Bull of a Lifetime

By Richard James

Thanks to Garth Carter and The Huntin’ Fool for my being on this hunt. I became a member of his organization in late 1999 and immediately took his advice on applying for hunts in several western states. In 2005, my fifth try in Utah, my elk application for the Boulder unit was drawn. That was a good omen, for sure. When I called Garth to ask for a recommendation on outfitters, he recommended two. Garth also told me that if I shot a 350 class elk, it had better be on the last day as there were some huge elk in this unit.
It was a beautiful day as I pulled onto the pavement heading north to my home in Washington state. I had to keep looking into the back of my Ford Excursion to reassure myself that my dream hunt had indeed come true. In the back was the magnificent set of elk antlers that were being proudly carried by a huge bull elk the previous morning.
After checking out the recommended outfitters, I made arrangements with Doyle Moss, of Mossback Productions to hunt with them. My hunt started on the fourth day of the season I had drawn. We saw 320-350 class bulls every day and two other huge bulls that we could not close in on. Hunting in the rut was very exciting as the bugling and clashing of antlers was new to me.
My guide, Randy Steele, of Mossback Outfitters, had spotted a monster bull 2 days earlier as we glassed a large sagebrush flat. There was a slightly smaller herd bull with about 20 cows and several satellite bulls in the same flat, but this bull stood out as a real trophy. Unfortunately, we were too far away to do anything but watch as all these elk moved into the timber for the day. The plan was to get closer to the flat the next morning and intercept the bull as he moved to his bedding area. We hoped that he would be there.
Before daybreak the next morning, we quietly parked the truck and loaded up for what we hoped would be the lucky day. Randy, Tyler, the spotter/cameraman, and I moved quietly toward the sagebrush flat. We were surrounded on all sides by screaming, bugling bulls—some on the flat and others already in the timber. Our initial position was on a small knob where we set up the spotting scope and surveyed the elk out on the flat, hoping to find the big bull. We were in luck, today there were two huge bulls out there, along with a few cows. One of them must have peeled from the same herd bull we had seen the day before. Now all we had to do was move several hundred yards farther toward the gap that the elk moved through to get to the safety of the timber.

We were scrambling up and down small hills that were between our initial position and where we knew we had to be, to get a good set-up for my shot. It was getting lighter and the elk were already starting to move towards the timber. Several satellite bulls had already moved out of range into the timber when we finally got to our destination. When we got to the last hill overlooking the flat, Randy set up the spotting scope and Tyler got the video camera ready. Now it was up to the elk and me.
The large bull we sought was now following his cows through the sagebrush. The three of us confirmed that this bull was bigger than the bull we had seen the day before and he had no broken tines. With the shooting sticks Mossback provided, I got set for my “bull of a lifetime” shot. Well, I ended up shooting a couple of extra times and at a farther distance than I would have chosen, but the story had a happy ending.
When we got to the elk, I couldn’t believe how big he was. The rack had an inside spread of over 50 inches and his main beam was 57 inches. He was a 6x7 that field measured at 383 gross.
Needless to say, my hunt was a success for several reasons. First, thanks go to Garth Carter for his hunting draw suggestions and advice on waiting for a truly big bull on this hunt. Mossback Outfitters did a great job of pre-season scouting and provided a great guide. With all of the help I received from both outfits, I truly took home “The Bull of a Lifetime.”