# North Cache Bull Down!



## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

I just sunk an arrow into a bull up on the North Cache. I'll get a story written and photographs later. Right now I need to get a lesson plan together and a substitute teacher for tomorrow. I'm too excited to think straight! :lol:


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

Sweet Teach!! It's bigger then a spike right?? Can't wait to hear the story and see the pictures. Forget about planning the lesson, and post the pictures :!:


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## goforbroke (Jan 4, 2009)

congrats, waiting for pics.


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

> It's bigger then a spike right??


 :lol: Yep. He's definitely much bigger than a spike.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Sweet! Can't wait for the story.


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Sooooo! Where's the pics? Lets have a look. o-||


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

congrats. cant wait to read the story and see the pic.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Yeah BD! Nice job!

Can't wait to see photos and read the story.


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## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

awesome possum!!! Picture time!!!


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## bullsnot (Aug 10, 2010)

After following your "broken man" thread that's great news. If it's possible to "earn" a bull it sounds like you've done it!


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Need any help getting him out?


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

waiting on the pics


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## muleymadness (Jan 23, 2008)

Congrats, what do you teach and where?


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

Congrats but I need some pics to prove this story correct!!! Nice job!


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

silentstalker said:


> Congrats but I need some pics to prove this story correct!!! Nice job!


This guy does tell a lot of stories :mrgreen:


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

*()* Wooot! THAT is great news! Glad to hear it BD! Can't wait for the write up :lol:


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

Patience, Relief Society. Maybe some of you girls haven't hauled an elk off of a mountain on your back lately.  I just learned that it takes me from about 8:30 AM until about 10:00 PM. OK, so maybe you guys are manly men who simply cut and carry much quicker than I can...Whatever, I can take it. 


> Can't wait for the write up :lol:


Thanks, Briar Patch. A dead animal photo is just a dead animal photo. Blah! It's the story that matters.


> This guy does tell a lot of stories


You little punk! I'm a writer. It's what I do. See if you believe this story: it's not too late for me to change your academic record!  


> Congrats, what do you teach and where?


Thanks. I teach language arts in Bear country...As in the Bear River Bears.


> Need any help getting him out?


svmoose, you are my new favorite person. Thank you so much for that offer! Sadly, no, I don't need any help anymore.

Look, it's late. It's almost midnight and I have to teach an excellent lesson tomorrow. I simply don't have time to tell the story properly. Some of you don't care. You just want to see dead things. I call this artwork, _Dead Thing in the Dirt_:


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

BD you are not only a fine writer, but a producer of exquisite art worthy of the Louvre! Well done! :mrgreen:


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Excellent! I will try to be patient with the story.  o-|| :O•-: :O•-: :O•-:


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

bullsnot said:


> After following your "broken man" thread that's great news. If it's possible to "earn" a bull it sounds like you've done it!


+1 !!! I like that 'broken man' story... 

Good job BirdDogger !!


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## idiot with a bow (Sep 10, 2007)

I'm gonna go ahead and put a deadline on when the story is due. I would like to be able to read it tonight. It should be single spaced and at least 4000 words. Please include a bibliography and make sure it is proofread by at least two of your peers. Thank you...


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Birddogger, I'd love to come and help you haul it out. Mostly so the story can be posted and all of us could sleep a little better. Beer hauled in, Elk and empties hauled out.


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

> This guy does tell a lot of stories





> You little punk! I'm a writer. It's what I do. See if you believe this story: it's not too late for me to change your academic record!


Ur Knid funny guy, taht langage arts u taguht me hepled me out a lot Thnaks for hlpeing me wtih my speliling and gramma!!

And the wait continues......


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## Size Matters (Dec 22, 2007)

o-||


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

With apologies to Idiot With a Bow, you're getting the 1,000 word version of this story. I have too much to get done tonight to do much else. I've got Bird Camp tomorrow and I'm soooo ready to be finished with big game.
I got the one look at a really nice bull early in the hunt. I mentioned that in the Broken Man thread. Then I went 17 hunting trips without seeing a bull elk. I was discouraged, beaten down, and my spirit really was broken. It got to the point where I was sick of hunting elk. I said I didn't care one way or the other anymore, but something kept driving me to continue hunting each day. It was like my personal battle against Mother Nature. The conflict seemed to dominate my spirit, but I felt like I'd be a quitter if I stopped hunting. No, I was going to continue this fight until the end.
Then I saw a bull. Then another. Then another. 3 bulls in one day! Two people advised me to hunt the same area, one from this forum and a father of one of my students. I had some bad luck and blew a stalk on a decent 6 point bull earlier this week. He was 50 yards or so broadside. His vitals were covered up by a tree trunk. I had a great look at his hind 1/3 and his neck and head. The bad part is he was alert to my presence. Instead of taking the needed one or two steps out from behind the tree, the bull bolted uphill and I was left looking at his backside. Later that same evening I had another bull come in and use a wallow with a bunch of cows and calves. I never did get a good look at his body because he was hidden behind a cow. I did a dumb thing and blew a challenge bugle from 40 yards. The herd took off and he followed. Later that night I called in a spike by doing some more subtle cow calling. He was one of only two bulls I called in during the entire hunt. I promised not to reveal the area so I will hold true to that promise. Please don't ask.

