We started out this morning in the area we saw the monster bull in last night. There was a frenzy of bugling and we started out chasing the biggest sounding bull in hopes it’s the big bull. We chased him back into the dark timber about a mile away and he bedded down for the morning, 2/3 of the way up the mountain in a bowl. We slipped up to within 200 yards of him and tried a stalk but the wind kept swirling so we backed out and tried coming in from the other side. If his bugle matches his rack we are in for a treat! It sounds like his bugles are coming out of a 50 gallon barrel!!
About an hour later we came in from the other side and for the most part, the wind was good the higher up on the mountain we went. We again got within 200 yards and could tell he was up and moving in our direction. We quickly setup and immediately could see dark legs coming through the timber. A spike was out in front of the herd and then more legs as a cow came into view. With inconsistent winds, they began to get nervous and finally caught our scent at 30 yards, heading down the hill and taking the whole herd with them. We are left without even getting a look at the bull.
I thought for sure this was going to be “it”. We were so close and if we just would have had another 5 minutes and 30 yards things would have been different. It was a bummer for sure, not even getting a glimpse of the bull and having him within 100 yards. We stayed in this area the rest of the day and called in a couple of other hunters. We chased a few more bugles just before dark but didn’t end up seeing any other bulls. They are definitely more active in the mornings. Oh well, tomorrow is another clean slate!