MT Bull of a lifetime (Update)
 

Well not sure way to even begin. All the stars aligned fri @ 1130 am. We had just gotten done eating lunch and decided to head up a saddle. We cut 3 fresh elk tracks. One set went to the left, two went to the right. I headed to the left up hill. One of my buddies headed to the right and one headed straight ahead. I followed the track up the hill about 300 yds and found really fresh droppings. Thats when I slowed way down knowing they could be close. I started through the timber and bam theres an elk 70 yds in front of me. I froze and realized he was feeding and had no clue I was there. I decided to try and sneak another 10 yds closer to find an opening through the branches. I leaned my rifle up against a tree and found his shoulder and squeezed. He lunged forward and twirled and headed right for me. He put on the breaks upon seeing me. Now he's facing me I decided I'm not taking a chance and put the crosshairs below his chin and squeezed another one. He dropped in his tracks. Still at this point I had no clue how big he was until I walked up to him. I started shaking and couldnt talk. I tried several times to call back to my buddies but couldn't get it out unitl about the 5th try.

There are no words to explain what happened up there. To shoot a bull of this caliber the last weekend of season on public land is well words can't explain. Not much into scoring so I don't really know. He has 11.5 inch bases and the 4ths are 22.5 inches. My buddy said he definately over 340 but I'm not sure.

I was the only one able to connect on an elk but they took some nice mulies and 1 nice whitetail doe. The sweetest part this was all public land.

Awesome bull and congrats man, great job!!

Excellent.

Wow, what a hunt! Congrats on your bull! Definitely a hunt to remember!

Congrats! Great bull.

Beautiful Bull. It doesn't look as though you were hunting South of Bozeman, but if you were, you also managed to avoid being eaten by a grizz.

That is a really, really good bull. Without having actual measurements of the length of the main beam it isn't possible to guess the actual score, but it will go at least 340. For an unguided public land bull, this one will be very hard to beat anywhere.

For what it is worth, I used to hang around a guy that was an official measurer for Boone and Crockett. He told me a couple quick ways to look at a 6x6 bull in the field to see if it would be close to making book. He said all the points should look about as big around at the base as the bull's eye is and that all the lower points need to be at least 18 inches long. It goes without saying that the points need to be symmetrical and can't be broken much, if it is missing the bull most likely won't make book due to deductions. The average big bull is about 14 inches from the eye to the tip of the nose so that makes an easy reference point to determine tine length. He said the major thing to look for is the "Y" formed by the 5th and 6th point. It that "Y" is as far between the points as the 4th point is long (it should be the longest point on the rack and is called the sword point) then the bull is either going to make the book or be really close as long as the main beams aren't too short. Main beams of 49-50 inches, which your bull looks to have, will do it.

Your bull is very, very good. If I was elk hunting and found that bull I'd be shooting as soon as I had a good shot. Well Done!

Well my friends insisted on putting the tape to him. I was curious too since they debated back and forth all night. So we said lets do it. By no means are we official measurers. So it could be less or more. He had matching 51 3/4 main beams, inside spread of 39, and the swords were 20 3/4. His measurements between the first and second points were 10 1/4. We grossed him at 358. Still hasn't sunk in yet. I went out and drank my cup of coffee this morn just looking at him thinking I wouldn't have ever imagined ever shooting a bull like this. Just shows in could happen to anyone.

Ron I was west of Judith Pass.

congrats on your great bull
RR

That right there is a GREAT bull elk! :jaw: You were blessed.