Wow, great story, great video, great bull! Congrats!!
Wife's first elk
Back in August I received a phone call from a lady who was looking for my wife. Turns out it was Utah's DWR letting my wife know that someone had turned in their late season tag and she was next in line. We knew the unit well and it could have very well been another 10 years to draw the tag, so it really was a no brainer in accepting this gift lol.
The bad thing about the late tag is having to sit back and watch nice bulls get harvested ahead of your turn. At the same time I knew there would be some nice bulls left. The three months went by quicker than I would have thought and soon we were off for the mountain.
We had no intentions of trying to kill the biggest bull on the mountain, just a decent 6 point was the hope. Saturday and Sunday I had some friends who said they would be around to help spot and pack out if needed. We were really hoping to get it done one of those days for that reason, but nothing decent presented itself.
By the third day my wife was getting somewhat discouraged. Not because we weren't having a good time, but I think mentally she had prepared herself for two days of hunting and was hoping to get back to the kiddos. That night we found a very tag worthy bull and the hunt was on.
The next morning we were back in the same area and glassed up a decent 6 point. It was now decision time. Shoot this bull as he was about what our hopes and goals were or pass knowing that there was a significantly bigger bull in the area. We elected to take this opportunity and be happy with the outcome.
Kelli got into position and touched off two 180 grain NAB hitting the bull both times at 475 yards. Even though we were a little worried with where he was hit, the bull did not go 10 yards before he expired.
The rest of the day was fun packing the head and wet cape through the thick baby aspen, but we finally made it back to the truck just before dark. Battery problems coupled with a bunch of snow we had received forced me to return 2 days later with a friend to gather up the meat. Luckily, no animals had bothered the hanging meat and the weather had kept it nice and cold.
Here's some pics and video (including the harvest shot!)
The bad thing about the late tag is having to sit back and watch nice bulls get harvested ahead of your turn. At the same time I knew there would be some nice bulls left. The three months went by quicker than I would have thought and soon we were off for the mountain.
We had no intentions of trying to kill the biggest bull on the mountain, just a decent 6 point was the hope. Saturday and Sunday I had some friends who said they would be around to help spot and pack out if needed. We were really hoping to get it done one of those days for that reason, but nothing decent presented itself.
By the third day my wife was getting somewhat discouraged. Not because we weren't having a good time, but I think mentally she had prepared herself for two days of hunting and was hoping to get back to the kiddos. That night we found a very tag worthy bull and the hunt was on.
The next morning we were back in the same area and glassed up a decent 6 point. It was now decision time. Shoot this bull as he was about what our hopes and goals were or pass knowing that there was a significantly bigger bull in the area. We elected to take this opportunity and be happy with the outcome.
Kelli got into position and touched off two 180 grain NAB hitting the bull both times at 475 yards. Even though we were a little worried with where he was hit, the bull did not go 10 yards before he expired.
The rest of the day was fun packing the head and wet cape through the thick baby aspen, but we finally made it back to the truck just before dark. Battery problems coupled with a bunch of snow we had received forced me to return 2 days later with a friend to gather up the meat. Luckily, no animals had bothered the hanging meat and the weather had kept it nice and cold.
Here's some pics and video (including the harvest shot!)
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Might not want to let that genie out of the bottle. As I look around my living room we have a Caribou, life size Mountain Goat, an Antelope and a deer. The deer is mine...
Neighbors around us love the mounts, even people fairly anti-hunting make some pretty nice comments.... probably because they like my wife more than me. I still tell people the "elk" (caribou) came from American Fork canyon (if someone is so dumb to not know the difference between caribou and elk, might as well confuse it further lol).
-DallanC
Awesome job that is a nice bull!!! great photos and video
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