On May 31st, I woke earlier than usual at 4:30 a.m. and decided to check my text messages. There was one from the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources (UDWR). The message indicated that I had drawn a bull elk tag. I immediately thought that I had accidently applied for the wrong unit as I had been applying for the Limited-Entry Bull Elk San Juan Elk Ridge unit and didn’t think I had nearly enough points. After some investigation, I confirmed that I had drawn the limited-entry elk license. Much later, I learned that there were three non-resident tags for the unit and two tags went to the hunters with the highest number of points. This year, there were six applicants with 26 points and two received the coveted tags. This left one for the random tag with 1,953 hunters applying with 0 to 26 points. Unbelievably, I had drawn the random non-resident tag with 8 points.
I contacted Huntin’ Fool and spoke to Isaiah Joner, who gave me recommendations for outfitters. I immediately contacted Doyle Moss of Mossback Guides and Outfitters to see if he could put together a guided hunt. He put together a great team for the five-day hunt. After this flurry of activity, I researched and prepared for the hunt.
I arrived in camp two days before the hunt. We were able to go out scouting that night and located a 6-point bull and several cows. We glassed a lot of canyon country but were not able to locate any more elk. On the day before the hunt, I was able to glass a large area with my guide, Cory, and spotter, Cordell. The elk were bugling, making it exciting. Cory and Cordell each turned up good-sized 6x6 bulls, and one was suggested as a possible shooter with a caveat that my guide wanted a bigger one for me. After reviewing video of the bulls, I decided to pass.
On the morning of opening day, we glassed in the same area as the night before. Cory and Cordell turned up both of the good bulls from the day before and a handful of 5x6 bulls and some 6x6 bulls. We decided to go south and try our luck as a large bull had been seen in the area for the last three years and two other outfitters had confirmed he was still there. They said he had double swords. He was passed over in a previous year as his antlers were broken up from fighting. Cordell went to the area that the bull was last seen in, and Cory and I scouted in the general area on the edge of the Dark Canyon Wilderness. The bugling was ongoing as we arrived, and it continued into the evening. We had just located a 6x6 bull when Cordell informed us that he had found the bull and we needed to get over there fast. It took 40 minutes to get there, and by the time we arrived, the bull had walked into dark timber and over a saddle. We were too late to attempt a stalk. We reviewed the video that night, and the bull became our target bull as he was an 8x8 with good length and mass.
We spent most of the next two days trying to locate the target bull without luck. I was able to call in a 6x7 to 219 yards with a cow call on the second evening. However, Cordell and Cory indicated he wasn’t big enough.
In the early afternoon of day three, Cory heard bugling from our right and we went out to investigate. We drove closer to the bugling and followed the sound on foot, which brought us to a large canyon. There was crazy bugling, and some of it sounded like a couple of large bulls with deep, guttural sounds and chuckling. The canyon was covered with trees, and there were very few spots where we could see openings. Leaving the canyon, we waited evening and Cordell found the target bull headed for water. He was with six to eight cows and five or so bulls, including a big 6x8 and a big 5x5.
We rushed to get in position ahead of the bull and his cows. It was getting exciting, and I expected the bull to show at any time. We were set up, and the bull was close. He had to cross a road, but then along came a truck, which pushed him away from us. We went after him on foot and could hear close bugling, bulls fighting, racks crashing, and a bull raking trees. We couldn’t get up on him, and the herd ran back into the canyon. Cordell reported that another hunter had gone after the herd and had taken the big 6x8. Apparently, others knew of the bull and were in pursuit.
On the fourth day, with a 4 a.m. alarm, we got up early and got after it again. Arriving at the location, we sat in the truck for a bit listening for bugling and waiting for legal hunting time. Cordell indicated the bull was close to us, and we were after him again on a fast pace. We could hear bugling, and the bull was close. We saw his cows and watched them, but they spooked. The bull did not appear, and they got out ahead of us. We circled around and got in front of the herd. Along came the cows, walking slowly through the trees, but no bulls appeared. We had come within 100 yards of the target bull or at least his cows four different times without seeing him. It sure seemed that this bull was well educated and knew how to stay out of danger.
The morning hunt was over, and we walked to the edge of the big canyon. We sat down on the edge and looked over. I deployed my bipod in case an elk showed up. We could only see openings in a few small areas that were fairly close to our position. Time drug on with no sightings or bugling. Cory whispered that I needed to get comfortable as we would be there for a long time. Just as he finished, I heard crashing on the slope below us. We stood up, looked, listened, and heard more intermittent crashing. Cory said he saw a small bull walking off. Then he said, “There he is. Shoot him!” The bull was at 100 yards, but I couldn’t see him as there was a tree between us. Cory pulled me to him, and I saw the bull. He was standing in one of the few openings in the canyon. The body was huge. I pulled up freehand with my bipod on the rifle and made sure it had horns. I saw three good points, lowered the rifle, aimed at his heart, and shot. He humped a bit and lunged forward and out of sight, which made me feel he was hit. However, we did not hear the typical smack of the bullet. Cory asked me if I thought I had hit the bull. I indicated I had hit it for sure but maybe the shot was back more than I would have liked.
The bull let out several death moans that were eerie and a good indication of a hit. We got excited, and Cory gave me a big squeeze. Cory wanted to have someone up on the ledge to keep an eye on where the bull was standing when shot at. He called in everyone who was assisting or in the area. We waited, and it was painful not knowing if the bull was down or not. Father and son Jerrod and Callel showed up first and took position on the edge of the canyon. Cory and I slid down the steep slope to a wash area where the bull had been standing and found blood on leaves right away. There wasn’t much of a blood trail, and the sandstone rock and sand soaked it up. Cory had me stand at last blood, and then he found him. The elk had only gone about 30 to 40 yards and expired. He was every bit as big as I had anticipated. We hugged and congratulated each other! Jerrod and Callel came down, and the rest of the gang showed up within the hour. All were duly impressed with the 8x8 monarch. Just like drawing the tag, this was hard to believe, but I had just taken the largest bull of my life.
After taking many pictures, the bull was skinned and quartered. With nine people on-site, we were able to get the bull out in one trip. There was much celebration and congratulations in camp that evening and night.
I would like to thank Doyle, Cory, Cordell, Sarah, Kylie, Jeremy (Big Jer), Collin, Bridger, Jerrod, Callel, Matt, Travis, and Meckenzie for all they did to help me harvest such a great bull.
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