king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated - October/November 2007 - Index

BY GABRIEL JACKSON
46 HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
TWO
FOR
TWO
The draw results had just been
released when I received a call
from Woody, my sub-guide,
about the elk lottery on the San Carlos
Apache Reservation. Woody was so
excited I could barely understand what
he was saying. Woody and I had both
drawn tags for two of the best elk units
in the world. I had drawn a tag in the
R100 unit and Woody drew the Dry
Lake unit.
Woody and I started scouting
right after the draw because both of our
hunts started on the 16th of September.
We were in our units during the first
hunt, which started on September 1st.
We saw numerous bulls during the first
week, but it was on September 8th that
I found my bull. We figured that
we would leave the bull alone until
a couple of days before September
16th. We just hoped the bull would
still be there so we could keep track
of him.
While we were scouting,
Woody and I found a bull in his unit,
Dry Lake, that would have probably
shattered the current typical world
record by at least 65-70 inches. The
bull was a perfect 9x9, 520-class
typical. You do the figuring. This
bull was bigger than anything either
of us had ever seen - by far. He was
with two other bulls that would have
scored at least 375-380 inches and
he made them look small. He was a
true giant.
Back to my hunt, Woody
and I ended up finding my bull again
about two days before the opening
day of my hunt. We followed the
bull closely and kept track of where
he was. I spent a fair amount of time
trying to figure out where he would
be on opening morning of my hunt.
I was glad none of the other hunters
had found him yet.
The morning of September
16th, Woody and I woke up at 2:30
a.m., made coffee and had a small
breakfast. After a very sleepless
night, we departed from camp and
I wished Woody good luck on his
hunt. Nobody was even close to
where we had last seen the bull, an
8x8 with triple brow tines. I started
up a ridge with some friends right
above where the bull had bedded the
night before. We heard him bugling
right above us. It was almost light
by the time we topped out on the
ridge he that the bull and his cows
were on. We followed his bugles
until it was light enough to see. I
started cow calling and got his
attention. The herd was in a saddle
right below a big mountain. After a
few more cow calls, the bull turned
back toward us - a big mistake on
his part. I picked him up at about
340 yards just twenty minutes into
the hunt. He stopped to rake some
brush when I put him down with