Dad is watching too many TV hunting shows. How about letting the kid decide if he wants to shoot a particular animal if it is legal to take. I have seen way too many kids go home disappointed after Dad wouldn’t let them shoot a doe or small buck. They are KIDS for crying out loud !!!!
Preoccupation with Score
- Thread starter Wind in His Hair
- Start date
I had a premier archery bull tag this year in an area that legitimately produces 400" bulls. Before my hunt even started there were a couple of 400"ers taken out of the area with governers tags, etc. I was asked many times, "Do you have a number in mind? What score are you shooting for?" I had never taken a 300" class bull before so my response was I'd be happy with anything over 300". If it was over 350" I'd be extremely happy. Over 370" I'd be over the moon! But what it really would come down to is finding a good, mature bull that I liked the look of. In the first couple days of the hunt we glassed up and had encounters with a lot of 330-350 type bulls. I had never thought I'd ever be passing up opportunities on bulls like that.
The bull I ended up shooting was the first bull that really just looked awesome to me. He was narrow and his main beams didn't look that long, but he had thirds for days that swept out wide. Watching him through the spotter from 3/4 of a mile away we were thinking he was in the 350 range but I really did like those 3rds. So we went after him. And had an awesome stalk/call in. I had told myself on the set up that I wasn't going to sit there and second guess anything when it came down to score. I like the look of the bull and if I had an opportunity I'd take it. Well, he gave me the opportunity. I will say, there was no disappointment at all and I was over the moon happy with the bull!
I am glad I didn't get caught up in the numbers game. It would be so easy to do with a premium tag. I could have hunted the rest of the season and possibly gotten a bull that scored higher. But in archery hunting creating opportunities for shots can be difficult. It was bittersweet to be tagged out on day 3 of a 23 day season, but I came away with an amazing experience and a bull that I had only dreamed about seeing in the past.
Numbers can be fun to talk about and they give an idea of size, etc. But in reality, my bull didn't score as well because he was narrow. He grew just as much antler as a bull that would have a "normal" spread almost 10" wider. So, is he any less of a bull because of that narrow inside spread? Not for me!
As a meat hunter it was exciting to have an opportunity at a giant for once in my life. But I will be happy going back to shooting any legal bull that crosses my path in the future. Hahaha!
The bull I ended up shooting was the first bull that really just looked awesome to me. He was narrow and his main beams didn't look that long, but he had thirds for days that swept out wide. Watching him through the spotter from 3/4 of a mile away we were thinking he was in the 350 range but I really did like those 3rds. So we went after him. And had an awesome stalk/call in. I had told myself on the set up that I wasn't going to sit there and second guess anything when it came down to score. I like the look of the bull and if I had an opportunity I'd take it. Well, he gave me the opportunity. I will say, there was no disappointment at all and I was over the moon happy with the bull!
I am glad I didn't get caught up in the numbers game. It would be so easy to do with a premium tag. I could have hunted the rest of the season and possibly gotten a bull that scored higher. But in archery hunting creating opportunities for shots can be difficult. It was bittersweet to be tagged out on day 3 of a 23 day season, but I came away with an amazing experience and a bull that I had only dreamed about seeing in the past.
Numbers can be fun to talk about and they give an idea of size, etc. But in reality, my bull didn't score as well because he was narrow. He grew just as much antler as a bull that would have a "normal" spread almost 10" wider. So, is he any less of a bull because of that narrow inside spread? Not for me!
As a meat hunter it was exciting to have an opportunity at a giant for once in my life. But I will be happy going back to shooting any legal bull that crosses my path in the future. Hahaha!
rogerthat
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I love this! Nice work. Good clean archery kills shouldn’t ever be discounted. Awesome job and awesome bull
cgasner1
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Pics or it didn’t happen
Pics in the elk let’s see em thread…
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