Last February I put in for hunt expo tags not expecting much, I was basically donating money. The morning of the draw I browsed each unit looking at who drew out, when to my surprise my name was on the list. I couldn't believe it! I called everyone I knew hyperventalating, lucky things never happen to me! From then on, every spare moment was dedicated to finding bulls and figuring where to hunt. The end of March rolled around and while playing basketball I blew my knee out. On April 23rd I had an ACL reconstruction done... that is the kind of luck I am accostomed to. Thought my hunt was ruined. Rehab began and I worked my butt off. To my surprise, by hunting time my bad knee was 75% the strength of my good knee. That was enough for me!
The first day was awesome, had bulls within shooting distance but there were none I wanted to shoot. The next few days we had bulls come and go with no shooting. Then bulls quieted down and hunting was very frustrating. Smaller bulls would come out of the trees but the bigger ones would hole up in the thick timber and not come out. Evening hunting was a waste as the bulls wouldn't start talking until 30 min before dark (the full moon was messing them up bad). Monday morning we had a sweet bull at 150 yards, his frame was a 360 frame.... well his left antler. The fronts on his right antler were a different story, they were only 7 inches and 5 inches long. I ended up passing on this bull. The next morning I had that same bull at 30 yards and once again decided to pass. Wednesday and Thursday were tough, long hot days with not much success finding large bulls. We had now been hunting 6 strait days busting ourselves everyday hiking down and up out of deep holes.
Friday morning arrived and we tried a different area. We parked the truck and walked over to a ridge where we would start a 3 1/2 mile hike. Once we hit the ridge 3 bulls began to bugle about 350 yards away in a patch of pine/quakie mix. Cows began to chirp and we knew one of the bulls was decent. First a 5 point came out the trees, followed by a small 4 point. The cows and the third bull remained in the trees. The cows began walking through open patches between the trees and then the bull came out. My buddy looked through the scope and said he has good fronts, good swords, and he is wide. I took a look through the spotting scope and decided to end my hunt.
I had a blast on this hunt. I was able to share it with by brother (who had a tag also), another brother, and friends. What a hunt, full of emotional ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am happy with the bull I shot, its my first elk ever and he will look good on the wall.
