Well after 7 days of grinding it out sweating, getting soaked by rain and busting through thick brush, it all came together in the last couple hours of the hunt. It rained a decent amount 5 of our 7 days, had a full moon, and daytime heat, and hunters were Everywhere. Here is how it went down.
day 1: Nothing worth mentioning
day 2: Heard 1 bull lazy bugle a couple times
day 3: saw 2 cows at last light
day 4: nothing but hard work and burning boot leather
day 5: had a couple bulls bugling early before shooting hours. Went to move in closer to a bull that was bugling and accidentally bumped a nice 5x5.
day 6: more lazy bugles, no cows in heat but more activity than we had seen. chased bugles and worked some calling sequences until 2 pm. Set up in a good ambush spot for the evening. No elk, but saw 3 moose that evening.
day 7: Similar to day 6 but the bugles were way further away. We hiked in several miles on a trail and heard a couple bugles in a high basin. Spent a couple hours busting through thick brush and we felt we were maybe 3/4 of the way to the area where the bugles were located. I sent out a location bugle and it sounded like 2 bulls answered way back down below us. The bugles were faint and we couldn't pinpoint them. We worked our way that direction and sat down for lunch just to listen and see if we could hear anything else. heard a bugle at lunch and it was even further below us. At this point we were a little confused. We started out hearing bugles way up high, and now they were down below us. We worked our way 300 yds toward the last bugle and sat down again just to listen. after about 20 minutes a bull softly bugled about 100 yds away! It was soft but deep and raspy. After that a couple more bulls piped up nearby. At this point we realized that there must be a hot cow in this spot and the random bugles we had been hearing up high and down low were probably satellite bulls. After we heard the bugle my brother whispers "Holy ****, I see him, he is thrashing a tree about 100 yds away". So I scooted over maybe 10 yds and started calling, He loved my cow calls. I let him bugle 3 times and on the 4th bugle I cut him off with a nasty challenge bugle. He did not like that! In about 5 seconds he was 30 yds away in the thick brush. I went to full draw as soon as he started heading our way. Ended up having to hold for a loooong time. Finally he worked his way into about an 8 inch shooting lane at 40 yds and I let it fly. Nailed him slightly lower than I was aiming, but hit him in the heart. He turned and ran right back where he came from. I instantly threw out another challenge bugle and started some intense raking. Within 2 minutes we were surrounded by satellite bulls, maybe 4 or 5 and had a couple others bugling at a distance. My brother drew back on a 240 bull at 20 yds but had to let down after a couple minutes. the bull saw us and ran off. I went right back to work calling and he came right back, but this time in the open. I told my brother " Shoot him! what are you doing? Hes right there!". He responds, "We don't have any tags". I said " What are you talking about?" Apparently while I was calling and focusing on a different bull he turned around and shot one at 10 yds! We were beyond excited. We had plans of packing up camp and heading back toward home a few hours later, but this changed all that. Both bulls were laying about 100 yds apart. Moral of the story. Grind it out, Stay persistent and keep your head up. Everything can change in a matter of seconds.
day 1: Nothing worth mentioning
day 2: Heard 1 bull lazy bugle a couple times
day 3: saw 2 cows at last light
day 4: nothing but hard work and burning boot leather
day 5: had a couple bulls bugling early before shooting hours. Went to move in closer to a bull that was bugling and accidentally bumped a nice 5x5.
day 6: more lazy bugles, no cows in heat but more activity than we had seen. chased bugles and worked some calling sequences until 2 pm. Set up in a good ambush spot for the evening. No elk, but saw 3 moose that evening.
day 7: Similar to day 6 but the bugles were way further away. We hiked in several miles on a trail and heard a couple bugles in a high basin. Spent a couple hours busting through thick brush and we felt we were maybe 3/4 of the way to the area where the bugles were located. I sent out a location bugle and it sounded like 2 bulls answered way back down below us. The bugles were faint and we couldn't pinpoint them. We worked our way that direction and sat down for lunch just to listen and see if we could hear anything else. heard a bugle at lunch and it was even further below us. At this point we were a little confused. We started out hearing bugles way up high, and now they were down below us. We worked our way 300 yds toward the last bugle and sat down again just to listen. after about 20 minutes a bull softly bugled about 100 yds away! It was soft but deep and raspy. After that a couple more bulls piped up nearby. At this point we realized that there must be a hot cow in this spot and the random bugles we had been hearing up high and down low were probably satellite bulls. After we heard the bugle my brother whispers "Holy ****, I see him, he is thrashing a tree about 100 yds away". So I scooted over maybe 10 yds and started calling, He loved my cow calls. I let him bugle 3 times and on the 4th bugle I cut him off with a nasty challenge bugle. He did not like that! In about 5 seconds he was 30 yds away in the thick brush. I went to full draw as soon as he started heading our way. Ended up having to hold for a loooong time. Finally he worked his way into about an 8 inch shooting lane at 40 yds and I let it fly. Nailed him slightly lower than I was aiming, but hit him in the heart. He turned and ran right back where he came from. I instantly threw out another challenge bugle and started some intense raking. Within 2 minutes we were surrounded by satellite bulls, maybe 4 or 5 and had a couple others bugling at a distance. My brother drew back on a 240 bull at 20 yds but had to let down after a couple minutes. the bull saw us and ran off. I went right back to work calling and he came right back, but this time in the open. I told my brother " Shoot him! what are you doing? Hes right there!". He responds, "We don't have any tags". I said " What are you talking about?" Apparently while I was calling and focusing on a different bull he turned around and shot one at 10 yds! We were beyond excited. We had plans of packing up camp and heading back toward home a few hours later, but this changed all that. Both bulls were laying about 100 yds apart. Moral of the story. Grind it out, Stay persistent and keep your head up. Everything can change in a matter of seconds.
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