First off I apologize for not getting these pictures up until now. I enjoy reading and seeing everyone's success and I need to contribute when I can to help fuel the fire for others. In September I headed to northeast Oregon where I drew a limited entry tag. I had began scouting two years prior when a friend I knew had the tag. I went over in the summer of 14' to do more scouting since draw results in June confirmed I drew the tag. I took the last 2 weeks of season of and decided to go over the weekend before my 2 weeks off to do a short scouting/hunting trip there. During that trip I screwed up on a 320" herd bull with 31 cows, which come to find was the best mistake of my life. I get back over there for my 2 weeks off and locate a 350" 6 the first evening I was there. I hunted him through Sunday evening and in that time he went from being by himself to picking up 14 cows. The last evening I was with him I couldn't close past 80yds and he was in the bottom of a giant canyon and I needed a break so I checked out a new area Monday. I passed on a small 6 Monday morning but from the sign(and bugles) could tell there was a much bigger bull around. I went back Monday evening and I got within shooting distance of a bull but didn't realize he had a cow with him and when the growler bull lit off that I heard that morning the bull I was close to took his cow and went the other way. I started exploring the area a little more and heard a bugle. I slipped in real close to him, but his bugle didn't sound very impressive and when I was finally able to convince him to leave his bed to investigate it only took him a few seconds to get into view. The first thing that came into my mind was that's an "Eastmans" bull! He was only in my view for about 2 seconds and he was broadside, it took about 3 cow calls to stop him because he was in such a hurry to investigate. From what I had ranged earlier I knew he was about 33 yards. I let it fly and heard it hit him and when he wheeled I really took a look at his horns and was out of view was soon as he'd came into it. I heard crashing for a little bit then it was quiet. I just started shaking, put my bow down, and began pacing back and forth. I was on blood immediately but lost it, probably because I was so shaken up. I went back to camp and got my Dad and our friend Gary who also had the tag. We went to last blood and 30ft away laying in the brush was my bull, the bull of a lifetime. I wish the pictures turned out better but it was night time at this point and we were all out of our minds. His official gross was 373 4/8". This was actually my first elk too.
Fast forward to November when the general late season archery hunt is going on for blacktail and I was able to catch this buck sneaking through the timber looking for does in the middle of the day. I had to wait for him to cross in front of me but when he did he was only 19yds and broadside. He is one of my best blacktails.
Thanks for reading and sharing in my experience. Hopefully everyone is successful in your 2015 draws!
Fast forward to November when the general late season archery hunt is going on for blacktail and I was able to catch this buck sneaking through the timber looking for does in the middle of the day. I had to wait for him to cross in front of me but when he did he was only 19yds and broadside. He is one of my best blacktails.
Thanks for reading and sharing in my experience. Hopefully everyone is successful in your 2015 draws!
