Firehawk
WKR
For the past 8 weeks or so, I have been reflecting on the amazing experience I had in September. You see, this year, I had finally drawn my elusive Limited Entry Bull Elk tag in Utah. This was the 21st time I had applied for a LE Bull. I had a good feeling that I would draw, and found out in May that I had drawn a lucky ticket.
The area I drew was new to me. I have a good buddy Brayden who had drawn this tag a few years ago (as a VERY lucky 3 point drawer) and had a terrific experience. He convinced me that it would be worth the points if I drew, based on the fact that I really wanted a great experience, a chance to see elk during the rut, and to kill a "model" 6 point bull that was a good representative of the elk species. I didn't care so much about score, as I did about the experience, and a good opportunity to kill a mature bull.
I started scouting around Memorial Day weekend. I remember thinking that it was unique that I was thinking of this hunt, which would begin on 9/11, a day that most of us remember as being a very scary, horrible day in American History. On Memorial Day, when we honor those who have passed on before us, many well before their lives had really even begun, I was thinking of my chance to enjoy the freedom to hunt. The fact that the hunt began on 9/11 was icing on the cake. I was hoping that my own son, who was in Fort Bragg at the time, would be home in time to be able to accompany on that hunt.
A few scouting trips by me and by Brayden, resulted in seeing some really nice bulls. A lot of bulls in the 300-320" range, and a few that would push 350". There were two in particular, that we thought might go 370 ish. Brayden had the opportunity to help guide a landowner archery tag holder in the same general area for about two weeks leading up to my opening day on 9/11. All during that hunt, he was sending me texts and videos of elk he was seeing. The two largest, were NOT leaving the private ever, but numerous good bulls were transitioning to start gathering harems of cows and even started bugling a little bit. His archery hunter ended up not harvesting on his tag, but it provided him the opportunity to be on that mountain a lot just prior to my hunt. I owe him BIG time.
Fast forward to Friday morning 9/10. My truck is packed, gear is checked over and in its place, and my buddy David and I were on our way to our hunting area about 3 hours from where I live. I was ready for the long haul and planned to stay until the 18th if required. Brayden would be meeting us out there and he was going to join David and I that night. Two other really good friends of mine were leaving their archery elk hunt in Idaho Friday to come out to camp and hunt a few days with me too. I couldn't wait to spend time together and experience my tag all together with good friends, good food, and bugling bulls.
We set up camp in a heavy wind that afternoon. Dave and I rolled out the floor for his 14x20 Wall tent in the flattest spot we could find, as our first choice was occupied by another lucky hunter already. We raised the frame for the tent and rolled out the canvas. Let's just say, that two guys, working hard to set up a large Canvas Wall tent in 30-35 mph winds, was a big chore. There were a myriad of errors and comedic moments that we both wish we could have caught on video. But...eventually the tent was up and braced appropriately for the weather.
After unloading our gear, we jumped on the SxS and raced up the two track to get on the other side of the range close to where one of the largest bulls had been spotted the week earlier. The lack of rain was really adding up and the "moon dust" was horrible. Eventually we pulled off and began glassing for elk. It wasn't long and we found a large herd of cows with a few small bulls. Then we saw what had to be the "herd" bull and watched a display of him running off satellite bulls, round up and "checking" cows and overall, never stopping. I got tired just watching him. He was a decent bull, but not the caliber of bull we knew was on the unit. Soon it was drawing close to dark so we headed back toward camp, hoping we might catch another bull or two out and about on our way back.
Back at camp, now in the pitch black, we discovered that both Brayden and my two other buddies had made it to camp. We all gathered in the big tent, showed pictures and video of the bull from that evening and made plans for the next day. I decided I wanted to hike up into a canyon that I had spotted three bulls in during a scouting trip in July. There was good water in that canyon and just the other side of the peak was the private property Brayden had been seeing nice bulls on during the past few weeks.
Morning came and I was ready in a jiffy. Couldn't wait to get hiking. We drove to the canyon and parked knowing we were probably about 30 minutes too early to hike in too far. We didn't want to spook out elk ahead of us, or miss elk that were fairly close to where we had parked the truck. We waited about 20 minutes and then started hiking. We had about 900' of elevation to gain in about 1 mile to get to a saddle that overlooked our canyon were were in but also the large canyon that laid to our North. We hiked up to within 300 yards of that saddle on a small side ridge that would keep our scent and movement disguised from anything in the main canyon ahead of us. Just as it got light, we scanned ahead looking for animals and moved toward the saddle. We took our time, glassing up into the large canyon ahead of us and watching the small side canyon running along the side of the ridge we were on heading to the saddle. Not seeing anything, we kept heading to the saddle. We slowly scrolled over the ridge of the saddle, glassing right in front of us as well as on the other side of the large canyon we were headed into. One small bull was spotted high on the hillside nearing the trees toward the peak, but he was in the trees before we could really tell how big he was. David, Brayden and I were together, my other two friends had driven the SxS around the base of the mountain low so that they could glass from below and give us a heads up of anything in the canyon ahead of us.
We crept into the canyon and split up a little to cover more ground. I picked a small rock out cropping that looked down into some scraggly aspens and a larger park of good feed near a spring. After not seeing anything for a bit, I moved toward Brayden who was just a little higher looking up into the head of the canyon we were in. I joined up with him and David joined shortly afterwards. We received a text saying the guys down at the bottom had glassed a small bull up high on the mountain, and we decided it was likely the same bull we had noticed initially as well. But there had to be more.
A few minutes later, Brayden whispers "Big Bull". I immediately got to his side and looked through his spotting scope. He was looking toward our direction and looked pretty good, but it wasn't until he turned to feed that I saw his tines. He was a perfect 6x6 bull with good fronts, good 3rd and good 5ths. This was a hard combination from what we had seen so far that year. He was perfect for me.
