When the king falls - Childhood dreams realized

thanks guys. I appreciate it.

archer wapiti said:

congrats! spectacular bull.
Any way you can update the fotos in the other post?

Click to expand...

Not without a lot of work. Hahahaha. I added the best pic from the previous bull at the top of the post.

Man that was an awesome read. As a first timer this year, we had a blast and although no elk were harmed we are already planning to go back next year.

Sweet bull! Way to persevere. Wyo Gen tag public land bulls are hard to beat.

Awesome write up and great bull! Congrats!!

Congrats on a great bull!

Wow! Both of those bulls are studs! Love the look of both of them. Congratulations on a couple monsters. Now if there are your wyoming bulls what happened in AZ?

You are one of the most determined elk hunters I know Trent! Congrats on another monster to add too your collection. How did arizona go?
Matt

Thank you guys.

As for AZ, well it was tough! The first couple days of the season were just flat off the charts. I had never heard so much bugling in my entire life! It was CONSTANT bugling in the pre-dawn darkness and then for the first few hours of daylight. Getting torn between sitting up on high points and glassing or chasing bugles made me feel like I was zigging when I should be zagging for a couple days. I was having a blast but couldn't locate any Arizona monsters. Not to sound like a prude, spoiled, elk hunter but with 2 archery bulls over 360 under my belt I had high hopes. I went into Arizona with the mental attitude I was going to hold out for something 380" or better. I was one out of two nonresident random tags and had to get extremely lucky just to be hunting there, so I was going to try and hunt to my full potential. Well after a scouting trip in August, and after two days scouting before the season and 5 days into the hunt, I couldn't find anything over 365". I found that 365" bull and another over 350".

I decided to hunt the 365" bull but head over for the 350" bull when I figured the big guy needed a break. I didn't kill either one. The best chance I had at the 365 was the very first day I decided to go after him. After that he went pretty quiet and wouldn't come into any calls. The 350" bull lived in an extremely steep canyon with rolling hills in the bottom. The bottom always seemed to have squirrely winds so I walked in there two different times, only to have to sit there until 45 minutes left of light and not have enough time to get in on him when the wind did get steady.

I did see a 369" (maybe 359") bull some younger dudes from Nevada had in camp with CRAZY mass. I had never seen anything like it....well until a few days later when I helped an A3 guide who had a tag, get his 400" bull out.

I could've shot 12 different bulls but elected not to. I never even saw a fleeting glimpse of one of those Arizona monsters I dreamed of!