Opening Morning we went into the swamp and had bulls lighting up all around us. Saw a 6X6 out at 60 yds circling us, then a spike in behind us before the target bull came in on a string to 20 yds quartering to me. Cindy was on the other side of him with the video camera and I worried that I might hit her with an arrow if I took the shot. Then my top limb hit the trunk of the willow I was next to and the bull boogered out of there. He was a clean 7X7 with crown points that I would have taken in a heartbeat, but couldn’t make it happen.
The whole day went like this. we were chasing Bugles until the action cooled off 11:00 am and the weather heated up to the upper 90′s.
I had a couple of other memorable bulls that will remain in my recollections for years to come. Keep in mind that a 225 inch bull makes Pope and Young, and a 285 inch bull makes Boone and Crocckett, and the World Record Typical Archery bull scored 312 and change from this unit.
Had a 200 inch 5-point come past me at 5 yds, thought I would have to shoot him in self defense. He had a bigger bugle than his rack.
Had 2 SMOKER bulls, 300 inch plus come in together from the wrong side about 100 yds on the other side of an opening in the tules. I was out of position to shoot them. After they came by and back in the tules I sprinted to the other side where the bulls were but they Stayed in the tules and raked and wallowed and bugled and raised Holy Hell but never stepped back out in the open.
In the mid morning we ran into a hunter, and partner who were friends of Rich and Cindy’s. He said he had an arrow in the bull and were looking for blood. We wished him and his partner luck and went back to trudging through the shin to knee and sometimes waist high water. Rich wore fishing waders, I wore my trail running shoes, and Sitka pants. They dried quickly.
Finally we went to town for a burger, and on the way back spotted a bull in the open chasing a cow and calf. I tried to get across the open with my Montana Decoy and the bull was interested, but the cow didn’t like my looks and ran away taking the bull with her.
We cooled our heels for the afternoon then went out at 4 pm. The bulls had shut down and we only heard faint bugles. I spotted an antler in the brush, and snuck to 15 yds and found the bull the hunter had arrowed earlier in the morning. We called him on the cell phone and flagged a trail out to the opening. He was a happy camper.
The only other action that evening was a spike bull that was kind of a pest. We never got the kind of buglefest we had in the morning. Rich and Cindy left for home with words of encouragement. I was wiped out after a day of water aerobics. and That is coming from a guy who ran a 16 mile trail run 2 weeks before. The Swamp is as tiring to navigate as any Rocky Mountain elk hunt at high elevation. I was covered in Mosquito bites despite bug spray applied hourly, and I had sweated off my face paint 3 times that day.
After a hard day of hunting, I looked like i’d been “Hit at and missed, S##T at and hit.”
