elknut1

My Son is 30, he's taken a lifetime of bulls already but it was the way this hunt unraveled that was quirky, funny & strange all at the same time, certainly a first for us!!!



I did try to make it up to him by calling in a huge ID bull on Monday evening! We were 4-5 miles back in with 20-30min of light left. We had a couple good buglers going & put the Chuckler to the real test on that big guy. We knew we had to make a quick decision on which bull to work as light was fading quickly & we had a 2hr hike out, no doubt in the dark with flashlights!
We decided on the bull above us as it was in the direction we had to leave anyway. I made contact him at about 350yds out several times so he knew who this bull was. We then rushed towards him with no other sounds, when we got aprox 60yds away in this thick stuff my Son setup in back of a small opening facing uphill, there was a 15'x15' patch of thick crap between him & the bull 15yds out which my Son used to his advantage to force the bull around it as he came in where he could have a good broadside shot.
I got back 30 yds or so & introduced myself to him up close & personal like, he didn't care for that much! (grin) He bugled as well as another bull did, these 2 were very close together, I cut him off instantly when he screamed & called quickly a 2nd time before he could even think about it. I also started breaking branches & stomping loudly like hoofs pawing the ground. We exchanged several screams with me cutting him off each time, he was getting a mite riled with that!! He had advanced a bit toward us but not fast enough, this 2nd bull with him made him nervous I suspect about leaving his cows to fiend me off, so I stepped it up a notch & threw in 3 very aggressive hard pants & a seriously loud aggressive scream. The pants were calling his cows to me & the scream is an intimidation to him, it's a two-fold sound all balled into one.
When I did this, this bull came unglued & rushed me to push me outa there NOW!!!! I was on a slight down hill slope from where the bull was so in order for him to see me he had to come to the top of this knoll bringing him right by my Son. (setup is everything) Everything was working as scripted in our minds eye until the bull came straight through the patch of thick crap instead of around it !! (guess I should have only given one pant/huff--grin) This put Paul Jr eye to eye with this bull under 15yds & his recurve, there was a 30 sec stare down & Paul knew he had to try something, he started to draw & the bull turned to leave at his movement, when he did the bull showed him his whole broadside figure at point-blank range, my Son continued his split second draw & fired, the shot went a foot over his back!!! I heard the shot & thought he had connected but it was to no avail, bummer!!!
I go over to him & he has his head down to his knees, he said I just
"shanked it" I said oh well, that's hunting Son!!! I don't believe it eased his disappointment! On top of that he says it's the biggest bull I've ever called to him, he says it'll push between 330-340 that's huge for our part of ID. Paul has taken a lot of bulls so I know he knows what he saw!!
That was his last chance as the season ended the next day! That darned NM hunt stole 10 days out of his archery season this year or I promise you he would have connected!!
Anyway, I tried to make it up to him!!!! (grin) He did say that with a compound he could have drawn easily without detection as the bull entered the thick patch, not true with a recurve however, you don't draw till the shot presents itself, just adds another challenge to bagging a bull !!!!

ElkNut1