3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

I thought I'd consolidate the Stories & photos of our last 6 days of Elk Hunting! All of our hunting is in ID on Public Land in General Archery Season OTC hunts. I mention this as some wonder if we hunt Private stuff, we don't, but would if it was offered!! (grin)
We called in all 3 bulls, 2 were bugled in & the other was with both cow calls & timing bugles. We also called in several other bulls within bowrange but obstructions were in the way of shots especially with recurves & longbows & so we chose to let them walk, one in particular was bigger than all 3 we took, we had him at 28yds, my Son called him in with awesome sounds!
The first one is my Sons Bull, we followed his bugles for over an hour as he was being pushed by 2 Sattelite bulls. This herd bull finally got to his destination which was in 12' high willows & alders, we could hear the movement of him & his cows at aprox. 35 yds in this thick stuff, they were above us, the wind was getting swirly but holding just enough, we had done no calling to this point, just following this bulls calling. I set my Son up next to a small opening on the edge of Alders, & I moved aprox. 10yds from him on the other side of thick huge fir trees that you couldn't see through. I found a blow down with many dried limbs & got behind it. I now can really hear the ruckus that the elk were making in the willows/alders, I heard some loud stomping like something might be going wrong, I quickly screamed a challenge & snapped off a couple of the dried branches simulating another bull right under his nose, this bull literally exploded out of the willows & stopped 8 yds from me & 13 yds from my Son, my Son was ready & quickly delivered an arrow through his heart & bottom of lungs!
ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

This is the story of the 2nd bull, which happens to be my bull. (grin) We had located 3 bugling bulls at night on a very steep east facing slope, 1/2 hour before daylight we proceeded down a small draw & crossed a fairly deep creek & continued up the other side, we could hear bugling on this face as we moved up this mountain, it was now getting light, at aprox. 225yds away I spot one of the bugling bulls in an opening straight above us, I was leading followed by Clayton & my Son, this Mtn was steep as a cows face & we happened to be in about 3' high grass when this happened. I froze and slowly sank into it & the other 2 followed suit as I whispered "bull". He looked our way but wasn't sure what he'd seen so I sent my son sliding on his side down the hill 20yds & he gave several cow mews in hopes of settling him down, it worked! The bull started feeding a bit, my son slid further down to get out of the bulls view, He really started hitting the cow sounds & quickly elevated into some real excitement.
He turned around & screamed a short young bull bugle followed by more cow sounds & some stomping & light thrashing. The bull moved to my left which put him behind some cover from me, he was still 200yds+ up the hill. I quickly as possible starting crawling up the hill towards the only cover near me, it was 40yds or so to it, I made it about 5yds when Clayton who was still behind me whispered, he's coming at us fast, well I moved as quickly as this old guy could towards the cover, I only made it half way, I knew I had to position myself on this steep hill & nock an arrow before the bull showed himself. The bull showed to the left of the cover 50yds from me, too far for the longbow, but I was nocked & ready on one knee in a good position. My Son hammered the cow sounds at this time, the bull couldn't take any more, he dashed that 50yds at mach-1 speed, he stopped 10yds from me & bolted a weird sort of move now quartering steeply away from me, "no shot" my Son called at exactly the right time & the bull turned broadside to me at now 13yds, I drove a shaft in the lower portion of his lungs, he expired quickly! Man what a rush!!! (grin)
ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Well, here's the latest one!! It's my favorite because now my Son & I are helping Clayton get his first bull in 14 years with a Recurve. This guy is a great guy to have around, always smiling & strong as an ox!! Just a genuinely great guy & one of my Sons best friends!
This bull was taken with our Call & Stalk approach. We had had called to this bull previously but he'd pull away on any kind of approach, so now on this day we located this bull & I stayed back as the caller to keep in contact with the bull who in response to me would hopefully give away his position to my Son & Clayton as they indianed towards the bugling, the bull was over a 1/2 mile away across a steep draw from me. I couldn't see anything as a result of the thick timber, every 5 to 10 minutes I would get the bull to sound off, & he cooperated very well, after about an hour my son radioed to me to let me know they were within 100yds of the bull. We both have Garmin GPS with built in radios. I'm sitting & listening for about 10 minutes wondering if they're closing in or did they get busted or what?
All of a sudden I thought I faintly recognized my Sons bugle, wasn't sure if I'd really heard anything as they were a long ways off from me! I waited a minute then radioed & asked if he'd bugled, all he said was Clayton just took his 1st bull & they were up there high fiving each other, AWESOME!!!! That is how I felt, it was great to be a part of his hunt, he deserves it more than anyone!!!
My Son Paul tells me that they got to within 60 yds of the bull & he grunted, they saw cows scampering around, my son felt that they knew something wasn't right, he quickly set Clayton up another 10yds further & then backed up another 20 yds or so & screamed a challenge to the herd bull, the bull showed instantly in defense mode as they seem to always do in this situation, he stopped at 15 yds from Clayton, he drew & the bull bolted as he caught his movement, my Son saw this & screamed a short bugle pitch, the bull stopped in the only opening there was at a little over 30 yds, Clayton was ready, he drew & fired catching the bull a bit back but he caught the top part of his lungs, Wow!!!! What a great ending & hunt!!!!
I joined up with them & check out where this bull died!!!! Can you believe it? Right in the stream, no way to drag him up that 3' bank!!! We pulled him 15 yds out of the deeper water & it started raining on us plus the water was freezing but we didn't care, we were all on cloud nine!!!! It doesn't matter how many elk kills you've been on, they're all special & unique in their own way!! This one was no different!!!
ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Congrats, nice bulls, nice stories and pics

