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Who got the bull!

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Who got the bull!

Postby Lefty » 12 20, 2020 •  [Post 1]

or the cow elk or the the deer.



25 years ago, I was unaware that the lens in my scope was loose. A nice rifle rest over a log, a gentle trigger squeeze , the firing pin striking the primer of Trophybond 30-06 and the bullet going wild.. 20 minutes later 400 foot elevation and 1000 yards away a fellow dropped that bull , green score on the hill was 357
8 years back my last day of the hunt I released an arrow with a bull at 55 yards using my 17 yard pin. During February calving the rancher on the BLM ground flagged me down ( lifted his hood on his truck).
" My Mexican shot your bull with a muzzleloader, scored 360 ( then the rancher broke into laughter) cant even speak English.
Then the bull I spent 17 evenings with, the last year I hunted the desert,.. A pair of "non-existant" black wolves and pups killed and devoured "my bull"

I started this tread because we know of 2 of the bulls we hunted during archery.
The one bull , a very old 5x5 , reminded me of an 90 year old guy that still chased the ladies,..
The other bull, a better 6x6 we didnt have figured out until the end of season,.. pretty sure it was him in the back of the truck.

My father in law lost a 396, it had been double lunged and still traveled nearly to Yellowstone , they spent 3 full days searching . A friend found it 10 days later
A Montana shed hunter told us of a winter kill cow elk and we would likely see wolves on the elk by morning. Next morning we were watching the wolves just starting on the elk. And he new owner of the elk showed up, a boar griz a grizzly showed up,..

A little Montana story. Father in law had been visiting with another older fellow ( both in their 80's) . Moments after going their own way my father in law dropped a raghorn "Just two steps" from where we were standing. The other fellow walked over to my father in laws kill. and they were chatting.
Another hunter from the other old mans group walked up and started congratulating his buddy. ,,, My father -in-law commented something about was he going to tag the elk or not? The other old timer got out his tag, hesitated looking at my father in law, and put it on the elk.

He just thought that was so funny in so many ways.

Another 25 year old story a buddy had just shot a nice antelope with his new .338. The buck was still upright , but dead. Some other guys started shooting from a long long was off. We hustled over to the antelope the other group did the same,..
They wanted to clam the antelope. I told my buddy if its shot up to let them have it , there were more bugs bigger .

Well the other group discovered their was only one hole in the antelope, and the entrance and exit wasnt a shot they had.
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Lefty
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Re: Who got the bull!

Postby Swede » 12 21, 2020 •  [Post 2]

The only elk I know I lost to another hunter took place about 1973. I knocked it down with my 270W and went to retrieve it. I went to get it after I shot, but by the time I crossed the draw and went up to where it was, it was gone. I tracked it until it crossed a large swollen creek. After crossing the stream it made it up to a well used road where another hunter finished it off. I shot another elk within a half hour, so I guess it was a lucky day for the fellow that got an elk on a drive by shooting, and also for me.
The oddest situation happened one time when my dad and I were dropping down through the timber and saw a herd of elk below. To make a long story short, he went on one side of the ridge and I went on the other. As I descended the ridge, I ran into a fellow who asked if I had seen he elk. I said I had. He asked which direction I was headed. I told him my dad was just on the other side of the narrow ridge and we were headed down. I asked if he saw any bulls in the herd. He said there were two and said they went up the ridge from where we were. At that he turned around and headed down right where I had said I was going. I started to follow him, but saw it was going to be a foot race and decided to go back to where we met and go over one ridge to the east. I just got over there when I saw what I thought was a lone elk. I watched it a minute and it finally lifted its head. It was a nice branched bull. I killed it.
Since I did not want it possibly stolen, I took off its head and walked down to the road. Right where I came out, I saw a truck parked with a woman sitting in the passenger seat. When she saw me, she got out to admire my bull. I soon found out it was her husband that I had met up the mountain, and he had pointed in the direction where I went and killed the bull. Out of pure orneriness told her I was very appreciative of her husband telling me where the bull was. After I found my dad we went back up to butcher the bull. While we were working on it the husband came up. He was visibly upset at not getting it.
Monday morning at the office I was telling the story about getting the elk, when one of my coworkers said he killed one so close to that same hunter the year before, that the screamed when the shot was made. I guess he was just on the other side of a small patch of brush, and was onto the same bull. That guy was unlucky, but I did not feel sorry for him.
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Re: Who got the bull!

Postby Lefty » 12 22, 2020 •  [Post 3]

My first antelope was stolen. . Gutted with my tag on it and belly packed with snow,.. We had it beside the fence off the private ranch two track in a snow drift. They had to have seen us pack it in the drift. We droveinot the ranch checked traps, maybe 45 minutes.
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