# Mystery bull!



## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

The story goes: hunter shot this bull in 2012 on the archery hunt on the fish lake unit.....hunter loses bull and can't find bull....hunter goes back a year later and finds bull.....takes picture of "his" bull.....hunter hides bull under trees for protection.....hunter leaves and calls DWR, (as per Utah's lame deadhead/skull plate law)......meanwhile, on fish lake, somebody discovers hidden bull under trees and doesn't obey the law and takes bull.....hunter goes back with DWR only to find the bull had "grown legs and walked away"....,hunter now is asking for anyone that knows anything or who might have "his" bull to come forward so he can have his bull back.

Not my story, just thought I'd pass on the info.

Thoughts, comments? Should the person who took it give it to said hunter?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

It sounds to me like he should have never moved the head. Nobody found it in a year, until after it was disturbed. 
With this photo the hunter took as proof, and knowing the story behind it I would give it back.


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## muleymadness (Jan 23, 2008)

That sucks, would be nice/appreciated if they gave it back yes.


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

True Story. I just hope someones has the Ba--s to rat the person or persons who took this guys Trophy Bull., It's hanging somewhere.. Taken outa Sheep Valley.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Just going to play the devils advocate here but why did the hunter pick up the head and move it under a tree? According the Utah's dead head policy what he did was not legal. Perhaps the person that found it under the tree moved it to another tree. Now lets say that he left it right where he found it, there would be a strong possibility that he still wouldn't be able to keep the head after the DOW did their investigation. It sounds like it would only be his words about what happened before the elk died and when. Perhaps the DOW officer that was going to do the investigation would of found a bullet in the rest of the remains, then what would of happened? I doubt that even if the arrow was still in the remains that they could determine that the elk was shot fairly during the bow hunt and expired but was never found until he came upon it this spring. I highly doubt that he would of been able to keep the head after all that.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

That is a beautiful bull... This is one of those stories of "the one that got away" in my book. The fact that he found the head a year later should provide him with some closure on his hunt and always remain with him. The experience of shooting the bull and tracking the bull and coming up empty handed should stick with him forever. Hopefully he will learn from what might have gone wrong whether it be his ability to track, his shot placement, time waited after the shot, distraction from the size of the antlers, adrenaline from the hunt, fatigue from lack of sleep the night before, or not taking enough time off from work to pursue such a majestic animal. 

This bull simply outsmarted the hunter. Although he may have done it at his own demise. The thing about hunting is, you have a window that provides you with the opportunity to harvest an amazing bull with incredible fifths, but if that window closes it is simply the one that got away. 

You refer in your post to this bull as "his bull" I would call this bull "the betrayer" as he refused to cooperate with the hunter and present his magnificent rack until the following year. This bull had the last laugh and perhaps his remains were retrieved by another hunter who also pursued him and harbored the same relationship to the bull. In my book the only thing that would make this bull "his bull" would have been to have legitimately harvested the bull. I consider him fortunate to have had the opportunity to handle the antlers prior to being denied ownership of them. 

Possession is one thing, ownership of the rack is another thing, and where the antlers belong is also entirely different. We don't know who has the antlers but IMHO they belong to the elk who gathered the necessary feed and hormones to develop them and protected them during their stage of development and polished them on foliage. I am sure that if you inquired with the bull that they are not to belong to the hunter at every cost.


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## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

So....should the hunter have just taken it when he found it?


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## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

Aren't you supposed to not touch the carcass? I wouldn't be surprised if the DWR wouldn't have let him keep it because he disturbed the carcass.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Bowdacious said:


> So....should the hunter have just taken it when he found it?


If he was going to move the head then why didn't he just take it, or did he have a thought of what the law was and didn't want to get into trouble?

If he was going to follow the law and contact the DOW why did he move it to under a tree?


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## alpinebowman (Sep 24, 2007)

I know in his post he said he was looking at buying at the antler auction so he wasn't even looking for a freebie. He was ready to bid for it like anyone else on a dead head.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

It is the old should of, could of, would of. 

He should of left it where he found it and reported it. 

He could of just taken it and worried about getting caught.

He would of purchased it if it even showed up at the antler auction, which is no guaranty.


In the end he did none of the above and now someone else has it. Finders keepers looser weepers. Right or wrong it is in someone else's garage, home, yard, barn, or here is something else to think of a wolf dragged it off.


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

I agree with Critter.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

"His bull." "Give it back." 

