We got an early start today and headed to the place where Brian had an encounter last night. Alex started in about an hour before us, and he made great time. Actually, he impressed me today. He kept up and did really well.
Around 8:30, we started hearing some bulls bugling. We quickly closed the distance and started cow calling. Within minutes there were five to six bulls bugling and all of them were close to us.
Brian backed away from Alex and me and started calling from random places, moving out and coming back. It worked like a charm. Instantly, I could see some cows heading toward the noise. Something spooked them, but two bulls bugled just up the ridge from me. Peering into the thick stuff, I could see one of them coming. It was a small one, but it was a legal bull. I ranged him at 40 yards, but he stayed hidden behind a blowdown. Then, I could see another one behind that one, and another one a little to the left. The next few minutes sounded like a bugling festival. Waiting patiently for one of them to give me an opportunity, I couldn’t see any of them. Thinking they had disappeared, I peered around the tree and got caught. A high-racked 4×4 scurried back up the hill, and seconds later, all was quiet.
I couldn’t complain about my first few hours in the woods. It was exciting to be in amongst them. Maybe it won’t be that bad. We made a day of it on the mountain and got pounded by a thunderstorm. As the rain started, we spotted something white a little ways away. When we went to investigate, we found three outfitter tents, so we ducked inside them to get out of the pounding rain. Nobody has been into the camp since it was set up, so I’m assuming it’s a rifle camp. It served its purpose. We even helped ourselves to a few bottles of water since Alex was out of water and we were miles from nowhere.
On our way out, the mountains erupted with bugles. Before long, it sounded like a chorus sounding off, and we kept walking in the darkness. It was as if they were taunting us and telling us to come back for more when we were ready.
So here’s the day: we left at 4:25 a.m. and got back to the tent at 10:00 p.m. If anyone out there thinks he is a badass give that a whirl at an average of 11,500 feet. It definitely takes its toll on the human body. Dad didn’t see anything today, except people.