Unit 61 Elk Hunt

Well, my elk hunt ended yesterday. I had a great hunt, however it didn't end as I had hoped. I saw somewhere around 5 to 6 hundred elk probably 40 to 50 of those where bulls. Up until yesterday I had passed up shots at numerous bulls anywhere else in the state I would have been shooting. My heart was set on a big 6x6 I had seen before season. About midweek a buck hunter spotted the bull I was looking for. So the chase was on the next four days I spent chasing that bull. When I was on top of the mountain, he was in the Canyon and when I was in the canyon he was on top. He was very vocal. He had a deep growling sounding bugle. Friday night I was hunting a ridge he was on the night before, but he started bugling down in the canyon below and of course he didn't come up to that ridge that night. So the next morning, my friend Lance and I (the rest of the hunt I was by myself ) were at the mouth of the canyon before daylight. Right away we could hear the big boy bugling, so the stalk was on. On our way to that herd, we bumped another herd. Luckily they went to the right of the herd we were after and didn't spook them. Several times we where really close. He would bugle and couldn't be more than 70 Yards but it was so thick we couldn't see him. From time to time we would spot cows or small bulls but not the big herd bull. The herd was moving away from us. We kept following, but they were walking away and elk don't walk really slow, so finally we decided to get off to the side and try to run up ahead and get in front of them. So we took off after them. After about 10 minutes of hustling along side of the herd with the wind in our favor, we caught up with the herd. He bugled and we were right in line with him, so I eased up over the rise to try to spot him. I was not at all prepared for what I saw. There must have been 100 elk, at least 12 or more legal bulls, two bulls where fighting 35 yards from us. I was frantically trying to spot the big 6x6 (who would score about 340). He was on the far side of the herd. Elk where moving around everywhere, and it was really hard to spot the elk I wanted. I would just catch glimpses of him thru the trees. I was shooting free hand and he was moving away. The whole heard was getting nervous. I panicked at this point. I was unnerved. I was shaking from head to toe. At the shot, elk started running everywhere. I simply lost focus and with the other shots, shot the wrong bull. The herd ran about 200 yds, and the big bull started bugling again. It was very tempting to go over the next hill and kill the bull of my dreams, but I knew that would be wrong. So I tagged the small 4x4 bull. It was the first time in my life I killed an elk and wasn't thrilled. There were simply way to many elk to make it happen. I had never been that close to that many elk.
The hour it took to cut the meat off the bones, that big bull kept bugling over and over. It was hard to walk away after 7 years of waiting for this tag but I knew I was doing the right thing. There are alot of guys who would have went ahead a killed the big bull and left the small one there, but I can't do something like that. So after 7 days and around 50 miles of hiking up and down rugged country my hunt was over. I am happy to have the wonderful elk meat (you can't eat horns anyway ) but that monster bull will always be in the back of my mind. There are just some hunts you would like to do over. I had a blast and can't wait until next hunting season:) It was just awesome being there enjoying God's great creation. Come on over and we will have some mouth watering elk steaks!