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The first week of the season I had him at a spring at 22 yards, but of course let him walk. Someone needs to cull him from the gene pool, but not me....

Link to video of bull with a kicker point....Video from August scouting. I stalked this bull, roasting in the sun for a couple hours the a few days into the season in a new spot a few miles away. Did not get pictures of him hard horned...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE5Sutaw9QE

Bobmuley and I had to put the fool by Bobmuley driving off and me hanging over the lip of the embankment waiting for him to stick his head out...

Dogging this herd of 80-90 elk at 100-300 yards all morning, then after they go to bed, stalking in to 70 yards of the big bull of the bunch, threading the needle so-to-speak, and then bugling in a bull like that (twice) away from maybe 40-50 cows for easy broadside shots is pretty much what it is all about. I do all sorts of 'stupid' things that most folks say to avoid, but have a ball doing them, hunting this guy in his bed is one of them...One of the benefits of hunting solo is there is never that guy on your shoulder saying wait, hold off, SHOOT!, etc. or otherwise taking you off of 'your game'.

After stalking in to 78 yards, I pulled out the video camera and got footage of him feeding and chuckling as I evaluated if I wanted him. The video screen was actually a little better than using binos since I could zoom way in. He started raking and bugling (screams) in response to my bugles from 130ish yards but would not come in to. At 78 yards I could see some of his cows behind and to the side of him, all bedded as I ran the tape. after a minute or so of taping, I moved in to 70 yards and set-up, ranging stuff, etc. then let out a big bugle/scream that set him in motion my way.

When I called him in the first time from 70, obviously he expected to see a bull right away, I was at full draw, both eyes open looking him over at 24 yards as he stood there. Gave me a BIG Ole knot in my stomach as I realized I would probably not shoot. Truly a 'gimme' if there is such a thing and hard to pass. After he wandered back 10 yards into the trees again, he splayed his legs and got his head way down to the ground scanning under the low canopy. did that for 2-3 minutes without moving. very cool and educational to see at 35 yards or so. You always feel them burning holes into you with their eyes when things get dead quiet at close range in cover, but this time I got to see what he was doing.

So as he then ambled off back toward the cows, the knot in my stomach grew bigger, And I thought am I nuts? As he walked away, I waited till he got to some cover and I ranged his butt at 60 yards. Then I let another bugle rip and got to full draw as he trotted back a bit closer than the 20 yard mark I had ranged. He again stood broadside as I tried like heck to get my brain to fire the signal for my finger to loop over from the back of release trigger to the front and give that slight squeeze. As I again studied all those great features and the one dink 5th, I just could not do it with at least another 15 or so days I could hunt this tag, including the last 8 days when I know the bulls will be screaming nonstop. The thought that ran through my head was exactly this " This bull is as big as the benchmark I set for a 'shooter' but I don't want to stare at the dink 5th for the next 40 years knowing I killed the bull 5 days into a month-long season" The latter half of the thought won out.

After he stood broadside for 30-40 seconds, he walked past me for about 10 yards at which time I thought, "I should at least take a picture". Love the MR pocket waist belt since the point-and-shoot is always quick to access. I pulled out the camera, turned it on, and started firing as he walked back through the same gap to his cows. Got head-on shots (he heard the camera as it fired up). side views and the quartering away, all inside 25 yds with a crap camera.

Anyway, one of many really cool things that have happened so far...that I;'ll try to share as time allows.

Will check in on your hunt tomorrow from my camp. Good luck in the am.

I picked up more 350 sheds in the unit than I have seen live so know there are a FEW big ones around.

I'm no hot shot hunter and am certainly no Chuck Adams but when he said at the CBA banquet "a 370 bull is NOT a 400 bull and I like to hunt and kill BIG bulls' I understood what was getting at. You do not tag your dream bull by tagging anything you can get along the way. My dreams exceeded that bull on that day and that experience--putting the fool on him twice to pull him out of the brush and away from his cows is burned into my hunter soul. Probably the biggest bull I truly had a the drop on at 20 yards and I passed. Loved it including the very real anguish it caused as my brain said no when my hand on the release was saying "YES YES YES!".

