One evening about two weeks before the season opened I went to scout this area with my 9 year old daughter Zoe and called this bull in to 20 yards. We got a couple of minutes of video of him and after watching it 100 times I was hooked on trying to kill this bull.
Thanks to the guys who gave me tips on places to look but I'm proud to say I found this area on my own. It was NOT a great spot for elk but once I knew this bull was there I kept going back. My main goal was not to have to deal with other hunters like I did last year in unit 8. I always say I'd rather hunt an area with fewer elk if it means fewer hunters. In pursuit of that goal I left no stone unturned. The only other hunter I saw during the hunt was a guy with a cow tag who just happened to randomly pick this spot on the map.
It took a week of hard hunting but I finally caught up with my bull 6:30 Friday morning. I called him across a little valley and he came right to me just like in the movies. I kinda blew the 30 yard shot by not accounting for him walking. Hit him too far back so I left him all day to be sure he was down. Turns out he went half a mile and piled up probably 10 minutes after I shot him. Go figure. Last year I made a perfect shot and the bull made it about 10 hours.
I started skinning and packing at 7 pm and since I was by myself and had to pack him off a small mountain (Six trips including the head and meat)I didn't get done until 12:30am. The butcher weighed in just under 400 pounds of meat!
I'll let you guess the score.
Chris
Congratulations Chris on a job well done on a great bull!
Nick
Ryan
Bill
Congrats!!!!
I totally suck at e-scoring, but I'm guessing a solid 350+ bull. Thanks for sharing the pics and story.
Actually I still have to deal with the tenacious last bits of cartilage and brains...Boiling out a head is a lot of work.
Regardless its a toad. To all the score estimators out there, remember Chris is really tall and has longer than average forearm measurements.
Later, Ryan
Steve
350...370...either way that is a great bull! Again, I'm stoked that you were able to have the experience you did.
Chris, you certainly inspire me to be a better elk hunter!
Nick
Not only do I not care what score you guys guess, I don't care what it scores. I'm just psyched to have taken this bull. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to be able to say I got a 370 bull but the hunt and story really make it cool.
I found and videoed this bull before the season while I was with my 9 year old daughter who loves hunting. It was the first elk I called in for her. He came into 20 yards. Then I showed the video to an old friend of mine and he wanted to bet me that the bull scored over 380. I was thinking 360's. I decided to make it fair and we bet on 370. He made a bet like that once before and I killed that bull too. I won that bet because he bet me that I couldn't kill that bull. It ended up 390 but we weren't betting on the score. Turns out I lost this bet and have to buy him dinner because it scores over 370. I got to tell him last night on the phone. He's on a long solo motorcycle trip and called from Oregon. He couldn't believe that I actually killed the bull so we even had a bet. This is all fun betting and joking around. He says, " Dude that bull is definitely over 380." I say, "No way man it just looks that big in the video." So he says, "Well, you go kill it and we'll see." I said, "OK but lets make it 370 so you have a chance." I told him I would kill it and hope it was 369 7/8. It turned out pretty close.
The whole time we know how ridiculous it is to talk like it is so easy to go out and just kill some particular bull with a bow but we were acting like you just go out and do it laughing about it. It is especially difficult on a limited opportunity hunt needle in a haystack situation like this.
I hunted by myself. No tag teaming with 5 guys with radios on every hill in the area like so many big bulls are taken these days. That isn't fair chase. So yeah, I'm really proud of this bull but not just because he's big but because I pulled it off like we talked about and did it the right way.
Thanks for the kind words. That was Skip. He was always trying to get you and I together. I still go gold hunting with him. In fact now that this elk ordeal is over we will be back out prospecting.
Congratulations! That has to be one of the toughest elk huntsin the state.
Chris Denham
I am as proud of this bull as I am of my biggest and first. I really scout and hunt hard and try to keep playing cat and mouse with them. No matter what, a little luck sure helps too.
I honestly thought the cat might go hungry on this hunt though. That "limited opportunity" business is no joke. That really makes this one special. Big is nice but ain't all about the size of the bull. The good feelings run deeper and last longer the harder you have to work for it. At least for me.
Fair chase is the way to go.