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Paul;Congratulations to you and your huntingpartners. Great bulls, and a wonderful story, and all with recurves and longbow.Thanks for sharing withus. Great tips on how toclose the deal, and bring them into range.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Those are some great memories you guys made. Congratulations to all of you.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Way to go Paul. A couple of more chapters to add to your personal encyclopedia of Elk hunting ( ready for it's 3rd or 4th printing I'm sure:D)

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Paul,

You make it sound so easy! I love the stories and pics. You guys are masters at the game.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

All I can say is...perfect!

I didn't draw a tag this year, so I'm sitting here jonesing bad. Again, perfect, and a big Congrat's!!!!!!!!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Paul you got me so fired up right now....I went to your web site and just bought some of your goodies to use on my NM elk trip this year. You make it sound easy which I know its not but good job and congrats!!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Congratulations to some very savy hunters!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Thanks everyone! We had a great time. It wasn't that taking elk is easy, but I suppose sometimes it seems that way. It's all in reading the encounter & using sounds if you choose to that fit that encounter best! I guess it sounds easy enough? (grin)
Thanks, & Good Luck to you guys during your hunts!!

ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Those are some great animals, congrats.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

GREAT job Paul! You guys are worse than wolves.:D

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

oh trust me I and my feet know its not easy. you guys are just that good!;)

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Great bulls and congrats to all of you. You guys must be good to get quality animals like that on pub land with trad equipment.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Conglads----CB

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Great job. I'm assuming that you didn't have far to pack'em out? Or did ya have horses or use ATV's?
Ithink if you packed out 3 elk from rough country in 6 days, we all need to bow to your strength and stamina!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Great stories... Thanks for sharing them.

Ya'll da man....

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Thanks guys!

Howler, all elk were taken 1 1/2 mile from nearest road/trail. We hunt most mornings till noon or so, all elk were taken in morning & out by dark. We pack everything on our backs, no ATVs or horses! We've taken 2 more to complete the ElkNut Crew, 5 for 5! One of the last 2 was several miles in.

Thanks / ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

I'm sorry Paul, but we're going to need pics and stories to verify the 4th and 5th Bulls respectively:D:D

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Nice job as usual Paul. Looks like a fine year

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Thats just awesome!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

CONGRATS what a hunt!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

I am very impressed, to kill those caliber of public land bulls in 6 days! Hats of from one Idahoan to another.. great work guys! Awesome hunts and bulls!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Thanks again guys!!! We had fun for sure! The bulls weren't talking much, but enough to get them in trouble!! (grin) Clayton has found the tine that was broken off his right side & put it back on, you can't hardly tell at all. The bull ran smack into a tree on his death sprint down the mtn, that's where he broke the tine off then died in the stream!

ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Nice work, and great bulls!!! Those sounded like some exciting close shots!!!!


Thanks for sharing.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Elknut1, man that is amazing and I congratulate you guys.I just got back from chasing elk around Montana with compound bows and for you to get 3 royals with recurves is nothing less than amazing. Sounds like you really hit the rut just right.

We were dumbfounded as to why the elk in our area (Big Belt range) were not bugling even though late September is usually prime time. We suspect it may have been all the local fires and smoke last summer that screwed up their clocks. The only real bugling action we got was one awesome day where we were on the edge of private range land (not high fence, more like old rotten fence) bugling with a high 300's class 7 point (I've got video of this monster bull)and smaller satellite's about 250 yds from us. We stayed with them for most of the day cow calling and bugling. Just when they started to leave one of the satellite 5 points ran/walked up to us but we'd gotten out of position since we thought they were leaving (don't ever give up until its too dark to shoot!). That was the highlite of a frustrating hunt although we did manage to put mule deer in the freezer. I think we may be putting in for Idaho tags next year. :D

btw - how's the meat on those bulls? I'm used to eating cows and spikes which are mighty tender and tasty.

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Wow, those are some impressive bulls, Almost as impressive as the stories and pics that came with them.
Congrates and thanks for sharing those amazing memories!

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

fishm@n---So far we've only had a steak off the backstrap, normally that's a good indicator of the rest of the meat. So far so good though on all 3 bulls. I believe mine is the tastiest so far, we did compare some! They're no spike or tasty cow, (if it's not too old) but they're tastier than tag soup!! (grin) Thanks for asking!!

ElkNut1

RE: 3 Bulls In 6 Days!
 

Whoa man you got me there! Tag soup and turd stew, my favorite elk recipe some years. [8D]I still hope to archery hunt the late season here in washington, so I may have elk in the freezer yet!