| Elk |
| Hunter: | Edward Sodolak |
 |
|
| Location Taken: | Des Moines, New Mexico |
| Story: | |
| This bull was taken during the 2nd Elk season in New Mexico in 1999. We were hunting an extremely thick canyon (Oak Canyon) where the night before we had heard 9 differnet bulls bugling and two 320+ bulls were spotted in different parts of the canyon. Earlier in the morning I had missed a 300 class 6x6, no excuses, I just plain missed, but I am glad I did. We had been hearing bugling all morning but hadn't been able to determine where the bull was except for North and West of our location. The bull seemed to be moving back and forth. My son was hunting on the rim of the mesa and saw this bull during the entire bugling exchange and he was herding his cows together and driving them up the hill.
Through our calling and my sons groups calling we were able to turn the bull and his harem of cows. At this point the bull had bugled maybe 35 - 40 times as he moved up and down the drainage. We hiked across some awfully thick brush and got within about 50 yards of the elk. The brush was so tall you couldn't see very far in front of you. We figure the elk spooked by our walking and one cow charged us and got within about 10 feet before she realized she was in the wrong spot. Talk about a heart stopper. The bull finally took off with two cows and ran about 75 yards up the hill and stopped behind a giant juniper. He stood there for almost 10 minutes surveying the area. I could only see the tops of his antlers going back and forth, but never a clear shot at the body. He finally moved to the west and I had one small opening (1 foot wide by maybe 8 feet tall) to shoot through about 30 yards in front of me. The bull stopped broadside in the opening and I fired. At the recoil, I never saw where he went. My hunting partner started slapping me on the back and saying you really shot a good bull. We heard the bull breathing and he only travelled about 50 yards. The brush was so thick, we couldn't get a four-wheeler within 500 yards of the bull. The bull was officially scored in January 2000 at 325 3/8 Gross and 315 2/8 NET. |
|
Copyright © 1997 Hunting Information Systems, All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this information is provided to you.