I drew a Wyoming bull tag this year along with a couple of family friends we had a great time on a tough horse pack hunt. We were in about 10 miles and planned to hunt the last week of the hunt. We were about a day ride in and setting camp up had just enough time that night to hunt and spotted a nice bull about 900 yards above camp. We didn't have much light left and not knowing if any grizzlies were in the area I really didn't want to be gutting an elk out in the dark. So I let him go and went back to camp.
Next day I rode up the drainage further and saw a bull that was in the 350 range and was too far to put a stock on, I later found a bachelor group bedded at 700 yards I could see one had good fronts but I couldn't see how good his backs were. I began to crawl up the further up the ridge I was on to get a better look at the bedded bulls, and while I was crawling I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye in the adjacent drainage was a huge bull running. He was big enough that I could plainly see he was a shooter without any glass at 1200 yards. He had two cows with him and they had been running for a long ways judging by how tired they looked, tongues were hanging to the ground. I set up the spotting scope to get a better look bull was a straight 7 point that would have scored in the 390 - 400 range making him the 3rd biggest bull I have ever seen on the hoof.
As they were nearing the head of the basin I thought that it was going to be too steep for them to climb the pass as tired as they were. I was hoping they would hold up and bed down. That did not happen, they went straight up towards the pass and right as they neared the top they stopped and were momentarily startled by a group of big horn sheep that had coming running towards the elk off of the adjacent. Then they walked over the top which was also the unit boundary.
I then turned back to the bulls that were bedded and they had started to get nervous and stood up and started walking over the ridge. I got set up with a round in the chamber and dialed to 720 and I waited still analyzing whether or not I was going to shoot. The bull had nice points and was a solid 6x6, but he was short in the back. Still a young bull he would have scored in the 315-320 range. I watched and contemplated with the safety still on. I finally watched the bull walk over the ridge. We looked at several more bulls that day bedded all around, but didn't see anything that I wanted to make a stalk on.
The next morning Election Tuesday, we had decided to split up and make a play on the bull we had seen above camp. Two of us and were going to go up the steep hill above camp though the burned out dead fall and hopefully run into the bull. If not we were going to continue up into the next drainage. The other two from our party would go up the drainage from camp, and if the bull was on their side of the ridge they would try and get a shot at him and if not they would continue up to where we had hunted the day before.
We were climbing up the steep hill very noisily thanks to two horses that were strange to each other and their buddies still being back at camp, they were whinnying the entire way. We were picking our way through dead fall when I caught a glimpse of the big bull. We had gotten a good look at him the night through the spotting scope. He was a 6x7 with his G1 coming out and almost touching together. I quickly pulled my rifle out of the scabbard and handed my horse off to my partner. I set up my shooting sticks and through my pack down. I ranged him at 405 and proceeded to get set up for the range, there was a slight down slope breeze. The bull was looking at me straight on and I was waiting for him to turn before I took the shot. My partner returned from tying the horses up and confirmed he was the bull we had looked at the day before. I kicked the safety off and pulled the trigger. The bull didn't even flinch, I shuffled another one in and fired the bull didn't even flinch again, but this one made an audible thwack. The bull humped a little and took a step forward I shot again no reaction from the bull. He then turned away from me. I waited until he tuned broadside and then took another shot and I followed it up immediately with another shot. I then looked down to grab another shell as I had emptied the magazine. When I came back up to the scope the bull had went about ten yards and piled up. While quartering and caping him out I found five holes through his rib cage. Three of those made complete pass through with golf ball sized exits. The 143 gr eld-x out of my 6.5x284 had done the job. Big Bulls are tough critters.
Next day I rode up the drainage further and saw a bull that was in the 350 range and was too far to put a stock on, I later found a bachelor group bedded at 700 yards I could see one had good fronts but I couldn't see how good his backs were. I began to crawl up the further up the ridge I was on to get a better look at the bedded bulls, and while I was crawling I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye in the adjacent drainage was a huge bull running. He was big enough that I could plainly see he was a shooter without any glass at 1200 yards. He had two cows with him and they had been running for a long ways judging by how tired they looked, tongues were hanging to the ground. I set up the spotting scope to get a better look bull was a straight 7 point that would have scored in the 390 - 400 range making him the 3rd biggest bull I have ever seen on the hoof.
As they were nearing the head of the basin I thought that it was going to be too steep for them to climb the pass as tired as they were. I was hoping they would hold up and bed down. That did not happen, they went straight up towards the pass and right as they neared the top they stopped and were momentarily startled by a group of big horn sheep that had coming running towards the elk off of the adjacent. Then they walked over the top which was also the unit boundary.
I then turned back to the bulls that were bedded and they had started to get nervous and stood up and started walking over the ridge. I got set up with a round in the chamber and dialed to 720 and I waited still analyzing whether or not I was going to shoot. The bull had nice points and was a solid 6x6, but he was short in the back. Still a young bull he would have scored in the 315-320 range. I watched and contemplated with the safety still on. I finally watched the bull walk over the ridge. We looked at several more bulls that day bedded all around, but didn't see anything that I wanted to make a stalk on.
The next morning Election Tuesday, we had decided to split up and make a play on the bull we had seen above camp. Two of us and were going to go up the steep hill above camp though the burned out dead fall and hopefully run into the bull. If not we were going to continue up into the next drainage. The other two from our party would go up the drainage from camp, and if the bull was on their side of the ridge they would try and get a shot at him and if not they would continue up to where we had hunted the day before.
We were climbing up the steep hill very noisily thanks to two horses that were strange to each other and their buddies still being back at camp, they were whinnying the entire way. We were picking our way through dead fall when I caught a glimpse of the big bull. We had gotten a good look at him the night through the spotting scope. He was a 6x7 with his G1 coming out and almost touching together. I quickly pulled my rifle out of the scabbard and handed my horse off to my partner. I set up my shooting sticks and through my pack down. I ranged him at 405 and proceeded to get set up for the range, there was a slight down slope breeze. The bull was looking at me straight on and I was waiting for him to turn before I took the shot. My partner returned from tying the horses up and confirmed he was the bull we had looked at the day before. I kicked the safety off and pulled the trigger. The bull didn't even flinch, I shuffled another one in and fired the bull didn't even flinch again, but this one made an audible thwack. The bull humped a little and took a step forward I shot again no reaction from the bull. He then turned away from me. I waited until he tuned broadside and then took another shot and I followed it up immediately with another shot. I then looked down to grab another shell as I had emptied the magazine. When I came back up to the scope the bull had went about ten yards and piled up. While quartering and caping him out I found five holes through his rib cage. Three of those made complete pass through with golf ball sized exits. The 143 gr eld-x out of my 6.5x284 had done the job. Big Bulls are tough critters.