Fun stuff. ready for more.

An aside: I laughed when a guy who also had hunted the Gila 16D unit like me, said his Unit 2 CO hunt was way better. Darned if he might be right. Many days yet to decide for sure, though.

michael

Headed back up in a few minutes! only 2 days to hunt this go round, but why not try.

a bowsiter tagged out in my unit a couple days ago! only 3 of us that I know of...

Looks like an awesome area. Go get some Horn!!

michael

cows fed around a little ledge giving me access to close and set up on the bull, thinking he will follow their path to stay with them .

pushed too hard and missed shift from perfect wind to being winded by a cow that went on a barking jag.

never saw the bull again but followed the cows all the way back to truck 1.5 miles away.

saw abomber of a buck clearing out of the draw after my stalk was busted. he was with another big buck. too fast for pics.

this morning the Nat Monument ended my stalk...couldn`t have been my crummy calling that pushed them in there :-)

I did not tell him where to kill the 380 bruiser that has been running about cause I have seen nothing like that, yet.

Where are the BIG bulls?

Rumor has it that they're over in 201. Report is that the Governor's tag hunter killed a 397-incher (Raftopolous's?).

Did you pass my message on to Jimmy? ;) Good to see you were still at alive and hope you get more time to get back at it.

Good luck, hope you get a good one.

did not see that coming.

did find a bull Fri night and call in Sat morning, but was not big enough as it turned out...

Taking my bow for a BIG hike this morning. kind of edging into elk so far this trip.

did glass a nice 6pt this AM but on the wrong mtn.

headed for a midday hunt along a ridge that was full of bugling bulls late last night.

the fun meter is starting to peg again.

ripping winds today. does not seem to be affecting the elk.

lot of miles up and down the mountain zig zagging to bugling bulls. beer tastes especially good after a day like today.

the best bull of the bunch was brushed up with 7 cows that I saw. lucked out and spotted them bedded just before I went too far. got the wind right and slipped in on the bull as his raked nonstop. 3 cows were 35 yds from me as I set up 45 from the bull. as I was about to rip a bugle to bring him out of thick cover he chased a spike right in front of me which put the bull at 38 yds. finally seeing his rack well, the 3rds were a little short. otherwise a nice 6pt. maybe 310 inches or so.

having a blast just need a big one to step out.

as soon as I saw saw him, he bugled and ambled off. after hearing him bugle again at 100+/- yds I ripped one from where he had been standing.

he came right in to 25 yds. I knew pretty quick he was not the "one" so pulled out the camera as he stared at me and got some nice pics.

can not post pics from this phone. will do so after I return.

maybe tonight is the night.

BM maybe I saw that bull. I have two big ones that are snapped off behind the 4 on one side...

rut is incredible right now.

another bull headed into the juniper i was in so i took his picture in self defence at 5 feet. that backed him up!

thanks to bobmuley for getting me hooked on root beer, makes a great leak detector for a flat tire.

a bull that might go 320 came in screamin tocow calls this am. I let him walk at 12 yards. gettin late in the season for that but...

BM you let me know when you find a tasty beverage that will fix a leak. root beer did not work.

dogged them another mile, then sit on them all day and finally get the wind and cover right and close in. I.m at 80 yards and then hear voices. been a long solitary season so i say " is that you god?"

no its vinnie and barry we are backpacking...damage done elk a long ways out of reach for today...That is a new one for me.

still an amazing hunt but i would have liked to finish that stalk!

there was a bomber of a 5 pt right in there too.

Good luck.

Sitting here waiting on the morning light to hopefully get back on that bull....

one has beenbroken off past his left 4th for awhile. he was beat by a big bull, that has the same fronts as the one I chased yesterday but is broke off at the thirds on both sides..

afterward he enjoyed the spoils of war and looked like he could use a cigarette. :--)

... any news on BobMuley?

