Terry Rusby’s Utah Bull Elk
This hunt started with me receiving the tag as an alternate. Someone turned their tag in to the Division of Wildlife Resources and I was next on the list. I had only 7 bonus points, so I felt lucky to get the tag. Before I accepted the tag, I called Mike Findarle to see if it would be a good hunt to have because it was a mid-season hunt during the general season spike hunt. He assured me that it would be a good hunt and if it was him he would accept the tag. Mike and I hunted for four days seeing a lot of elk and on one of the days we had hiked over 15 miles only to have a mule deer spook the herd with a nice shooter bull. On October 17th, the second to last day of the hunt and the last day I could hunt, I went out looking for anything with antlers. Early in the morning I spotted a small herd of elk with four or five cows and two bulls. When I stopped to look, the herd spooked and took off running. I went down the road another half a mile or so and they crossed directly in front of me with steam coming from the nostrils from the cold morning air. I quickly pulled off the road and jumped out and took a knee about 100 feet off the road. I gave a quick cow call and one of the bulls stopped as the rest of the herd kept going and I shot, which later when I ranged it, it was just over a 300-yard shot. I heard that distinct thud when a bullet makes good contact with an animal, so I knew I had hit him, but he disappeared behind some trees. I went back to the truck and got my pack and I went up to search for blood. I had searched for a little while when I looked down into this small sagebrush flat and saw an antler sticking up out of the brush. The bull had only run about 75 yards from where I shot him, the bullet entered low in the chest and came to rest on the other side in the shoulder. Little to no meat was damaged. I called Mike and he drove up from his place in Vineyard to help me skin and quarter the elk (when I say Mike came up to help, I mean he did most of the work). This was a great hunt and a lot of great memories. -Terry Rusby-
Equipment:
– Model 700 Remington 7mm-Mag
– Leupold VX-3 3.5-10x50mm scope
– Barnes VOR-TX LR 139 grain LRX
Tag:
Utah, Wasatch Limited Entry Bull Elk Mid-Season Tag
CONGRATULATIONS!
