Post by Fowler on Sept 8, 2015 23:29:53 GMT -5
So I dont hijack the mule train thread here is a new one for my brothers big bull.
First off we need to explain until a couple of season ago when my brother was retired early from the Army do to wartime injuries (head trauma, he does far better than a lot of our solders do) he wasnt a hunter. During the time he was still active military there were a couple of wounded warrior hunts that he was invited to while he was healing and participated in and it stoked his interest in hunting, that and filling the freezer with wild, organic meat as a great way to stretch his dollar with 3 teen aged kids in the house. He lives southeast of Denver in game rich foothills, lots and lots of deer, antelope, mountain lion, bear, and elk within a hours drive, time to hunt, and he is still young and fit enough to be able to hunt hard.
He has taken a couple mule deer does with his bow and this year decided he was going to try for elk and bear with his bow for the first time. He has one cow elk taken on a wounded warrior hunt down on the Vermejo ranch but we had never killed a public land elk of any sort, gun or bow. So an experienced buddy set up on a water hole deep in the woods he literally drives 5 miles from the hard top, mountain bikes in 5 more miles, and then hikes in a mile further to a tree stand that over looks a small water hole that everything in the neighborhood drinks at.
On opening morning he was up in his stand and had a 42 yard shot at a mature bull but a unseen twig deflected the arrow so he waited for another chance. An hour or two later a mature mountain lion came into 15 yards from his stand and stood there, I have grainy iPhone pics of the cat, what a cool experience to see a cat like that up close and unaware.
So everyday since then he has been up in that stand, a few hours in the morning, a few in the evening but in it everyday waiting, hoping to get another chance. Any elk would do, a fat cow would do fine on the grill where it all really matters. Everyday he sees elk in the distance, hears them calling all around him, hears them blow out when they scent him. All the trials and tribulations of elk hunting, only he is hunting them whitetail style 40 feet up in a tree.
So Saturday afternoon he is sneaking into his stand, he checks the valley on the way in, climbs his tree, pulls his pack and bow up to the stand, and no sooner knocks an arrow and hangs his bow he sees this mature bull standing in the water 25 yards away! Well he pin wheels the elk with a shot high on the near side and out the far side half way down its chest and he runs off. Brady knew it was a good shot but he never heard it crash and die in the woods, the woods are extremely dense in there so this really unnerved him. He decides to give the elk at least 30 minutes before he comes down from his tree, while he waits he called his daughter and her boyfriend and his father to come up and help, figures all the merrier to get him out when he does find the elk. About 20 minutes after shooting his elk a mature black bear comes into water, wisely he decides not to have 2 wounded animals to recover in the coming darkness.
Anyways he gets down and starts to look for the elk and as darkness falls he is full of doubt, an hour passes and he hasn't found his bull, another hour passes and his daughter and crew show up and together they find his elk, it had gone 483 feet after the shot according to his GPS. In the darkness finding blood or seeing the trail just was very tough to do. Now he knew it was a mature bull but he had no idea this is what he would find:
This bull does not suffer from ground shinkage
He doesn't care about scores, we feel it only detracts from the hunt in the end and he wasnt going to have it scored. But he called his buddy who is a taxidermist and told him of the hunt and that he wanted to do a European skull mount as the cape was trashed and left in the woods. Well the taxidermist was intrigued enough he ran down to my brothers place an hour away because he had to see this bull, when he did he had to score it because he just had to know:
Thats 399 after deductions 418 gross score! Not bad for his first elk with a bow I'd say.
Yea I am bragging on my little brother some but this bull is worth it, he will never kill another bull like it...
First off we need to explain until a couple of season ago when my brother was retired early from the Army do to wartime injuries (head trauma, he does far better than a lot of our solders do) he wasnt a hunter. During the time he was still active military there were a couple of wounded warrior hunts that he was invited to while he was healing and participated in and it stoked his interest in hunting, that and filling the freezer with wild, organic meat as a great way to stretch his dollar with 3 teen aged kids in the house. He lives southeast of Denver in game rich foothills, lots and lots of deer, antelope, mountain lion, bear, and elk within a hours drive, time to hunt, and he is still young and fit enough to be able to hunt hard.
He has taken a couple mule deer does with his bow and this year decided he was going to try for elk and bear with his bow for the first time. He has one cow elk taken on a wounded warrior hunt down on the Vermejo ranch but we had never killed a public land elk of any sort, gun or bow. So an experienced buddy set up on a water hole deep in the woods he literally drives 5 miles from the hard top, mountain bikes in 5 more miles, and then hikes in a mile further to a tree stand that over looks a small water hole that everything in the neighborhood drinks at.
On opening morning he was up in his stand and had a 42 yard shot at a mature bull but a unseen twig deflected the arrow so he waited for another chance. An hour or two later a mature mountain lion came into 15 yards from his stand and stood there, I have grainy iPhone pics of the cat, what a cool experience to see a cat like that up close and unaware.
So everyday since then he has been up in that stand, a few hours in the morning, a few in the evening but in it everyday waiting, hoping to get another chance. Any elk would do, a fat cow would do fine on the grill where it all really matters. Everyday he sees elk in the distance, hears them calling all around him, hears them blow out when they scent him. All the trials and tribulations of elk hunting, only he is hunting them whitetail style 40 feet up in a tree.
So Saturday afternoon he is sneaking into his stand, he checks the valley on the way in, climbs his tree, pulls his pack and bow up to the stand, and no sooner knocks an arrow and hangs his bow he sees this mature bull standing in the water 25 yards away! Well he pin wheels the elk with a shot high on the near side and out the far side half way down its chest and he runs off. Brady knew it was a good shot but he never heard it crash and die in the woods, the woods are extremely dense in there so this really unnerved him. He decides to give the elk at least 30 minutes before he comes down from his tree, while he waits he called his daughter and her boyfriend and his father to come up and help, figures all the merrier to get him out when he does find the elk. About 20 minutes after shooting his elk a mature black bear comes into water, wisely he decides not to have 2 wounded animals to recover in the coming darkness.
Anyways he gets down and starts to look for the elk and as darkness falls he is full of doubt, an hour passes and he hasn't found his bull, another hour passes and his daughter and crew show up and together they find his elk, it had gone 483 feet after the shot according to his GPS. In the darkness finding blood or seeing the trail just was very tough to do. Now he knew it was a mature bull but he had no idea this is what he would find:
This bull does not suffer from ground shinkage
He doesn't care about scores, we feel it only detracts from the hunt in the end and he wasnt going to have it scored. But he called his buddy who is a taxidermist and told him of the hunt and that he wanted to do a European skull mount as the cape was trashed and left in the woods. Well the taxidermist was intrigued enough he ran down to my brothers place an hour away because he had to see this bull, when he did he had to score it because he just had to know:
Thats 399 after deductions 418 gross score! Not bad for his first elk with a bow I'd say.
Yea I am bragging on my little brother some but this bull is worth it, he will never kill another bull like it...