First thing's first... if you missed Part 1 check it out here.
Just before it got light I could hear bugles just above my camp. I had no problem getting rest as I was completely exhausted from the previous days hike. I jumped out of my bag and put my boots on and headed up to where I could hear the relatively close bugles. The path that I had taken to descend to camp would be leading me back up the hill. As I looked down at the path, I noticed my own boot tracks were overlaid by the tracks of a big bull. This lovesick beast must have caught the scent of the cows that I had watched last night.
As I climbed up the ridgeline I reached a spine of rocks that had to be negotiated with a body length jump in order to progress to the top of the hill. As soon as I landed I glassed ahead and finally spotted the bull that was causing all of the commotion. He stood out compared to the other elk as his coat was bright yellow. He was also significantly larger than the other elk. My binoculars revealed that he was a 6x6 bull. He was very distracted raking a tree and the distance was so long that I did not even bother to lift the rangefinder from my pack.
Closing the distance came easy as the ridgeline was practically level with his elevation. I just had to sidehill until I could arrive within shooting range. As I proceeded in their direction I would watch the cows as they would go in and out of the pines. Eventually the bull was satisfied with the destroyed sapling that he was raking and began to trail the cows. The lead cow was coming in my direction. She was browsing out in an opening across the small canyon. I ranged her at 400 yards and felt comfortable making the shot if the bull were to appear in her location. I found a set of rocks that I could lay across. My rifle was not quite elevated high enough for a shot so I had to position my left hand below the stock and hold it in a fist in order to gain a slight amount of elevation.
My heart rate was finally beginning to slow. As I positioned my scope in the general direction of the elk, things were rock-solid. The entire herd had presented itself on the hillside with the bull as the exception. Suddenly it became obvious where he was as he let out a bugle and a medium size tree began to shake violently. I had the assurance that the bull was in proximity of the cows and he was extremely distracted raking a tree. After what felt like 10 minutes he finally emerged from the deep foliage with the shaking tree. I followed him with the crosshairs and he stopped to let out a bugle. The trigger to my rifle broke mid bugle and the bull lost all of his strength in his front end and did a shoulder dive into a pine tree. With his entire weight leaned up against a pine tree, I decided to send another round just incase he was not mortally wounded.
As the second round found its mark the bull began to roll. His body looked limp. As he began his descent I could hear crashing all over the place and the other elk were galloping out of the pines and down the ridge. As I made my way to collect my prize I made an amazing discovery. I could hear a trickle of water and I managed to find a small spring that came up out of the ground. The day prior I searched in vain down the same ravine only to come up empty handed. The small creek must go under ground as it descends lower in elevation.
The water ended up being critical in my pack out as this elk was so deep into the woods that I would have to plan my routes and trips very specifically around staying hydrated. I quickly marked the spring and made my climb up to my prize.
When I found my bull laying on the ground I was pleasantly surprised by how large he was. He was a beautiful 6x6 and I took a few minutes to soak in what had happened. I took me a couple of hours to get him skinned and quartered out into pillow cases. That evening I ended up packing a hindquarter back to my camp leaving the other 3/4's and the tenderloins and backstraps hanging in pillow cases in a tree down by the spring. I had an extra pair of socks in my pack so I took my used socks and places them at the base of the tree to deter any predators that would potentially consider consuming my hard earned elk meat.
I spent the next 3 days carefully planning trips back and forth between my minivan, my camp, and the killsite. The next morning I woke up in camp and packed my hindquarter down to the minivan. I ended up driving into to town to see if a good friend would be willing to take his horses and mules and give me a hand with my elk but I would later discover that my good friend had passed away from a heart attack just a few weeks prior to my hunt. I ended up sleeping in my minivan that night and woke up at first light with my pack frame planning to hike up to the kill site. The hike took me nearly half the day. upon arrival I strapped a hindquarter and a front quarter to my pack frame. Standing up was a task that would take several attempts with such an enormous amount of weight. I bypassed walking by camp and hiked straight to the minivan arriving just prior to nightfall. The next morning I woke up to collect the rest of the elk and also pack up my camp. As I was headed up to the kill sight I came across a sow and her cub. It was entertaining to watch them play and feed together.
