A month ago I had the great opportunity to experience a Tule bull elk hunt in the La Panza unit. I was extremely lucky to draw one of only 6 bull tags for the first season. The bad news was that I could only hunt the middle two weeks of the season due to my brother’s wedding on opening weekend and work obligations on the last weekend.

About ten years ago, I drew a cow tag for the same unit and was able to harvest a cow on opening day on public land. On that hunt, I saw tons of bulls and actually had a hard time locating a cow. I have a pretty good familiarity with the unit and the cool thing is that I can hunt it horseback and with my dad.

Living in California the opportunity to hunt elk about an hour and a half from home is pretty rare.

The first day I could hunt, I headed out horseback with my dad Jim, cousin Michael and friend Joe all in tow. Right off the bat, we located a herd of about 15 elk. However, this herd was all cows and spikes.

After about an hour ride, we located another herd of 20 plus elk. This herd contained several spikes and one small bull. Being the first day, I passed on the small bull. I had to laugh because when I had the cow tag all I saw was bulls. Now that I had a bull tag, all I saw was cows.

The first day ended without a shot being fired but we did locate the big herd and bulls. Unfortunately they were in a 1500 acre “no shoot” zone that is surrounded by 100,000 plus hunt-able acres.

The second day was more of the same with the big herd staying in the “no shoot” zone. However, we did get some excitement when one of our horses decided she did not like the deadhead elk horns we put on her back. I have never seen a horse bolt and run so far. After about a two mile stampede, we caught up to the horse and miraculously horse, rider, deadhead and all involved were unharmed. With that little rodeo, we ended our first hunt.

My dad and I were the only ones able to make the hunt the next week and we headed out horseback to make the loop. As we reached our first lookout point, we were rewarded with the sight of a big herd of elk. The big herd had left the no shoot zone! Game on!

I saw several bulls in the herd of 100 plus animals. Now came the hard part, I had to try to sneak in with all those eyes watching and little cover. I took off on foot and left my dad to watch from the lookout. Right after I took off, I had to stop and wait as another 30 cows came over to water and join the herd. So now I had about 130 elk to sneak up on.

Luckily, I had the wind in my favor and an old water tank that I was able to position myself behind. I got within about 400 yards of the herd without too much of a problem but most of the herd had bedded over the hill from me and I could only see about 20 animals. I could see several bulls but none of them were the big bull I had seen from the lookout.

I crawled up to a small patch of brush and closed to about 350 from the edge of the herd. The wind was still perfect so I settled in for a long wait for the herd to make a move. As I was glassing, I noticed a coyote about 75 yards away and walking towards me. Fortunately the elk saw the coyote also, and began to stand up and look at it. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the whole herd began to walk towards the coyote.

As the whole herd crested the hill, I was able to scan the herd and located the biggest bull. He was in perfect position, on the right side of the herd and not blocked by cows. I decided this was my bull. I took aim with my 300 Win Mag and sent a 180 grain Barnes his direction. The shot sounded good but with the recoil I did not see the bull stumble (My dad later told me the bull dropped to a knee at the shot). The bull trotted about 10 yards and stood still again. I sent another shot his way, this time hitting him right through the shoulders and dropping him.

As I approached the bull, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I had taken a nice 5x5 bull, with my father, on a do-it-yourself hunt on public land in California!

Now the real work began. We caped and quartered the bull and two trips and 8 hours later we were driving home with smiles on our faces.

I had a great hunt and the best part was I got to share it with the man who started me hunting. From California to Montana we have had many great hunts together and I hope we have many more.

Nice bull, glad you had a great hunt, especially with your Dad. Hunts with your Dad are something you don't ever forget!

Very nice!

Congratulations.

Over the years I've hunted that country a bit too and cover is few and far between. You did a great job sneaking up on that many elk eyes.

Well done

Congrats on a nice Tule bull.

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

That's awesome. I put in for that hunt every year but so far all I have is points.

Congrats! Nice Tule. Glad your hard drawn tag didn't go to waste.

Congrats on a great hunt with your Dad.Just don`t get much better than that!!!1

Excellent. I get to see some of those bulls from time to time. It is nice when you live on the coast to get to hunt that close , and with your Dad. I'm happy for you great draw , hunt , and great company. Thanks for sharing. Clint

Thanks for comments guys. I like to joke with my dad with that last picture and tell everybody that he was updating his Twitter account from horseback. If you know my dad he would be about the last person to have a Twitter account.

Congrats! Always good to see the father/son hunts.

Congrats on a memorable hunt.
By the way, we'd be glad to take all your lead bullets off your hands

Nice bull!!!

Great hunt to share with your Dad

Beautiful bull! Congrats

Congratulations and a very nice bull taken in a hunt with your father... Nothing better than that!

Bonus points for the pony use.
Looks like your Dad still fits
a saddle well.

Ravenr,

Having the horses along is great fun. You can cover a lot of ground and then still have energy left to walk if need be. On this hunt I had to walk out the last trip with the head, horns and cape on my back.

Yeah my dad can still ride well. Once a cowboy always a cowboy!

Nice bull, and I drew that tag twice and my daughter drew the junior tag when We lived in California. One of my all-time favorite species to hunt.