WEBVTT - Ep. 112: Calling to Bedded Bulls 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.680 As a guide and hunter, I've spent thousands of days 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.760 in the field. This show is about translating my hard 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.599 won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.360 to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:29.520 This is cutting the distance. Welcome back to the podcast. Everyone. 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.920 It is Elk Month, still September prime elk rat right now. 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.839 One of my favorite topics to talk about is drawing 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.960 in bulls during the rud how to trick an elk, 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.240 to bring an elk within bow range. As a professional 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.920 and full time elk guide, pretty much my entire adult life, 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:50.160 I've spent countless days doing exactly that, trying to figure 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:52.640 out the way to trick elk. And one thing that 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.760 I've noticed is when I'm guiding hunters or whatever, we're 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:57.880 out there all day and we we got to take 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.280 advantage of all the times of the day, not just 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.440 the peak when they're really active in the morning or 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:04.560 the evening, but maybe what are they doing in the 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:05.959 middle of the day. So if you've ever been out 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:07.680 and you think of yourself, well, it's the middle of 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.760 the day, what should I be doing? This podcast is 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:12.600 for you. I'm gonna be sharing a tactic I like 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:17.120 to call striking up a bedded bull, which recently led 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.880 to me taking the biggest bull of my life. So 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:21.800 before we go into the tactic, I want to share 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.920 the story of the giant seven by seven I recently 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:35.119 took with my bow. This story is definitely a fresh ee, 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.759 this one. This one just recently happened. It took place 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.480 in the beginning of September. I was hunting an area. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.240 I mean, I'm telling a story of the biggest bull 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.400 I've ever taken, and you kind of expect, like, oh, 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.560 really good draw area or something once in a lifetime 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.320 tag and I was not expecting this bull in this 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.600 in this particular unit um where I was hunting. It 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:58.000 was just kind of one of those things where there 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.720 are big elk in places, but this was not a 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:03.800 place that I would expect to find a big elk um. 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.120 I could probably go back there a thousand times and 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.919 never find a bowl of this caliber ever again, and 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.320 you know that that would be more realistic. But the 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.000 fact that it did go down was was pretty awesome. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.120 So being the beginning of September, there's a few things 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.200 that can be happening. One thing for the beginning of 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.680 September is it depends on the weather, but generally, you know, 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.080 it's kind of like you hit this pre rut phase, 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.120 so the bigger bulls will be kind of off on 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.840 their own, kind of cruising checking cows, which actually leads 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.160 to it being a decent time to attract them, like 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:39.160 to get a bull to come in. But it can 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.520 also be a bad time because the beginning of September, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.079 depending on the weather, can be very little action, can 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:47.280 be hard to scrounge up an elk um, So it's 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.120 kind of like a hit or miss when you hunt 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.840 real early, if you're trying to kind of dance around 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:55.320 the rut dates. But this particular hunt, I was hunting 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.440 early and just so happened that we had good weather 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:02.359 for it, so opening warning, sun's rising, and sure enough, 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.560 just as it's light enough to see. I would say, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:07.880 probably even before legal shooting, like I spotted a bowl 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.120 across the canyon in a meadow, and very shortly after 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.880 rips off a bugle were like sweet. Um. I had 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:17.320 quite a few guys with me, had a friend of 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:20.600 mine with me, um that grew up near the area, 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:24.000 and then I had three guys that were filming for 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.760 a video. So we're filming it for actually meat brand 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.760 processing equipment, some of the processing stuff that I talked 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.560 about a lot. Um. I do some films with them 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:34.680 every year, and this was one that we're like, okay, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.640 we're gonna capture this on film. Honestly, in my mind, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.680 I had uh. I was kind of thinking like, all right, 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.560 you know a nice like any kind of bull, like 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:45.880 if I could get a six by six, sweet, but 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.560 I know this area is more like a good meat hunt. 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:50.320 So I mean I could take a cow, I could 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.120 take a bull, I could take whatever is any elk. 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.440 I mean I could she spike Like some of the 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.280 units you hunt might be like brow tyne bulls or 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.800 other areas might be a spike or you can't shoot 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:00.440 cows with this that another thing this heck, I could 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.120 I could shoot anything. And we were definitely hoping to 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.480 bring home some steak. So opening morning, um, there's like 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:09.800 three bulls there. A couple of them kind of sparring 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.200 a little bit that like sparring where it's they're kind 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.920 of more I don't know, just kind of doing that 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:17.839 hierarchy sparring where it's like it's not at all out brawl, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.400 but they're just they're doing the dance. They're doing the thing. 