Wyoming Buck 'N Bull
By Tom Hall
At the start of the 2011 season, my main hunting goal for the year was to let my 15 year old shoot his first elk. He has killed two antelope and two mule deer bucks, all with a rifle, but he has wanted to take an animal with his bow. The problem that you face with a youngster wanting to hunt is getting out them of school to do so. Being a high school teacher and having a mother who is an elementary school teacher, and with him being in high school, it makes it that much harder for me to pull him out, but we managed to pull it off. I am going to start off with the BUCK part of the story, and then you can hear the rest of his BULL story later.
I wasn't able to make it out on the opening day because the first of September fell on a Thursday, and also my son was involved in a fall sport. On Friday after school got out, my wife went out with me to our first day of hunting. We arrived in the area where we had planned to hunt. As we got to the canyon, we were already hearing bulls testing their bugling skills. We rode up the west side of the ridge on horseback so that we would be able to get above them. We rode to a certain little grove of trees where we would tie off the horses and go the last couple of hundred yards on foot.
As we were hustling up the ridge, my wife right on my heels, the sounds of bugling bulls were heard all around us. As we got a little closer to this sage outlook over the canyon, one bull started to sound like he was a little interested in what we had to offer and was starting to move in our direction. We moved to a little grove of trees farther up the ridge and cut our distance in half. My wife sat down in the grove of trees and continued to cow call to try to lure this bull in. The bull sounded like he was going to try to drop below us to catch our wind. I dropped off from our location thinking that I would cut him off. As soon as I did, he changed his direction and went straight towards my wife and I was caught in the wrong spot. I could now see him as he disappeared and reappeared through the trees as he excitedly approached my wife while feverishly bugling and going through his pre-rut antics. My wife, who was weaponless, sat in awe and amazement over the spectacle. For me, there was no way to catch him or cut him off before he got there. My wife said that he came to within 20 yards, close enough that she could hear him breathing and see him urinating all over himself, not to mention the blood curdling bugling that he blew in her face. She said that it was an awesome experience being that close to a bugling bull and being able to see the fire in his eyes.
As I was contemplating what to do, I thought that if the bull spooked, he would return to the safety of where he had just come from, but he never spooked, he just got bored because he wasn't able to find his cow, so he just kept going the same direction that he was going. While I was waiting for that bull to return, I heard a branch break behind me and turned to see a set of antlers coming straight for me. It was close to dark, almost out of shooting light. I could tell that this was a mature bull. I didn't have time to range him as he turned broadside and stopped. From where I stood, I couldn't see any obstructions between us. I guessed the yardage to be 45 yards. I drew my Hoyt back, settled the pins behind the shoulder, and released my Easton ACC arrow. The shot looked good and then I heard the un-mistakable sound of the arrow bouncing through tree branches. I was unsure if the arrow made it to the elk. I immediately went to where the elk was standing to see if I could locate the arrow, blood or anything to tell me whether the shot was good. My fears came true, as I couldn't locate anything. No blood, arrow or bull. As it was dark by now, we were looking with the aid of our headlamps. Since we weren't able to locate anything, we felt it best to come back in the morning and take a look in the daylight.
The next morning found my son and I right back in the same spot before daylight, listening for bugles. We went directly to the spot that I shot and began looking as soon as it was light enough to see. We looked around for about an hour, covering as much area as we could to try to locate the elk, but to no avail. We abandoned our search to work a bugling bull in the next canyon over. After catching our wind, the bull quietly exited the canyon not to be heard from again that morning.
A couple of days later we came back into the same area to hunt one evening, with my good luck charm, my wife. As we were getting close to the same area, we came upon a couple of people carrying out a quarter of an elk. As we were talking to them, two guys emerged from the trees with the antlers and another quarter. The bull on his back looked real similar to the one that I had missed earlier in this story. It appeared to be about a 330 bull. After leaving this foursome, we were a little distraught, one knowing that bull had been taken that morning, and two, they had spent all day in this canyon, cleaning and packing this bull out making all kinds of noise. I felt that they probably spooked everything out of the area for a few days, since it wasn't a big area. I was wrong.
