Now we know...

[MuddyBull]

A while back I posed the question of what size limit to put on my 12 yr olds first bull as he drew a coveted limited entry Elk tag in SW Wyoming. We planned to spend 2 weekends scouting so he could see the potential of the area and set his own goal. Well bad weather and impassable roads resulted in us seeing -zero- Elk on the 2 trips. The day before season opened Luke, older brother Nate and I stuffed the old Chevy with a tent camp and headed out for the hunt. We met a friend of a friend who had offfered to show us a "honey hole". I was sceptical but had no better plan. An hour of hard off roading on what appeared to be goat trails lead us to the spot. And we began seeing Elk. All told we saw a dozen branch antlered bulls with the biggest being a heavy 5x6. we did get a quick look at what might have been a better bull who dipped into a ravine and disappeared. Shortly after that a broke racked bull came blasting out, obviously ran off by the bigger bull. Luke named the mystery bull Alphy for " alpha male".
We found a spot to pitch camp with a bit of shelter from the wind and settled in for the night. Around the fire Luke decided several of the bulls we saw would do fine, but he wanted to hold out for Alphy.

 

[wingman1]

Sounds like Alphy is in trouble! Looks like a great time.

 

[MuddyBull]

After a restless nights sleep we fueled up on hot chocolate for the boys and Folgers singles for me and mounted up. As dawn broke we were glassing a large high desert basin were the majority of the elk were the day before. A herd of 40 were spotted about a mile away with the good 5x6. We decided on an approach and took off. There was a small butte that hid us from the herd, and from which I thought would give him a 200 yrd shot. When we finally peeked over the herd had moved out to 600 yrds and getting further every minute. Trailing the herd we noticed was a better bull who was busy eating and obviously rutted out. He would occasionaly bugle at the herd bull, but then get right back to grazing. We watched and waited for a while until the main herd was out of sight and the lone bull fed into a slight depression and then made our move off the butte.
We closed the gap at a good pace until I spotted the bull coming up on our side and had Luke get into postion on his bipods. The distance at 307 yards was a bit further than I hoped for. The boy was shooting a 30 06, a gift to him from my Dad which I'ld had fitted on a shorter stock, floated and bedded. He was using Federal Premium ammo with 150 grain Nosler partition so I knew his gear was up to the task. At practice he was shooting good groups at 200 yards off the bipods. After asking him if he was on him tight ( he was) I told him to hold high shoulder and squezze it. The shot was followed by a resounding "whomp" and the bull managed 10 yards before folding up!
After the high 5s between the brothers and I, we worked our way across the high desert to find a mighty fine 6x6 that was hit exactly in the center of the shoulder. Luke decided that this Bull was "Alphy" from the day before. Who am I to argue? Mighty proud of my boy who is mighty proud of his first big game animal. Life is good!

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

WTG Luke! That is just awesome, Congrats to everyone! John

 

[JCS]

Awesome. Even got the elk out whole.

 

[Lawnboy]

Great bull and story. How the heck did you get that thing in whole?

 

[dexnrex]

Great job guys! My oldest is 10. In two more years I hope we are in your shoes.

 

[MuddyBull]

"How the heck did you get that thing in whole?" - When we finally got the shot on the bull we were well over a mile and 3 deep ravines from the truck. After the bull was dressed we walked away from the truck to the other side of the basin to see if there was anyway to get the truck closer. Managed to find a route to him. We backed up to the Bull, took off the tailgate and used it as a ramp. The headache rack of the truck has a ring welded to it in back off the cab which we hooked a come along to. Big brother Nate pumped on the come along, Luke and I pushed. Worked out pretty slick.

 

[Dinkshooter]

That is a fine first bull.

 

[BiggWimm]

Congratulations! Awesome job on his first animal!

 

[MuddyBull]

Thanks Dink and BW. He is still on cloud nine! Dexnrex you will not believe how much more fun it is to have your kid hunting than doing it yourself.

 

[b.flyfishn]

What a way to start! FUN!

 

[sigpros]

Nice bull. Tell the boy congrats.

 

[----]

That's an awesome bull!
Really cool that he picked out a bull the night before, and ended up killing it.
Congrats to both of you, sounds like a great hunt.

 

[T Bone]

Way to go young man!

Excellent job on the assist.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Congrats!!! Sounded like a great family hunt.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[Big Fin]

Congrats to Luke. And to you and Nate for the assist. Great bull for anyone, but even more special for a first bull. Thanks for sharing the great story.

 

[genesis273]

Great pictures and story! Congratulations Luke on a fine bull!

 

[JohnCushman]

I hope my first bull is that big...congrats to him!!

 

[MuddyBull]

Thanks to all!
Big Fin, Luke is impressed and honored by your post on his hunt. Thanks for all you do and keep on doing it. Nate is up next in a general unit!