01 October 2012, 09:13
Ackley Improved UserHUNT REPORT: Utah Book Cliffs Bull ("Megatron")
Outfitter: Clay Mckeachnie - Book Cliffs Hunting (Main Canyon Ranch Guides and Outfitters). http://bookcliffshunting.com/Home.htmlPhone: 970-640-7281
Email: clay@bookcliffshunt.com
Professional Hunter: Clay Mckeachnie is the outfitter and PH – that is, the man with the skills and brains behind the operation. Be sure to hunt with Clay. He is the grandson of Burt DeLambert, owner of the Main Canyon Ranch. Clay basically grew up in the Book Cliffs spending every summer on the ranch through his school years. Clay moved his family to the Ranch in January of 2002 and has been living there year round ever since. Clay and Becky Mckeachnie have four children Kyler, Madison, William, and Andrew who you will see throughout his website. No one spends more time in this area than Clay. Due to the vast expanse of the cattle operation, he has been into every canyon and across every ridge in the Book Cliffs. He has a great deal of pride when it comes to this area, and a true desire to be the best guide in the area – his success proves that he is the best guide in the area.
Booking Agent: Myself
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24-105 mm Zoom EF IS.
Rifle, Caliber and Scope: Remington 700, in .338 RUM with a Swarovski 3-18x Z6 scope.
Ammo: Home Reloaded 225 gr. TTSX, 97 grs. Re25, 3175 fps.
Binoculars: Leica Geovid 8x56mm
Area hunted: Book Cliffs Utah
Animals hunted and bagged: Bull ELK (SCI measured 370” plus, actually 379"), Utah land owners tag purchased from Clay.
Other animals spotted: A myriad of mule deer and a mountain lion.
Accommodation, food and other facilities: I hunted out of base camp located at Main Canyon Ranch, which is a working cattle and horse operation that has been in the outfitter’s family for over 31years. Essentially, you share the family quarters during the hunt. The food was excellent and plenty, so was the service. The hunting vehicles were the latest Chevy truck 4X4s. The staff was professional and friendly.
The Hunt: We were up early opening day glassing a sundry of “secret” hotspots. We worked hard. Much of the hunt was on public land, but private land was also available. The Book Cliffs area is exclusively managed as a limited entry trophy area by the state of Utah, and it has never be subjected to the general Utah hunt – many trophies in the area grow old and die of old age.
We hunted 3 days and spotted elk often, turning down a number of smallish 330” bulls waiting for something 350” or better. We spotted two big ones – one roughly 360” but he gave us the slip, but not the second, a measured SCI 370” plus “megatron.” He gave us a chase but eventually succumbed to one shot from the 338 RUM. Clay and colleagues used bull and cow elk calls to help locate the bulls. Clay and his staff were extraordinary at spotting game.
Here's "MEGATRON" (we'd been watching the Detroit Lions the night before).
An early morning photo. Note the incredible G3's!!
Here is Clay and Becky with William (!future elk riding rodeo star!) and Andrew - the youngest. Hunting with Clay is a family sport. William seemed unafraid of the gun, but he'd checked it to make sure it was not loaded and the bolt was open before he climbed on the elk to bull-dog it - clearly smart beyond his years. Too bad many "adult" hunters fail to check to see if their guns are unloaded before they play with them - I actually shot (and successfully killed) my own livingroom TV once. How embarrassing, but nobody was hurt, and the bullet did not fail, like many bullets discussed on this forum.
This is the happy hunter (AIU), who needed all the help he could get. Andrew was confidently surveying the scene and Kace (Clay's cousin) was getting ready to skin and clean a rather large bull, estimated to weigh on the hoof 900 lbs., and these ranchmen and horsemen knew how to estimate weights of large cloven hoofed animals. I thought it was 1200 lbs (at least it seemed that heavy when I tried to move it), but I was politely corrected by the cattlemen. 900 lbs is big enough.
Clay was convinced he'd found the sheds from this bull from prior years - the pattern seemed convincing. Clearly, Clay has patterned the bulls in his area - very impressive.
