Our Colorado BULLS!! - 09/20/12
{just thought I would share the same story I sent to friends and fam, super long but I hope u enjoy. Kinda hard to make a 9 day hunt into a short story but, I tried)
Our 9 Day DIY "Backpack Hunt" is one that will be tough to beat. I will try and let the picks do the talking with a semi short read.....
Things started off great! Not only did we get packed ALL the way in this year, we had a bull greet us with a bugle as soon as the horses stopped at our spot. Talk about putting a smile on our face, we were PUMPED!
The First morning i sat a deep drainage right outside of camp that held some water in spots, the plan was for me to acclimate and just take it easy the first day while my buddy, who lives in Denver chased a few bugles. Well that didn't last long, around 9am I spotted a Bull come in for a quick drink down the way and then quickly make his way back up and over the opposite side of the drainage towards my buddy. Not long after that i hear BOOM and then 15 minutes later another BOOM! I assumed he had just finished him off and started sneaking my way over towards him, wrong! Upon topping the other side of the drainage i see my buddy and he is in tracking mode so i freeze. He workes his way up to me and we talked about the shots and quickly realized that we could here the bull double lung dying merely 30 yards from us. We froze until we saw his horns tip over and then the celebrations began.....AN OPENING DAY KILL and the pressure was off, or was it
We hunted that spot for another day and half hearing a few bugles but with no real luck. We then moved 2 miles to take up shelter in our Packers vacant wall tents to help fend of the Bears that kept breaking into the vacant camp. What a difference it makes being able to stand up in your tent, sleep on cots, sit at a table, fire up the lantern and have a 3 gallon auto drip water filter. Didn't cost us a dime as we were helping each other out sorta speak. Its amazing the relationships you can build in such very short times. They were so good to us in many many ways.
The next 4 days we put on some miles still hunting and trying to learn the new area as quick as possible chasing bulls, we had 2 pretty close encounters that just didn't pan out.
Day 7 was a hunt i will never forget, it started with us climbing for an hour and half going 2 miles to get to a spot were had glassed bulls earlier in the week. Still hunting our way in we heard a Bull bugling up on Aspen flat and the chase was on. The wind was still coming down the Mountain so we went straight at him Bugling every so often to keep him talking in order to keep a bead on him.
We got within 100Yards and the Aspen quickly turned to thick head high brush, so i dropped my pack with my buddy and started slowly working my way up to him. I got within 50 yards and still couldn't see him. I could hear him thrashing a tree as he was ticked off thinking we were another bull coming up to challenge him. I belly crawled another 10 yards and stood but still couldn't see him. So, i grabbed my bugle, turned it towards him and screamed in his face as loud as possible, he quickly returned fire and i took another deep breath and cut him off with another loud aggressive bugle followed by some deep chuckles. That did it and here he came, no raking the tree this time.....he was coming to kick butt! He ended up coming down a trail 20 yards to my left and all i could make out was his head and dark fronts with ivory tips. It was WAY to thick for a good shot and after standing there for what seemed like 5 minutes he huffed a few times and returned to his bed. I bugled a few more times with no response. What an encounter....but, it was over.
Day 8 saw us right back in the same area hoping to get the big boy fired up again with no luck. So, we continued up the Mountain, still hunting another 2 miles in. It was a slow morning with not a bugle one to chase. At 11:30 we found a shady spot to kill the mid day lull, rest our feet and eat some lunch. At noon a familiar bugle sounded off a half mile up the mountain in a little drainage. We quickly put our boots on, gathered our packs and the mid day chase was on. We circled on him to get the wind right, i dropped my pack and bugled my way in again. After closing the distance to 100yards or so i tried the double bugle trick again and he went silent on me. That pretty much assured me that this was the same bull from the day before and he wasn't going to play the same game twice. Figuring that we hadn't bumped him out we just backed out and sat for the next 5 hours.
