The trip home is always the best part, no wait, I think it is the trip out is the best part

Either way, great end (so far) to a great story.

Again, thanks for sharing

now thats a story cant wait to hear then ending

Another great chapter Scoot!! Can't wait for the conclusion. You should be an author, cause you do a heck of a job "stringing us along."

Hey Scoot, could you drop me an email please? andylori at msn dot com It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks fellas!

crazyice, I'll send an e-mail. I just now noticed you'd asked me some questions that I neglected to respond to. I'll shoot you an e-mail.

Day 8 (continued)
We hadn’t been at camp long when Slevy and I told the whole story of our day’s happenings to Rod and Jon. They had lots of questions and were clearly happy for us. Once we finished with our story, we asked Jon to give us more details about the cow he’d shot earlier in the afternoon. He was just about to start the story, when he excused himself to use the rest room (any old location behind the tent) first. I saw his headlamp quickly returning, but he was shining his light right in my eyes- I couldn’t see a thing. Suddenly, he turned the light away from us and showed us the rack of this bull! That lying bugger hadn’t shot a cow at all- he’d shot a HUGE 5 x 5. This thing is a monster! Our camp went from happy as could be to completely ecstatic! Here’s a picture of the bull he’d shot…



Apparently his “cow story” was mostly true- Rod and Jon had put on a ton of miles by noon and hadn’t seen a thing. They then showed up at the self-pity wallow about an hour after Slevy and I left. Again, they had no idea we had even been there at the time. After a couple hours of quiet time, they started to hear some activity below them. There were a number of cows, some satellite bulls, and a big bull coming in! The big bull made only one noise the entire time he came in- he was glunking, and doing it loudly. He glunked his way into the wallow for over 100 yards, dropping glunk after glunk after glunk- very cool!

As the bull approached to about 15 yards, Jon drew- a shot appeared just seconds away. However, the bull stopped and ate some grass and a cow moved in to 6 yards. The cow was facing right at Jon, which wouldn’t have been much of a problem, if she hadn’t done it from inside of 20 feet and looking in Jon’s direction for three straight minutes. Jon didn’t dare move or he’d be busted and it’d be over in a heartbeat. He held his draw, then he held it some more. Finally, he started to shake, the he shook some more. Finally, the cow put her head down for a second and Jon let his draw down. The bull moved in tighter and was now at about 12 yards. However, Jon had absolutely no shot. Rod was a couple yards to Jon’s right and he had a wide open view/shot to the bull, but Rod wasn’t the shooter! Rod finally couldn’t take it… he very softly whispered, “Find a shot.” Jon responded with, “I have no shot”, as he had two trees right in front of him. But Rod would have none of it and replied, “MAKE a shot”. Finally, the bull walked a few yards to the East, Rod’s general direction- exactly what Jon needed. Jon slowly and carefully tried to move his bow to his right so he could draw and shoot. But, Jon was so focused on the bull he didn’t see his broadhead headed for the tree immediately in front of him- “SSSSSSCCCRRRAAAAAAAPPPPPPPEEEE”, went the arrow on the tree. Things were apparently meant to be, though, and neither the cow at 6 yards nor the bull at 11 yards even batted an eyelash. Jon drew and got his pin on the bull’s ribs in one motion. Rod wasn’t really in the way, but leaned back to be 100% sure he was completely clear of Jon’s arrow. “ZIP” went the arrow, then all heck broke loose! Elk were flying everywhere! It all happened so fast that Jon wasn’t even sure he had hit the bull, let alone made a good shot. It was only 11 yards, so he felt good about it, but he somehow hadn’t seen the arrow enter the bull’s side. Rod wasn’t sure either, because he was staring at the bull’s rack the entire time!
Soon they found Jon’s arrow covered in bright red blood and soon after that they found the bull. Here’s a few more pics of the monster 5 x 5.









… and that’s the end of our hunting story. I hope you have enjoyed it half as much as we did! I’ve also really enjoyed writing up the story. I hope my writing hasn’t been too over the top and I really hope nobody interprets me telling the story as bragging or being grandiose- that’s certainly not my motivation or intention. I enjoy writing up hunting stories like this and I’ve been lucky enough to read write ups of others who have written similar stories. I loved their stories and I hope everyone has enjoyed ours.

A few other notes about the trip:
My dad, mom, and uncle all considered joining us at camp this year, but it didn’t work out for a handful of reasons. I wish they could have come, but, but maybe next time. I think we’d all really like that.

Sorry if the pictures seemed biased towards Jon and me, but that's due to Rod and Slevy's cameras crapping out on them- not due to any bias on my part.

Thanks to Steve Foss (stfcatfish) for help with the pictures- he's a genius with his keen eyes and a master with the software he uses.

Thanks again to Rod, Jon, and Slevy- I’ve never shared a hunting camp with finer fellas and I hope we can do it again and again for many years to come.


Here are a few final pics from our trip.
Here's a shot of Jon and me hauling out the final load of meat for the trip.









FYI- this pic is with the bull I found, not the one I shot. I'm not trying to fool anyone with this. However, when we did pictures Jon and I still had one trip left to haul out the remainder of the meat and carry back the rack. So, I used what I had available...

[img]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc240/Scoot1972/Truck.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc240/Scoot1972/Group.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc240/Scoot1972/Sil1.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc240/Scoot1972/silhouette.jpg[/img]

That was one of the best stories I have read in a long time. Felt like I was out there with you guys. You truly have a knack for story telling. What trip are you going on next? I can wait for volume 2 to come out. Congratulations on a truly amazing trip.

Thanks again

DL

WOW! What a great story. Better and better everyday. Thanks. May all our hunts end as well. Congrats again to you guys.

Scoot,

Thanks for the outstanding story. Each update has been eagerly anticipated on my part. You have a great ability to "reach" your readers. I felt like I was there with you guys! Congratulations on an excellent adventure and the writing of a great short story.

-Hossienda

Congrats and great job there guys, Scoot make sure you tell the others I said that ok.

great story, you should do this with all your hunts, keeps me busy at work

Great story and great picts.. Thanks Scoot.

Thanks everyone- sure is fun to write up and relive the trip.

crazyice, I sent you two different e-mails and both bounced back. Why don't you e-mail me at: scootsfishing
at yahoo

Here are the rest of the images. It limits the amount of images you can put into one post: Very cool and the pictures we have all been waiting for.

Scoot, again great story, great post and great images.

Thanks for sharing dude!