We didn’t have any tags for 1st season so we had to wait. Wyatt drew a cow tag for second season along with a doe tag. I drew a doe tag too. I decided to stop at cpw to get him an OTC bull tag on our way there Friday.
Fri night we spotted a herd and I’m sure others did too. We got up in the middle of the night to beat everyone to them. It was pretty magical. A 1/3 moon meant we didn’t use our lights and made sure we were down wind. We had a couple bulls bark at us. We moved over a bit hidden in a washout. Then we heard antlers clacking and grunting, panting. Bulls were fighting for 20 min or so and it sounded like they were 50-100 yards away. Cows were making their noises and when the bulls were done fighting they started bugling. Wyatt said even if we didn’t get anything the experience was worth getting up for. The bulls moved up the hill to the cows and once light they were a tad far for a shot ~430. We used the terrain and wind and picked out a spot for intercept. On the edge of the herd we intercepted 20+ cows and some spikes mixed in. Wyatt didn’t want to go empty handed and was about to take a cow but I told him to wait the bull is usually last. If not we’d take the last cow. This was the first legal bull. About 200 yards with a tikka 7-08. While making dinner some does ran by 40 yards away but no need to take a deer when we have elk in the cooler. This was his first bull and and antlers after getting a cow and doe last year. Found one of the nosler partitions we hand loaded between the ribs and hide. It still had the lead on top which is just sitting on top, and mushroomed nicely.
Fri night we spotted a herd and I’m sure others did too. We got up in the middle of the night to beat everyone to them. It was pretty magical. A 1/3 moon meant we didn’t use our lights and made sure we were down wind. We had a couple bulls bark at us. We moved over a bit hidden in a washout. Then we heard antlers clacking and grunting, panting. Bulls were fighting for 20 min or so and it sounded like they were 50-100 yards away. Cows were making their noises and when the bulls were done fighting they started bugling. Wyatt said even if we didn’t get anything the experience was worth getting up for. The bulls moved up the hill to the cows and once light they were a tad far for a shot ~430. We used the terrain and wind and picked out a spot for intercept. On the edge of the herd we intercepted 20+ cows and some spikes mixed in. Wyatt didn’t want to go empty handed and was about to take a cow but I told him to wait the bull is usually last. If not we’d take the last cow. This was the first legal bull. About 200 yards with a tikka 7-08. While making dinner some does ran by 40 yards away but no need to take a deer when we have elk in the cooler. This was his first bull and and antlers after getting a cow and doe last year. Found one of the nosler partitions we hand loaded between the ribs and hide. It still had the lead on top which is just sitting on top, and mushroomed nicely.
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