I could almost honestly say I could have shot a 300 or slightly better bull on a daily basis. Meaning I was in bow range and pretty well had the drop on one. Truly an extraordinary experience.

I'll be buying a truckload of raffle tickets next year.

Guys will have to wade through a tale of the hunt and I hope, enjoyable photos/video as the hunt proceeded, before getting to the final hours of the season. This is the first hunt where I prioritized taking photos and kept a camera and video cam at the ready for quick-draw. On many occasions as a bull closed in I made a quick judgment that he was not 'the one' and pulled out a camera. Took photos as close as 10 feet of bulls coming in or on there way out.

Here is just one teaser photo I took the other day on a very muddy bull I did not shoot at 40 feet and then 35 yards for several minutes. When he was at 40 feet aside from mud all the way up on his horns he had a big clod on his nose. Took pictures and video instead. As you can see he just shook off and made a cloud of dust in the effort.

There was another bull that came in to 10 feet to me and then looped over in front of these elk, causing them to get bunched up when they had been spread out pretty good. They watched that other bull till he left then spread out again and went about their business.

Here's a picture

Tomorrow Brinks security picks it up for 60 day storage :-)

The correct answer was "sucking up to the wife"...

A smaller bull that did not make the cut. swept back horn configuration

!st stop was some scrubby wasteland area that is supposed to be amazing and cram full of bulls coming out of the monument. Two dependable guys hunted it late season and said it was incredible. Big build up with lots of air let out of that bubble upon arrival and hunting it.

Here is what it looked like (notice the lack of elk in the picture?!). I was 90 degrees the day I hunted it.

Just getting the baloney soufflé simmering when along comes to ATVs generally from where the 'other' two elk were.

Nice guys, one has a tag and is a longbow hunter. They have been hunting this elk mecca of a spot for 4 days (it was their #1 spot and they started their hunt there based on scouting, and had hardly seen anything, nothing big. They sounded honest and I am gullible. :-) I told them I saw 3 bulls in 2 groups and they were "You saw elk!?" Um yeah, sitting on that tall hill and glassing thisaway I found a few. I told them where I was headed in the morning and asked if that was OK with them. No problem.

(An aside) A guy I was camped with at times ran into the longbow hunter with only 2 days left in the season. Longbow reported they had not seen many elk in 12 days and had not yet been in bow range of a bull. Granted bow range for a longbow is like 27 inches (kidding guys), but still... I am kidding around, and do really feel for the guy knowing he was not having much of a hunt leading right up to the end.(for all I know he killed a whopper and I hope he did). My friend pointed him to a couple spots (that I was not hunting) so he could at least see and chase some bulls. He did that somewhat insensitively perhaps since upon hearing the guy was just looking for any 300 bull he told him.. : "Yesterday Kirby saw 17 bulls, got in on 6 of them and I think he said 5 of them were 300-320...Not exactly accurate but that might not have been the best morale booster to throw at the guy. (Aside over)

Back to the hunjting on Sept. 18 So at 2 am, 2 bulls turn my camp upside down. Bugling/sparring/stomping and crapping all over the place for 20 minutes at what sounds like 100 feet (was 200 yards away). Maybe it was the 2 elk I saw the prior evening... Do not know as I did not try to track them.

In the am I hoofed it the mile over to where I saw the one bull. sure enough there he is just heading into the trees from a vast open area and I hit the right spot, he is 300-400 yards out. I give him a little time to work up toward me then do some cow calling. I am, unfortunately in thick PJ with little other option for set up. Called him in to about 40 yards and saw enough of him to know he was not what I was looking for. Maybe a 280 bull with small backs and who cares what sort of fronts.

I let him go on his way and looped around him and end up hiking 5 miles through this elk mecca trying to nail down if it is worth spending time in. Answer is NO, so why did I just drag you guys through there?

