# General Any Bull



## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

So got a call from Nambaster yesterday afternoon. He had to change his plans and ended up in an area that we had scouted a couple times earlier this summer... essentially his Plan D. Problem was his access was limited so he ended up putting some serious miles on his boots to get back into the area. When we talked at about 4pm he was a long way from his vehicle and exhausted!
Good news though, elk were still in the area and he had a couple missed opportunities on cows and smaller bulls. Saw one good bull right near one of my favorite spots to sit and glass from. When I'm able to break away Sunday afternoon I'll be able to get us access up higher on the mountain where he was seeing all the elk and the hike won't be as far.
He's off checking out another area today. So far everyone is still optimistic!


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

derekp1999 said:


> So got a call from Nambaster yesterday afternoon. He had to change his plans and ended up in an area that we had scouted a couple times earlier this summer... essentially his Plan D. Problem was his access was limited so he ended up putting some serious miles on his boots to get back into the area. When we talked at about 4pm he was a long way from his vehicle and exhausted!
> Good news though, elk were still in the area and he had a couple missed opportunities on cows and smaller bulls. Saw one good bull right near one of my favorite spots to sit and glass from. When I'm able to break away Sunday afternoon I'll be able to get us access up higher on the mountain where he was seeing all the elk and the hike won't be as far.
> He's off checking out another area today. So far everyone is still optimistic!


Let him know we all wish him best of luck!!


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

I had to come back into town cause the hind sight on my open sights broke off... I have been encounter elk up the wazoo... The morning of the opener I actually was at my plan A I started hiking at 5 o clock in the dark. As soon as light appeared I discovered that I was 1 ridge off and several miles from the car. I could see the ridge where I wanted to be and I could see elk on the ridge but it is an all day hike to get up there. 

Plan D seemed like the only easy half day place to hunt so I decided plan D it is. As I arrived at plan D it was 11:30 a.m. The moment it became possible I glass up at DP's glassing spot just to reference where I was and sure enough there was a bull moving directly towards his tree. It actually crossed within 10 yards of the tree. I was a long loooong ways away but I could tell he was a good bull. Getting up to that tree was not even an option for me as half the day was already gone. 

After glassing up that bull I caught movement at the bottom of a hill and noticed a cow elk running right for me. From 1500 yards it still got my blood pumping to see her trotting right over. I kept hoping that she would keep coming but she decided to stop in a stand of trees that I call the lower bumps. She never came out so I decided to put on a stalk. By "stalk" I mean all day adventure to get up to her. Once I got to the point where I should have been seeing her I looked across the ridge only to discover a herd of 10 elk 9 cows and calves and 1 spike. They looked close so I raised my open sights to judge the distance. From my range experience I guessed them at about 200 yards. So I got a steady rest on my back pack and waited for a broad side shot of the spike. Boom. The dirt below his feed kicked up. I reloaded and aimed only a little higher. Boom. The dirt below his feed kicked up again. I had the windage perfect but was shooting low. I figured I misjudged the distance. I watched the herd wander off calm and happy as if nothing happened. 

So I decided to see if they would offer me another shot so I headed up the ridge parallel to them where I watched the cow run in. Sure enough out she popped and she was on a dead run. I estimated her at about 10 yards so I put the cross hairs on her and followed her on her run predicting her path. Boom. She stopped short and I missed her at 10 Yards! Adding to my failure she was followed by 2 calfs that stood at 15 yards and watched as I reloaded. I considered shooting a calf but what if I hit the cow? My sight picture right before I shot still had a little piece of her front shoulder in it so I went to check for blood rather than shoot a sure thing calf. After checking for blood and finding none I looked up on the hillside and sure enough she stood right where the spike was previously. Uninjured she just grazed over the hillside with her calves. 

It was then that I noticed that my hind sight on my open sights was loose. It had slid forward to its maximum highest location which would explain the shots landing at the spikes feet. The screw to tighten it down was missing. So I had a long hike back to the car to hope to fix my gun with superglue temporarily.