By Tom Hall
At the start of the 2011 season, my main hunting goal for the year was to let my 15 year old shoot his first elk. He has killed two antelope and two mule deer bucks, all with a rifle, but he has wanted to take an animal with his bow. The problem that you face with a youngster wanting to hunt is getting out them of school to do so. Being a high school teacher and having a mother who is an elementary school teacher, and with him being in high school, it makes it that much harder for me to pull him out, but we managed to pull it off. I am going to start off with the BUCK part of the story, and then you can hear the rest of his BULL story later.
I wasn't able to make it out on the opening day because the first of September fell on a Thursday, and also my son was involved in a fall sport. On Friday after school got out, my wife went out with me to our first day of hunting. We arrived in the area where we had planned to hunt. As we got to the canyon, we were already hearing bulls testing their bugling skills. We rode up the west side of the ridge on horseback so that we would be able to get above them. We rode to a certain little grove of trees where we would tie off the horses and go the last couple of hundred yards on foot.
As we were hustling up the ridge, my wife right on my heels, the sounds of bugling bulls were heard all around us. As we got a little closer to this sage outlook over the canyon, one bull started to sound like he was a little interested in what we had to offer and was starting to move in our direction. We moved to a little grove of trees farther up the ridge and cut our distance in half. My wife sat down in the grove of trees and continued to cow call to try to lure this bull in. The bull sounded like he was going to try to drop below us to catch our wind. I dropped off from our location thinking that I would cut him off. As soon as I did, he changed his direction and went straight towards my wife and I was caught in the wrong spot. I could now see him as he disappeared and reappeared through the trees as he excitedly approached my wife while feverishly bugling and going through his pre-rut antics. My wife, who was weaponless, sat in awe and amazement over the spectacle. For me, there was no way to catch him or cut him off before he got there. My wife said that he came to within 20 yards, close enough that she could hear him breathing and see him urinating all over himself, not to mention the blood curdling bugling that he blew in her face. She said that it was an awesome experience being that close to a bugling bull and being able to see the fire in his eyes.
As I was contemplating what to do, I thought that if the bull spooked, he would return to the safety of where he had just come from, but he never spooked, he just got bored because he wasn't able to find his cow, so he just kept going the same direction that he was going. While I was waiting for that bull to return, I heard a branch break behind me and turned to see a set of antlers coming straight for me. It was close to dark, almost out of shooting light. I could tell that this was a mature bull. I didn't have time to range him as he turned broadside and stopped. From where I stood, I couldn't see any obstructions between us. I guessed the yardage to be 45 yards. I drew my Hoyt back, settled the pins behind the shoulder, and released my Easton ACC arrow. The shot looked good and then I heard the un-mistakable sound of the arrow bouncing through tree branches. I was unsure if the arrow made it to the elk. I immediately went to where the elk was standing to see if I could locate the arrow, blood or anything to tell me whether the shot was good. My fears came true, as I couldn't locate anything. No blood, arrow or bull. As it was dark by now, we were looking with the aid of our headlamps. Since we weren't able to locate anything, we felt it best to come back in the morning and take a look in the daylight.
The next morning found my son and I right back in the same spot before daylight, listening for bugles. We went directly to the spot that I shot and began looking as soon as it was light enough to see. We looked around for about an hour, covering as much area as we could to try to locate the elk, but to no avail. We abandoned our search to work a bugling bull in the next canyon over. After catching our wind, the bull quietly exited the canyon not to be heard from again that morning.
A couple of days later we came back into the same area to hunt one evening, with my good luck charm, my wife. As we were getting close to the same area, we came upon a couple of people carrying out a quarter of an elk. As we were talking to them, two guys emerged from the trees with the antlers and another quarter. The bull on his back looked real similar to the one that I had missed earlier in this story. It appeared to be about a 330 bull. After leaving this foursome, we were a little distraught, one knowing that bull had been taken that morning, and two, they had spent all day in this canyon, cleaning and packing this bull out making all kinds of noise. I felt that they probably spooked everything out of the area for a few days, since it wasn't a big area. I was wrong.
