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Bull Down,Home Sweet Home

hank4elk

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
8,535
Location
SW NM
I finally used one of my LO bull tags I get for my ranch. I have only taken cows here before.
2 young hunters came close on bulls several years ago.

It's been hot & dry and I have not heard a bugle since Sept., and have only seen a few cows around since.
Until Sunday morn.I walked out at 1st light & there was 8 cows,4 calves & a small 4x4 bull 600 yrds away. I watched as they came up past me in the trees & stopped the bull with a cow call. I was instantly busted by the cows & away they went.
Time to call in the tag & start the hunt. 5 days on 140 ac. with low odds they would be back and not much time to catch a bull with the cows left.

Get up Mon. & head out in the last of the moon,down thru the Pinyon & Juniper stringer of trees my home is in to start glassing the open as soon as I can see. Gotta catch them before they leave my windmill, tanks & my place.
Nothing to the south or the north. I go about 50 more yards & can see nothing at the windmill. Nothing any where. So much for this morning after sitting in a chair under the trees til noon. Nothing shows that evening either.

Same thing Tuesday morning.No elk,just some antelope show @ 11 am to water & bed down. I sit in my chair all day hoping. Nada.

I know very few bulls have been taken on nearby ranches this year so far & the local conditions are not what they usually are.

Get up at 4 to take a leak & get the fire going.Cold & clear in forecast. Coffee on,watch some news...& I hear a bugle. Then again half hour later. Time to get dressed. I drink coffee & wait. I hear cows & calves talking outside. Bummer.Their heading into the trees & up onto the mesa early ,I think. Bummer,an hour til shooting light still.
1/2 hr later I slip out & start my walk down with a nice 15 mph wind right into my face. Perfect.
Nothing out in the moon to the south or north in the open moving. I wait.
Walk down thru the trees & crunching bone dry grass as it gets light now. Nothing down at the windmill,bummer.
I go 150 more yards til the last big group of Pinion where I can look over the end of the little ridge I am on. There. In the bottom in the dark. Elk.
I wait & glass. 12 cows,8 calves moving up my way. There, he walks out from behind a juniper. A nice young 6x6 bull. He's doing the whole rut run around now trying to herd the herd into the wind & out the west side. The lead cow has nothing of it and they continue my way. Then she stops,something is not right. I have dawn at my back,wind in my face & no where to go right or left without being busted. I range the light colored bull,187 yrds. I slowly set up my tripod & slide to the side of the trees for a shot.Busted.
Cows are now heading to the tank,but not running. They continue to just watch the tree. The bull goes back behind the juniper & bugles again. If I move now they will see me thru the trees, bummer.Busted and pegged I think.
Then the bull runs out where he had been,now alone. Stops broadside about to bugle again. Bam.
He spins & takes maybe 10 steps behind the juniper. The whole heard of cows & calves heads for the fence. Not a light body among them. I wait till they are about a 1/4 mi away to walk to the side & there in the bottom is the bull,down. I walk down to check & watch the cows head into the trees across the valley.
Double lunged him, as he took a step at the shot.
Not my biggest,but this one will fit in the house....euro-style. And I was just 800 yards from where I am now,with coffee in hand & a bull in the cooler.I think it's time for a shower & a nap. I'm beat.009.JPG010.JPG011.JPG
 
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Sweet! Must be pretty rewarding to take him from your own land. Well done.
 
As Knopfler would say....

Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb


Solid bool hank4....congrats!
 
Dang, buzzed through Pie Town early this morning. Marcus and I could have given you a hand. Congrats.
 
That's great, congrats! Being so close, it'll make for an easy walk to the gut pile tonight to check for some 'yotes! When I get something down that's a fairly easy hike, I like to set a trail cam on the gut pile and check out what visits. Tenderloins for dinner?
 
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