The plan was to sit silent and wait him out until he got up from his bed, to either get a shot or chase him while he was mobile. At 620 he sounded off with a massive bugle and choking chuckles. I knew it was go time so left our resting spot and took my pack to a rock that i had picked out and made a steady rest. The cows started talking and coming off the bed, with big boy bugling and in tow. I sat silent praying they would lead him to the clearing we had been waiting so patiently in. Then the cows starting coming out on the far end. After 5 cows passed the Bull suddenly appeared, it was HIM!! He looked to be the size of a fox squirrel at 150 yards through my open sights but, i had practiced that shot and remembered what my buddy had told me, "clear the mechanism, its just a target". After stopping him with a cow call I settled the ghost ring and let the Knight Mz rip. The Bull turned away following his cows seemingly unaffected, so i ran back for my buddies gun in hopes of another shot. As i sat with the bead on him praying for the Bull to turn, he suddenly dumped over backwards!!
The celebration and man hugs began followed by a serious calming, thinking it may not be true. Did that just happen, did he fall, was he dead?? We almost completely tricked ourselves out of what had just happened. We waited what seemed like 30 minutes before creeping over to where the Bull was standing and instantly saw blood, lots of blood!! We slowly followed the blood over a small rise and the Bull jumped up running like crazy!! I quickly grabbed my bugle and let out 2 loud screams hoping to calm him from running out of my dreams forever.
We were deflated, how could we be so impatient after hunting hard for 8 days and waiting this bull out for 5 hours only to jump him after the shot. The plan was made to creep out and come back in the morning when we started hearing the same lung dying sounds as we heard from my buddies Bull. We started glassing the bottom and saw him merely 50 yards away facing the opposite direction. I slowly crept up and stood on a rock 25 yards away waiting for the massive animal to die. After a few minutes i decided to put him down for good and slammed another 250gr Thor through both shoulders. The bull stood straight up out of his death bed and then fell to his knees. He was MINE!!
I owe a BIG part of this Bull to my hunting buddy as he had tagged his Bull the first day and with only a bear tag left in his pocket he still chose to hit every one of the 45 Mountain miles it took the last 5 days of the hunt to make this all happen. Its hard to find a buddy like that and i will never forget. Thanks Bro!!
Buddy's 5x5
![[Linked Image]](http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt%2020_zps9cbc0ab9.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt-1_zps5a402d1b.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/colorado%20hunt%202012%20(18)_zps6daadeaa.jpg)
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My 6x6
[img]http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt-9_zpsc2a5e379.jpg [/img]
[img]http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt%202012-1_zps9f9a5156.jpg [/img]
[img]http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt-11_zps67253a6f.jpg [/img]
[img]http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i360/hpfree/elk%20hunt%2020%20(2)_zpsef2d69c7.jpg[/img]
Our 9 Day DIY "Backpack Hunt" is one that will be tough to beat. I will try and let the picks do the talking with a semi short read.....
Things started off great! Not only did we get packed ALL the way in this year, we had a bull greet us with a bugle as soon as the horses stopped at our spot. Talk about putting a smile on our face, we were PUMPED!
The First morning i sat a deep drainage right outside of camp that held some water in spots, the plan was for me to acclimate and just take it easy the first day while my buddy, who lives in Denver chased a few bugles. Well that didn't last long, around 9am I spotted a Bull come in for a quick drink down the way and then quickly make his way back up and over the opposite side of the drainage towards my buddy. Not long after that i hear BOOM and then 15 minutes later another BOOM! I assumed he had just finished him off and started sneaking my way over towards him, wrong! Upon topping the other side of the drainage i see my buddy and he is in tracking mode so i freeze. He workes his way up to me and we talked about the shots and quickly realized that we could here the bull double lung dying merely 30 yards from us. We froze until we saw his horns tip over and then the celebrations began.....AN OPENING DAY KILL and the pressure was off, or was it
We hunted that spot for another day and half hearing a few bugles but with no real luck. We then moved 2 miles to take up shelter in our Packers vacant wall tents to help fend of the Bears that kept breaking into the vacant camp. What a difference it makes being able to stand up in your tent, sleep on cots, sit at a table, fire up the lantern and have a 3 gallon auto drip water filter. Didn't cost us a dime as we were helping each other out sorta speak. Its amazing the relationships you can build in such very short times. They were so good to us in many many ways.
The next 4 days we put on some miles still hunting and trying to learn the new area as quick as possible chasing bulls, we had 2 pretty close encounters that just didn't pan out.
