that had me a little nervous that they could be missing something is the fact that both John and Terry are colorblind.
I figured that if I hadn’t seen the bull by this time, it was either dead or had gone over the top of the hill while I was waiting for John to arrive. I started to hike back over to where I had seen the bull last, when one of the local cowboys came up the road. As the cowboy got close to my location, he suddenly slammed on the brakes, jumped out of his truck and started walking right towards me. I waited for him to get a few feet from me before I turned around to talk to him because I was still watching the hill above the oaks. When he saw my face, he looked really confused and said, “You’re not Terry!” I guess when he had seen my father-in-law’s truck parked on the side of the road he assumed I was he. I quickly told him my story and that Terry was up in the trees tracking the elk.
During the time I was talking to the cowboy, my back was to the hill. Suddenly the cowboy pointed toward the hill and said, “There’s a nice bull.” When I turned around again I could see a bull just passing through a small opening in the brush as it entered the thick stuff. All I could see of the bull was its head and antlers moving through the brush at about 200 yards away.
The cowboy got excited and started yelling at me, “Shoot it in the head! Shoot it in the head!” He must be a much better shot than I am because I wasn’t about to try and take a head shot at a running elk at that distance. The bull quickly moved out of site heading toward the ridgeline. I called to John and told him I was heading around the hill to look at the hillside the bull was heading toward. The cowboy went on his way. When I got over the other side of the hill, I moved out into another big sage flat. From this point I could see most of the oak, pines, and aspens, and hopefully any movement.
As John was coming through the trees toward me, the cowboy came tearing back down the road. When he got close to John, he quickly stepped out and started yelling something to John, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. John quickly came up to me and said the cowboy had seen my bull about a mile up the road heading down into a canyon. He said the bull was limping. John and I hurried back to my truck and up the road, while Terry kept tracking the bull.
John dropped me off and I headed into the bottom of the canyon the cowboy told us about. John headed for a high point to glass the area. It’s funny how when you searching hard you start to convince yourself that every log might be a downed elk; every strange sound might be the bull’s last breath. After circling around the canyon for an hour or so and not finding any fresh tracks and with John not seeing anything from his position, we decided to head back and start tracking again where Terry had found the last spot of blood. Terry needed to get back to town and wished us luck. We ended up tracking the bull for a couple hundred yards further, but found no more blood. It appeared the bull was trotting because of the stride of its tracks. If my bull was the same bull the cowboy saw a mile away only 15 minutes later, I hoped it maybe wasn’t hurt too badly.
We looked much longer, but by late after conceded defeat and headed for home. My wife, kids and her parents all went back up the following weekend and rode their horses looking for my bull. They found no sign of him, though they did discover a small five-point bull dead from an older wound.
To this day, it still makes me sick to think of that bull getting up and running off.
NOTE: I was shooting a 154 grain Hornady sst Bullet. After my experience, I advise against anyone else using this bullet for elk. It appears the bullet completely failed on impact. The bull clearly didn’t have a broken leg.
Here’s a video clip of a bull I saw in early July, just a little more than a mile from where I shot my bull. I’m pretty sure this is the bull I shot or maybe his twin brother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUXkHt-LSMs
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
That sucks. Not getting him and having to worry about whether he'd make it. That was a good looking bull though.
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Oct. 20th
Well, I only had a few days to feel sorry for myself, though I continued to hope that the bull I hit would recover. I was still a little nervous about shooting the SSTs at a deer, even though they should do just fine and work well in my 7 mm mag.
The group decided to split up on this day. John, his wife Sheena, and I were going to try and find the “potbelly” buck again or maybe the nice typical I had named “Bif” (Big in Front). Also, there was the chance of finding that wide droptine buck I saw in early July.
Paul came down from Idaho for the day to help spot for me. Tom, his son Ethan, and Corby were going to give the “lookout buck” another chance and see if they could dig him up. When John, Sheena, Paul and I arrived at the place we wanted to start up the mountain, there were already plenty of other hunters ahead of us. Luckily, nobody was going up the ridges we were planning to traverse.