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

Oh yeah that was just day 1... Day 2 was this morning and to summarize what happened I met a hunter on the trail on the way to a place that MorvLorv had given me intell on. As we approached the location we decided to wait for light arrive before going in. We could hear bugling and cow mews. Sure enough at first light there stood about 30 head of elk. 2 were spikes 2 were five points and there was a good six point bull. They all stood at about 120 yards and had us pegged. The hunter I was with had his rifle raised and I waited for the shot.... and .... waited.... and .... waited... then he lowered his rifle. I asked him why he didn't shoot? He said "too little" So I raised my rifle on the six point.... and discovered my hindsight was gone. (I guess the glue didn't work) O|* When I lowered my rifle the other hunter said "now your too picky?" I said "no my hind site is missing" He handed me his rifle... As soon as I got my eye to his scope the elk were gone. O|*

I decided to head back to the car as this issue ended my hunt until I figure out where to get new sights for my gun.


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

This has the makings of something EPIC...

We'll get Nambaster all fixed up (some borrowed sights & a bottle of Lock-tite) and at the range first thing in the morning so he can get back out there. Hopefully we continue the good fortune of seeing elk come early next week.


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

I'm rooting for you guys- definitely living vicariously through this thread while med school eats my life away.... I'm definitely jealous!


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

Good luck on your next trip!


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## tander123 (Sep 21, 2007)

Any updates?


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

So here's the final recap... I'll post up "my side of the story" and Nambaster can fill in his side.

True to my typical form, you're not getting the Reader's Digest version!

I arrived at the cabin in late afternoon on Sunday, hoping to have enough time to unload everything and spend the last hour or so of daylight glassing to get an idea where the elk were&#8230; if they were there at all. I unloaded and made my way towards the highest road on the property only to have weather roll in and the clouds obscured the opposing hillside. So I returned to the cabin, lit the wood-burning stove, and grilled me up some dinner while I waited for Nambaster and a friend (Jared) to arrive at about 9pm. We spent the rest evening joking about shooting a "trophy calf" and making a game plan for the morning hunt. There were 5 tags between the three of us&#8230; three any bull tags and two antlerless control tags.
Monday morning we drove to the highest road on the property and began to glass in the icy cold morning wind. 





We spotted our first elk after just a couple minutes&#8230; a cow and calf. That cow and calf slowly fed their way towards us and after several minutes they were on a small knoll just below us. I decided to make a stalk, so Nambaster and I headed down hill. The cow sensed something was amiss before we even hit 400 yards and she and her calf were off over the ridge. Several more elk were spotted across the canyon and Nambaster was off making his way towards the bedded spike while I picked my way back up to the top to meet back up with Jared. We spent the rest of the day off in separate directions. Late in the evening Jared and I met back up at the truck with the intent of heading down to the bottom to pick up Nambaster only to find a dead battery. The only option we had was to quickly head down to the bottom of "Jack's Canyon" to the nearest road then walk back to the cabin from there. We ended up meeting up with Nambaster on the road and all walked back to the cabin together then piled into other vehicles to go up and jumpstart the truck. We were hoping for a nice, calm, relaxing evening to recover from our first day of hunting but it wasn't until after 8pm that we were finally in for good for the evening.

Tuesday morning Jared and Nambaster headed up to the high country early in the morning while I decided to take the truck down to a little area where a security guard sets up during the summer and hike into some forest service ground from there. I slowly picked my way up the long, steep climb to the eastern edge of the bowl that I have spent several days scouting throughout the summer. As I made my way through the bowl I spotted an elk bedded on the opposite hillside. My binoculars revealed a bull, and my rangefinder told me that he was about 600 yards away. I went to the nearest cedar tree and assessed my situation and made a game plan. 