Whose bull is this? Because a guy mortally wounded (allegedly) a bull and it is found a year later as a dead head...it is "his bull?" 

I think you can read between the lines that to me, this is not "his bull." And with that, to whom is the person that is in possession of the head now to "give it back" to? 

And yes...why did this guy move the head in the first place? That is against the law. Period.


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## c3hammer (Nov 1, 2009)

That's a bummer.

What a slammer of a bull

Cheers,
Pete


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

Come on > How many Wolves you seen down in Sheep Valley.This many"0" Ethics. What kinda Turd Sucker is going to put that Bull on a Barn A Wall In A man cave or a on his garage.. Here's to hoping that who ever picked the Bull didn't know he was breaking the law
and either turns it over to the DWR.. or gets intouch with the guy who put an arrow through him.Maybe someone will rat him out..


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## Uber (May 18, 2014)

Guess he should have made a better shot.


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## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

I'm sure anyone here would be ok with the same situation if they were in the hunters shoes, right? Doubt it. Obviously if the guy was still looking a year later it was still on his mind, he should have just taken it then, rather than leave it to chance. How many here would have left it?


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

bugchuker said:


> I'm sure anyone here would be ok with the same situation if they were in the hunters shoes, right? Doubt it. Obviously if the guy was still looking a year later it was still on his mind, he should have just taken it then, rather than leave it to chance. How many here would have left it?


The truth, I would of taken it when I found it. The real question is why did he move it and then call the DOW?


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## bugchuker (Dec 3, 2007)

I imagine he moved it to hide it, apparently he didn't do too good of a job. FTR if I had shot the bull, I would have taken it as well, if not I would have left it. Too bad he couldn't have left it lay, contacted the DWR and had it still be there.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Another thought, since he shot it on the hunt with the proper tag, if he did not use the tag, could he have just put the tag on it, marked the tag for the date that he shot it and then carried it out? I have shot animals on the ranch, tagged them and hung them at the cabin, then butchered them and put the meat in the freezer at the cabin and left the antlers there, then sometime later I have brought antlers home from the ranch and some I have left up there.


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## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

He should have done himself a favor and taken it....now I know that's not the "lawful" thing to do....but, that's what I would have done! Guess I'm going to hell!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

bowgy said:


> Another thought, since he shot it on the hunt with the proper tag, if he did not use the tag, could he have just put the tag on it, marked the tag for the date that he shot it and then carried it out? I have shot animals on the ranch, tagged them and hung them at the cabin, then butchered them and put the meat in the freezer at the cabin and left the antlers there, then sometime later I have brought antlers home from the ranch and some I have left up there.


I would be willing to say no, even with the argument that he shot it and finally found it but it was out of season when he tagged it.


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## SLCHunter (Dec 19, 2013)

Had no idea about this "deadhead" law. Stumbled over the bones of a nice 6x6 recently. Think i was able to identify (awefully misplaced) bullet channel. Left it there, cuz, I'm not a turd who'd hang somebody else's bull  ...


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Critter said:


> I would be willing to say no, even with the argument that he shot it and finally found it but it was out of season when he tagged it.


But it wasn't killed out of season. I haven't seen a law about how long you can leave the kill in the field before bringing it out. You have to tag it before you move it.

I know some have killed on the last day in the evening and retrieved it the next day.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Sounds like if you got caught the officer would just say "Tell it to the judge"


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Critter said:


> Sounds like if you got caught the officer would just say "Tell it to the judge"


 Yep, a lot of times you have to go higher to find common sense, a friend of mines little brother and 3 of his friends were bow hunting, it started getting dark and they headed to the truck, placed their bows in their cases and put the cases in the back of the truck and climbed in the cab and headed back to camp, on their way some deer crossed the road in front of them and the driver turned the truck toward where the deer crossed the road, they didn't jump out and grab their bows they just looked at the deer and continued down the road, a DWR officer seen them, pulled them over and gave them a ticket for spotlighting. When they went to court and told the judge their story she just rolled her eyes and shook her head and said case dismissed and sent them on their way.s


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## c3hammer (Nov 1, 2009)

There was a high profile case like this in AZ where Steve Chappell had to buy back the horns to a bull he killed and didn't find till after the season ended. It was totally ridiculous.

I carried a tag in my pack for a bull I shot a number of years ago in the Uinta's. That tag would have gone on that bull and he'd have come home with me for sure. It was even 5 years later I kept that tag in my pack to hang on that bull 

Some experiences are just painful and closure would be sweet release, laws aside.

Cheers,
Pete


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