From Unfilled Tags to a Giant Bull: The Lessons That Made an Elk Hunter

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To the Hunt west podcast, here's your host, Jaden Bales.

Hey, before we get into today's episode, I wanted to make sure you knew that we have a raffle running to get two spots, two people to go to Argentina with me and a couple of other friends. They're a hundred dollars a piece and they're capped at 400 tickets. All proceeds are going to support the Wyoming Wild Sheep foundation and a lot of the work that we have going on there. I'm a board member. I love that organization and they're doing some awesome work that really needs your support. Plus, you could go on a sweet red stag hunt in April of 2026. So go check out the link either in the show notes or@huntwestplanning.com it's right there on the homepage and you can go get yourself some tickets, enter to win and go hunting red stags in Argentina with me.

All right, let's get into the show.

What is up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hunt west podcast. Today I've got on one of my good friends, a Hunt west client and just an overall awesome dude in Anthony Ortiz. Tony, I'm so happy to have you on this podcast, man. You've had an incredible season. So thanks for making the time today to do it.

Yeah, man, thanks for having me on and thanks for all the help. I definitely would not be here without you and hun Hunt West.

Oh, I appreciate that. I, I, I'm wanting to trickle in some of these great stories. Most of the time guys are like listening to these dudes who been hunting hardcore their whole life, blah, blah, blah, blah, and like the same dudes make the rounds. But when someone like you, like, just puts all the pieces together and you, like, are hitting your stride, I think it's so much more relatable. So where, like, how long have you been just like big game hunting in the West? Obviously you grew up in Colorado, you live there now. How long have you been getting after this stuff?

Yeah, that's a good question. My family's got a little bit of property that I've been hunting on since I was a kid. But that kind of hunting is, you know, driving the truck. And if there's a cow, elk on the property, you get out and shoot it. It's not really, not really anything else. I would say public land, big game hunting probably the last four years.

Yeah. And you picked up a bow just a couple years ago, right? I mean, that's like really been the big impetus to get going, is Is this archery hunting? Huh?

Yeah. Yeah. I knew I was gonna really like bow hunting. I think this was my third season.

Okay, dude, you did it. Spoiler alert. You found some success with a bow way faster than I did on elk. So good. Good on you, man. I think a large part of it is, like, you're a. You're a student. I think it's one of the reasons why you and I get along so well is you just start. You're a sponge and always learning. And as much as, you know, you might think you're learning from me, I feel like I'm learning from you, too, the whole time, just because it's like, you're a thinker. Before we got started, you said you had a journal. How long have you been keeping that journal for your hunting?

This one that I showed you before this call I got. It started this season, but I try and take notes after most seasons. I'd say I've got things across various journals from the last three years of hunting.

Dude, what do you think is, like, your favorite part about journaling about your hunts or, like, jotting down notes at the end of the season? That kind of thing?

Oh, man. I mean, I spend so much time thinking about and getting excited for hunting season, and I think having notes from last season really helped me make a solid game plan for this year. And that was just so exciting to be able to think about and plan my scouting around notes that I already had. I really enjoyed that.

That's sweet, man. So you and I, like, we started working together on some stuff when you were living in Wyoming, and then, um, you know, really, I feel like you spread your wings last year in Colorado when you moved back down. Um, what happened last season, like, set the stage? Like, what. What kind of experience did you have when you were, you know, in a new unit? Archery, elk hunting. Like, something that you don't have a whole lot of time into yet. What was. What was your first season really grinding like that? Like.

Yeah, I mean, I'd say my first season really grinding was when we were in Wyoming, and it was super unsuccessful. I got close to one elk on the last day of the season, I think, and last season, which was my first in Colorado, was very different because I think we just spent a lot of time planning, and I spent a lot of time getting boots on the ground. So I was in elk a lot more, which just got me totally hooked. I mean, it was so fun hearing bulls bugle and chasing them around.

Yeah, well, and that's one of the things I Was just talking about it with somebody today. You, in Wyoming had put up trail cameras and had bulls on trail cameras. And it was fun because it was like, oh, they're here, you know, but it didn't actually seem like that maybe set you up for the season because you're like, after the first day, like, they were gone. Right.

It was crazy, man. I remember going and checking three or four cams the day before the season started, and a few of them were loaded with elk. I was so excited. And, yeah, by the first or second day of the season, those cams were just dry. Like, I stopped seeing bulls, and the behavior just completely changed.

So what was different, you know, going into last season in Colorado about your, like, scouting and boots on the ground?

