As application season rolled along, it was time to apply for Montana. My 15-year-old son, Luke, wanted to hunt with us this year, so I applied him in our party application with my brother-in-law, Neil. If we were successful in drawing, I knew I would be focusing my attention on helping Luke get his first deer and hopefully his first bull elk. I didn’t want to miss out on getting another elk permit point, but I wasn’t sure if I had the time to dedicate to a special permit if I drew one. After looking at the draw odds with my point total, it appeared to be safe to apply as I would not be drawing yet anyway. Well, I lucked out and drew a rifle bull elk permit in unit 690! I think I found out how to draw great tags – apply for units you want but not the year that you want them and figure the logistics out later.
Knowing my son had to get back for basketball practice starting the middle of November and not knowing the area of my draw tag, I decided to look at going guided. After talking to Brian Hansen at Montana Outfitting Co., I felt good about being able to do my draw tag justice on a short timetable and then help Luke and Neil after that. I booked my hunt for the 28th of October.
When I arrived at the lodge, I found out my guide, Rocky, was out scouting. After getting settled in, I met Rocky and heard about a nice 7x8 bull he had found that night. We set out at zero dark thirty to get in position when the elk moved to their bedding area. There were two ridges to choose from, and as soon as we could see, we knew we wanted to be on the other ridge. A jog back to the Jeep and a race across to the other ridge had us in great position above the elk herd moving through the trees below. There was a nice 6-point bull in a group of about 300 elk that was bigger than any bull I’d ever passed on. Rocky told me that the rifle season was harder to turn up the huge bulls the unit is known for than the archery season, so I wondered if I should take this bull. We moved ahead to an opening where we saw the whole group move through but no 7x8. Rocky said he should’ve known that big bull wouldn’t be in a big group with cows this late in the year. He must have just been feeding near them the night before and then split to his own bedding area. A few more elk were located that day with one 6x7 bull close to being a shooter.
The next morning, we were at a good vantage point looking for the 7x8, but he was not to be found. After checking several glassing points, we decided to go to a new area near the river breaks for the afternoon. After looking over a bunch of mule deer bucks, we got on a high point where we could see several draws.
Elk started popping out here and there. Over a mile away, a group with several mediocre bulls was coming out of the draw behind them. Then two bulls, including a good 6x7 with a broken fourth tine, fed out of the draw closer to us. I wanted a closer look at this bull. We headed off after them, but we heard a different bull raking a tree to our left. We looped around the grassy ridgetop and found six bulls. The largest three of these bulls would take turns fighting each other for the next hour. However, none of these were bigger than the 6x7 and they had broken tines.
We headed back to the 6x7 but got cut off by a bigger, better bull feeding out of the draw. This new bull had long main beams and good mass, but he had broken off a fourth on one side and a fifth on the other. However, he was big! Rocky and I dropped down to watch him, and he said if the bull wasn’t broken, he was a shooter for sure. The bull fed out from behind a tree, and I got a look at his side profile.
“You sure I shouldn’t shoot him?” I asked.
Rocky said, “It’s up to you.”
We were both taking photos and video of the big bull with our phones since he was about 50 yards away now. Finally, I had seen enough and thought, “What am I doing? This bull is awesome!” I told Rocky I was going to take him, and he said, “Do it.” Rocky realized that this bull was one he had been watching in the summer and had pictures and video of. I still had to chamber a round and get my pack off without the bull noticing. I got that done somehow. The bull was feeding straight at me, so I waited for him to turn. At 26 yards, the wind swirled enough that he smelled me. He spun and ran, but Rocky cow called and got him to turn at 70 yards. I hit my mark with the 7mm Rem Mag, and he was done in seconds. This bull was great and just the kind I had hoped for. After pictures and getting him back to the shop, we roughly scored him at 380" if he wasn’t broken.
I returned home to load up the entire family for the return trip to Montana the next week. We had a great trip as Luke was able to take his first antelope and had a chance at a nice mulie buck. Neil was lucky enough to get his antelope, mulie, and a 5-point bull. I was able to get an antelope as well. It was very rewarding to spend time with family on this second hunting trip.
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