B&C Awards book MT elk
- Thread starter The Hedgehog
- Start date
van franke
Active member
Amazing bull, and well deserved.
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
I didn't take my cape out last year.. it was beat up bad and I just did a european mount of him. You had your chance in MT. 
Blew it.. remember..
Blew it.. remember..I didn't take my cape out last year.. it was beat up bad and I just did a european mount of him. You had your chance in MT.
No i dont remember? I didn't have a tag last year, or are you talking 2 years ago when I could have taken out that huge bull and your ear drums for life all in one shot? I remember later that day watching a 300ish bull right before dark and we made a mad dash for it at last light. After we got back to the truck at 9pm we both agreed we were glad I did not kill that small of a bull that far in. Good times... good memories to tell the kids..
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HUNTMAN
New member
Very very nice. Congrats on a great bull.
DRAFTSTUD
Well-known member
Always Happy to see good things happen to the ones who go the extra mile. John
mdunc8
Well-known member
Great bull. I'm guessing our standards for shoulder mounts are very different if you haven't had anything done in five year.
Brandenbowhunter
Well-known member
That is a stud..for sure!
arffdog875
New member
Awesome bull! Great Job!
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Schmalts, just an FYI, if the roles are reversed, your ears mean nothing to me.
I'm sitting here sipping a cold one, hammering out the details.. hopefully it will be entertaining
.
I'm sitting here sipping a cold one, hammering out the details.. hopefully it will be entertaining
.
The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Eastman's gave me a prostaff hat for something half this crappy...
Opening weekend forecast was shirtsleeve weather and no snow. Despite that, a good pal, Kevin, and I backpacked into a remote area, in hopes of crossing paths with a bull I’d wounded a few weeks earlier during an archery hunt. He took off with about 6” of my arrow and left very little blood. I thought I hit his shoulder blade. The bull was a terrific 6X6 with a non-typical tine off his right royal. Kevin doesn’t own a rifle, as he’s primarily an archer. However, after hunting for years without taking a bull, he wanted to put his tag on one, and was ready to resort to using a firearm. He felt since we were going to be hunting together there was no need to pack 2 rifles. If a bull presented the right opportunity for him, he’d just shoot it with mine. Kevin’s hunted with me for a number of years during the archery season and is among the best companions I’ve ever hunted with. We typically camp together and hunt solo. Although there’s been some great action in the 5 years we’ve hunted, neither of us have taken an elk. To add to the pressure, it was also his anniversary and his wife informed him that she wanted some elk meat in the freezer.
I tried to explain to Kevin that rifle hunting opportunities are fewer and farther between than during the archery hunt and the rut, especially with this warm weather. He was still very optimistic and proceeded to tell me that on this hunt I had dibs on a big bull - but he’d be happy with anything I didn’t want. We both knew there was a bull I really had hopes of crossing paths with - though the odds were slim. I honestly think Kevin would have been completely satisfied with a cow, even though we were a half day’s walk into the mountains. However, we were hunting a brow-tine only area and he would have to hold for a bull. As luck would have it, at sunrise on the opener we were in perfect position and immediately located three bulls. I had the 80mm spotter and could tell in the low light that one bull was a definite keeper, another small 6X6, and the 3rd bull was a young raghorn. Trying to keep a good game face on, I told Kevin one of the bulls was pretty nice, but not what I was looking for. He took a quick look through the spotter and said, “Count me in!” 30 minutes later we were standing over the cheater point bull I’d crossed paths with a few months earlier. Chambering a round into my 300 and handing it to Kevin just before he took that bull was pretty exciting. Kevin just fell apart when we walked over the hill and saw the bull’s antlers sticking up from below. He screamed like a girl and danced around like a white version of Michael Jackson doing the Thriller routine. I was super happy for him, but I knew I was likely to be 20lbs lighter and out of vacation days before capitalizing on another opportunity like this. We spent the remainder of the day working on the elk meat, laughing, talking about women, farting, packing a load of meat out, and taunting each other about the six pack of lukewarm beer waiting for us in the back of his truck at the trailhead. We stopped to glass occasionally, though I knew chances of spotting another big elk were slim to none in this weather.
The following day it started to snow and the temperature dropped. I told Kevin that I planned an epic solo hunt as soon as the weather broke. I wanted to try another area, higher in elevation, and almost twice as far in. My plan was to try to find a good bull that might be holed up at higher elevations before being pushed out by snow. I’ve tried hunting this area before with poor results but knew the potential for awesomeness was there. As with most places, timing is everything. After a good initial dump of snow, elk seem to hang tight for a bit, then move to where they can paw through snow to feed, then, after suffering that for a bit, they’ll bail for easier places to eat elsewhere. My plan was to catch them at the point they’d be starting to paw for grass. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out where that will be. Although I didn’t figure I’d see many elk, I knew I’d have this place to myself as it’s not conducive to most hunters. Most backpack hunters don’t like to walk past miles and miles of consistently good hunting and most horseback hunters don’t convert to a backpack hunter once they are back in there a ways. I’ve often thought about hunting this mountain, under the right conditions during rifle season, but haven’t had an opportunity for many years. I planned a 3-day trip, with a day of hunting to get in there, one day to hunt it, and a day to get out, with or without part of an elk. It’s the kind of place where one hard day of hunting is about all I can muster.