One of the waterholes in the area that I checked ended up having Longbow's blind sitting on it. I can only imagine how boring and steamy it would have been to sit, elk-less in 90 temps. Saw one fresh elk track at the waterhole. But the Frogging would have been stellar.

I did have a great 'growler at some distance I never caught up to and a chuckler that came in to 100 or so yards but never saw either.

So I got within a 30 minute drive of the jump-off point by 11:30 pm. Get up and get going. As I am half-way up a steep hike to the sweet spot I see a couple real good looking bulls on an adjacent, but not currently accessible, hillside. Long story short I hike all over the magic spot and can tell there had been some elk in there a week or more ago but that was it. Morning shot.

A view from the knob. I hike a couple miles checking PJ covered finger ridges radiating away from the top. Heard/saw zippo. Starting to think I should just hunt all the amazing and elk-filled spots I scouted myself instead of trying out previous hunter's favorite spots. Duh. All this monkeying around seems to fit in with my wife's statement that I am just dragging the hunt out cause I do not want it to end. Hmmmm...

Not long after in comes a good looking bull and except he had broken off one side after the 4th. This bull hung out at the waterhole for 2 hours in the nearby PJ raking and bugling. I blame him for no other bulls coming in that night. I watched him swim the length of waterhole. (I saw this bull many times afterward inside a 3-mile radious and he was running 9 cows at one point, till one morning when I saw him get run off a mountain by a bull that was broke off at the thirds on both sides. Longer story on that doubly broken bull

Great write up!

Good story, now where's the damned photo?! You're killin' us all!

I am pulling a backstrap out and find a foreign object in there. pretty quick I realize it is a piece of camo arrow shaft.

Pull it out an in my hand is MY 4" piece of arrow and broadhead. This is the bull I shot and lost 2 weeks prior and 6 miles away!!!

What are the odds of that happening. A guy who knows how to measure gave it a very rough score of 330. I'd say more like 320ish. Regardless a very decent bull. 19" 1st points helps (a lot). I was stunned to say the least.

This is a picture of that guys early rifle bull that I hit and lost 2 weeks ago, then called in for him to shoot at 50 yards.

Will wrap up my bowhunt story/photos today...

Here is a photobucket link to the video that failed to load on here directly last week...

Anybody have a suggestion on how best to put video in a post please tell me.

Nice 6 point I came close to arrowing 2nd to last day of the season and would have if a better shot presented itself. I was stalking in on this bull when the backpackers walked right into my setup There was also a bigger (350+) 6 pt and an amazing (to me) 5 pt (330ish perhaps) I will post a video of as well.

here is a view from the far end ( I hike in from the timbered saddle in middle of picture.

I did not find any big bulls so hiked out and then headed north along (and a safe distance from) the Nat monument boundary. Heard some bulls in there but never got close enough to evaluate them.

In the morning I hunted some land that is the western-most extent of the unit and surrounded on a couple sides by the monument. I found a bull and a few cows way up high but barely got a look at him before they got into the PJ. Nothing else was cooking so I decided to do a 1.5 mile loop below, around, and then up over and back down to where I saw them hit the trees. That bought me good solid wind direction to work with and the ability to come in from above with minimal cover.

As convoluted stalks go this one worked perfectly. I ended up dropping back into 'their' drainage exactly on target. Here is a picture of the slope I dropped down on them from the top of. They bedded just off the top where the trees start to get thick, I hiked up the backside of the ridge you see.

Anyway I get there at PM and am cutting a bit more brush and a bull and cow/calf came in 5 minutes later? down the same slope I just crawled down. The bull was great on one side with everything smaller on the other. No shot opportunity as the cow lead them out of there post haste after she busted me cutting brush. Got a snippet of video of him that is not worth posting.

10-15 minutes later the bull that was broken off at the 4th on one side (pic posted previously) came in that I passed on..here he is again.