That's a really good question. I focus more on looking for the right habitat where you would expect elk to be, and, yeah, looking for cows. I don't even know if I put trail cams down last year.

You just, like, spent time out there, like, finding elk, like, learning patterns of, like, how they move around the country and that kind of thing.

Yeah, and I really. I really like looking for old, old wallows, too.

Yeah, that's such a good one, because it's like they. They're gonna hit that same area year after year. So how did it end up going in. In Colorado? Like, I just to breeze by, you know, there wasn't a whole lot of action in. In Wyoming that year. And so then you're starting fresh. You, like, have to relearn a place or. Or learn a new place. And this is 2024, just so people are keeping track of the seasons, you know, how did that season go?

Yeah, so like I said, getting on a lot more elk, like, getting on solo bulls, my first big herd with a big herd bull, and just making a ton of mistakes, which I still kick myself about. But I learned so much, too. I mean, I got winded a bunch of times. Learned a lot about calling and finding elk and trying to figure out, you know, when do I push and. And chase these elk and when do I stay back and stay patient? Uh, I just. I made so many mistakes.

Do you think the wind was your biggest mistake or, like, the most constant one that you kept running into?

I think my biggest mistake was not chilling out and thinking for a second like, I was not making good decisions. And oftentimes it was about the wind. But I. I wasn't even thinking about those factors. I be like, I need to go chase these elk right now.

Okay. So. So, like, because you were like, oh, there's a bugle. Like, I'm gonna get in there. And then you didn't stop to, like, you know, create a strategic plan around it. That was then all the other mistakes happened, right?

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I was coming off of that season in Wyoming where I. I got close to one elk. So I was kind of thinking along the lines of, like, oh, man, I gotta capitalize on this, and not much more beyond that.

Yeah. And that's where, you know, my friend Cody, he talks about at bats is, like, so critical, because when you're only in elk one time in a season, you're like, I don't know how to make this happen. But when you're in elk every day, you know, it's. You're just bound to make mistakes and then learn from them and then do better the next time and then the next time and the next time, you know, and it's one of my favorite things, like, what you're talking about. Like, a lot of people will look at Wyoming, for example, and say, like, oh, it's that it's such a great place to hunt, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you went to Colorado, which everyone likes to poo poo, and then had, like, a much better experience. But would you attribute most of that just the fact, like, you could put boots on the ground and learn the area, or was it more of, like, a personal development thing, you just became a better hunter?

I think it was. It was probably personal development thing. I mean, I spent a lot of time walking around in Wyoming, but I just didn't really know what I was doing. Not to say that I've got it all figured out now, but I at least have an idea of, you know, the equation, like, some of the factors you're looking for in the landscape that will probably hold elk. And like, oh, if this area is pressured, then I know to look for little pockets where they might be that are a little more protected. Think in Wyoming, I was just chasing around other hunters in the same spot for most of the. Most of the time, yeah.

That's so important, like knowing when to pull up stakes and, like, bounce to a new drainage or a new pocket instead of just pounding it in one zone. That's a hard. That's a hard skill to develop, too. So obviously you got a bunch more at bats in 2024. What ended up happening in that season?

I think it was like, September 16th, I was hunting this drainage, and I took. After making a bunch of mistakes. I took time to wait for the thermals to Switch. Because I was like, okay, I'm gonna get the wind right. I've messed this up. And I threw out a bugle, and a bull responded, and I got super excited. It was in this old burn. And we kind of kept talking back and forth to each other and getting closer.

Could you see this bull through the burn, or was the terrain such that. Yeah, you were on the same side as him.

I couldn't see him, but I could just hear him getting closer.

Okay.

And I think the burn was probably 4 years old, so there were a bunch of new aspen popping up, so it was thick. But, yeah, I heard him coming in and coming in hot. So I let out a final bugle and ran forward 30 yards and set up, and he came charging in and bugled. And I drew my bow back when he was kind of walking behind this tree, and I mewed to stop him, and I let an arrow fly, and I just. I hit him, like, high in his back strap, I think. Yeah, I lost him.

Did you black out or did you have a misrange, like, look? And when I said blackout, like, I, I did that this year on a moose. Like, I just made a bad shot, hit it high. Like, I, I. It happens. But, like, what do you think was the cause there?

That's a really good question. I, I think I blacked out and I misranged. I mean, I was so excited, and to have that bull bugle right in front of me pretty much. Um, I thought he was at 30 yards, and after the fact, I arranged everything, and he was at, like, 17.