Opening weekend forecast was shirtsleeve weather and no snow. Despite that, a good pal, Kevin, and I backpacked into a remote area, in hopes of crossing paths with a bull I’d wounded a few weeks earlier during an archery hunt. He took off with about 6” of my arrow and left very little blood. I thought I hit his shoulder blade. The bull was a terrific 6X6 with a non-typical tine off his right royal. Kevin doesn’t own a rifle, as he’s primarily an archer. However, after hunting for years without taking a bull, he wanted to put his tag on one, and was ready to resort to using a firearm. He felt since we were going to be hunting together there was no need to pack 2 rifles. If a bull presented the right opportunity for him, he’d just shoot it with mine. Kevin’s hunted with me for a number of years during the archery season and is among the best companions I’ve ever hunted with. We typically camp together and hunt solo. Although there’s been some great action in the 5 years we’ve hunted, neither of us have taken an elk. To add to the pressure, it was also his anniversary and his wife informed him that she wanted some elk meat in the freezer.
I tried to explain to Kevin that rifle hunting opportunities are fewer and farther between than during the archery hunt and the rut, especially with this warm weather. He was still very optimistic and proceeded to tell me that on this hunt I had dibs on a big bull - but he’d be happy with anything I didn’t want. We both knew there was a bull I really had hopes of crossing paths with - though the odds were slim. I honestly think Kevin would have been completely satisfied with a cow, even though we were a half day’s walk into the mountains. However, we were hunting a brow-tine only area and he would have to hold for a bull. As luck would have it, at sunrise on the opener we were in perfect position and immediately located three bulls. I had the 80mm spotter and could tell in the low light that one bull was a definite keeper, another small 6X6, and the 3rd bull was a young raghorn. Trying to keep a good game face on, I told Kevin one of the bulls was pretty nice, but not what I was looking for. He took a quick look through the spotter and said, “Count me in!” 30 minutes later we were standing over the cheater point bull I’d crossed paths with a few months earlier. Chambering a round into my 300 and handing it to Kevin just before he took that bull was pretty exciting. Kevin just fell apart when we walked over the hill and saw the bull’s antlers sticking up from below. He screamed like a girl and danced around like a white version of Michael Jackson doing the Thriller routine. I was super happy for him, but I knew I was likely to be 20lbs lighter and out of vacation days before capitalizing on another opportunity like this. We spent the remainder of the day working on the elk meat, laughing, talking about women, farting, packing a load of meat out, and taunting each other about the six pack of lukewarm beer waiting for us in the back of his truck at the trailhead. We stopped to glass occasionally, though I knew chances of spotting another big elk were slim to none in this weather.
The following day it started to snow and the temperature dropped. I told Kevin that I planned an epic solo hunt as soon as the weather broke. I wanted to try another area, higher in elevation, and almost twice as far in. My plan was to try to find a good bull that might be holed up at higher elevations before being pushed out by snow. I’ve tried hunting this area before with poor results but knew the potential for awesomeness was there. As with most places, timing is everything. After a good initial dump of snow, elk seem to hang tight for a bit, then move to where they can paw through snow to feed, then, after suffering that for a bit, they’ll bail for easier places to eat elsewhere. My plan was to catch them at the point they’d be starting to paw for grass. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out where that will be. Although I didn’t figure I’d see many elk, I knew I’d have this place to myself as it’s not conducive to most hunters. Most backpack hunters don’t like to walk past miles and miles of consistently good hunting and most horseback hunters don’t convert to a backpack hunter once they are back in there a ways. I’ve often thought about hunting this mountain, under the right conditions during rifle season, but haven’t had an opportunity for many years. I planned a 3-day trip, with a day of hunting to get in there, one day to hunt it, and a day to get out, with or without part of an elk. It’s the kind of place where one hard day of hunting is about all I can muster.
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The Hedgehog
Well-known member
Wow, that's a lot of blah blah blah before I get to the day I went in there..
T
tjones
Guest
I have an empty spot on the wall for a bull like that but I keep punching my tag for the raghorn express.
Great bull Kurt.
Great bull Kurt.
Lawnboy
Well-known member
Thanks for taking the time to do a write up (seriously). Something i don't think you do often and should. Now finish the story
RockyDog
Member
great stuff Mike, i mean Guy, i mean Kurt.