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:22.960 It's like, that's cool. All right, there's some bugles. We 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.839 bugle another bull bugles. So we're like, this worrying them. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.599 This might happen fast. So we make our way over 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.080 to those elk and they'd moved off between the time 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.159 that we got over there and interacting with another elk 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.560 along the way, and and then it just kind of 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.479 got quiet. It's like, well, all right, to go kind 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.240 of figure out and see if we can find him again. 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.679 And so we started working around calling whatever, no more bugles, 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:54.120 so just shut down, which definitely happens especially early season. 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.479 Just like shut down and that happens late season two. 0:04:56.480 --> 0:05:00.200 It's like they might get active and then shuts down 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.640 and then maybe picks back up in the evening or 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.200 maybe doesn't. So we're like, well, they're pretty fired up 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:10.640 this morning. Hopefully it's gonna be good. So we checked 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:12.839 some bedding areas, didn't really see much, got back to 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.320 where we kind of started glass back in. There's a 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.640 little bit of burn in that area too, and I 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:23.200 spotted some milk bedded sort of like all right, sweet, um, 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:24.760 let's go over there. I'm sure the rest of the 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.240 elker there. Let's let's sneak in there and get going. 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.240 Before we even get over there, like just this storm 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.120 cloud rolls and came in really hot and just started 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.760 dumping rain. I mean it was, it was dumping a 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.200 lot of rain. I was actually to get into the area. 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.840 I brought my um like side by side, but it 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.080 doesn't have a roof on it. And when we got 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.800 back to the vehicle that night, no joke, there's like 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.560 a foot of standing water in the back of the 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.880 one seat that didn't have the drain open on the 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.200 floor like that was it just dumped rain. I mean, 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.440 needless to say, like we could. We had no visibility. 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:03.799 We got over there and just like the elk weren't 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.640 doing elk things. They weren't there, they weren't making noise, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.640 they weren't doing anything. We did bump a few cows 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.560 and stuff on the way and tried calling and there 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:14.680 might have been a bull in with them, not really sure, 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.719 but nothing happened. So next morning go out kind of 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:20.279 the same thing. It was a little bit of a 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.080 weird weather. We got one bugle across the way, and 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.240 it was like a small rag horn five by five, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.640 which I probably I was like, oh, that's about the 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.520 size of most elk I chase. But I was like, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:34.839 you know, I was thinking about we saw some nice 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.559 six points, and I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.239 hold out. Uh, there's some good bulls in the area. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:41.320 I think I can. You know, it's like kind of 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.920 in my mind thinking all right, I'll shoot a six 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.520 by six, Like it's gonna definitely be possible. We just 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.280 got to give it a little bit of time, and 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.080 so they that one loan bull kind of disappeared and 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.320 then that was pretty much it like not a lot 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.719 of activity. We hunted around. During the middle of the day, 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.120 we started walking up the creek bottom and some elkuld 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.840 fed down to or move down drink and started moving 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.520 back up. It just like kind of one of those things. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.440 Well there's quite a few of us, so it's like, everybody, 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.800 get down, do a little stock. Didn't work out, Um, 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.239 they just naturally moved off before we could get a chance, 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:19.520 and that was that. So that evening we get into 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:21.720 position where we can just really let out a bugle 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.440 and the bulls like a bull bugles across the canyon 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.960 in the burn, and we get eyes on it. It's 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.680 a big six point, like sweet, okay, that's a good 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.320 bull tomorrow morning, you know. And then we worked in, 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.000 like tried to work around because another bull is bugling, 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.800 and so we got two bulls fired up. So we're like, 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:45.120 all right, tomorrow morning, we're gonna come back here before daybreak. 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.520 We're gonna get in on this six point that was 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:50.440 in this burn and try to call him in. So 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.880 next morning, get in there, get in, get in early, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.160 hike in. It's quite a hike. So we get in, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.360 we get set up, and we hear them bugling, just 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.080 just kind of like right around shooting light. Sweet, we 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:05.000 dropped down. We go up to the top and it's 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.680 like that bowl was somewhere in here. The last bugle, 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.880 get to the top, I rip a bugle and that 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.400 bul bugle is like twenty yards on the other side. