lilharcher
Well-Known Member
Got really lucky as a non-resident to draw one of the two NR Muzzleloader Elk tags in a top tier unit. With the rut just ending, the bulls beat up, high temps, and historical pine nut production, the hunt was tougher than anticipated. Bulls were in deep holes, treed-up (eating pine nuts), recovering from a very tough rut. We glassed hard and I made sure to be in great shape to be in a position to chase these critters to the tippy top of the nastiest mountain. Almost all the bulls we turned up were broken and 1.5+ miles up the mountain.
We found bulls daily, just none worth going after. Passed on a 330" bull on day 2 in a relatively easy place to get a shot. No character to the bull, so I wasn't going to compromise.
On the morning of day 3, we found what appeared to be a heavy 6 in a nasty, but achievable spot…..2k elevation gain at ~1.8 miles away. We bedded him, then off we marched to his hood. We got set-up on a huge boulder above him and the waiting game started. Apparently, there were two cows above him that we never saw until we blew them out (caught our sent running up hill). This caused the cows with our bull (2 more) to blow out……but we never did see our bull come out.
So the waiting game continued for another 4 hours, with the last hour being filled with severe doubt ('did he give us the slip when his cows blew out?'). As elk started to pop-out in other distant areas of the mountain, my focus on the expected escape route go less and less. At 4:30pm, my eye caught movement and our elk appeared in the escape route across the canyon at 242 yrds. Nearly to the tree line, I jumped on my gun, took the safety off, settled the Revic peep site behind his front shoulder, and squeezed the trigger w/ my elk quartering away……it was my only window before he was able to slip away. We heard the "thump" but never caught where he was hit. Bull was very tough and slipped off, so we backed out so we wouldn't bump him.
Came back the next morning and found him (w/ no blood trail) in the next bowl. I was overjoyed and finally got a close up look. Two surprises - he had way more mass than I had anticipated (60"+) and no broken 6th on his left side……he just didn't grow one on that side. His inside spread was about 6" bigger too at 42".
Very happy with this bull given the tough conditions. Didn't see another bull hanging and everyone we spoke to all said the same thing - 'very tough conditions'. With that said, the hunt is still ongoing, and conditions can change…..
My hands are huge and I couldn't even get my whole (single) hand around the base of his 1s. My biggest bull to date and I sent him off to the taxidermist.
We found bulls daily, just none worth going after. Passed on a 330" bull on day 2 in a relatively easy place to get a shot. No character to the bull, so I wasn't going to compromise.
On the morning of day 3, we found what appeared to be a heavy 6 in a nasty, but achievable spot…..2k elevation gain at ~1.8 miles away. We bedded him, then off we marched to his hood. We got set-up on a huge boulder above him and the waiting game started. Apparently, there were two cows above him that we never saw until we blew them out (caught our sent running up hill). This caused the cows with our bull (2 more) to blow out……but we never did see our bull come out.
So the waiting game continued for another 4 hours, with the last hour being filled with severe doubt ('did he give us the slip when his cows blew out?'). As elk started to pop-out in other distant areas of the mountain, my focus on the expected escape route go less and less. At 4:30pm, my eye caught movement and our elk appeared in the escape route across the canyon at 242 yrds. Nearly to the tree line, I jumped on my gun, took the safety off, settled the Revic peep site behind his front shoulder, and squeezed the trigger w/ my elk quartering away……it was my only window before he was able to slip away. We heard the "thump" but never caught where he was hit. Bull was very tough and slipped off, so we backed out so we wouldn't bump him.
Came back the next morning and found him (w/ no blood trail) in the next bowl. I was overjoyed and finally got a close up look. Two surprises - he had way more mass than I had anticipated (60"+) and no broken 6th on his left side……he just didn't grow one on that side. His inside spread was about 6" bigger too at 42".
Very happy with this bull given the tough conditions. Didn't see another bull hanging and everyone we spoke to all said the same thing - 'very tough conditions'. With that said, the hunt is still ongoing, and conditions can change…..
My hands are huge and I couldn't even get my whole (single) hand around the base of his 1s. My biggest bull to date and I sent him off to the taxidermist.
