Thought ide post up a few local bulls, just to break up the strike outs. I ate 2 heaping bowls of tag soup myself- muzzelloader deer and ewe sheep.
Been helping out with a few animals since then.
A buddy drew a Unit 76 tag (10-12 points). Went in early, to hunt a pretty steep drainage. Not too hard to hunt, just a butt kicker to hike- old burn and lots of avalanche chutes makes spotting them a bit easier. It took him a decade of points to draw this tag, and there are some true bruisers in there. He was really set up well for a week of hunting big elk, and saw 4 bulls the evening before season.
Opening morning, they had 4 elk bugling. Early afternoon, he finally made it to a little clearing and saw a bull. Boom- hunt over. These pictures are... generous... to say the least. He is a nice bull- but 1/2 way in day one in a premium unit that took a decade to draw. Not me.
He is a pretty young 5x5, but has plenty of mass and a dark face. In all fairness, this is his first ever bull to kill. Though he enjoys talking big and playing "hunting guide" for his friends (I've never heard of any of them killing anything). It was a decent pack down to camp (with a couple of helpers), and horses from there. The 3 times I've heard him retell this story since we got back, the distances and elevations seem to grow, and the story gets a little wilder each time. Hey- he's excited and proud of his first bull, as he should be.
After that, I had the pleasure of bouncing up the road to join a good friend for a day. He was hunting a specific area we know well, and had some elk down in a very inaccessible spot. I decided to just come up for a day and see how bad it was. This was in my home unit, so not nearly the size as across the divide in 76.
We get up there and sure enough, a couple bulls are down in a box canyon. They are VERY hard to spot and keep a track of- it is crazy thick. Each had a small group of cows, and were driving each other crazy trying to keep them separated in such a tight spot. What was really odd- they weren't talking at all. You could have EASILY walked right by that canyon, and never known they were there. We ended up getting above them, and it was there I saw something I've never witnessed before. They were actually bugling at their cows- but they would assume the position, curl the lips, the belly would go up and down, hot air coming out... but we couldn't hear anything at all. I believe they were bugling so very softly, that only their cows could hear. Probably learned that whoever makes noise gets shot.
There weren't any huge bulls, but one decent 6x6. We were debating the route and if it's possible to climb down without busting them all out, and how many ropes and climbing harnesses we would need to get one out- when we caught some movement below us. It was a satellite bull, a nice 5x5. Not heavy, but a good bull for the area for sure. He was trying to peel off cows from the fringes. None of the elk were too excited, but they were still trying a little bit. Post-rut I guess.
I asked my buddy if he would shoot it, and he said "hell yeah". We decided to try and call him up to us, since he looked a bit desperate and lonely. We were only about 500 yards away, but basically straight above him. We thought he would have to come up the corner of the canyon, where there was a steep elk/deer trail. So, he set up 100 yards from where we thought the bull would crest, and I backed up about 20 yards behind him. I started some really subtle sweet sexy elk music, and almost immediately my buddy turned and said "he's looking". I couldn't see or be seen by the elk, and I started pacing the ridge a little while calling, keeping the volume WAY down. He didn't bugle back, or anything. So I gave him a pretty soft pleading whine, and then I shut up. After a minute, my buddy said "he's coming".
We waited and waited, scanning the corner where he should be popping up any second. He should have been there by now. Wind was right, sun was at our backs- we both shrugged at each other. I signaled for him to sit tight. I gave another soft cow call, then ran back over the top of the hill, faced away, and did about 1/2 of a bugle (all I had was the cow call, so I did my best). I then rolled back over the hill, and cow called facing away from the bull as I trotted over towards where I had bugled.
About 15 seconds later, I hear some branches breaking and rocks falling, followed by a BOOM. I thought "Oh crap, he fell down into the canyon!" I ran over the ridge again, and see my buddy standing and aiming behind him. I look, and see a bull elk trying to crawl over the top of the hill.
Apparently, he didn't take the trail, but basically scaled the freaking side of the cliff like a goat when he heard my last calls. He came up behind my friend, who wheeled and shot him. That was a blessing, because he crawled on top of the hill instead of rolling back down the canyon. What we thought was going to be a brutal pack out ended up being just a heavy stroll around the ridge!
Nothing like a little San Juan Success!!!