The plan was that Paul would go up one ridge to the North of where John, Sheena, and I would be. Halfway up the mountain, John and Sheena would watch the canyon to the South while I hiked higher.
That was our plan. LOL. We ended up hiking one ridge further to the South than we were supposed to. We were already a mile up the mountain when I realized our mistake. It was getting light and I could see deer about 600 yards to the South of our location. They looked big-bodied, but it was still too dark to distinguish antlers. I dropped out of sight into a small draw and waited for John and his wife to catch up. They were only a few hundred yards behind me. After they caught up, I told them about the deer. We moved closer, only to discover the deer had already moved into the next canyon. John and Sheena decided to head that way. I continued up higher in case they startled any deer my direction.
Paul called me a while later and said he was watching a small group of bucks and one of them looked really wide, though possible only a three point. I headed in that direction, to get a better look. Continued.....
Well, I only had a few days to feel sorry for myself, though I continued to hope that the bull I hit would recover. I was still a little nervous about shooting the SSTs at a deer, even though they should do just fine and work well in my 7 mm mag.
The group decided to split up on this day. John, his wife Sheena, and I were going to try and find the “potbelly” buck again or maybe the nice typical I had named “Bif” (Big in Front). Also, there was the chance of finding that wide droptine buck I saw in early July.
Paul came down from Idaho for the day to help spot for me. Tom, his son Ethan, and Corby were going to give the “lookout buck” another chance and see if they could dig him up. When John, Sheena, Paul and I arrived at the place we wanted to start up the mountain, there were already plenty of other hunters ahead of us. Luckily, nobody was going up the ridges we were planning to traverse.
The plan was that Paul would go up one ridge to the North of where John, Sheena, and I would be. Halfway up the mountain, John and Sheena would watch the canyon to the South while I hiked higher.
That was our plan. LOL. We ended up hiking one ridge further to the South than we were supposed to. We were already a mile up the mountain when I realized our mistake. It was getting light and I could see deer about 600 yards to the South of our location. They looked big-bodied, but it was still too dark to distinguish antlers. I dropped out of sight into a small draw and waited for John and his wife to catch up. They were only a few hundred yards behind me. After they caught up, I told them about the deer. We moved closer, only to discover the deer had already moved into the next canyon. John and Sheena decided to head that way. I continued up higher in case they startled any deer my direction.
Paul called me a while later and said he was watching a small group of bucks and one of them looked really wide, though possible only a three point. I headed in that direction, to get a better look. Continued.....
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Im coming into this post a little late, but it sure is a good read! looking forward to more!
"Ne A La Chasse"
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Sorry. Here you go.9er wrote:We NEED an update
As I was working my way over to Paul’s location, I heard a shot in the direction of John and Sheena. Then I heard another and another and another. A couple minutes later, one more shot rang out. I quickly got into position to watch a small saddle about 300 yards away. This seemed like a good escape route if John happened to push deer in my direction. (I couldn’t call John from this point because of a lack of signal.) After about 20 or 30 minutes without seeing anything moving, I moved onto the ridgeline that Paul was on.
Once I met up with Paul, he showed me the group of bucks he had been watching. The wide buck was on the move, but I was able to get my spotting scope on it long enough to tell it was the drop tine buck I had seen in July. Unfortunately, he had broken off the drop tine about 1/2“ from the main beam, but he was still a solid 30” buck. He had a 3 x 4 frame, with a 2’ cheater on the 4 point side. I could tell that Paul thought I was crazy for passing on him, but that’s what I decided to do.
Paul and I continued on up the canyon. I figured there was a pretty good chance of seeing “Potbelly” or “Bif”, since the drop tine buck was still within a half mile of its July location. We located a great lookout point to glass the head of the big canyon. The drop tine buck and the others it was with all filed into the bottom of the canyon. There were hunters all around us; we must have seen around 15 other hunters within that one square mile, but somehow nobody had seen or was going after that particular group of bucks. While I was glassing, John called to let me know that Sheena had shot a nice 4 point, but they’d both missed a bigger buck that was tall and approximately 26’ wide. He was sure it was a buck we had seen with “Potbelly”. John was going to take Sheena and her buck back to town and try to return before dark.
