Howdy again folks, I was able to run home for the day but am heading back up within the hour! The archery hunts have been tough but we've been fortunate to share some great experiences and made some new friends! We were able to have close encounters with several "named" bulls such as Bat Bull, GQ Jr., Switchblade, Balls, Clark Jr. and Crossover, and they all are bigger in person than they appear on trail cams! Crossover was the one that made the mistake of stopping at 17 yards in front of my hunter Bruce Caison. Bruce made a perfect shot and Crossover was tipped over in about 30 seconds! We were all in amazement at how much bigger his mass was and the length of the G3's! We conservatively taped him out later at 372" with 22" G3's! Congratulations to Bruce, thanks for the laughs and all the memories!
Muzzleloader and rifle hunts start this Friday, gonna be some great bulls hittin' the ground soon! Stay tuned! JIM>
Howdy folks, i'm typing this just as i run out the door for the archery elk hunts which start this Friday! It's been very hectic and exciting lately and i'm sure most of you have already heard that we indeed finally wrapped a tag around Wilbur's antler! We had the great pleasure of hunting with our friend Rod Rummel, who graciously donated a TON of money to the Arizona Elk Society for this opportunity of a lifetime. Wilbur is a bull that we've been watching for several years and this year he finally grew into something special. At first glance Rod decided that Wilbur was the bull he wanted and our focus was set. The hunt started Aug. 15 and it took until the evening of Aug. 24 before we finally got Wilbur on the ground! We saw Wilbur several times during the hunt but it was always too late or too far for a shot. The fact that we had to hunt hard for Wilbur just added to the memories and admiration we have for this bull and for the hunt itself. Thank you to Rod for allowing us to help and share in your once in a lifetime experience, you truly deserved a special bull such as Wilbur!
Wilbur was a very deceiving bull, he fooled everyone that tried to score him off of video or trailcam photos. His body size and shape of his rack throw a lot of deception into his appearance, it was only after i finally put my hands on him did i know that we seriously underscored him! It didn't matter though, it was all just a bonus to Rod because we knew that our minimum guess on score was big enough and Wilbur's character was what sealed the deal, not the score!
Wilbur was scored by an official SCI measurer at 445 3/8"! His beams were 60" and 57", his bottom end averaged 17", his 3rds and 4ths average 20", 15" 5th on left, 12" on right with 6" 6th on right also, around 30" of extras, 53" inside spread and 63" of mass! Definitely a bull of a lifetime and one that i'm very proud to have helped harvest!