Sure enough he turns broadside and I draw. But he was somewhat alerted to 'something (me)' moving in the brush above him. As I draw and shift position to try to get a shot clear of twigs he is in the middle of the pond, broadside but eyeballing me. Before drawing I had ranged him at 44 yards. (yes far for a waterhole setup). I shoot and hit him very high but exactly behind the crease as planned. Crap! Do not know if I fudged the shot or if he was bolting and had ducked a bit. He took off like a shot at the impact. I cow called a bunch and after he ran to 120 yards, I managed to keep him in plain view and within 300 yards for about 30 minutes before he finally (and very slowly) topped the little ridge he was ambling up. Got video of him standing in specific spots I later checked. The one spot he stood in for 5-8 minutes 15 minutes after the shot yielded the only 2 spots of blood I would find that day or the next, when I tried to trail him for most of the day and then simply tried to find or jump him somewhere in the area to no without success. All but 4 inches of my arrow was laying on the backside of the embankment. I knew immediately I had poor arrow penetration as well as a very high hit.

Here is a picture of the arrow, including the 4" piece I ended up pulling from the rifle hunter's bull I called in for him 2 weeks later. Posted that story item yesterday and earlier today. And took this photo of the reunited arrow fragments today.

here are 3 photos of that next bull in the next couple posts. I have not studied it closely but think it may be the 'muddy' bull I posted pics of previously that was with his cows at this waterhole the next morning as I dropped in there to start tracking in earnest.

The 22nd was spent trying to track down the bull I hit to no avail. First thing in the morning I had the close encounters with the muddy bull I posted previously and the smaller bull at the waterhole just trying to get on 'my' bull's tracks.

Late in the afternoon and many miles logged simply trying to find and maybe jump the bull I hit yielded a ton of encounters with bulls. In one drainage, I literally got in bow range of 5 bugling bulls, one at a time, in a few hours. I would drop in on one, see that he was not 'my' bull or a shooter and then move up the ridge and drop down on the next bull that was screaming his head off. A few had cows and a couple did not.

It was simply the most extraordinary afternoon of elk hunting. I seemed to be invisible, sound- and scent-less. I saw 15-17 bulls that day with more than half within 50 yards.

On the 24th, I hunted the far SW corner of the unit hiking into a wilderness study area. Of course I found nothing but a raghorn down there but ended up barely hearing bugles way to the north, ended up logging 8+ miles and seeing sunset from a 2 track road and right on top of 3 great bulls I could have driven to. That was the afternoon I almost shot the biggest bull I would have a chance at (350+). I was not keen to hike even further from the truck but spotted a magnificent 5 point (yes a fiver) and decided I needed to see him up close (and maybe for the rest of my days). But before that I wanted to stalk in on a great sounding growling bull that was right on the way. First I stalked in to his occasional growls and got into maybe 100-150 yards and let out a tough sounding scream/bugle. That had him coming right in. Problem was he had 2 cows and they were leading the way. The cows passed by me at 20 feet and then winded or saw me (not sure since I crawled into myself and was saying my "I am a harmless bunny wabbit, no danger here mantra" I seem to think about in order to put out non predatory vibes when animals get way too close. I dunno what that is supposed to accomplish, jst telling it like it played out. Of course they know something ain't right and stutter step--knocking rocks around but staying close. This caused the big-ass bull I had finally seen and had drawn on to also stutter step briefly and away from the gap he was already entering and that I had ranged at 23-28 yards. The cows stayed on my side of the small/steep ravine so I cow called him and drew again as he hit 35 yards spot in partial cover and was coming. I ended up having to let down as he held up while using his apparently superior intellect to sort out how smart he was to be coming right in where the cows got jumpy. Letting down even when he was heavily ( I thought) screened from view seemed to bust him out and I lost that opportunity as he wandered up basin toward where the big 5 had headed a couple hours earlier.