Wyoming Buck 'N Bull
My wife and I talked briefly and decided to go higher up and at the mouth of the canyon and see if anything was still bugling. As we got closer, we could hear what sounded like smaller bulls bugling. We proceeded to see if we could get a set up on a bull before it got dark. We tied off our horses at the same spot as before, and continued on foot. As we got a little closer to the bugles, there was a slight breeze from the south. We topped over a little rise and I spotted a buck feeding out in front of us.
We immediately crouched down and I got out my binoculars to look over the buck. He was a main-frame 4 point with a cheater on one side and some other trash on the other. He wasn't real wide, but to pass on a buck that looked like that, I felt would be a big mistake. I pulled out my rangefinder and ranged him at 53 yards. I loaded an arrow, drew my Hoyt Maxxis bow back, settled the 50 yard pin right behind his shoulder. As I released, I saw the arrow disappear behind the shoulder of the buck. He hunched his back and then started to walk off. I saw where I thought he was going to go, ranged the trees, 81 yards. When the buck got the tree line, I drew my bow, whistled, and the buck stopped broadside and looked at me. The second arrow was on its way and found its mark, right through the boiler room. The buck jumped and took off into the trees.
I felt that I had made two good shots on this buck and was pretty convinced that he wouldn't make it very far. I told my wife who was sitting right behind me that we might have time to get a crack at one of those bulls above us. We made a play for those bulls, but after a few minutes the bulls lost interest and made their way to the aspen grove above us and disappeared over the top of the ridge. Running low on light, we quickly made our way to where we had last seen the buck. He made it only another 10 yards into the tree line and that is where he gave up.
The buck had 5 points on his right side, including a cheater, and eight points on his left side. I, of course, was pretty excited. After some high fives with my wife and some pictures, we field dressed the deer and prepared to hang it for the night when we could come back with another horse to carry it out the next day.
When we returned the next day, I brought my son with me. I had planned on getting out there earlier, but when I had caught the horses early that morning, I noticed that my horse had thrown a shoe the night before on the way out. I had to wait for my farrier to get to work and fix it and then we would be on our way.
When we arrived out there, my plan was to leave my son in a blind across from where a waterhole and wallow was and then I would go and take care of my deer and then come back and check on him. I waited for him to hike down to the blind, and then I took the horses to where I had left my deer. Imagine my surprise when I went to the area I had left my deer, only to find it gone. I couldn't believe my eyes. My first thought was, "Someone stole my deer." I was upset to say the least.
I started looking around and finally found some drag marks. I followed them down the ridge about 40 yards, where I found my carcass. I mean literally, my carcass. The bears had gotten a hold of my deer, drug it down the hill and had a feast on my buck. I had seen a few bears in the area, some with cubs. I was not able to salvage any of the meat on the deer, because they had munched on every portion of the body, and judging from the smell, I think that they urinated on it also. The only thing I was able to retrieve was the antlers. This was just natures way of saying to me, "You are not the only predator in the forest."
I grabbed the horses and returned to the area above our blind. I grabbed my gear and headed down the ridge to meet up with my son and we were going to wait there all day. I had a couple of trail cams set up around the waterhole and it showed that elk, deer, and bears were coming in at all different times of the day, so we thought we would just wait and see if anything came in.
It was about 5:00 p.m. when we heard the first bugle. It appeared that the bugles were getting a little bit closer, so we decided that we would try to set up on this bull and see if we could get him close enough for a shot for my son. I hung back and cow called while he moved up the ridge. I told him to try to get to the edge of the tree line where he could see pretty well but stay in the trees to stay concealed. As the bull got closer, he quit bugling and he would just chuckle at us. Finally, I was able to lure the bull into bow range for Kayden. He ranged the bull at 35 yards as he stopped to look down the hill for the cow that was making all that noise. Kayden was able to make a great shot right behind the shoulder. I heard Kayden shoot and the bull start to run off.