Cover was sparse so I would pick out a tree that was 50 or so yards away and make my way to that next tree then take a breather. I kept an eye on the bull ready to set up the shooting sticks at the first sign of unrest from the bull. Three hundred and fifty yards and he seemed completely oblivious to my presence&#8230; same at 300 yards. At 250 I think that he spots me so I find a nice spot to get comfortable... I had shot some great groups at 200 and felt confident that I could make this shot. I steadied on the shooting sticks, went through my pre-shot routine, and squeezed. I saw dust fly just inches above the bedded bull. I quickly reloaded and adjusted accordingly. Again, I steadied and went through my routine, and squeezed. Smack, the bull stood halfway and collapsed back to the ground. I made my way all the way back up the hill to where I had ditched my pack and waited for the reinforcements. Unfortunately, even though my shot was good, this was a tough bull and he would periodically stand then lay back down. I decided to work my way around him keeping the wind in my favor and come at him from above to try and make a finishing shot. I showed Jared where he was and told him to keep an eye on him as I moved in and to let me know if he busted out of there. I got to where I thought he was but couldn't see him, although Jared confirmed that the bull had not moved. I was a little confused because I was certain I was getting very close. Then I caught a glimpse of antler. I worked my way in to about 25 yards and he turned a headed south. I chased. I could see a small opening, maybe three or four yards wide where he would provide me what would probably be my best chance. When he hit the little opening, by some small miracle, he stopped and turned back to look at me. I put my crosshairs tight behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger. After a couple seconds he staggered then turned and tumbled, rolling head over heels down the hill three times. Jared watched the whole thing play out from about a hundred yards away. 





We quartered the bull and hauled out the backstraps, tenderloin, front quarters, and antlers by headlamp. 

Throughout this whole time we had lost all communication with Nambaster. We pulled into the driveway of the cabin to find Nambaster's car gone AND an ATV gone. We began to plan a rescue mission when we spotted headlights heading our way. We were relieved when Nambaster pulled into the driveway. Jared and I were unloading our packs when he hopped out of his SUV. He spotted the white plastic bags we were pulling out of our packs and got really excited. Then when he saw the antlers propped up against the cabin he freaked out. That was the second most fun part of my day&#8230; he was so excited about it that it really infused a good bit of energy back into my aching body.
Sadly, when my bull tumbled down the hill he broke off the 5th point on his left side. On his second or third tumble I heard that unmistakable snap. I looked for better than an hour for the broken piece but could only turn up two small fragments.
Nambaster and I made one last trip to bring out the hind quarters Wednesday morning. 

On the hike into the bowl we came across a small herd of cows & calves. I settled in for a shot at about 200 yards but rushed it and missed. We successfully got the hind quarters out and had another close call with a group of cows and calves right below where we had parked the truck. When we got the meat back to the cabin we ran into another group of hunters that had shot a bull down by the creek near the road. They were in need of some rope or chain to try and haul it out whole. I got some big rope from the basement of the cabin and we offered to help them out. I had spoken with one of the guys before on one of my scouting trips and also talked with him a number of times on the muzzleloader deer hunt. After about an hour our new friends drove away with a nice little 5x5 bull in the bed of their pickup truck.

Thursday morning we spotted a good sized herd on the hillside directly across from the cabin but they were on the move, feeding. We thought that we had a really good idea where these elk would eventually end up so we were on our way. By the time we made it to our designed ambush point we were unable to turn up any elk so we continued on the path to work through a bowl. About 100 yards down the trail we checked our backtrail only spot the small herd of elk right where we thought they would be. Had we just stayed put for another five or ten minutes they would have walked right over us! They pegged us though and were off. There is something absolutely amazing about a herd of elk in single file on a dead run&#8230; it's just awesome.
I had an absolute blast&#8230; pun intended I guess. I'm exhausted, sore, and ready to go again. It was great to have Nambaster in camp for this. The guy has to be part mountain goat, the number of miles he put down was staggering. Several times I sat back and tried to decide if Nambaster is just a real "go getter" or certifiably insane. My conclusion is equal parts both!
Great hunt, great memories, and looking forward to next year.


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## RandomElk16 (Sep 17, 2013)

Nice work guys!


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

It still blows my mind that this hunt was a general season over the counter hunt. Let me start out by just saying I am not a an efficient muzzleloader hunter and I am happy to be putting my muzzleloader in the cabinet for the year. I had shot opportunities at elk ranging from 10 yards all the way to 150 yards every single day of this hunt. I must openly admit and come clean that I wounded a cow elk and tracked her through the snow and her blood trail dried up prior to her re-joining with her herd. With that as the only exception this hunt has been the funnest hunt I have ever been on.

There was rarely a moment of the day where I could not just position myself behind a set of binoculars or a spotting scope and pick out elk. The hardest thing for me was deciding which herd I wanted to get into. The terrain absolutely betrayed the elk and kept them revealed throughout the entire day.

