my oregon general bull
killerbee
9/23/08 11:12pm
i know these are crummy pics, the back of the truck- bloody- pics, but i didn't bring a camera and was in a hurry.
my hunt started with my 9 month prego wife throwing a VERY RARE emotional "your going to be gone on my birthdayday" fit............
[ but i suppose thats o.k.] so i bagged my 4 day bivy hunt to go camping, in warm camp trailer, with the wife and daughter. WE HAD A BLAST!
anyway- we were camping in a unit i only turkey hunt in. i've never elk hunted there at all. i was just taking a few 3-4 hr hunts each day. well sunday morning i tried a canyon i've worked a few turkeys in and got into a heard of elk. 500 yrds from the truck[ with my head down] i walked up on a bull and busted him out at 50 yrds ](*,) i hit a bugle and another bull answered. it went back and forth about 5-6 times but he was going away the whole time. so i put up the calls and started hooofing it. i could see the elk the whole time from 100-200 yrds and just kept flanking them for about an hour. finally they were heading to a draw, so i ran as fast as i could to get there before them. when i was about 5 yrs from the edge i stopped and slowly krept over the edge. right then the heard was single file down the draw. this 5 point came out first and i put 40 yrd pin on him and tried to settle down. for some reason---- maybe it's the elk hunting--- i could not get settled on his vitals. finally made myself settle down and set my pin. at the release i lost my arrow.i thought it was good but was worried. i couldn't take it and had to go look for my arrow. when i got to where the bull was standing i found the fletching half of my arrow covered in blood!from there it was a 2 foot wide path of blood as far as i could see!!I KNEW I WAS GOING TO FIND HIM!!! i tracked him for all of 40 yrds[ which was just barely out of my site- over a ridge-] and there he was.!!!!!!
i've been on a little drought for a couple yrs with my bow and was really losing confidents. i've let a handfull of bulls walk that were bigger than this one. but it was time.and after the whole
"family" outing it was very rewarding!
once again - sorry for the crummy pics, and i know this aint no 350+utah LE bull, but it was fun!
my hunt started with my 9 month prego wife throwing a VERY RARE emotional "your going to be gone on my birthdayday" fit............
[ but i suppose thats o.k.] so i bagged my 4 day bivy hunt to go camping, in warm camp trailer, with the wife and daughter. WE HAD A BLAST!
anyway- we were camping in a unit i only turkey hunt in. i've never elk hunted there at all. i was just taking a few 3-4 hr hunts each day. well sunday morning i tried a canyon i've worked a few turkeys in and got into a heard of elk. 500 yrds from the truck[ with my head down] i walked up on a bull and busted him out at 50 yrds ](*,) i hit a bugle and another bull answered. it went back and forth about 5-6 times but he was going away the whole time. so i put up the calls and started hooofing it. i could see the elk the whole time from 100-200 yrds and just kept flanking them for about an hour. finally they were heading to a draw, so i ran as fast as i could to get there before them. when i was about 5 yrs from the edge i stopped and slowly krept over the edge. right then the heard was single file down the draw. this 5 point came out first and i put 40 yrd pin on him and tried to settle down. for some reason---- maybe it's the elk hunting--- i could not get settled on his vitals. finally made myself settle down and set my pin. at the release i lost my arrow.i thought it was good but was worried. i couldn't take it and had to go look for my arrow. when i got to where the bull was standing i found the fletching half of my arrow covered in blood!from there it was a 2 foot wide path of blood as far as i could see!!I KNEW I WAS GOING TO FIND HIM!!! i tracked him for all of 40 yrds[ which was just barely out of my site- over a ridge-] and there he was.!!!!!!
i've been on a little drought for a couple yrs with my bow and was really losing confidents. i've let a handfull of bulls walk that were bigger than this one. but it was time.and after the whole
"family" outing it was very rewarding!
once again - sorry for the crummy pics, and i know this aint no 350+utah LE bull, but it was fun!
8,640
Man, you can't ask for anything more. You were out hunting and camping with the family, spending quality time in the great outdoors with the ones that love you the most AND you managed to fill your freezer with high quality elk meat!
I can't see any reason to be sorry whatsoever, my friend. CONGRATS again on a fine bull....a bull you AND your wife and daughter will remember for years to come.
FYI: You're more man than a lot of us. how many of us would cancel our planned elk hunt at the last minute and haul the family to a spot where you don't even know if there are elk in there...just to keep them happy? Kudos to you buddy!!!!!
He doesn't have to be trophy sized to be a trophy! :thumb
Awesome bull man. . . . Your bow should be feeling better about itself again. Mine had the same problem for a wee bit of time as well.
Thanks for sharing bro.
it's a long story, i will try to give a short version: I get cell phone sevice where i was hunting, so i called my wife and told her the news just minuts after the shot. she tries to convince me that her dad could come help me get it out. me[ being a little stoked after the whole hunt]thought i could easily do it myself. ](*,) so i said don't worry , i'll have it out in an hour! i was able to drive my truck closer, about a hundred yrds or so, so i jog the hike to the truck. i think a little " mighty mouse" attitude came over me and i thought at first i would just drag the elk to the truck- load it up- and drive away..................................................[it's kinda funny, i guided for elk in New Mexico for 9 yrs, had hunters shoot a lot of elk, you would think i would know that i couldn't do this ](*,) ] anyway-- after trying to drag the elk i thought" thats stupid, theres no way you can drag a whole elk 100 yrds to the truck".... so i cut the bull into 1/2. front/back. so i did drag both halves to the truck. now i just had to "toss" them in i drive away lol ... anyway- i pick up the back half, and with all my might, try to get it to the tailgate. just when it was about to get the weight on the tailgate i lost it.-----100% of my energy-----GONE!!!!! so then i had to quater the back half to load it. got it done. now all i had to do was just pick up the head , neck, 2 front shoulders, and the front 1/2 of the rib cage and "toss" it in and drive away................... ETC.ETC,ETC.ETC. man that was dumb......... ended up with about 6 QUARTERS all because i thought i would just "toss" him in and drive away .
so if i would have just quarterd him in the first place i would have been fine, and had a normal 4 quarters,---dummy-. but i did get him loaded and in the truck. or had i just let someone help it would have been easy. but oh well, it was fun..
it's cool, DANNER- my 2 yr old daughter- tells everyone " daddy got da big ewlk"--- i really dont want to tell her it's not really the "BIG" elk. :))
As for the dragging part....too funny! I did that with a whitetail buck I shot in Idaho 3 years ago. I started dragging that thing back to my rig thinking I could get him the entire 4 miles back to my truck. The further I got, the harder it got...and the more stubborn I became. I KNEW I should have AT LEAST halved him but I was bound and determined to get him out the way I started. It ONLY took me 6 hours to get it done too...LOLOL. I'll never try that crap again (Yea, I say that now. I'll get back to ya after this season is over and let you know how I did).
Again, great job an a fine lookin' bull...and a very nice drought-buster with the bow too.
Way to go! :thumb 10sign:
Ok, no, I really wouldn't have done that, unless the wife was willing! Great story and a great bull! Hopefully, your daughter will remember this in the years to come. Just keep reminding her and let the little one to come know how they kept you from having help dragging this bull to the truck.
Again, just kidding! :))