We immediately crouched down and I got out my binoculars to look over the buck. He was a main-frame 4 point with a cheater on one side and some other trash on the other. He wasn't real wide, but to pass on a buck that looked like that, I felt would be a big mistake. I pulled out my rangefinder and ranged him at 53 yards. I loaded an arrow, drew my Hoyt Maxxis bow back, settled the 50 yard pin right behind his shoulder. As I released, I saw the arrow disappear behind the shoulder of the buck. He hunched his back and then started to walk off. I saw where I thought he was going to go, ranged the trees, 81 yards. When the buck got the tree line, I drew my bow, whistled, and the buck stopped broadside and looked at me. The second arrow was on its way and found its mark, right through the boiler room. The buck jumped and took off into the trees.
I felt that I had made two good shots on this buck and was pretty convinced that he wouldn't make it very far. I told my wife who was sitting right behind me that we might have time to get a crack at one of those bulls above us. We made a play for those bulls, but after a few minutes the bulls lost interest and made their way to the aspen grove above us and disappeared over the top of the ridge. Running low on light, we quickly made our way to where we had last seen the buck. He made it only another 10 yards into the tree line and that is where he gave up.
The buck had 5 points on his right side, including a cheater, and eight points on his left side. I, of course, was pretty excited. After some high fives with my wife and some pictures, we field dressed the deer and prepared to hang it for the night when we could come back with another horse to carry it out the next day.
When we returned the next day, I brought my son with me. I had planned on getting out there earlier, but when I had caught the horses early that morning, I noticed that my horse had thrown a shoe the night before on the way out. I had to wait for my farrier to get to work and fix it and then we would be on our way.
When we arrived out there, my plan was to leave my son in a blind across from where a waterhole and wallow was and then I would go and take care of my deer and then come back and check on him. I waited for him to hike down to the blind, and then I took the horses to where I had left my deer. Imagine my surprise when I went to the area I had left my deer, only to find it gone. I couldn't believe my eyes. My first thought was, "Someone stole my deer." I was upset to say the least.
I started looking around and finally found some drag marks. I followed them down the ridge about 40 yards, where I found my carcass. I mean literally, my carcass. The bears had gotten a hold of my deer, drug it down the hill and had a feast on my buck. I had seen a few bears in the area, some with cubs. I was not able to salvage any of the meat on the deer, because they had munched on every portion of the body, and judging from the smell, I think that they urinated on it also. The only thing I was able to retrieve was the antlers. This was just natures way of saying to me, "You are not the only predator in the forest."
I grabbed the horses and returned to the area above our blind. I grabbed my gear and headed down the ridge to meet up with my son and we were going to wait there all day. I had a couple of trail cams set up around the waterhole and it showed that elk, deer, and bears were coming in at all different times of the day, so we thought we would just wait and see if anything came in.
It was about 5:00 p.m. when we heard the first bugle. It appeared that the bugles were getting a little bit closer, so we decided that we would try to set up on this bull and see if we could get him close enough for a shot for my son. I hung back and cow called while he moved up the ridge. I told him to try to get to the edge of the tree line where he could see pretty well but stay in the trees to stay concealed. As the bull got closer, he quit bugling and he would just chuckle at us. Finally, I was able to lure the bull into bow range for Kayden. He ranged the bull at 35 yards as he stopped to look down the hill for the cow that was making all that noise. Kayden was able to make a great shot right behind the shoulder. I heard Kayden shoot and the bull start to run off.
Wyoming Buck 'N Bull - 3
I immediately bugled and the bull stopped and turned to look down the ridge. I could now see the bull. Kayden had the peace of mind to load another arrow and take another shot, this time at 45 yards, and again, catching both lungs and a complete pass through. The bull exploded and ran 15 yards before he piled up next to some trees. I heard Kayden holler and I moved up to his location.
He said that he was able to get two arrows in him and that he died just up above him. He said that it was the most awesome thing that he has ever done. It just doesn't get any better than seeing the excitement and joy in your kid(s) when they have just harvested an animal, especially his first one with a bow. We took just a couple of pictures because the batteries went dead after just two pictures, so we weren't really able to set the bull up for some good pictures. One of the pictures that we retrieved off of the trail cam was the bull that Kayden shot. We kind of consider it "before and after" photograph. We made quick work of the quartering and Kayden hiked up to where the horses were tied up and brought them down to the bottom so we could load up our old reliable mare, Rhonda, with the meat and antlers. Then it was an hour and half ride out in the dark to the truck.