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.280 Just cut me off. And generally when a bull cuts 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:19.960 another bull off, it's like fighting words. They just don't 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.320 like that. Like I'm aero knocked, just ready for this 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.560 bull to come in and nothing. The bull across the 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:32.199 canyons still bugling. I'm like, huh, that's weird. So move 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.600 up a little bit. And I don't know if it 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.760 was the bugle, maybe a wind thing, but probably just 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.199 he just decided I don't want any of that, like 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.760 got too close, too fast, like it was just a 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.920 little too much confrontation for the first couple of days 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.680 of September, and he just moved off. So the bull 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:52.640 across the way, it was still bugling. So we still 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.600 have this bull on the hook. So we called this 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.000 bull he's calling back, and it's gonna be a long 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:00.640 drop down all the way, drop it all the way 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:02.959 down to the valley, climb up the other side. So 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.200 we dropped down and just before we get to the bottom, 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.120 the bulls up at this like trying to kind of 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.320 pinpoint him in the timber, and like, all right, there's 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.800 this kind of like diamond shaped rember, sorry, pyramid shaped 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.880 mountain across from us, really steep, and like the bulls 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:18.560 at the top of it. Because you can hear he's 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.040 like sometimes sounds on the side, sometimes sounds on that side. 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:23.440 Sometimes he sounds closer. So he's like he's just on 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.360 the top, going back and forth. So I give him 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.240 like this cow call. We're like my long cow, call 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:35.360 the little sexy wine and he liked that. He like 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.120 came on our side of the hill and bugle. I'm like, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.520 all right, we're gonna get up there. I think we 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:43.520 got this bull on the hook. We're gonna get up there, 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.199 drop down, get up there and call that bulling. So 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.400 we get down to the bottom and hear that. I 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:54.559 hear that bull bugle again and it's like, well he's 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.800 he's on the side still, and he sounds like he's 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:01.040 really interested in what we had to offer. So we're 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:03.920 I'm like, but I don't wanna, Like, generally, you aren't 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.760 gonna call a bull off the top of a peak 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:09.240 like that. So we start climbing up this hillside. It's 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.440 super steep, really really thick, and I'm like, I just 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.720 need to get to a place where we can get 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.560 set up if he comes in that will actually have 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:20.520 a shot, because you can call bulls in all day. 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.960 I've done it where you just call bull in after 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.120 bull after bull and have zero shots. Bulls within fifteen 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.719 yards and still have no shots. Like I didn't want 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.360 that to happen. So I'm like, now this bull is 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.920 actually like coming down the mountain bugling like, oh boy, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.840 he he knew he remembered that cow call. You could 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.880 tell when like he started acting different with that that 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.520 one call. And so like the bugles, he was going 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.280 back and forth bugle and bugling, but he just really 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.880 liked that wine. So I'm like, all right. So we're 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.680 working up and there's kind of like this old logging 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.920 road thing that cuts through, which it's really overgrown, and 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.040 then I see there's like this one little burn patch 0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:59.960 in the middle of the and I'm thinking, okay, it's 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.160 about maybe twenty yards up. I'm gonna get to that 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:04.960 open and that way when we call. If that bull 0:11:05.000 --> 0:11:09.840 walks within thirty yards, we'll have a shot across the 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.360 little logging road. Start. I'm like ten yards from this 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.199 little burn, and all of a sudden, one of the 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.440 guys behind me is like right there, and sure enough, 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.360 that bull rips a bugle and is coming our way, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.320 like and I'm just in a bad position too. Thick 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:33.680 bulls like coming in, doesn't like the setup, blows out, well, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.040 it doesn't really like blow out, but goes the other 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.720 direction like circled us and gone within range, but definitely 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.160 no shots. And we're thinking, like, dang, that sucks. It 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.320 was like a three plus inch six by six. That 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.079 was our chance. And sometimes hunting you get one chance 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.240 per week. That was it. So like, well, let's see 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:55.440 what's going on, you know, give it a little bit 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.960 of time, make some bugles go up towards where he went, 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:01.720 bugle into the valley. Nothing, and it's like, well, hunting 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.720 days over, that sucked. We had it. Everything was good, 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.319 and we called in a bull at a time of 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:10.320 year that it can be difficult to call bulls in, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.960 and you know, that was our chance. It's like, well 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:16.880 what do we do? So I just pulled out like 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.400 my go hunt map on my phone and just looking 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:24.559 at like betting areas and I'm thinking, all right, well, 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.679 here's gonna be our new plan. We've exhausted this area. 