king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated April/May 2008 - Index

Cindy Marques was no stranger to hunting trophy
bull elk in her home state of Nevada. Cindy is
from a hunting family; her brothers know a thing
or two about fi nding those trophy elk because they are
part of Bull Ridge Guide Service. Cindy picked up a
muzzleloader approximately 25 years ago and it is the
main weapon she hunts with.
Every year, Cindy’s brother David would make
sure she put in for the hunts. Amazingly, in 2002, Cindy
drew her fi rst choice tag where there are only two tags
given out. This was going to be a good hunt! With the
fear of holding up to the expectations of her fi ve brothers,
Cindy was the fi rst one up and ready on opening morning.
The fi rst few days were uneventful. Many bugles were
heard, but nothing materialized. Cindy’s brother Chuck
came out with his son Trevor to help as well. One day,
as Trevor was heading back home, he spotted the biggest
bull he had ever seen. He grabbed some footage of the bull
with his video camera and then proceeded to head home.
He showed some friends the footage later that night and,
due to the sheer size of the bull, they nicknamed him 747.
The next morning Trevor hooked up with the rest of the
group to show them where he had seen the bull.
As the hunting party approached the bull, all of Cindy’s
brothers hogged the spotting scopes; so Cindy watched
this magnifi cent bull with her binoculars until he fed up
into the trees. Cindy worked her way around to be able
to close in on the herd and hopefully get a shot. Stalking
through the sagebrush, she started getting closer and
closer to the herd. Suddenly, the elk started coming down towards them. Cindy started feeling the rush as
the herd got closer and closer and the big bull moved to within shooting distance. Chuck told Cindy to wait
for the bull to get into better position. Wait..wait...the bull is there, shoot! As fast as it started it was over.
The lead cow caught wind of their presence and busted the whole herd in a matter of seconds. As the big bull
pushed his cows out of the area, Cindy stood up for a desperation shot and missed. The despair continued
into the next day as Chuck and Cindy happened to spot the big elk again as they worked their way up the
mountain. Unfortunately, the bull lived to see another day as Cindy missed again. With her head hung
down and disappointment consuming her, Cindy returned home wanting nothing more than to crawl under
a blanket and die.
After some coaxing and support, Cindy headed back up the mountain for the afternoon hunt.
Knowing the bull would not be easy to fi nd again after all of the shooting, Cindy headed to thicker timber.
Cindy and Chuck decided to start walking the area and see what might turn up. Chuck started to bugle as
they slowly moved through the trees. A faint return bugle could be heard in the distance. They started to
close the distance and could tell the elk were moving down the draw above them. Cindy got under a tree and
waited for them. Chuck told her to get ready as the elk started to come in and feed. The fi rst cow appeared
in the clearing. Chuck quickly set up his tripod and had Cindy stand up and use it as a rest. The herd slowly
passed in front of Cindy. When big 747 appeared, he was so gigantic that Cindy couldn’t believe what she
was looking at. Chuck wouldn’t let Cindy shoot until the bull was right in front of them, hopefully presenting
her with the best shot. All the while Cindy was praying that she wouldn’t miss again, knowing her brothers
would kill her. The elk was now at 110 yards and Cindy took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Boom!
As the smoke cleared she could see the bull stumble and move out of sight. Reloading as fast as she could
while trying to keep up with Chuck and the bull was a task in and of itself. Chuck and Cindy followed the
blood trail and another couple of shots fi nally put the magnifi cent 747 bull down. Every man’s dream had just
become one woman’s reality - to bag one of the biggest elk in the world.
Cindy’s 2002 Nevada 7x6 non-typical elk is the second largest non-typical elk taken with a
muzzleloader and is the Nevada state record. It scored an amazing 424 6/8 net B&C. Cindy also holds the
very unique title of having the highest scoring non-typical elk ever taken by a woman.
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