king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

By David King
62
STATE RECORD
SNEDEGER BULL
T he
big non-typical bull that Darrell Snedeger shot
in 2007 caps of an interesting run of big bulls
from Utah over the last fi ve years. It is the fi rst
bull to offi cially overtake the Diderickson bull that
was taken in 2002. The Diderickson bull was the
fi rst 400 net bull for the state of Utah and the score
of 412 net non-typical has withstood a barrage of
monster bulls that have been taken since that time.
There have been many bulls that would have broken
the record, but due to broken points they have been
unable to do so. Over the last few years the typical
state record has been broken many times over, but the
non-typical record has stood until now. A new level
has been achieved in 2007 and the Snedeger bull with
an offi cial score of 424 7/8 net B&C is the new state
record taken with a rifl e.
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
left camp about 4:30 a.m. At about 11:00 a.m., we got into
a small herd with several bulls. We got a couple curious,
small bulls to come in to us but, after about an hour, they
tired of us and we watched them walk away. The evening
hunt proved to be about the same. We did not locate
any elk and went back to camp a little disappointed and
concerned that this hunt may be more challenging than we
had thought. The elk were not bugling and it was making
it more diffi cult to locate them.
The next day was Sunday, so we enjoyed the
beautiful weather and spent time in camp with our
families. That night I tossed and turned until midnight and
fi nally told my wife that I was so excited for the morning
hunt that I couldn’t sleep. I wasn’t worried; I was just as
excited as I had ever been to actually be on a big bull hunt.
I told her, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” By
4:10 a.m., we were up and ready to go. Since we hadn’t
actually located any big bulls, we took off from camp on
our four-wheelers without much of a plan. As we went
down a trail, we stopped every quarter of a mile or so and
used the bugle and cow call to try to get a response. After
about two hours, we had gone quite a distance when we
fi nally heard three bull elk responding to our call. They
were in the thick, dark trees so we could not get a look
at them. We did get a glimpse of a four-point, and made
the decision to start walking towards the bugling because
of the time of morning. The elk we heard captured our
curiosity because of the sound of their bugles. One was
deep and hoarse and the other had a deep grunt. As we
made our way through the thick trees, we got excited by
the condition of the small pines which had been shredded
from elk rubs. As we made our way to a small, light
opening on the top of the backbone of the mountain, we
stood together and looked over the valley below us. After
a few minutes, a noise caught Steve’s attention. As he
turned and faced me, he made a slight hand gesture about
waist high to get my attention. As I looked at Steve, I
noticed that his eyes were literally as big as silver dollars
and the blood had left his face leaving him as pale as I had
ever seen. He mouthed the words, “JUST SHOOT! JUST
SHOOT IT!” As I turned to look behind me, there stood
the biggest bull elk I had ever seen. My movement caused
the elk to lunge, so Steve hit the cow call once again and
the elk stopped behind a dead tree and turned his head to
look directly at me at 15 yards. Luckily, there was no time
to think. I pulled up my 300 Winchester short-mag. My
6.5x20 Leupold scope was black, the shot was too close. I
pushed my rifl e as far forward as I could until I could see
only a pin-hole through the scope. I put the crosshairs on
the elk’s forehead and moved slightly to the right behind
his ear to his neck area and pulled the trigger. All of this