I waited a bit, and heard the cows rejoin him up valley. Then I dogged them another mile, finally catching up to him and another 5-6 bulls bugling and a number of cows(at least twenty as it turns out). The big 5 had picked up some cows since I last saw him and was 150 yards out. A really cool and big bull that never grew thirds was 100 or so yards out. The big-ass perfect 6 point was 80 yards away, and another good 6 (that I posted the video of and that Oak said "I hope you woulda shot given a chance" was over near the big 5. All the cows I could see, along with 2 spikes, in this sparse PJ cover were well past my #1 bull that, again was at 80 yards. I was closing with a couple big Pinons giving me cover that could get me to 35-45 yards....

Then I hear what sounds like voices. Shaking that I off I keep moving and then hear these voices again. I look up ahead of me and to my right (the elk are directly ahead to the left of me) and there are two guys with blaze orange strapped on backpacking backpacks walking in the open and soon to be spotted by all these elk.. SHI%$%%#@$^!T!!! I whistle, and whistle again, and then hustle toward them a few steps and whistle once more flagging them and get their attention. I motion for them to STOP and get down. They come at me talking loudly. I do not hear their words as much as I hear crashing elk running for their life toward the monument. "Crud" and a few other words that roll easily off the tongue. End of stalk but the beginning of the nice video I have posted previously and the ones I am posting right now....

The really big 6 was with this large 5-point..Somebody tell me this 5-pt bull is not pushing 330+-inches and doing it the hard way...

Still photo from video camera

After yesterday's fiasco with the backpackers barging right through a final stalk on a whopper, I decided I would try that area again to see if I could get back on these bulls. About a mile before I got right to where the sun went down on me and the elk, I had all manner of bugling going on so dinked around till 9:30 or so trying to get a look at all the bulls. I did not see any of the "big 3" bulls so moved over toward where they were the night before. I run into the backpackers as the are now, finally, continuing their trip that will take them into the monument and out of my way.

I ask one of them if they had been hearing or seeing much and he said no. They had not hiked more than 500 yards and I see a couple small bulls and 6 cows bust out ahead of them. I sit and pull out the big glass while snacking and waiting for the midmorning lull to turn into the mid-day action I have been accustomed to seeing and hearing most every day. Sure enough I start to hear a few bugles about 11:30 and actually spot a brushed up bull in the shade but can not tell what size. End up losing sight of him and can not re-find him. Then I hear a bugle across a broad (1/2 mile) saddle in the PJ and not far at all from where the backpackers had walked earlier. This was also exactly the spot where I had video tapped the big 5 raking for the better part of an hour a couple hours prior to my botched stalk when he and the other bulls had moved very close to where I now sat. His bugle sounds very much like the big 5 pt so I decide to push in there and see what he looks like and what might develop. As I get closer, bugling a little to try to work him up enough to 'play' I hear what sounds like the big growling bull I almost arrow the day before, but he seems to be well down the draw and in a tough stalking position.

Keeping that growler in mind, I continue toward what might be the big 5. As I get closer he trades 'normal' bugles for screams. I follow his more agressive lead and throw screams at him, starting at 200 yards out. I keep quiet as he keeps screaming at me and get as close as I dare without solid position info and get set up and range the shooting lines I have. Then I let out a good scream. He fires up right on top of my call and I hear him moving in. I see him at 60 or so yards and looking to head into one of the two clear lanes I had ranged 20/30/40-yard spots in. Problem is I see he is not the big 5 but something else and smaller, but do not get a great look.

He ends up hanging up and raking trees at 60/70 yards and midway between the two clear shooting lanes I have. He screams a couple more times and I answer but he stays put. Wracking my pea brain for a solution to get him to come to me since I doubt I am going to head into the thicker cover with any sort of positive outcome.

I try elknuts "popping grunt" to no effect. Supposedly that says "Show yourself already".

I tried a nice elongated and estrus whine sort of call with my Carlton "Fightin' cow call". That starts him to running in. Situational decision time. What if he comes in and is well short of my goal in terms of size? I determine if I like him, he is dead--this has been an awesome stalk and just my style of hunt. We'll see.