I got so sick of missing elk with my muzzleloader I just started taking pictures of them. I had spikes within range along with a 6 point bull that I missed an opportunity on because I shot and wounded the cow before he walked into the sight path. Lesson learned that I should in the future wait until I see the entire herd prior to taking a shot.

Here is an image of elk staring at me after a missed shot. There was no digiscoping with this picture. Just pointed my camera and shot the picture. 

I got pretty discouraged with my ability to shoot my muzzleloader and really wished that I had spent more time on the range. Unfortunately with a failed scope and a failed hind sight and finally a replaced hind sight I was unsure of where my rounds where going so I limited myself to archery distances only after several missed shots.

Although I did not get an elk I sure managed to find me some great consolation prizes. As we were packing out Derekp1999's hind quarters I asked " I would love to add another 8 pounds to my load. Do you mind if we take the route less traveled on our way back to the truck?" Sure enough it paid off and I was packing out a hind quarter and this sucker: 


The weatherman is always wrong, but even I don't blame him for not mentioning moose antlers falling from the sky in the forecast. 



All in all it was an amazing hunt. All the sacrifice and trouble that I went through to find babysitting for my kids at home and falling behind work was definitely worth the experience. I was soaking up every moment of being out in the fresh air and observing a bountiful plethora of animals. There are still many crags and holes that need to be explored that I regret to leave untouched on that mountain side and they will be plaguing my mind until I get the opportunity to get back out there and infiltrate them. So much mountain and so little time. I will eventually get those elk figured out.


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

Sounds like a heck of a hunt!

Derek - that area of yours is turning into a great spot for elk. It's been fun to hear about the progress of the area. Sounds like you'll have years of good elk hunting up there to enjoy! And congrats on a great bull!

Nambaster - you are always finding horns - way to go on the moose sheds!


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## derekp1999 (Nov 17, 2011)

waspocrew said:


> Derek - that area of yours is turning into a great spot for elk. It's been fun to hear about the progress of the area. Sounds like you'll have years of good elk hunting up there to enjoy! And congrats on a great bull!


I sure hope so, I've decided that if I had the choice between shooting an elk or a deer that I'd shoot the elk every time. It has been a revelation to see the herd increase in the area. On the muzzleloader hunt in 2012 I saw maybe 10 elk (1 bull), on the rifle hunt last year we saw ~25 to 30 head of elk (5 or 6 bulls) and this year... I have no way to determine or track how many of the elk we saw multiple times, but if you were to count just individual encounters with elk we were easily at 200+ (with a good handful of bulls... a 6x6, broken 5x5, 4x4, and who knows how many spikes still left on the mountain for next year). Hopefully the herd will continue to be healthy and strengthen their hold on the area.
I was shocked when this area was included as one of the units where control tags would be issued and thought there was a mistake made by the DWR in their population estimates. From 2009 to 2012 the population estimate ebbed and flowed between 600 and 650 with the objective being 800 elk. In 2013 the population estimate jumped to 2000, I wasn't sure how that could be correct and seriously questioned that number... a 230% increase in one year?!? Well, I'm drinking that Kool-Aid now.

My plan was to take and mount these antlers above the fireplace up at the cabin, but my boys were so excited to see them and have them in the house that they were instrumental in getting my wife to give me a small slice of the wall in the house to hang them... so they are staying with me until she decides she's tired of them and then I'll take them up to the cabin. My 7 year old looked at the antlers and asked me, "So I can get a tag to hunt in 5 years?" My 3 & 4 year old boys told all of our neighbors and everybody in church about "dad's antlers." It was really fun to see them so excited.



waspocrew said:


> Nambaster - you are always finding horns - way to go on the moose sheds!


I think he was out there hunting sheds and carrying a muzzleloader just in case he happened across an elk during his zig-zagging and criscrossing the mountain. The guy knows where to go to find a shed, that's for sure.


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## kstorrs (Oct 29, 2012)

Sounds like it was a great hunt!

Nambaster- Just a few more of them moose sheds then you could make you one of these!


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## JSF-35 (Sep 5, 2014)

Congratulations on the bull!


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