Dave’s Grizzly Unit Bull shot at 15 yards!
”Frank you can’t shoot at the bull, you already have one out there somewhere.” Those were the words from an old hunting buddy Dave Brill, as we were calling in a dandy 5X5 bull on the Big Muddy. We had hiked in about 2 miles from our base camp that Dave, Ben and myself had set-up in the middle of Smith’s Ranch. We had plan to work a canyon that held a lot of elk just about anytime you ventured into it. Ben had split off from Dave and me as traveled across the flat just before the canyon. As we got close we could her a couple of bulls bugling down in the canyon. It wasn’t long before we could see a large herd of elk and about 5 bulls wandering around with one doing all of the major calling. I could also see the spike that I had taken a shot at the day before that the arrow had deflected off a tree and bounce across the bull’s back.
You wonder why I would shoot at a spike; well that is a great question. The spike had sabers that were are at least 40 inches long. He would have look pretty good on the wall. I had only seen one other bull that had horns like that and that bull had been taken by the old owner of All Sports in Portland, OR. Anyway Dave and I decided to charge right in on the herd and split the bull from the cows. It wasn’t more than about 10 minutes and we were sitting in the bottom of a dry creek bed with the cows to our back side and the bull in front of us in the Junipers.
I have always liked to be a smaller bull; Dave on the other hand along with Ben would always pretend that they were big bulls when calling. I have had a great amount of success using Glen Berry calls, both diaphragms and bugles. I have been using Glen’s call for more than 25 years. If you ever get the chance to talk to Glen or his son Chad at one of the Sportsman’s Shows, you’ll understand why I feel he has a great product for the average and experience hunter. I have made many a deal with him via a handshake. Go to Glen’s website and check-out his products!
http://www.berrygamecalls.com/
Ok! Getting back to part of the story that I will give you today. I start to do my typical cow and small bull calling. It wasn’t long before the bull went into a rage, ripping up sage brush and grunting a lot. The bull came right in on us, you could see his red eyes bulging and saliva dripping from his mouth. He was not more than 20 yards from us. I still went to draw as he was coming in, but my awkward sitting arrangement my arrow slipped from the rest. Dave was at full draw and I wondered if he was ever going to take the shot, the bull was still coming in on us. The bull would be on top of us soon. Dave let the arrow fly at about 15 yards, almost missing the bull at that range he hit the bull high in the spine. The bull is enraged but decides to turn and trot off down the canyon. Not wanting to pack out the bull that is hurt and not able to run full tilt, I run across to the top of the creek ledge I made the decision to head the bull off and turn him back up the creek, so Dave can get another shot off and put the bull down. I am able to catch the bull in about 300 yards and make him turn back up the creek. The bull goes by Dave and he lets an arrow fly and again the bull is hit high in the spine. The bull comes to the edge of a ledge above the creek and jumps, landing on top of an old corral, breaking through to the ground. The bull was dead when he hit the ground.
Ben during this time period had been on the ridge above us watching everything unfold. I believe his words went like the following: “I thought maybe the Circus was in town with you two guys!” “I wish I had a video camera so I could sell it and make a million.”Charging in on the herd worked on this stalk, but it doesn’t always work which I found out later on the hunt. The bull I thought I could charge in on, decided to work his way to the spot that I had originally called from…
Sometimes one has to have patience when it comes elk hunting! There is more to this story, but that will be a later time.
http://www.berrygamecalls.com/home.html