So he hits the very open gap I have in front of me at a run and I am at full draw when he hits it. Just when I think he is going to run straight though the 20-yard-wide gap with no shot opp he parks, broadside, just a couple yards closer than my 40-yard ranged spot and keeps looking dead ahead. I study him with the eye not in the peep and then use both eyes to decide and make my decision, "OK this it, easy shot, good stalk, OK bull on 2nd to last afternoon, easy pack out...and let the arrow fly....

kc , what did the set you found score?

I heard him running for a ways along the rim of the ‘bowl’ just below the saddle I just stalked in along and then start going downhill. Downhill is good.

Then I hear a couple cows running to catch up with him. Guess they had hung back when he came in since I had not heard them till then. That is not good. Cows pushing/pulling a wounded bull down the trail is not what I wanted to see.

I shot him at 1:30 pm and wait 1.5 hours since the hit was not good, but he is mortally wounded. In that time I track the first 80 yards of a heavy blood trail on level ground—knowing I heard him running well past that distance and then down a steep drainage. I also scour the grass and shrubs for my arrow but never find it. I know I had a pass-through, at least partially, since most of the bleeding is coming from the exit-wound side and my arrow definitely passed completely through the entrance side.

When I take up the blood trail about 3pm it is easy to follow with lots of dark blood and really easy to distinguish tracks that tear up the ground every step. I really take my time despite the easy trail because I do not want to risk jumping him. After the first couple hundred yards there are tracks from a couple cow elk crisscrossing his tracks. Eventually those cow tracks seem to dwindle to a single cow running with him. He reached the bottom of the draw and heads along a much flatter draw for a good ways.

At this point I keep thinking surely he will bed down or simply keel over. There is no water for miles the direction he is headed. He keeps heading in a straight line along the drainage and I am starting to lose light. I trailed him for a ways further with a headlamp but start having trouble keeping the track since the blood on the ground is much less and the only blood I found recently was smears on tall sage brush. All along the way he was barreling through the middle of tall sage bushes and busting them up rather than making any effort to navigate around them.

Perhaps a mistake but I decide to leave the trail till morning since I cannot see much with a headlamp and am also worried I misjudged the hit and he maybe be bedded nearby and I will make him bolt, if he is bedded.

The next morning, and with a couple great recruits in tow (one of whom was the rifle hunter I assisted the other day and who killed the bull I arrowed and lost; the other who helped me fix 2 flats on my truck at 5 am befoer I could get back on this bull), we take up the trail. Able to drive within a couple hundred yards of the last blood. We make short work of the tracking and find my bull!

It looked like he ran right up until he fell over just inside the first patch of PJ trees he encountered after a long run through sage. No bed or blood pool and no evidence of any struggle where he expired. I would guess he died within an hour of when I shot him based on the fact his tracks showed him to be running almost nonstop.

I am bummed that I was so close to finding him the day before. Maybe if I had thought about it more clearly I would have simply projected a straight line in to the pinons and at least looked/smelled for him in there—I did think he would die that day but was perplexed at the long distance 1+ mile he ran without bedding down so was worried about bumping him in the dark.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to many folks who were great about sharing their knowledge of the unit as I prepared for the hunt. I probably called, e-mailed and generally harrassed 20 people after I drew the tag...many of those folks were very forthcoming and supportive.

Ok photos….no not a monster by any stretch but I am totally satisfied with this bull and the hunt and what I put into it (20 solo hunting days and 12 scouting days) to make it the best I have been on--except I am sick about how poorly I shot when it mattered most. Not sure what went wrong but something to work on.

Mike Hood (Predator Camo)

This is Wanda Walker and her daughter Dawn with me and my bull in front of their cabin. They have an incredible ranch property on the west edge of the unit and live in a turn of the century cabin for half the year that has no electricity and with gravity-fed spring water supply. Picture is in front of their cabin.

Wanda is 85 years young and still saddles up and rides the range pushing cattle and mending fence. I just hope to be upright at 85 much less be as tough as this gal.

You did the right thing backing out.