# Worth the wait



## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Well after a 16 year wait its all over. Nailed this guy last night. Been a fun hunt with a few bulls seen and some of those putting on a good show. Only in service for a minute but will share more next week when I get back to civilization. 

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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

thanks for giving hope. Great Bull!


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## Markthehunter88 (Nov 5, 2010)

nice!!! lets get a full story!


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## Raptorman (Aug 18, 2009)

Great Bull, congrats!


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Nice bull!


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

nice job honk!!!! hope my buddy connects with a bull next week, I can't shoot my deer until he tags out.


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## Bo0YaA (Sep 29, 2008)

wow nice job!!


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## JuddCT (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice bull! Unit?


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## Bowdacious (Sep 16, 2007)

Very cool!!! Congrats!


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## Moose Hollow (Apr 26, 2008)

Really nice bull.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Nice bull, one of the best I've seen this year so far. Have you scored it yet? Those 4ths look really good, too bad the 3rds aren't a little stronger. Will still score good with all that mass and it will make an incredible mount.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

AWESOME! Congrats! Looking forward to the story.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

SMOKER Bull! and yes, well worth the wait.


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## MuleyCrazy (Jun 6, 2010)

Congratulations! That an awesome bull!


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## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

Good looking bull! congrats. What Unit? :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


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## klbzdad (Apr 3, 2012)

Good job...that is a very nice bull!


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Ok sorry guys for not following up since my last post. I really wanted to enjoy the last few days of my vacation after the kill doing some fishing and enjoying time with the family so I stayed up the mountain and out of service lol. I am not as good of a story teller as others but here is how my hunt went.

Day 1
We got up at 4am and decided to race for a large bull we knew about. When we got to where we wanted to go we parked and started walking along the edge of a large meadow only to realize we had been beaten there by 3 four wheelers. We realized we had been beaten there fair and square and backed out as quietly as we could. We hurried and jumped in the truck and made a run for an area that my father almost had a chance on a very large bull 7 years prior. When we got to the spot my buddy broke out the bugle and instantly we got replies from at least 4 bulls. We decided to sneak up into a clearing on a ridge we knew about and he started working the bulls. We went back and forth with one bull for about 30 minutes with the bull slowing closing in on us but he would never break the tree line for a good look. He decided to move on up the ridge on us so we decided to parallel him and try to get ahead of him. As we got to where we thought we were ahead of him we set up again and my buddy bugled to locate him and all we heard was elk busting off through the black timber. We had gotten a lot closer then we realized and got busted. It was getting about 10 am and hot so we decided to back off and try it again in the afternoon. The afternoon/evening ended up being very quiet with only a couple of bugles and no elk seen.
Day 2 had my father in law and my father not being with me so it was just me and my buddy. We returned to the place where he worked on the bull the day before only to not hear a single bugle. We were sure the elk were still in their so we decided to just still hunt up a nice ridge. About 400 yards up the ridge we jumped some elk in very heavy black timber. They didn't take off like mad so we decided to follow them cow calling like a lost cow to see if we could catch up and take a look. After about 500 yards of slow walking and watching every step we came into a little clearing that just looked like elk and deer heaven. We slowly worked our way along the edge of it hoping to catch them somewhere along it. Well after a bit we decided that we must have just picked the wrong tracks somewhere back in the black timber and they were not around. So of course we did the natural thing at that point and took a pizz break and had a quick snack. As we got done we decided to head towards what looked like another little meadow in an aspen pocket. We had only taken a few steps when my buddy looked up and spotted a spike elk looking at us only 80 yards away. Of course he broke and with him went another spike or two point and one other elk we could not see too well. Well after messing around for a while along a series of meadows we realized it was getting late in the morning and decided to head back to the truck. As we were getting close to the truck I was in the lead and thinking to myself man the truck is only a little further it happened&#8230;&#8230;we jumped a big old bull and of course I had no time to get a shot at him and he was less than 200 yards from the truck. Well after that my friend had to get down to town leaving me alone for the afternoon/evening. I decided to go to an old spot that for years I had seen elk in and I figured no one else knew about. On the way in I caught a nice flock of pine chickens feeding in a little opening along the road and being a diehard bird hunter I of course had shotgun behind the seat. Well 2 shots later I had 4 birds on the ground. They made the mistake of flushing to close to gather and two birds with each shot.








Next I worked into this big pretty meadow only to find the bovine had beat me two it. I decided to hang out a while any way to listen for any bugles and the only thing I head bovine mooing and didn't see a single elk. I did how ever make friends with this little guy. He was one friendly little fellow. He just hung with me looking for pets&#8230;&#8230;.lol.








Day 3 started with me and my father going to a spot my buddy and I had found before he headed down on Sunday. We figured we had a bull in there worth looking at after finding this.








