Lucky 13 as we took the 13th bull of the season
- Bob Hanna: Someday
- December 29, 2018
- 1362
So I had a gentleman come into the shop this week and said to me, “So I’m guessing that you did get an elk after you left us hanging in your article?” So I’ve left ya hanging long enough.
As we left it last, we had stalked in on my Wyoming bull and set up for the shot. As he turned at 170 yards, I squeezed the trigger of my 7mm Rem Mag, and the bull literally spun around and hunched up, which I automatically knew was a perfect shot.
At the shot the cows all ran away from behind him, so I held up my follow-up shot. As he turned to run, I shot again as he disappeared around the corner of the draw. Tom (my guide) motioned for me to follow him on a course across the mountain to intercept his path back up the draw.
As we topped the next ridge, the bull stepped out broadside at 150 yards, a sight I’ll never forget. He was picture perfect against the mountain backdrop and huge. Before I could get off another round, he turned and ran off the backside of the ridge.
We thought for sure, as we ran to the edge, that we would see him, but he literally disappeared. Tom and I looked at each other and both had the same bad thought. We could see the whole mountainside but no bull.
Tom walked about 100 yards to the first drainage gully, stopped, turned to me, pointed down and said, “He’s down.” He had “run out of gas.” As Taryn, who had been following us this whole stalk with camera in hand, and I walked to the edge of the ditch, there was the bull of dreams.
All kinds of emotions came at once: excitement, happiness, relief. Antlers in hand, he was even better than I thought: no ground shrinkage, 6-by-6, wide, heavy all the way to the tips, long fronts, perfect.
We knew we didn’t have much time before the weather front hit. It had already dropped to 19 F and was beginning to snow.
Tom called the ranch for help, and I helped him field dress the bull. A few pictures (actually more than a few) and Tom said he would hike back to get his truck while we waited for backup.
Where the bull fell was close enough to the canyon floor that we didn’t have to pack him out. As the ranch truck pulled alongside the ditch, Tad, the ranch manager, yelled “we’re looking for some elk hunters with a bull.”
The crew backed the flat-bed truck up to the edge, and yes, they had a winch. Once again, out in the open it’s hard to get a sense of an elk’s size until we winched him on the truck. Tad said this was Lucky 13, as this was the ranch’s 13th bull taken this season and on Oct. 13.
By the time we got him back to the ranch, we had blizzard conditions and about 3 inches of snow. Perfect timing. After a dinner celebration, the crew all went to the skinning shed, where they have a refrigeration unit, and finished skinning and hanging the elk. We have no official score yet but estimate at about 350, 7 years old, on the hoof about 750 pounds.
We have more story coming as Taryn also has a mule deer tag to fill, and I also, a few days ago, went goose hunting near Canal Fulton, which now adds to my hunting addiction.
As for us, we thank God for blessing us and the ability to pursue our dreams and pray that you also find your passions and chase your dreams in the new year.
God bless.