CM
WKR
Utah Late Hunt Bull
I've been reading posts on RokSlide since it's inception, I haven't posted anything up until now, I just enjoy reading other peoples' opinions and learning all that I can. Now that my season is over I thought I would post some pictures and stories from my hunts this year. I am studying electrical engineering in college, so I am not able to get away from school for extended periods of time. I mostly just hunt weekends and miss a day or two here or there.
I drew a Late Bull hunt in Utah this year. I have killed several spikes and cows but had never killed a mature bull, I was excited to say the least. We went on tons of scouting trips mostly looking for this bull:
We nicknamed him the "uni-bull" because of the unique extra horn growing out of the left side of his head. We originally saw him in 2008; he was a really big bull then. We saw him again last year, while we were scouting for my dad's early tag. He had to be at least 10 years old. We looked and looked and were unable to turn him up. We did see many other good bulls though.
My dad brother and cousin came with on the hunt. The first two days of the hunt the weather was horrible. It was snowy and foggy and cold. We did see several bulls, but nothing big enough to shoot. My cousin had to go back to work after the 2nd day.
On the 3rd day we were going to try and get out a road where we would have access to a place we knew the big bulls go after the rut. We got to the top of the mountain and the snow was way too deep to get anywhere in the truck or on four-wheelers. We decided to try a different spot 40 miles away. We hustled over there but weren't hunting until about 10:00. At the first spot we looked we saw 7 good bulls, all of them were good 6 points. Except this one
Even though he was only a 5-point he was by far the biggest bull in the bunch. We decided to back out and go check out some more canyons. As the day went on we saw a lot of good bulls, but that big 5 point kept haunting me. We decided to try and get on him that night. We went back to where he was in the morning and saw 6 bulls but the big 5 point was not to be found. Eventually we found him feeding in some thick aspens. We waited patiently for him to feed out. After about 20 minutes all the bulls freaked out and started running down the hill. We were positive we didn't spook them. All of a sudden we saw a cougar chasing them. It was one of the craziest things I have ever experienced while hunting. We walked back to the truck, somewhat disappointed, but grateful we got to witness such an event.
The next day, we got back on the bulls but they were significantly farther down the canyon then they had been. The roads are all on the tops so we decided to wait and see if they would feed up. Like the day before we went and checked out some other spots and saw a few really good bulls. We went back in the afternoon and snuck down the ridge a ways. We spotted a really big 6 point across the canyon and decided to make a play on him, we were closing in on shooting range when we jumped the big 5 point's group. They took off down the canyon and spooked the other bulls. But the 5 point's group made a mistake, after they got to the bottom they ran up the other side and stopped at the top of the ridge of the next canyon over. We decided we had enough light to go after them. We ran up the ridge we were on, hustled over to the ridge they were on and hurried down to where they were. We got to 450 yards. I adjusted my scope, waited for the big 5 point to turn and pulled the trigger. He immediately went down. He slid 200 yards down the steep slope. Luckily he didn't break anything. We walked up to him and he was everything I had hoped for.
I've been reading posts on RokSlide since it's inception, I haven't posted anything up until now, I just enjoy reading other peoples' opinions and learning all that I can. Now that my season is over I thought I would post some pictures and stories from my hunts this year. I am studying electrical engineering in college, so I am not able to get away from school for extended periods of time. I mostly just hunt weekends and miss a day or two here or there.
I drew a Late Bull hunt in Utah this year. I have killed several spikes and cows but had never killed a mature bull, I was excited to say the least. We went on tons of scouting trips mostly looking for this bull:
We nicknamed him the "uni-bull" because of the unique extra horn growing out of the left side of his head. We originally saw him in 2008; he was a really big bull then. We saw him again last year, while we were scouting for my dad's early tag. He had to be at least 10 years old. We looked and looked and were unable to turn him up. We did see many other good bulls though.
My dad brother and cousin came with on the hunt. The first two days of the hunt the weather was horrible. It was snowy and foggy and cold. We did see several bulls, but nothing big enough to shoot. My cousin had to go back to work after the 2nd day.
On the 3rd day we were going to try and get out a road where we would have access to a place we knew the big bulls go after the rut. We got to the top of the mountain and the snow was way too deep to get anywhere in the truck or on four-wheelers. We decided to try a different spot 40 miles away. We hustled over there but weren't hunting until about 10:00. At the first spot we looked we saw 7 good bulls, all of them were good 6 points. Except this one
Even though he was only a 5-point he was by far the biggest bull in the bunch. We decided to back out and go check out some more canyons. As the day went on we saw a lot of good bulls, but that big 5 point kept haunting me. We decided to try and get on him that night. We went back to where he was in the morning and saw 6 bulls but the big 5 point was not to be found. Eventually we found him feeding in some thick aspens. We waited patiently for him to feed out. After about 20 minutes all the bulls freaked out and started running down the hill. We were positive we didn't spook them. All of a sudden we saw a cougar chasing them. It was one of the craziest things I have ever experienced while hunting. We walked back to the truck, somewhat disappointed, but grateful we got to witness such an event.
The next day, we got back on the bulls but they were significantly farther down the canyon then they had been. The roads are all on the tops so we decided to wait and see if they would feed up. Like the day before we went and checked out some other spots and saw a few really good bulls. We went back in the afternoon and snuck down the ridge a ways. We spotted a really big 6 point across the canyon and decided to make a play on him, we were closing in on shooting range when we jumped the big 5 point's group. They took off down the canyon and spooked the other bulls. But the 5 point's group made a mistake, after they got to the bottom they ran up the other side and stopped at the top of the ridge of the next canyon over. We decided we had enough light to go after them. We ran up the ridge we were on, hustled over to the ridge they were on and hurried down to where they were. We got to 450 yards. I adjusted my scope, waited for the big 5 point to turn and pulled the trigger. He immediately went down. He slid 200 yards down the steep slope. Luckily he didn't break anything. We walked up to him and he was everything I had hoped for.
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