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:30.480 You know, we know what bulls are here kind of, 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.520 I mean, we know what they're bugling or whatever. We're 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:36.720 gonna go a little bit deeper and we're gonna go 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.320 into the thick stuff. We're gonna climb up and we're 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.400 just gonna We're gonna essentially do a tactically I like 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.520 to do where you're just you're you're trying to call 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.880 to a bedded bull. You're you're going through bedding areas 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:48.720 and you're trying to call to a bull that's like 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.520 just laying there not really expecting anything, but you're just 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.680 a group of elk or cows or whatever moving through. 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.640 So we go over there and we start climbing up 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.440 doing that thing, calling, doing it all. At this point, 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:09.000 it's about eleven am and um, so we stopped and 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.840 we're like having a little bit of a snack break 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:15.280 and a little bit of water break. I've got my 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:19.319 made this pretty sweet elk shaped fruit roll up that 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.120 I was just joking when I made it that it 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.040 was like this lucky fruit roll up, and I forgot 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.040 I hadn't been eating it, so I was like it 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.000 was giant. I rolled the whole thing up. It's like 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.920 a I don't even know, like a two ft by 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.920 foot and a half fruit roll up. And I was like, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:36.880 all right, this is what we needed. Guys like the 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.840 lucky fruit roll We haven't eaten any of it, so 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:41.880 I just ate a little bit of fruit roll. I'm 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.319 like saying, like that's the secret. I'm telling you all 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.240 my hunting secrets. The real hunting secret is you gotta 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.520 have a lucky fruit roll and uh so, you know, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:56.559 calling whatever, and we go down the road, so snack 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.320 times over, start working where there's like all these old 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:02.679 logging roads and stuff as well, so we catch we're 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:05.679 going like cross country through trails, through trees, hit old 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.680 logging roads, kind of a little bit of everything, just 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.040 going up the mountain, just working. Like what I identified 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:15.240 was some like gradual hills, like you're not killed, but 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:19.160 like gradual ridges, and then really thick timber. So it's 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.440 kind of like those those flat spots where elk like 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.640 to bed, those real thick spots where it's like okay, 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:26.000 it's shaded, it's on the south or sorry of the 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:31.520 north face, and there's just like good cover but it's 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.160 a little bit more um, you know, just mellow bedding 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.120 country kind of stuff. So go down the trail. I 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.160 don't even know. After eating the fruit roll, maybe like 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.440 a hundred and fifty yards two yards, let out a calcohol. 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:53.640 Yeah yeah, here a bull in the distance. So I'm like, 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.240 all right, was that bull bugling? Because sometimes what bulls 0:14:58.280 --> 0:14:59.800 will do they'll just be in their bed and they'll 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:03.760 just bugle. So it's like, was that bul bugling to 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.960 my calcohol or was he just bugling just a bugle 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:08.760 because it sounded long ways off, So give it a 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.040 few minutes. I'm like, all right, if this bull bugles, 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.480 I mean to give him this pretty much the same call, 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.440 and then if he bugles back, I'll know game on. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.920 So I give him that same call, two calcols and 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.400 that bowl bugle half the distance. I'm like, game on. 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.280 Getting the bushes, everyone the two gether. There's four of 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:33.880 us together. To the guys is like ducking to cover. 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.920 I move with Zach. He's filming like right to the 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.400 point of the trees, and within forty five seconds, that 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.600 bulls screaming right in front of us, Like all right, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:49.240 game on. Well the bull comes out when just happened 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:51.200 to be at like this intersection of like three old 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.160 logging roads, and uh, the bull like, which is actually 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.600 pretty good because that's you know, that's probably what why 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.880 he was able to cruise so fast and so like 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:04.320 quiet as well. So he pops out and he's like 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:09.560 forty seven yards or so. It's super thick, and I'm like, crap, 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.040 like this is perfect. He's just gonna like I'll give 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:13.880 him here in a second. I'm gonna give him like 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.320 the old mew mew. See what he does, you know, 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:18.960 try to draw him in. He's gonna be twenty yards away. 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.760 Just like perfect. The wind was good, everything was good. