Hunting Memories

Last Day Pays Off... Big!

My hunting partner Phil Hayes and I set out to do a short, last-day morning hunt before returning to camp, packing up and heading for home.

After hiking about a half-hour we heard a bull bugle far below us. We decided to wait a few minutes before starting to call due to the predawn darkness. About 20 minutes later Phil made a cow call on his Primos Hyper-Lip Double Call and had two bulls bugle back from down the hill. About five minutes later he repeated the call and both bulls bugled back, having closed the distance between us in half.

I moved downhill to set up while Phil moved back up the hill to call and try to pull one of the bulls past me. After a sequence of calls, a bull bugled in front of me not more than 75 yards away. While I was concentrating on that one, I heard a snap behind me (downwind). I turned around and saw a cloud of dust and the opposing end of a bull at full throttle heading down the hill. My cow calls on my diaphragm call had no effect on him, but did remind me that there were still two bulls below me after they bugled back! That's two bulls below me, one heading downhill and one in front of me... four bulls, really close!

I focused my attention in front of me because that bull was the closest. I ranged a good 54-yard shooting lane I thought he would pass through. As a few tense moments passed, I heard a snap to my right and saw legs walking through a thick patch of timber. The body of an elk quickly materialized, then a huge 6x6 rack attached to it.

I didn't know my heart could pound so hard or that adrenaline could make me tremble almost uncontrollably.

After about a minute at full draw and the bull walking through some semi-clear openings looking for an invisible cow, the bull stopped! His vitals were in plain view between two large pine trees about 16 to 18 inches apart. I put my 30-yard pin on the chestnut-colored patch, squeezed the trigger on my relase, and watched the arrow disappear into his rib cage. He disappeared into the trees, then reappeared above me stopping by a large pine tree. He could barely keep his legs under him.

I returned to Phil, informed him of the situation, then we headed to the spot I had last seen him. He had expired quickly with a well-placed shot through both lungs. After much backslapping and a photo session, work began.

On the first day of this hunt, I also harvested a forked-horn mule deer.

Both animals were harvested with a Hoyt Defiant Redline bow, set at 67 pounds, Easton XX78 2413 arrows, and 100-grain Thunderhead broadheads.

Rick Hardy
Crescent City, California

Editor's Note: Rick Hardy took this bull on September 13, 2001, on the last day of a two-week hunt in Eastern Oregon.

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