So my father and I headed into this spot and as we were going in we had at least 3 bulls bugling around us. We snuck up to the edge of the meadow only to find the bulls were not in it but just off in the trees. We had a nice small rise we able to use to sneak up close to closest bull. He was going nuts so as we got into position I broke out the cow call and started teasing him a little. He started working back into our direction. After about 5 minutes of sweet talk he was getting close to us and just then it happened. A UTV and a 4 wheeler pulled right into the middle of the meadow. I quickly grab my hat and start waving it low below the rise to get their attention. They finally spot me waving my orange hat and stop. My father who was back below me under the rise sneaks over to them and tells them my son has a tag and is working a bull under there. They proceed to tell him that they jumped a bull off that ridge last night and were going to go over this way. Well they hopped out of their OHV's and proceeded to walk right through the middle of the meadow. I just turned to my father and said well if they want a bull that bad let's let them have him and we left. 
Here is a pic of their trucks with the license plate blotted out. I hope they got their bull.

Edit removed pic of truck......Don't matter now really :mrgreen:

My father and I at the point decided to ride up the road and look around for another spot to work. We ran into a bunch of about 6 cows coming out into a meadow but no bull followed them and that was it for the morning. For the afternoon we decided to spend time checking various meadows for sign of elk and then thought we would go back into the spot where we had our morning ruined. We got there about 7:20 pm and got set up on the edge of the meadow. About 7:30 we heard the first bugle and I spotted a cow with a nice bull in close tow coming off a small tree cover hill to our west. As they closed the distance to us the bull got hotter and hotter with another bull challenging him from the south of us. As they came off a hill they had to come from behind a patch of aspens and then out into the open. Well within 5 minutes I spotted the first cow coming out into the open. I quickly moved down and snuck into a little better position as they started to come out. Very shortly we had 6 cows and the bull close in tow out in the middle of the small meadow only 60 yards from us. The whole time this bull is just bugleing his head off with the challenger coming in from our south. While screaming his head off he would go up and lick on the cows and then proceed to do a quick bit of business then back to screaming and then back to breeding. This whole time there my father and I were with me locked on with the crosshairs watching the show. I debated and debated on pulling the trigger while the show was going on but in the end I decided the experience we were having was far better than putting him on the ground. After about 15 minutes of this show I realized it was just getting to dark and turned to my father who was 10 yards away laying in some tall grass watching told him I was not going to shoot and I started laughing, well of course with the elk being so close one of the cows heard me and busted us. I decided why not and stood up. The dang things only ran about 100 yards to the side of the meadow and the bull not caring about us keep bugling at the bull that was now very close to the south of us. I told my dad let's get out quick so we don't spook the other bull in case we need to come back tomorrow night. As we started walking back towards the truck I toped a small rise that was behind us and to my surprise there was a very big bull standing there with a cow and two calves. I brought the gun up but he bolted so quick there was not chance for a shot even though we were only 70 yards from him.
Day 4
Started with us looking up high on the mountain for any sign of a big bull we had got word about from a sheep herder in the area. Well of course glassing produced nothing for us so we hit the main road heading back down to lower country and wouldn't ya know it he was standing right off of it only 20 yards back in a clearing with a good bunch of cows. I got excited and of course jumped out and booed their butts back into thick cover. After a bit of road hunting as we had no idea of what to do next we ran into a couple of buddies who were helping a fellow tag holder out. We could see the rack hanging out of the truck as they pulled up. We got out and started looking at him and thought that he looked a lot like the bull we had put on a show for us last night. Well after a bit of discussion and pinpointing where the bull was coming from and shot at we are very convinced it was the same bull.








Not bad and a great trophy for this guy. That evening we ended up back in the same meadow as the night before to see if we could get a look at the bull that was coming in from the south. Well we got there about the same time as the night before and set up in a high spot behind a small bush. We got settled in and set for a bit and didn't hear a bugle. I decided to do a little cow calling and within a couple of minutes on the small rise we had been sitting below the night before a nice 5 point stepped out. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Going into this hunt I told myself that I was going to shoot a big 5 if I had the chance because I always though they just looked so much cooler then a small or medium 6 point. Well I also got nervous because even though he was only 150 yards out and broad side he was very close to the edge of a big canyon and I didn't want to take any chance of hitting him and him running down in with only me and my father to get him out with light quickly fading. I decided to cow call again and he turned and looked in our direction for a couple of minutes and then started walking towards us. He had to go through a small depression that was deep enough for him to disappear for a just a couple of seconds and to our surprise he never came up. I still don't know what happened that night but I thought for sure we were going to have a bull down. 
Day 5
I have to admit I was a little depressed about the night before and had a hard time getting out of bead. We ended up not hearing or seeing anything that morning so at noon we decided to run to town and speak to some friends and see what another area of the unit was holding. After an hour of BSing we decided to go and hang out at the cabin until about 4 and though we would go for a ride through some new country for the evening just to take a look and see what might be around. We headed straight for some good glassing points we knew about and had used in the past to look for deer. On the way in we caught this fellow trying to keep two other bucks away from his does.