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.320 As soon as that bull steps out, he you know, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:30.920 bugles again and he's forty seven yards away and the 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.440 wind starts swirling and I'm like, you gotta be kidding me, 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.480 like no, and I see him nosing in the air 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.320 like he's just like lifting his nose. I can see 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.760 his nostrils just like breathing it in, and I'm thinking, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.120 I've got about ten seconds before this bull is a 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:51.240 goner for like this is it? And uh, you know, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.800 if it wasn't, if it wasn't, if that wind wasn't swirling, 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.160 and he would for sure would have come in right 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.600 into her laps. And I had the way the sun 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.880 was was like hitting the like it was everything was dark. 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:04.720 And then it's just like the sun was kind of 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.040 like hitting the bowl. And there's this one gap in 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.920 the trees and she just happened to be standing broadside 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.359 in it. And I'm like, all right, I got I 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:16.399 like at full draw and I'm like, okay, I gotta 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.760 be I gotta shoot through this. And I kind of 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.800 checked it with my pants and I say, like I 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:23.680 think I said it out loud. I oh, I don't 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:27.720 hit that branch, and the bowl like starts to take 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.280 a step and I cow call and stop him, and 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.760 I'm like, crap, you know, like it was there. So 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:37.760 I scooched to the right, hit full draw and then 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.160 hold the pin and release and just tap it sounds good, 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.520 and then bowed to that thing. I mean, I'm the 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.640 type of person even when I make a perfect shot, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.639 I'm always like, until I walk up on that animal, 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.320 I'm not I'm not saying anything like I just hated 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:53.919 to be like, oh yeah, it was a great shot, 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.160 you know, especially when you're shooting through stuff like that, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:17:59.679 and I'm like, I'm nervous just because I'm like, that 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:01.720 was a giant bowl. I know how big that bowl was. 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.520 I was a very very big bowl. It was probably 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.119 one of the biggest bulls I've laid eyes on in 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:10.399 the wild. And I'm like, Okay, where what happened and 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.920 how did it go down? And then maybe two minutes later, 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:16.280 you know, like Bugle as he ran off at Bugled, 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.239 we hear crash. I'm like, okay, was that him? Just 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.760 falling over. Was that him just go crashing through stuff? 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:26.200 And then like literally probably two minutes later, we here 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.000 bull took his last breath. It's like, okay, so gave 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.120 it us still a little bit of time, walk over 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.320 to look from my arrow. My arrow just like blew 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.800 straight through him. Um, so I couldn't find my air 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.720 and I'm like, can't find any blood. And I look 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.320 over and maybe fifteen yards from where he was standing, 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.760 I've seen antler tip bulls down, Like oh sweet, walk 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:51.679 up to him and I was like, I knew it 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:55.240 was a big bowl, but I didn't see that seven 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.199 point when he was coming in, and I was like, 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:00.760 I was just in disbelief. No, ay, Like, this is 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:04.199 a three ninety type bull that just sauntered in in 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.879 an area where you definitely weren't expecting that kind of 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.520 bull to appear. And that is how, in the middle 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.560 of the day, or pretty much the middle of the day, 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:24.280 I killed the biggest bull in my life. When it 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.240 comes to successfully striking up a bedded bull, I think 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:33.240 it involves three major components here. So it's gonna be identifying, betting, 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.199 it's gonna be calling, and then it's gonna be moving, 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.000 and the moving and calling is really important because for 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:42.119 this tactic to work, I think that you have to 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:46.199 be within a certain proximity to the bull. First. Well, 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.520 obviously they have to hear the calls, but generally embedding 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.200 and timber that's got to be close. Sometimes it has 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.119 to be, depending on the topography, within a hundred yards 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.479 or so. And so you kind of have to really 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:03.000 pinpoint the betting and then move through that for this 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.919 whole entire tactic to work. So let's start with identifying betting. 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.520 When I'm looking for elk betting areas, I've talked about 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.560 this many times in many podcasts, But what we're looking 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:19.000 for is we're looking for good cover. Now, depending on 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:21.680 the type of country you're in, I mean, some places 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.720 you'll hunt and it's all cover. That's one thing I 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:27.720 love about archery season is you get to hunt the 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.959 darker timber um and if they're making noise you they 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:33.680 it's like, well it's the one time we year those 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.879 elk are gonna let you know where they're at. But um, 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.119 you might be in an area that's really wide open 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:43.200 and it might just be like an aspen stand um 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:48.879 or something something that provides shade throughout the day. Elk 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.439 like that that thicker cover to bed. They don't like 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.800 to have to elk or I mean they're always hot. 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.160