# Wife's Monroe bull



## mrkrik (Jan 26, 2016)

Here's a picture of my wife's rifle LE bull. She had a fantastic time. As mentioned in an earlier post, we were able to spend a week on the mountain at the end of July learning the roads and checking out different areas. Thanks to those that gave input on the access to the mountain. The Lower Box Creek Road out of Greenwich is fantastic for access with a trailer. My wife and daughter enjoyed seeing all the deer and elk and catching a bunch of fish. It was a great prelude for the hunt. I think we put a couple hundred miles on our side by side that week. It's a beautiful place.

We picked up a new Browning 7mm-08 for my wife in June and she probably put 250 rounds through it over the summer. We tried out half a dozen different cartridges and settled on the Barnes Vor-TX ammo using a 120 gr TTSX bullet. By September she was shooting really well out to 300 yards with it. She was able to get comfortable using both sticks and a bag and was feeling pretty good about her shooting.

We headed out for the hunt a few days before the season and were able to spend a couple days looking for bulls and listening to them bugle at night. It was a great way to increase the already high excitement level. The evening before the hunt my brother and his daughter also came out to spend the weekend helping us.

The first morning we were on at least 4 bulls screaming and going crazy, but unfortunately before she could get a shot, about 45 minutes after first light, some other hunters blew the elk out of there. At that point, we decided to move locations and try and get away from other hunters. We moved about 10 miles on the mountain and camped out on a meadow after about a mile hike from the vehicles.

About 2 1/2 hours before dark, we heard a bull bugle about a 1/2 mile away. When we first spotted it, it was about 700 yards out. For the next 45 minutes it slowly came in to about 500 yards while feeding and intermittently bugling. At this point, after getting my wife set up on a boulder with my brother being the spotter/ranger, I backed up a hundred yards and started calling. The added activity pulled in another small bull into the meadow and also got another bull screaming in the timber. Every time I would do a series of cow calls, the small bull would come about 60 yards from my wife and then run back to the timber when I bugled. At this time I started backing up further while calling to make it seem like I was leaving with my cows. This seemed to pull the first bull in and when he got to a point where he could see the second small bull, he started coming in fast. While the bull was coming in, my wife was constantly asking my brother “should I shoot, I’ve got a shot”, but he was able to convince her to hold off because it was coming closer and closer. At 182 yards from my wife, the bull stopped and started raking a few scrub trees in the middle of the meadow. While bugling and raking, it turned perfectly broadside. At that point, my brother said “Shoot when you’re ready.”. I think she pulled the trigger before he got all the words out. At the shot, the bull went only 40 yards and dropped in sight. We later found out that the bullet completely destroyed the heart. It was pretty much cut in half. All her practice paid off.

At her shot, I had reached a point a few hundred yards behind them and couldn’t see the bull, but as I headed back I saw my brother pop into view and signal that the bull was down! When I got up to my wife, it was the best experience I have ever had while hunting. There were a bunch of high fives, cheers, laughs, and even tears. There’s very few thing better than experiencing this with family. Having my wife, daughter, brother, and niece there was a fantastic moment.

After pictures, processing, caping, bagging, hanging the meat, and a couple of pack trips, we decided to head back to camp and pack the rest out in the morning. We were beat. With the almost 2 hour ride back to camp, we didn’t hit the sack till almost 6 in the morning. After a quick 3 hour “nap”, my brother and I went back and packed the rest out. My brother was a stud pack horse. I couldn’t have done it without him. It was a fantastic time. The only negative, it was just too darn short!

In closing, I’d like to thank the few people that gave me some input and advice. I really appreciate you taking the time to help out my wife and myself. If you ever need any input on other states, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ve been fortunate to hunt a lot of other elk country and would love to return the favor.


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## legacy (Sep 30, 2007)

Fantastic bull! Congrats!


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## Gledeasy (Mar 23, 2014)

What a story and awesome bull! 

Put me back to '15 when I was with my wife for her first elk.


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## legacy (Sep 30, 2007)

Gledeasy said:


> What a story and awesome bull!
> 
> Put me back to '15 when I was with my wife for her first elk.


I got to witness my wife kill her first deer/animal this past fall. What an AWESOME experience!


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## dadams41 (Jul 9, 2013)

Awesome story, great picture! How many points did she draw on?


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Great story and a great bull. Way to go. Congrats!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk


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## mrkrik (Jan 26, 2016)

dadams41 said:


> Awesome story, great picture! How many points did she draw on?


She had 12 points as a non resident. From the points report, there were 454 applicants for the one random tag. Her true odds were 0.0035. As they say, someone has to pull it. But at 0.35%, you feel pretty dang lucky!


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Glad you had an excellent adventure!
What a beautiful bull. Tell your wife congrats.

I was wondering how "the rest of the story" went.


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## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

Fantastic! Really cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Wow.


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## High Desert Elk (Aug 21, 2012)

Way cool - congratulations!!!


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Congratulations to the hunter. It looks like you got a keeper.


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## goofy elk (Dec 16, 2007)

Great story, 
Congrats


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I'd run the other way if I seen that big SOB!!

Great story, thanks for posting.

.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Great story - congrats to you and your wife!


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

congrats to you and your wife. great bull


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

Co0ngrats. Thanks for sharing.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Awesome, congratulations and thanks for sharing.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

That is a smoker bull! You guys did awesome. Why are Utah bull tags so hard to draw? ‘Cuz they’re worth it!————SS


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## Bow hunter mojo (Oct 12, 2013)

Very nice bull. Congrats. Thanks for the story.


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## pollo70 (Aug 15, 2016)

Congrats! nice Bull.. thanks for sharing the story & pic 8)


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## AJ13 (Apr 28, 2015)

What an awesome story. Thanks for sharing. 
Congrats.


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