After spending a couple hours glassing and only seeing does, it was time to get a little aggressive. With Paul watching from a high point, I hunted through the thick timber below. As I reached the bottom of the canyon, the wind shifted and now was blowing up canyon toward the bedded bucks. At that point, I realized I needed to either back out and hike around the head of the canyon (another couple miles and 1,000 feet change in elevation), or leave and try another day. I didn’t feel energetic enough to head for the top, so I went down canyon and met up with Paul. We ended up watching a huge canyon until dark but only saw a few small bucks.
Earlier in the afternoon (while I was meeting up with Paul), I received a text from Tom that said his son, Ethan, shot a nice 3 x 2. That meant four out of the seven of us had tagged out so far with three point or better bucks. Here’s a link to Ethan’s hunt: http://www.muleymadness.com/videos/ethans-first-buck/ . Also, Corby had no luck finding the “lookout” buck or any other of the bigger bucks we had seen on the archery hunt.
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Oct. 24th
Well with opening day behind us and not much activity happening during the last few days. The weather had turned cold and snowy. John, Corby and I were planning on going back where John and I hunted on opening day. The weather forcast was to clear up by morning and things were looking promising for a good hunt and a chance at one of the big bucks we had seen this year in this area.
Then the phone call came from John. He said he was going to be sick because of a cell phone picture a guy from his work showed him. Somebody I knew had shot potbelly. He sent me the picture and after looking at it, I was also sure it was the potbelly buck. That night I went to the guys house that shot the big buck and saw it in person. It was indeed "potbelly". The hunter told me that he has shot several 180"+ bucks and this one was the biggest bodied buck he had ever shot. He didn't care to score it but was sure it was a mid to upper 180" buck and was 29" wide. Bummer for us but I was happy that a hard working and generous guy got such a great buck. With a little wind taken out of our sails, we were still going to hit it hard in the morning.
Here's the cell phone picture I got of the "potbelly" buck.
And here's a post I had on this buck back in July, asking if anyone thought he would make it to 180". Well, looks like he did.
http://www.muleymadness.com/forum/viewt ... =2&t=13821
Well with opening day behind us and not much activity happening during the last few days. The weather had turned cold and snowy. John, Corby and I were planning on going back where John and I hunted on opening day. The weather forcast was to clear up by morning and things were looking promising for a good hunt and a chance at one of the big bucks we had seen this year in this area.
Then the phone call came from John. He said he was going to be sick because of a cell phone picture a guy from his work showed him. Somebody I knew had shot potbelly. He sent me the picture and after looking at it, I was also sure it was the potbelly buck. That night I went to the guys house that shot the big buck and saw it in person. It was indeed "potbelly". The hunter told me that he has shot several 180"+ bucks and this one was the biggest bodied buck he had ever shot. He didn't care to score it but was sure it was a mid to upper 180" buck and was 29" wide. Bummer for us but I was happy that a hard working and generous guy got such a great buck. With a little wind taken out of our sails, we were still going to hit it hard in the morning.
Here's the cell phone picture I got of the "potbelly" buck.
http://www.muleymadness.com/forum/viewt ... =2&t=13821
There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
wow, he finished off really nice.
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Thursday, October 25
I had high hopes for this day. There was close to 6” of snow on the ground in the low foothills and more than a foot in the higher elevations. Our plan was to have John hike up the mountain and, while he checked out the many draws and small canyons, Corby and I would spot from below. We were happy to either guide John onto something or make a move on something ourselves. Within the first few minutes of glassing, we spotted a deer walking a few hundred yards out in front of John. Seven of them were bucks (five two points and two spikes). Within the next hour, we spotted a few small four points higher up on the mountain.
The low clouds moved in and after waiting for more than an hour for them to lift, Corby and I decided to go back to our ATVs and drive around looking for deer in the lower country where we could see to glass more country. After a couple hours of glassing, we spotted five or six more small bucks. About 11:00 AM, the low clouds that had the high country hidden finally started to lift. That was our cue to head for the high country.
