One particular day we hiked up a high ridge separating two big bowls. We saw several moose throughout the day, but after nearly eight miles of hiking, we didn't raise a single bugle. The weather was hot, the ridge was steep, and we were getting discouraged.
We decided to put a stop to our ascent and try a different approach. I'm not sure what was going through my head at that moment, but I decided to run up the ridge another couple hundred vertical feet just so I could say I crossed the 9,000' mark that day. I reached my goal, threw out a few bugles, and then took a few minutes to remove some clothing layers before turning to head back down to Craig and Pete.
I hadn't made it 50yds when I saw the boys approaching. Apparently I had drawn a response from a bull that I hadn't heard!
Craig worked the bull for some time, but couldn't get him to commit. No matter - in the process of calling this bull Craig had fired up another bull in the adjacent bowl. We made a plan and took off for the hot bull.
After a couple of adjustments, we had the bull coming in. He was no monster, but a solid 6x6. As the bull worked his way up the steep hill toward us, I pulled out my little point-and-shoot camera and switched it to video. When the bull got closer I lashed the camera to my belt and let it dangle. The result was 30 min of the worst video ever. I did a bit of editing in an attempt to make a terrible video palatable.
I wouldn't call it a success...
There is no critter footage in this clip, but it provides a limited example of the sounds of our (Craig in this case) calling and the responses from the bull.
After the bull gave us the slip we continued deeper into the bowl. We quickly got another response and went to work. We were on a solid 4x5 in no time and had Pete set up for the shot. Three times I watched Pete go to full draw, and three times I watched him let down on what I thought was a clear shot. The young bull eventually got nervous and left.
It turned out that Pete's peep wasn't lining up for some reason and he wasn't comfortable letting an arrow loose. On closer inspection we discovered one of the cords of his string had broke! Pete had to put his bow away for the evening until we could make it back to camp to make some repairs.
All in on that day - afternoon/evening really - we heard nearly a dozen different bulls. It was incredible. The bottom of the bowl echoed with their calls. That alone was worth the price of admission.
That night we made some crack repairs to Pete's bow, but another opportunity to draw never materialized.
But there will be others next year..
Cheers,
-c2
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