Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Montana Bow Bull...2015

A look at the bull I hunted for nine days, through the spotting scope. I found him the day after opening day, and for the next week and a half, I didn't get much sleep....He had quite a bunch of cows he was tending, so I knew it would be almost impossible to lure him away from them by calling. I chose to put all my effort into ambushing him. For the next three days, the wind didn't cooperate, and allow me to get in close, much less pick a good crossing to wait by. Over the years through trial and error, I've found by not pushing a hasty, risky move and take a chance of blowing them out, if you have the time, wait until the conditions are in your favor before getting aggressive. The morning ritual for this bull was coming off the heavy timber in the dark, feeding until daylight, then heading back into the timber for the day. Of course he was following his harem, led by a lead cow that has an IQ higher than mine. Never one time did they leave in the morning and use the same trail.


From about 400 yards on day one. You can see why I didn't get much sleep! I had spotted this bull last year, about two miles from this area. I had some through the spotter pictures of him, and was sure it was the same bull. He had grown a lot....really a lot.

What a toad, public land bull?? if so that makes him even more special. Is that a road I see in the first pic??

Good luck with him

DANG!!!

TEASE!

Keep going! Need the story!

No such thing as a bad day of hunting they say, but sometimes frustration can take a toll. I hunted with the recurve the first three days. I still had been no closer than 125 yards from him, but I knew it would take an extra dose of luck to pull this off with the trad gear, so I took up my friends offer to use his Hoyt. I've got an older Matthews LX that I shot for a few years, but the advances in the newer bows now is pretty amazing. It all came back pretty quick, and with a few tweaks to the sight, I was clustering shots into a 6" circle at 50 yards.

My confidence went up another notch. I was not giving in.

Good stuff.

I haven't slept well since the pics.

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I picked the right stand on this morning, and was offered a 44 yard shot. As I saw him approach, I remember saying to myself, "This is going to happen"....amazingly I was very calm during the whole process. That is until after the shot. He went out of view after going about 100 yards, so I sat and waited for half an hour before following him up. The most nerve racking 30 minutes of my life. He didn't go far.

Even after seeing this bull every day for over a week, he ended up being larger than I thought. The length, and depth of his body was hard to describe. As I sat there admiring him, thoughts bittersweet came out....

Terrific bull! You surely earned him. Was wondering when you would get around to putting up a picture...

Amazing bull, Pat!

Couldn't happen to a better guy!

Great bull, great story! Congrats!

Good lord! Congrats!

biggest 3rd point i ever seen, score, my guess 412

Amazing animal.

Congrats.

Congratulations, Pat!!

Congratulations on a super bull! I don't even dream that big. Well done.

Great pics as well.

Good call! You're right in the ballpark! Closer score call than I made all the times I saw him during the hunt.

On my shipping scale the rack and skull weighs over 50 pounds.



Left beam is 56 1/2", right is 55".
Mass, 11 1/8", 8 3/8", 7 6/8", 7 0/8", with only 5/8" difference side to side.

Just WOW

Congrats

Congrats Pat!! Toad of a bull Sir....

I had a PM about half typed out this AM when my phone glitched. I think you just answered my questions!!....grin...