Thank you HuntTalk! Tagged out in Jabridge

[jeremys4]

A couple days ago I posted asking about a unit I’ve never been to or heard of, asking where to find elk. Well, I got a lot of messages from people offering up there knowledge of the unit! Thanks to you guys I was able to tag out solo! Jabridge Bull.

Story for the hunt. On Thursday I got the tag through the First Come First Serve program. I didn’t even look what unit it was, just that it was a NR Bull Elk antlered tag. Who knows when I would get the opportunity to hunt Nevada so I bought it instantly. That night I frantically looked up where the unit was and where to find elk (including posting on here). Got a lot of great info and decided to head up there Friday morning and print my tag at a NDOW office on the way up. After the very long drive (8 hours) I made it to where I wanted to hunt.

From where I parked I hiked up on-top of a ridge that splits two big basins that would be fairly open enough for good glassing. Well I glassed and glassed until dark with out seeing a single animal. Feeling slightly discouraged I then hiked back down to camp. The next morning I got up before light and hiked up in the dark to the same ridge. Right as it got light I could see elk right in front of me on the same ridge I was on. I quickly pulled up my glass and could only see about 100 cows, some small rag horns, and a mature 5 point with a really small whale tail. Nothing I wanted to shoot. I then started to glass into the basin looking for more ek. Only a few minutes into glassing the basin the herd started to move north farther into the wilderness. I thought I better give them a good glass again just in case a nice bull was hidden earlier. Well, when I pulled up my binos I saw a nice dark horned 6 point which looked good in my eyes. He was bullying all the other bulls and running them off, definitely the herd bull. I ranged him at 550 but still wasn’t sure if I was going to shoot him or not since I am terrible at field judging elk. I quickly called and texted everyone I know pictures of him asking how big they thought he was (I wanted at least a 330” bull based on what I heard about the unit) most people said anywhere from 320-340”. I knew I’d shoot him at that point but by that time the herd was at 850 yards and moving quickly up the canyon. I quickly packed up my gear and gave chase. Because chasing elk doesn’t usually work that well because even just walking they can cover some serious ground I was a little bummed that I didn’t shoot him at 550, but I just kept going up canyon hoping I’d catch them. I got pretty far up the canyon (3 miles from camp at this point) with no luck on seeing the herd, looking at they’re tracks they weren’t running which is a good sign. I checked my maps to see where I was and I noticed a spring just over the ridge from me. I then thought that they might have been heading to it so I decided to pop over the ridge and check it out. When I got over the ridge I could see all the cows and smaller bulls at the spring but not 6x6. I was really doubting he broke off from the herd so I just continued glassing the herd. After 10 minutes or so I could see antler tips in the wash. It was him! I quickly ranged the bottom of the wash and got 330 yards. Definitely a doable shot. Another 10 minutes went by and he stepped out of the wash and cleared the cows so I was able to get a clean shot. I let the first one fly and the whole heard just stood there and the bull looked unfazed. So I racked another one and shot him again, this time he dropped immediately! Bull down!

The 3 mile pack out took me the rest of day and I finished in the morning. He ended up going 327” which I am very happy with! Thank you again for all the help from you guys on HuntTalk!

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Some how I know exactly what basin he was in good job.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Congrats!!

 

[CPAjeff]

So awesome - congrats!

 

[EKYHunter]

Great job! That’s a fantastic bull. And to do it all solo says a lot about you. Congrats!

 

[Allenchrisx1]

Congrats!

 

[Thesteeleboy]

Great hunting story, Thanks for sharing.

 

[bowhunterjae]

HELL YA! Congratulations!

 

[JAG]

Very nice! Good job. How far was the packout?

I believe said 3 miles after chasing the herd. Nice job on improvising your 'chase' of the herd by thinking about what they might be going to. Checked your map and found a spring.

Nice write-up and great bull!