Good luck, Robb
ElkNut/Paul
It’s raining hard now and this afternoon it’s looking to be a soaker with some booms and bolts. Tomorrow the temps drop significantly and maybe some of these boys will paying attention in English class (ha just kidding - kind of)... no shot opps yet but soon. My sons putting some miles on the boots and we thankful to be out here in the Gila.
ElkNut/Paul
ElkNut/Paul
Looking forward to hearing the story!
G
Fast forward to opening morning - we get off the quad and immediately hear a hunter bugle to our right ( really?!?) - So we move into the wind to our left in the dark - chilly this morning, has to be in the mid 30's. After a few hundred yards in the dark, we stop, we can see it start getting light, we let out a bugle and three bulls erupt around us :-). Two in one direction one in the other - we set up in the direction of the two bulls and the other bulls sneaks in behind us - I can hear him walking and so can my boy. Unfortunately we are posted up on a log over my pack looking the wrong direction. With the bull so close, I decide not to swing around and the bull comes to 35 yards behind us, rips a bugle, stands there for about another min, and turns back the way he came. I never saw his head gear just his body ( it was still a little dark and he was in the oak brush)... My boys first experience with a bugle/elk.
We chase a few more bugles that morning but about 8:30am they shut up and we run into a few other hunters. We decide to go to a different area in the evening to get away from the pressure but we don't find any elk.
Second day we went to a new area and heard a bugle right away (still dark in the am). We try and locate that bull but never do and the morning is pretty much a bust. We did find a nice elk shed that is now resting on our bar. For the evening hunt we snuck up on a spike but never heard a bull. Later that night, back at the hotel, we ran into a kid and his dad who shot a really nice 7x6 ( main beam on the right was broke after the sword) - still a massively heavy trophy. They told us where we shot the bull and we headed up there the am of the 3rd morning....
It was super cold on the morning of the 8th, foggy and quiet. It had rained the night before the storm was out of Alaska. We didn't hear one bugle in the morning but by 11:00am we cut a bull track across our tires tracks from earlier that morning... We get out and follow the tracks and soon enough, spot a bull bedded across the drainage. My boy got to 220 yards of this bull ( a nice 330-340" 7x6), finger on the trigger, crosshairs on the bull, but we needed one more second to make it happen and he followed his cow out of the shooting lane. My son wanted to shoot as he turned and followed his cow but I held him off ( thinking we would catch back up to him - which did not happen)...
Later that day, we moved to a new area and we glassed up that bull my son shot. The bull bedded and was facing us at about 120 yards. My son got on the sticks and broke his neck, and his shoulder. He blew up out of his bedded and made it about 20 yards. The rest is all smiles and one punched tag.
Special thanks to - Splitlimb13 - for all his help on this hunt.
