Here we go... To even start, I have to give as much possible credit and thanks as I can to my best buddy James Yates . James spent money, emotions, time, and sacrificed so much to be there with me on this adventure. I absolutely and honestly could not have done it without him. James is a mountain beast and a great man. We saw tons of amazing bulls, more than I ever have in my life. They yelled their heads off day in and day out. But nothing would come in, kind of. Had a 20 yard shot on a 5x6 morning number 2 that we passed. James had another huge bull come into him at 30 yards when I wasnt there after another bull. Either way, there was some bad moves on our part as novice hunters, but there were a lot of great ones. We worked so hard trying to play the wind right, that more often than not gave us up. We tried to cut them off since they werent coming into calls, just a little too early in the rut. Ill post video later of the screaming bulls. So last morning before we pack up and go. We get busted by the wind again on the 2nd biggest bull of the trip at under 60 yards. So our last ditch effort is to drop all of our gear. Hurry all the way down the mountain and get the wind in our favor and work back up. Well, the calling finally worked and a bull came in. A screaming furious 5x5 that was a beast. I got my shooting lane wrong as he approached and he stopped 15 yards from me and yelled at James sensual cow calls. It was the scene Id hoped Id witness before the trip began, it was truly an awesome sight. That close up unfortunately didnt work. At this point, with many many failures, James and I were really in the dumps, feeling truly defeated. As this bull came in, another was yelling uphill with his harem in check. He took his ladies and headed uphill away from the drama into the pines. James and I worked up towards him, not expecting an opportunity, but making the most of our trek back to our backpacks. As we headed uphill, just down in the dumps, we heard this bull raking a tree. Shortly after, 2 bugles, right next to each other and within seconds of each other. A battle was about to go down. The crashing of antler on antler proceeded but didnt last long. We kept sneaking through the timber from where the ruckus took place. As we walked, James would let out an occasional cow call. Walking up I caught some tan movement through small slivers of view in the trees. I made the motion to James that I had a visual. James moved back downhill slightly and behind some deadfall and proceeded to call. I had my binos up as this happened and I watched as James called and saw this bull take his nose away from the rear of a cow and casually turn towards the sound and start to head downhill. In a straight line from the bull to James I was off to the side about 10 yards. It was coming together. I was waiting for the right time to draw back but there wasnt a big tree for him to cross behind. As he came down very laid back I could him hear breathing, it was amazing. As he got parallel to me he stopped! I was just about to draw as there was a small pine between us and wanted to shoot him quartered away as he walked past me. He knew something wasnt right. I tried to not even breathe loud. I dont know if he saw me, smelled me, or just had that 6th sense kicked in. He just stood there at 10 yards. And then immediately he spun around and bolted uphill. As quickly and without hesitation I drew and shot as he bolted uphill and hit him at about 15-18 yards. I immediately saw blood and knew my arrow buried deep and within 40 yards he was walking. I lost sight of him through the timber. As James came walking up I said I think it was a kill shot. We started quietly talking about the scene. After about 30 minutes we got up and followed the blood trail, or what there was of it. It wasnt good. Drops here and there. I was thinking this couldnt be happening. As we were about 40 yards up the blood trail, we saw him, on the ground. He didnt go but about 80 yards. HOLY SMOKES!!! We had such incredible joy and elation at that moment knowing that after all the failures and opportunities, and at the very very last moment, it all happened! Typing this now even gets me worked up re-living it in my head. Now that work was ahead. We were far from our packs. We went back to them, unloaded everything but cameras and knives and game bags. We got back to the bull and for you that have killed a bull in the backcountry knew what was next. 2 absolutely grueling and loaded down trips back to the 4 wheeler and a total of about 9.5 hours from the time the bull went down we were finally all back at camp. We made quick work of camp and packed in the last thing just as the skies opened up and the rain came down. What that bull means to me it something more than the score and the meat. The absolute preparation and suffering and reward from everything included is just incredible. What a difficult and joyous adventure. That was absolutely everything I could have hoped for, and everything I didnt know was possible.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 21:13:01 +0000
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