I had a feeling that Tuesday would be the day if there ever was one. I knew where some bulls lived, it was cool and rainy weather, and the rut was finally beginning on the North Cache. Small problem- when I started loading the SUV after work to go hunting, my wife announced that she needed the extra space to haul some young women around on a church activity. Aaaargh! I needed 4-wheel drive or a 4-wheeler, but I got stuck in a little passenger car. I would not be hunting where I had seen the bulls. 
I wound up parking right off the highway in Logan Canyon. I took off on a random trail that wanders up from the road. I hadn't traveled a quarter of a mile when I saw a lone cow feeding on a hillside maybe 800 yards ahead of me. I figured there must be more elk somewhere close by so I made a stalk. I followed fairly closely behind some cattle as I hiked the trail. I thought maybe the elk wouldn't pay attention to me if I was mixed in with the cows. The strategy worked. I was able to reach the bottom of the clearing without being detected. 
At 5:30 I was within 200 yards of elk. At 7:30 I was within 40 yards of elk. I had made a painstakingly slow stalk up the hill. I had only one or at most two days left to hunt. I had to make the most of this chance. I wound up having to come in from the top side to play the wind right, so I hiked beyond the elk and came in from downwind. 
I was moving in on where I knew the cow had been when I heard the unmistakable grunt of a bull elk. He was above me. I had to back out, climb another 75 yards up the hill, then back across the meadow. The terrain dropped off steep at the edge of the meadow. Suddenly a quakey in the ravine started violently shaking back and forth. The bull had just provided a zero point. 
The final stalk was easy. The bull was raking his head against the tree so I moved in on him quickly while he was occupied and couldn't hear me. When I looked down into the ravine I saw a beautiful bull, just gorgeous and huge. He was in a thicket and I didn't have a shot. As I was standing there in the meadow pondering my next move, I heard a sound from just above me. I looked up the hill and there was a smaller 6 point just 35 yards away. There was nothing between us but oxygen and nitrogen. I had no bush to hide behind, no tree to take cover behind, nothing. I was flat busted! Then I thought, "Why not?" I turned and put an arrow right behind his front shoulder. I didn't get a complete pass through, but I could see only fletchings and a few inches of arrow on the outside of the bull as he ran up the hill. The rest was buried inside him. 
Pandemonium broke loose. Elk were running everywhere! I cow called with a reed and chuckled with a Carlton's squeeze style call as I watched my bull run up the hill through my binoculars. Guess which elk came back to see who was chuckling? That's right, I could have taken Mr. Big at 20 yards. How could I have predicted that, though? Oh well...

I have so many people to thank for help. Thank you to all the members of this forum for your helpful advice. Huntall deserves a special thanks because he took half of a day to come up and help me track the bull. He brought along some extremely talented female friends. They were some of those exotic bearded females that are all the rage in Europe. I am indebted. I owe my wife about as much as a man can. She did everything to allow me to hunt every single day of the 2010 elk hunt. She cared for the kids and took care of everything at home, including my dogs. That marvelous woman even stained the deck and sanded and painted the porch railing while I was out hunting. She is the glue who holds our family together and I am truly not worthy of her. Last of all I'd like to thank my Lord and God for His creations. I have seen more of His majesty in the past three months than perhaps in all my life previous. I know different people believe different things. I believe in divine creation, that I am a part of something much larger than what I can possibly comprehend. I believe that these creations were placed on Earth for mankind's use, benefit, and enjoyment. Again, I am indebted.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Magnificent story, all 1,200 words!!

Thanks for sharing.

Bearded females? We had those in Evanston during the oil boom.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

That was an awesome story! If we only had pics. But, from Broken Man to this the contrast is wonderful! Congratulations on a fine bull (even tho we haven't seen pictures)! You deserve it man! Keep teaching those BR kids, they need it! My wife graduated from BR and I have nephews and nieces who have been there (one left) also. Great Job!


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

Well I'll be darned, that little passenger car was a blessing in disguise! :O||: I'll bet you were thinking bad things about that little car, I'll bet you don't think 'em anymore! 
Just think how much more work Mr. Big woulda been to pack outa there, the one you shot was workout enough, no?
I'm glad your efforts were rewarded! :-|O|-:


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

Nice bull, better story!


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## castnblast (Jan 15, 2009)

Congratulations!