The area I drew was new to me. I have a good buddy Brayden who had drawn this tag a few years ago (as a VERY lucky 3 point drawer) and had a terrific experience. He convinced me that it would be worth the points if I drew, based on the fact that I really wanted a great experience, a chance to see elk during the rut, and to kill a "model" 6 point bull that was a good representative of the elk species. I didn't care so much about score, as I did about the experience, and a good opportunity to kill a mature bull.
I started scouting around Memorial Day weekend. I remember thinking that it was unique that I was thinking of this hunt, which would begin on 9/11, a day that most of us remember as being a very scary, horrible day in American History. On Memorial Day, when we honor those who have passed on before us, many well before their lives had really even begun, I was thinking of my chance to enjoy the freedom to hunt. The fact that the hunt began on 9/11 was icing on the cake. I was hoping that my own son, who was in Fort Bragg at the time, would be home in time to be able to accompany on that hunt.
A few scouting trips by me and by Brayden, resulted in seeing some really nice bulls. A lot of bulls in the 300-320" range, and a few that would push 350". There were two in particular, that we thought might go 370 ish. Brayden had the opportunity to help guide a landowner archery tag holder in the same general area for about two weeks leading up to my opening day on 9/11. All during that hunt, he was sending me texts and videos of elk he was seeing. The two largest, were NOT leaving the private ever, but numerous good bulls were transitioning to start gathering harems of cows and even started bugling a little bit. His archery hunter ended up not harvesting on his tag, but it provided him the opportunity to be on that mountain a lot just prior to my hunt. I owe him BIG time.
Fast forward to Friday morning 9/10. My truck is packed, gear is checked over and in its place, and my buddy David and I were on our way to our hunting area about 3 hours from where I live. I was ready for the long haul and planned to stay until the 18th if required. Brayden would be meeting us out there and he was going to join David and I that night. Two other really good friends of mine were leaving their archery elk hunt in Idaho Friday to come out to camp and hunt a few days with me too. I couldn't wait to spend time together and experience my tag all together with good friends, good food, and bugling bulls.
We set up camp in a heavy wind that afternoon. Dave and I rolled out the floor for his 14x20 Wall tent in the flattest spot we could find, as our first choice was occupied by another lucky hunter already. We raised the frame for the tent and rolled out the canvas. Let's just say, that two guys, working hard to set up a large Canvas Wall tent in 30-35 mph winds, was a big chore. There were a myriad of errors and comedic moments that we both wish we could have caught on video. But...eventually the tent was up and braced appropriately for the weather.
After unloading our gear, we jumped on the SxS and raced up the two track to get on the other side of the range close to where one of the largest bulls had been spotted the week earlier. The lack of rain was really adding up and the "moon dust" was horrible. Eventually we pulled off and began glassing for elk. It wasn't long and we found a large herd of cows with a few small bulls. Then we saw what had to be the "herd" bull and watched a display of him running off satellite bulls, round up and "checking" cows and overall, never stopping. I got tired just watching him. He was a decent bull, but not the caliber of bull we knew was on the unit. Soon it was drawing close to dark so we headed back toward camp, hoping we might catch another bull or two out and about on our way back.
Back at camp, now in the pitch black, we discovered that both Brayden and my two other buddies had made it to camp. We all gathered in the big tent, showed pictures and video of the bull from that evening and made plans for the next day. I decided I wanted to hike up into a canyon that I had spotted three bulls in during a scouting trip in July. There was good water in that canyon and just the other side of the peak was the private property Brayden had been seeing nice bulls on during the past few weeks.
Morning came and I was ready in a jiffy. Couldn't wait to get hiking. We drove to the canyon and parked knowing we were probably about 30 minutes too early to hike in too far. We didn't want to spook out elk ahead of us, or miss elk that were fairly close to where we had parked the truck. We waited about 20 minutes and then started hiking. We had about 900' of elevation to gain in about 1 mile to get to a saddle that overlooked our canyon were were in but also the large canyon that laid to our North. We hiked up to within 300 yards of that saddle on a small side ridge that would keep our scent and movement disguised from anything in the main canyon ahead of us. Just as it got light, we scanned ahead looking for animals and moved toward the saddle. We took our time, glassing up into the large canyon ahead of us and watching the small side canyon running along the side of the ridge we were on heading to the saddle. Not seeing anything, we kept heading to the saddle. We slowly scrolled over the ridge of the saddle, glassing right in front of us as well as on the other side of the large canyon we were headed into. One small bull was spotted high on the hillside nearing the trees toward the peak, but he was in the trees before we could really tell how big he was. David, Brayden and I were together, my other two friends had driven the SxS around the base of the mountain low so that they could glass from below and give us a heads up of anything in the canyon ahead of us.
We crept into the canyon and split up a little to cover more ground. I picked a small rock out cropping that looked down into some scraggly aspens and a larger park of good feed near a spring. After not seeing anything for a bit, I moved toward Brayden who was just a little higher looking up into the head of the canyon we were in. I joined up with him and David joined shortly afterwards. We received a text saying the guys down at the bottom had glassed a small bull up high on the mountain, and we decided it was likely the same bull we had noticed initially as well. But there had to be more.
A few minutes later, Brayden whispers "Big Bull". I immediately got to his side and looked through his spotting scope. He was looking toward our direction and looked pretty good, but it wasn't until he turned to feed that I saw his tines. He was a perfect 6x6 bull with good fronts, good 3rd and good 5ths. This was a hard combination from what we had seen so far that year. He was perfect for me.
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