This is the first time I have ever seen a goat with a collar. I have seen both deer and elk packing collars but this was for sure a first. After that we hit our glassing area.








Spent about an hour there and couldn't find a thing. We decided to hop back in the truck as it was getting later and hit a few meadows along the road just looking for any sign of elk and found these.
















I debated on hanging around and seeing if anything was coming into them but a set of truck tracks going up next to one of them well off the road led me to believe something had already been harvested their and what was left might be booed up pretty good. As we continued our nice evening drive without seeing and elk but lots of deer we came back to a main road, I told my dad hey we have just enough time I think to just run up to this big flat and glass it real quick. Well we got up there with a good bit of shooting light left and proceeded to glass the large flat( and by large I am talking 3 miles long). We worked up the road glassing across the flat until we were just about to the end of it. I told my dad let just drive up to that road and turn around there and get back home. Well as luck would have it we were about 100 yards from the road where I had intended to turn around and I looked up the last open section of hill side and just said to my dad holy SH!P&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;here was a cow and a calf with a large bull behind them and another good bull behind him. I quickly slipped out of the truck and got a good rest on a tree off the side of the road. The big bull was up about 250 yards looking at me like he was trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and let one fly. Both my father and I head the slap of the bullet and watched the bull hunch up. I quickly loaded another and got one more shot off as he ran towards the tree line. Within seconds I could hear heavy gurgling from the area I last seen the bull. I knew he was down and dying with a lung shot and did the Toyota jump kick. I waited for about 15 minutes before walking up the hill with light fading fast and found my bull down and dead as a door nail only 30 yards from where I hit him. I quickly slapped a tag on him and ran back down to the truck to tell my dad what a big bull he was and to run up to a high point to call for help from family members with getting him out.









I will admit it didn't end how I had planned with running into him along a road while scouting for more elk to hunt but hey it's just how it happens sometimes. I don't know how much a bull like this weighed but it took us a good while to cape, quarter and hall him off the side of that mountain. All in all it was a great hunt and great finish to my big game hunting career. Now for me it's nothing but birds with the only interruptions back into big game being if my wife draws her LE elk tag and if my kids decided to try big game.

Here are a few more pics from the week.









































































And one last one just for a good laugh, see if you can spot where this moron messed up with his graffiti.


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Oh and before you give me too much grief about the faces blurred out you have to understand my wife is vey paranoid about pics on the net of her family and I have to live with her :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Great job Jesse! That is a fantastic bull and a great story. Now go shoot some banded geese.


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## sharpshooter25 (Oct 2, 2007)

Great bull and thanks for the story. Now I don't see where they messed up the graffiti?


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

nice job and nice bull.


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Thank you guys for all the comments :mrgreen:

Rob it's going to be hard for me this year to get out to kill many geese. What really hurts is having a flock of 100 fly over my house every morning and knowing that every last one of them is packing bling.



> Now I don't see where they messed up the graffiti?


I know it's hard to read but on the right side is say's blank, blank, BLM. What cracked me up about it is the sign say's right on it Forest Service.......idiots :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Bump for sagebrush


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## klbzdad (Apr 3, 2012)

Awesome! Congrats!


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## Elkaholic2 (Feb 24, 2013)

Very nice bull, got me pumped for my hunt next week!!

Look at that doe with fawn up close. You can see her rib cage! Interesting!


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## hamernhonkers (Sep 28, 2007)

Elkaholic2 said:


> Very nice bull, got me pumped for my hunt next week!!
> 
> Look at that doe with fawn up close. You can see her rib cage! Interesting!


Good luck on your hunt!


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## Bow hunter mojo (Oct 12, 2013)

That was a great story to read about. Congrats on a nice bull. That story gives me hope. Someday (hopefully in the next couple of years) I hope to draw an ELK tag!Way to go on a great hunt.


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## TradHunter (Sep 1, 2014)

Nice bull


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## deljoshua (Jul 29, 2013)

Nice bull! Congrats


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## Dahlmer (Sep 12, 2007)

gmanhunter said:


> Thats a really nice bull. There is only one problem with your story. If this is a utah unit, you shot the grouse out of season. Due to the hunt started on sept 1st, and you claimed you shot them on the secound day. You might want to pull your pics and cut out the part about shooting grouse out of season. Reading the hunting regs book, Im not sure if you can even use a shot gun while hunting on the archery hunt. You might want to check the regs.


You may want read the story a little more closely, with special attention given to the dates of the posts.


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## gmanhunter (Dec 27, 2007)

Sorry, I guess I was the dumb one and didnt look at the post date. I did confirm you can have a shot gun on the archery hunt to take small game with. I deleted my original post.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

that's a goodun


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## tallbuck (Apr 30, 2009)

Awesome bull, congrats on a fine trophy! Thank you for sharing!


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