As Friday night came I was very nervous. All four of the bulls I’d seen the prior two years we no-shows. Guys I knew who had the tag were turning then back left and right.
I went back in to find the pretty bull but he and his buddy’s didn’t come out that night. The weather had become really warm and we were fighting a full moon.
The bulls I was seeing were in the timber after 20 minutes of first light and not moving hardly at all till dark.
I sent my buddy Adam back to where I’d seen that heavy bull a few days earlier.
When I got back in service that night he called to say the bull and his smaller buddies were right where I’d left them and nobody else was in there watching.
That bull was in a spot I could get the kids to. My oldest son is 8 and his is 10. It was then I decided to make it a family affair. In the morning on the way in it was reassuring to find that nobody was ahead of us. The pools of water in the dirt road were still frozen over.
We got to our spot and waited for shooting light. I had my creedmoor and in the back of my mind was a little nervous from all the people who claim it’s not enough “gun”.
Adam was the first to see elk hide and as it got a tad lighter we could see that the bedded bull across the canyon was the heavy bull.
It was a relief and a little anti climatic as I laid prone and dialed the turret for the proper MOA for the distance, temp, etc. I knew that if I just made a good shot this 13 year wait would last just 5 minutes after shooting light.
The bull was bedded completely broadside with no obstruction and at 689 yards. I gave my brother and Adam enough time to get zoomed in on their spotters.
I told them that i was ready and to watch closely I’m order to give me some feedback after I pulled the trigger.
The shot felt good and hit the bull right behind the shoulder. Adam said it was a perfect hit and to hit him again in the same spot. Nothing builds confidence like being able to duplicate a previous shot without needing adjustments. The bull was able to stand up in between shots but he didn’t even take a step.
The second shot hit 2” away from the first one and he fell right back in his bed. The smaller bulls who were previously out of sight all stood up looking around what to do.
My bull fell so fast without staggering that they didn’t spook at all. As I unchambered my third round and cleared the action it was all smiles.
it took about a half hour to get over to him, and as we care down to him the other bulls had gone back to feeding and then finally took off. It was fun to watch the kids as they walked up to the elk. All the while hoping that it meant as much to them as it did me when I went out with my dad and his brothers when I was a kid.
There was no surprise on what he would score. 308” right on the nose. The weak G2, broken third and overall short beams and tine length really hurts the score.
That being said I knew what he was and decided having Blake in the pictures with me was worth more than another 15-30” of antler.
The taxi said he appeared to be one of the oldest bulls he’d seen in a long time and the overall mass is as good as it gets. Here’s some pics.