Oh, wow. Way closer. Yeah, he.

He was way close. And I, I think it was just a combination of me getting set up and trying to get ready. And before I was fully ready, he was already there. So I, Yeah, I definitely regret taking the shot. And I, I looked for him for the next five days and kind of stopped hunting after that, but definitely learned my lesson. Like, more. More mistakes.

See, the thing is, though, like, as much as someone can tell you about those situations, like, you just learn so much by messing it up, you know? And, like, you just. It sucks. Like, there's not a part of it that, like, is that fun when you make a bad shot or you're just messing up in general and, and aren't getting shots, but, God, you learned so much. So I kind of got the sense from you that you had a pretty good fire inside you to, like, for redemption on the following year. Was that accurate?

Yeah, 100%. I mean, immediately I was thinking about how to not mess up like that again, but also how to just keep getting into elk because I felt bad about, you know, injuring that pole. But also I was fired up cuz it was just so fun.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So coming into this year. Yeah, I mean, I'll just. To put words in your mouth, it was like you were motivated beyond belief to like just get out there and do it and do it right like this next time around. What'd you do differently this, this last summer for like putting boots on the ground and stuff? Did you do anything differently? Did you get out? Like, what was the, the preparation for this year?

Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to be hunting the same unit that I had hunted in 24. So I felt like I had a pretty good idea of where elk were. But I scouted so much this summer and my good buddy also drew a tag for this unit. So we just, we put trail cams everywhere, man. And we, we hiked around so much just looking for old wallows, old sign spots where we thought there would be elk. And I also, I shot more. But it wasn't just backyard shooting. Like, I tried to go to the farm and put targets in between trees and on gradients and stuff, because that was another factor that messed me up in 24.

Yeah, just like the different field shooting positions and such like that. I just, I just had this conversation with a guy about rifle hunting and I just, I feel like it is understated is the fact that like a field shooting position is very different than flip flops in the backyard for archery. And it's certainly very different than shooting off a bench for rifle hunting. It's like, like, it just is very underrated that people might overlook it. They're like, yeah, I'm on. And it's like, well, are you on in these scenarios? You know, 100. So good on you for getting after it that way. What do you see on your trail cameras? Like, what do you, what do you find in the mountains?

All kinds of stuff, man. And I mean, that's, that's one of the joys of trail cams is, you know, even if elk behavior changes, it's fun and it gets you out. Saw a ton of bears, turkeys, nice mule deer, bucks, and a bunch of really good bulls and cows. Okay. Yeah. Where, where I ended up taking the bull actually was from a drainage that just had a bunch of stud elk in it. And. Okay, one of them, I guess, stuck around. Yeah.

So were there cows also in that drainage on your, on your cameras? Or was it like these bulls were in seeking Behavior, like, what do you remember thinking about in your. In your scouting?

Yeah, so we actually didn't end up hunting where we put the cams. We ended up hunting this high alpine bowl. But I knew, just based on the sign that there were cows in there, because you could tell there were, like, probably, I don't know, 50 elk in there regularly.

That's so huge. I mean, I think that's, like, the underrated part. And the, like, the biggest lesson, maybe from the Wyoming experience was like, like, you got to find out where bulls are. Like, that's helpful. But all. All. And this is what I did for my clients archery elk hunt this year is I had a couple bulls on camera, but I just needed to make sure there were cows because the cows are like, what's going to either hold the bulls there or bring bulls in. Right. So that's basically what it sounded like you guys had. You guys also just had covered so much country and, like, looked at so much ground. You were like, this is really elky. Like, they're obviously in here. This is not so much. Even though, you know, might have a little bit of sign. Um, yeah, that's. That's good on you for. For doing the critical thinking on that. That's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah, it was super cool. And one of the trail cams we set up at our backup spot that we were going to hunt. I had a mountain lion kill a cow elk in front of the cam and then eat it for three days, and then the bear came and take over. Take over the kill.

That's crazy, man. It was so cool. Sick. That's so cool. Yeah. So this. So this basin where you found the studs in, what was it like? Like, describe the terrain, and like, you said, it was kind of upper alpine basin, but, like, was it a long hike in? Was it next to a road? Like, what. What was. What were you dealing with?

Yeah, good question. So it was up a pretty gnarly 4x4 road, and we. We had a few plans for where we would hunt from the trailhead based on how many trucks had made it all the way to the end of the road. And every time we hunted, nobody was at the end of the road. So we kind of had our. Our pick of what we wanted to hunt.

