Caribou Gear

B&C Awards book MT elk

He looked gigantic with huge bladed royal tines polished white down nearly to the beam. He had that eye-catching, jaw dropping appeal that bulls with giant tops have, nearly two feet on both royals and his 5ths that were in the 16 inch range. I knew I couldn’t get to him before dark, so I just wanted to size him up carefully and make a plan for the morning. After a harder look, I realized he was missing a bottom tine on both sides, not broken - just not grown. He was a big 5X5, missing what would be a 2nd on one side, and a 3rd on the other. The 2nd and 3rd tines he did grow were also pretty weak. Even so, I guessed him to be a solid 320-330 bull and I know if he would have been in striking distance I would have tried for him. But after some careful thought, I decided to keep going and stick to my plan. It was still the first week of the season, and if I were to go for that bull, my chance of hunting the top basin on the perfect day would likely have to wait for some other year.

And the reason I will never kill a giant bull, boom end of story:D

Excellent story, it is the kind you find yourself scrolling through fast and then your sorry it is over, despite the lack of beer and strippers.
 
Do you guys age bulls up there? This stud of a bull looks like he has seen a few years. That thing is just sick and heavy. Would love to hear an age on him if you ever get it.
 
Great scribe, Greenhorn. Thanks for taking all the time to share that with us. I owe you some beer to replenish the stock you probably demolished while typing last night.

Congrats again.
 
That was a good read Kurt... Thanks much!!! It AMAZES me that anyone could pass the opportunity for the huge 5er you described with the massive, bladed, polished 4ths and such... that is awesome...

What sucks is the pressure you will put on yourself when you draw one of these premium tags you are building points on!!! Killing a bull bigger than this one is hard anywhere with any tag... right?
 
Thanks for the writeup, it was definitely worth the read.
 
But after some careful thought, I decided to keep going and stick to my plan.

Thats what I remembered when writing that I guess... I see where he wasn't close enough to go for! I most likely would have stayed there and hunted him in the morn!! (form the sounds of him anyhow!)
 
Great writeup GH. No doubt that just to get to where you shot that elk would probably kill the average hunter. You earned every onch of that trophy.
 
Great story Greenhorn. When are we going to get to see if the OYOA camera crew can keep up with you on one of your hunts?
 
Great story Greenhorn. When are we going to get to see if the OYOA camera crew can keep up with you on one of your hunts?

From reading his story he prefers hunting by himself even if he's sharing a tent with someone. Only 1 person to blame or praise when you go that route. I personally like hunting with other people and that's probably why I don't shoot big animals.:D I'm pretty sure Troy (cameraman) could keep up with him. He's a goat, enjoys doing the ridge run if you can imagine that.
 
I like hunting with friends and sometimes hunting by myself, and there's plenty of people that can out walk me. I've done that ridge run 4 times and there were always some women that finish ahead of me. I'm sure most dudes that aren't too fat can walk around in the forest, it's nothing that hard. My buddy Kevin has done a number of 100 mile mtn runs in the last few years - but he's one odd duck. You don't need to be a marathon runner to go elk hunting.
 
C'mon man, keep up the intimidation level or you're going to have some serious surveillance taking place when you head out hunting. :D
 
Year after year. It's no accident. Thanks for sharing Greenhorn, that's an incredible bull, and a great writeup, it's nice when Karma evens it up a little bit.
 
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