Day 7 was a hunt i will never forget, it started with us climbing for an hour and half going 2 miles to get to a spot were had glassed bulls earlier in the week. Still hunting our way in we heard a Bull bugling up on Aspen flat and the chase was on. The wind was still coming down the Mountain so we went straight at him Bugling every so often to keep him talking in order to keep a bead on him.
We got within 100Yards and the Aspen quickly turned to thick head high brush, so i dropped my pack with my buddy and started slowly working my way up to him. I got within 50 yards and still couldn't see him. I could hear him thrashing a tree as he was ticked off thinking we were another bull coming up to challenge him. I belly crawled another 10 yards and stood but still couldn't see him. So, i grabbed my bugle, turned it towards him and screamed in his face as loud as possible, he quickly returned fire and i took another deep breath and cut him off with another loud aggressive bugle followed by some deep chuckles. That did it and here he came, no raking the tree this time.....he was coming to kick butt! He ended up coming down a trail 20 yards to my left and all i could make out was his head and dark fronts with ivory tips. It was WAY to thick for a good shot and after standing there for what seemed like 5 minutes he huffed a few times and returned to his bed. I bugled a few more times with no response. What an encounter....but, it was over.
Day 8 saw us right back in the same area hoping to get the big boy fired up again with no luck. So, we continued up the Mountain, still hunting another 2 miles in. It was a slow morning with not a bugle one to chase. At 11:30 we found a shady spot to kill the mid day lull, rest our feet and eat some lunch. At noon a familiar bugle sounded off a half mile up the mountain in a little drainage. We quickly put our boots on, gathered our packs and the mid day chase was on. We circled on him to get the wind right, i dropped my pack and bugled my way in again. After closing the distance to 100yards or so i tried the double bugle trick again and he went silent on me. That pretty much assured me that this was the same bull from the day before and he wasn't going to play the same game twice. Figuring that we hadn't bumped him out we just backed out and sat for the next 5 hours.
The plan was to sit silent and wait him out until he got up from his bed, to either get a shot or chase him while he was mobile. At 620 he sounded off with a massive bugle and choking chuckles. I knew it was go time so left our resting spot and took my pack to a rock that i had picked out and made a steady rest. The cows started talking and coming off the bed, with big boy bugling and in tow. I sat silent praying they would lead him to the clearing we had been waiting so patiently in. Then the cows starting coming out on the far end. After 5 cows passed the Bull suddenly appeared, it was HIM!! He looked to be the size of a fox squirrel at 150 yards through my open sights but, i had practiced that shot and remembered what my buddy had told me, "clear the mechanism, its just a target". After stopping him with a cow call I settled the ghost ring and let the Knight Mz rip. The Bull turned away following his cows seemingly unaffected, so i ran back for my buddies gun in hopes of another shot. As i sat with the bead on him praying for the Bull to turn, he suddenly dumped over backwards!!
The celebration and man hugs began followed by a serious calming, thinking it may not be true. Did that just happen, did he fall, was he dead?? We almost completely tricked ourselves out of what had just happened. We waited what seemed like 30 minutes before creeping over to where the Bull was standing and instantly saw blood, lots of blood!! We slowly followed the blood over a small rise and the Bull jumped up running like crazy!! I quickly grabbed my bugle and let out 2 loud screams hoping to calm him from running out of my dreams forever.
We were deflated, how could we be so impatient after hunting hard for 8 days and waiting this bull out for 5 hours only to jump him after the shot. The plan was made to creep out and come back in the morning when we started hearing the same lung dying sounds as we heard from my buddies Bull. We started glassing the bottom and saw him merely 50 yards away facing the opposite direction. I slowly crept up and stood on a rock 25 yards away waiting for the massive animal to die. After a few minutes i decided to put him down for good and slammed another 250gr Thor through both shoulders. The bull stood straight up out of his death bed and then fell to his knees. He was MINE!!
I owe a BIG part of this Bull to my hunting buddy as he had tagged his Bull the first day and with only a bear tag left in his pocket he still chose to hit every one of the 45 Mountain miles it took the last 5 days of the hunt to make this all happen. Its hard to find a buddy like that and i will never forget. Thanks Bro!!
Buddy's 5x5
My 6x6
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