Once we hit cell service on our way home, it was awesome to hear Kayden tell his mother about his hunt. To hear the excitement in his voice as he was relaying this story to her brought a smile to my lips. To say she was excited was an understatement.
Being able to hunt is awesome. Being able to hunt with your son, fantastic. Being able to help him harvest his first animal with a bow, PRICELESS. Spending this time with my son will be a memory that I will be able to take with me forever, and hopefully he will too.
To bring this story to a close, the goal that I mentioned at the beginning of the story: "Mission accomplished".
Tom's Equipment:
Hoyt "Maxxis" 30"72#
Easton ACC arrows
Slick Trick 100 grain Broad-heads
Nikon 550 Rangefinder
Leopold 10X42 Binoculars
Danner Boots
S4 Binocular strap
Scott Release
Rip Cord arrow rest
Under Armour Base layer shirt
Mossy Oak Seclusion 3D camo
Hoochie mama call
Badlands Pack
Kayden's Equipment:
Bear "Lights Out" 29" 60#
Beeman arrows
100 Grain "Wac Em" Broadhead
Nikon 550 Rangefinder
Danner Boots
Scott Release
Nikon Trail Blazer 8X42 binos.
Primos Elk Diaphram
Primos "Hoochie Mama" call
Whisker Biscuit rest
Tom Hall is 46 years old, a retired police officer and a high school teacher. Tom has been hunting since he was 10 years old, and has been archery hunting since he was 18 years old. Tom is married to wife Shirley and has three children: daughters Ashley (17) and Janice (11), and son Kayden (15).
He said that he was able to get two arrows in him and that he died just up above him. He said that it was the most awesome thing that he has ever done. It just doesn't get any better than seeing the excitement and joy in your kid(s) when they have just harvested an animal, especially his first one with a bow. We took just a couple of pictures because the batteries went dead after just two pictures, so we weren't really able to set the bull up for some good pictures. One of the pictures that we retrieved off of the trail cam was the bull that Kayden shot. We kind of consider it "before and after" photograph. We made quick work of the quartering and Kayden hiked up to where the horses were tied up and brought them down to the bottom so we could load up our old reliable mare, Rhonda, with the meat and antlers. Then it was an hour and half ride out in the dark to the truck.
Once we hit cell service on our way home, it was awesome to hear Kayden tell his mother about his hunt. To hear the excitement in his voice as he was relaying this story to her brought a smile to my lips. To say she was excited was an understatement.
Being able to hunt is awesome. Being able to hunt with your son, fantastic. Being able to help him harvest his first animal with a bow, PRICELESS. Spending this time with my son will be a memory that I will be able to take with me forever, and hopefully he will too.
To bring this story to a close, the goal that I mentioned at the beginning of the story: "Mission accomplished".
Tom's Equipment:
Hoyt "Maxxis" 30"72#
Easton ACC arrows
Slick Trick 100 grain Broad-heads
Nikon 550 Rangefinder
Leopold 10X42 Binoculars
Danner Boots
S4 Binocular strap
Scott Release
Rip Cord arrow rest
Under Armour Base layer shirt
Mossy Oak Seclusion 3D camo
Hoochie mama call
Badlands Pack
Kayden's Equipment:
Bear "Lights Out" 29" 60#
Beeman arrows
100 Grain "Wac Em" Broadhead
Nikon 550 Rangefinder
Danner Boots
Scott Release
Nikon Trail Blazer 8X42 binos.
Primos Elk Diaphram
Primos "Hoochie Mama" call
Whisker Biscuit rest
Tom Hall is 46 years old, a retired police officer and a high school teacher. Tom has been hunting since he was 10 years old, and has been archery hunting since he was 18 years old. Tom is married to wife Shirley and has three children: daughters Ashley (17) and Janice (11), and son Kayden (15).