We headed up the bottom of a big canyon. After traveling a couple miles, we passed another ATV parked to the side and we followed footprints on the road another ½ mile. Now we were pushing over a foot of snow, but the Polaris 500 really did well. We found a good spot to stop and glass the open country around us. Deer were everywhere. Within a few minutes, we had seen over 50; at least 12 were bucks. The biggest buck we saw was a 22-23” wide, 120-130” 4 point. We could see the other hunters up ahead of us moving toward a small group of bucks that were higher in the canyon. After a few minutes, the hunters above us started shooting across the canyon. They must have been shooting 600 or 700 yards. After 7-8 shots, they finally crossed the canyon and around an hour later, they put down a buck they had wounded. It looked like it was about 22” wide and about a 120-130 class buck.
Meanwhile, we also heard a couple shots to the north, in the direction John had gone earlier. I had no signal to call him to see how he was doing. After spotting a few more small four points, Corby and I headed back down the canyon to try and call John for an update. When I finally got a signal, I had a message from him saying that he had a buck down. It took us about 2 hours to reach John’s location. He had shot a nice 24” wide 3x4 that had a two inch cheater on one side. I had seen this buck with the “BIF” buck back in July, but there was no sign of BIF this day. I wonder if he had been taken earlier in the season. This area received a lot of pressure this year. As this was John’s last possible day to hunt this season, he was happy to end with such a nice buck. It was snowing heavily when we were hiking out.
My daughter had a school performance in the evening, so I had to head home before dark but I'll be hitting it hard again in the morning.
I had high hopes for this day. There was close to 6” of snow on the ground in the low foothills and more than a foot in the higher elevations. Our plan was to have John hike up the mountain and, while he checked out the many draws and small canyons, Corby and I would spot from below. We were happy to either guide John onto something or make a move on something ourselves. Within the first few minutes of glassing, we spotted a deer walking a few hundred yards out in front of John. Seven of them were bucks (five two points and two spikes). Within the next hour, we spotted a few small four points higher up on the mountain.
The low clouds moved in and after waiting for more than an hour for them to lift, Corby and I decided to go back to our ATVs and drive around looking for deer in the lower country where we could see to glass more country. After a couple hours of glassing, we spotted five or six more small bucks. About 11:00 AM, the low clouds that had the high country hidden finally started to lift. That was our cue to head for the high country.
We headed up the bottom of a big canyon. After traveling a couple miles, we passed another ATV parked to the side and we followed footprints on the road another ½ mile. Now we were pushing over a foot of snow, but the Polaris 500 really did well. We found a good spot to stop and glass the open country around us. Deer were everywhere. Within a few minutes, we had seen over 50; at least 12 were bucks. The biggest buck we saw was a 22-23” wide, 120-130” 4 point. We could see the other hunters up ahead of us moving toward a small group of bucks that were higher in the canyon. After a few minutes, the hunters above us started shooting across the canyon. They must have been shooting 600 or 700 yards. After 7-8 shots, they finally crossed the canyon and around an hour later, they put down a buck they had wounded. It looked like it was about 22” wide and about a 120-130 class buck.
Meanwhile, we also heard a couple shots to the north, in the direction John had gone earlier. I had no signal to call him to see how he was doing. After spotting a few more small four points, Corby and I headed back down the canyon to try and call John for an update. When I finally got a signal, I had a message from him saying that he had a buck down. It took us about 2 hours to reach John’s location. He had shot a nice 24” wide 3x4 that had a two inch cheater on one side. I had seen this buck with the “BIF” buck back in July, but there was no sign of BIF this day. I wonder if he had been taken earlier in the season. This area received a lot of pressure this year. As this was John’s last possible day to hunt this season, he was happy to end with such a nice buck. It was snowing heavily when we were hiking out.
My daughter had a school performance in the evening, so I had to head home before dark but I'll be hitting it hard again in the morning.
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There's always next year
Re: Quest for the bigger one....
Cool. Keep it coming.