Excellent story as well. I could feel my heart rate increase just sitting here reading it. Yours must have been about to jump out of your chest.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Very nice, congrats! 
Are you sure that she did the staining and not her man friend as you have been out so much? j/k


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## stillhunterman (Feb 15, 2009)

Well done and great story! I had a feeling though you were feeling "broken", you would find the will to get the job done!


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Way to stick with it dogger......


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

OK, now that we had some positive reflection on this hunt let’s get down to what really happened. The truth is that I was dumber than crap to make this post before I had recovered my elk. I put two feet of arrow into that bull’s chest and he still ran a country mile. I was so stupid or naïve. I shot him right before dark. There was a blood trail. I thought I’d just walk right to him first thing in the morning. Nope. Didn’t happen. I wound up searching all day long. It became apparent that I wouldn’t find the elk without help. 
I won’t say that blood tracking dogs were brought in to recover my lost elk. I will say that two drahthaars and a wirehaired pointing griffon hunted for grouse in Logan Canyon in an area inhabited by both elk and grouse. I am now the biggest proponent you will meet for allowing canine help in the recovery of shot animals. While leashed and searching for “grouse”, all three dogs became extremely interested in running the same line of scent that ran parallel to the hill for what seemed like eternity. 
My elk meat is stinky and spoiled. I know people want more photos. Too dang bad. I am absolutely sickened by the way this hunt turned out. I won’t stop for pictures of myself next to a rotting animal. My only desperate thought was to save the meat if I could. Too late. I took the life of one of God’s creatures, for what? Antlers? That’s not me and that’s not who I am. Once again, let me restate my beliefs:
I believe that animals are here on Earth for use and benefit of mankind. We can’t use antlers to feed anything but our pride. 
This hunt has been the most bittersweet experience that ever happened to me. I experienced weariness, hunger, thirst, despair, fear, loss of confidence in my abilities, etc. I showed determination to conquer all the demons and my never-say-die attitude toward the hunt finally paid off with an experience I’ve never had: killing a branch antlered bull with a bow. I’ve killed a few spikes over the years, but this was a first. I was beyond happy, elated or something. I couldn’t wait to tell others what I had done so I called friends and family. I posted on the Internet for all the world to see the moment I got home. I became prideful and boasted of my “accomplishment”. 
Pride always gets us in the end, doesn’t it? Mine came back to haunt me big time. I am no longer proud of this kill. I’m ashamed. I’ll live with this for the rest of my life. It’s the first time I haven’t recovered an animal in time to use the meat to feed my family. 
…So that’s the way this story ends, folks. I know some of you followed my hunt from the beginning. I am so thankful to those of you who supported me with your kind words, encouragement, and advice. Hopefully I was able to write the stories in a way that interested you and helped you escape into reading. I teach reading for a living because I believe it’s one of the most important skills a person can have. I’ve learned a lot about who I am and what I’m made of on this hunt. All is not lost.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

Don't be so hard on yourself. Stuff like that happens every once in a while, even to the best of us. Even with a good hit, those tough suckers can go a long ways, and once that blood dries up or quits running fast, they can be tough to find. I have lost one animal myself. I still feel sick about it. The animal was seen several days later and was getting along pretty good. Don't let it keep you from getting out there and doing it again.


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## RedNeck (Jan 6, 2010)

One minute im happy for you the next i have a tear in my eye and a lump in my throught. Keep your spirits up. It happens to a lot of HUNTERS and might not be your last loss. You seem to have a lot of passion for the hunt let that be what drives you and not your loss.


Great story though


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## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

svmoose said:


> Don't be so hard on yourself..... Don't let it keep you from getting out there and doing it again.


+1

You worked your fanny off to get a chance at an elk, you finally got one. Given what you've been through on this hunt, who wouldn't have taken that shot? I think most everyone would have taken it!
What if that bull would've dropped in his tracks? - Everything woulda been roses!
What if you'd been able to find him first thing the following morning? - Everything woulda been roses!
Oh, wouldn't it have been nice to pull a crystal ball outa your pack and see that you wouldn't be able to locate it until late the next day? Heck yeah! 
Shame on you for not checkin out your crystal ball and preventing this tragedy! :roll:

All ya can do is give it your best effort. It certainly sounds to me like you did. Nothing to be ashamed about there BD.

BTW - It's my understanding that a potent aphrodisiac can be made from the antlers! *()* All is not lost afterall! *(())*


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Too bad on the recovery. It sounds like you did everything right and it just didn't work out. We can all learn a lot by good and bad experiences. They are all a learning tool.
Thanks for the story.


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## TopofUtahArcher (Sep 9, 2009)

Agreed. I have been in your shoes bro! Not a fun ending, but something to learn and grow from...maybe even sunday school material if properly presented  I am sorry I didn't know about your search or I'd have gladly closed shop and come to help track... that is one of my better traits, following blood that is.


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