Was it one of those that took, like, an hour to go a mile? Like.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even want to take my truck up it. My buddy drove his every time because my truck would have got destroyed.

And that was Ahmed, right?

Yeah.

So what. What does Ahmed Drive.

He drives. He drives a Tacoma too, but it's just lifted and got huge tires and all the good stuff. Rock sliders.

That's sweet. Okay, so you guys rolling in on the tacos, like get up into the end of this road and then how far in is this? Like a little basin?

Probably a mile or a mile, mile and a half. And most of the way you can get there on like a closed road. So you pretty much have a trail to walk in to that zone.

That's sweet. That's. That's a nice spot. Yeah.

Yeah, it made the pack out nice. And you know, we had ideas for where we would hunt in case there was hunter pressure because there were also some really nice pockets where there was a lot of fresh sign. So we thought maybe the elk will get pushed here if people are hunting this basin.

But regardless, you guys found this like really crappy. I mean, that's half of the. Half of the barrier to entry, right? Is this really crappy side by side, 4x4 road, dude. And I oftentimes think that those crappy roads, like, guys don't walk off of them. They'll like drive to the end of them in their side by side or ATV and then be like, no elk buggling here. And then they turn around and go back the other direction. Like it usually isn't correlated between the accessibility of the vehicle plus walk inside. So that was good on you guys for getting back in there. What happens or like, what, what transpired? Like, you got. You had told me you weren't hunting the first week. So you guys like had had kind of staved off like the early September yips, basically. I feel like everyone tries to get out there as soon as possible, and it's just like, not really the best hunting.

Man, I would have loved to got get out there. That first week. I had a buddy who had a bachelor party, so I had a different commitment, but I was definitely kicking myself that I couldn't hunting. But to kind of equalize it out, my buddy Ahmed and I were like, okay, we're taking the next 10 days and we're just going to hunt for all 10 days. We'll bounce around camp, do whatever, but we're just going to get into elk.

Nice.

And based on, you know, we knew this drainage had a bunch of cow sign and we knew that there were big bulls in the area, at least in August. Like, okay, we'll start here.

It.

It just felt good. Yeah, it's. It just felt good.

So what day did you guys actually start hitting the hills hard.

We. I think we left.

Oh, he's got to go back to his journal here.

Yeah.

Yeah. See this thing, dude? These journals, man, I'm. I'm all about it. I always keep a scouting journal in my notes app, but I feel like I need a hunting journal, too. Yeah, it's good.

So we left September 13th and camped that night, and then everything went down on the 14th.

So did you guys camp right there at the. At the end of the road? Basically, like, out of the truck? Mm. So what was the. What was the stoke level that night of the 13th? Like, were you guys late to drill head? And did you hear bugles? Like, what. What was going on that night?

Yeah, we. We were late to the trailhead just because of the drive, and it was snowing, actually.

Yeah.

But we were like, maybe. Maybe this will turn them on. But we were pretty excited, and we slept with the windows open in the camper to try and hear any bugles, but I didn't hear anything that night.

Okay, so you get up. Did you leave the truck at daylight? Did you leave early? Like, what was the. What was the.

No, we left. We left early. I feel like that's been the biggest lesson I've learned, is getting up an hour earlier than you would like just gives you so many more opportunities to punch tags.

Yeah.

At least in my experience, it's. I think that makes the difference.

I've been thinking. I. I've been working on a design for either a T shirt or a hat called Night Moves, and for that exact reason, it's like, there's one thing guys can do differently that automatically helps them hear elk. It's like, get up an hour earlier.

Yep. Being. Just being in the right place at the right time. So important. Yeah. Yeah. So we got up early and. Didn't even really eat breakfast or anything, which was foolish. But our plan was, okay, we're gonna go to this basin, and since we've got 10 days, we're just gonna go to tree line and glass into the basin, you know, from shooting light till 10am or so, and just try and get a sense for what's going on.

Okay. So what. What happened when you guys did that? Did you guys glass up some bulls first thing? You were like, game on or like.

Yeah, it didn't. Didn't really go according to plan. We were hiking up the mountain, and the thermals were super good. That storm was still blowing in, and I don't really know how to describe it, man, I just had this little tingle that was like, we should probably throw out a bugle right now. It was, like, five minutes to shooting white.

Yeah. Can't help it.

Can't help it. It's just so fun. Um, so I had Ahmed rip a bugle, and we didn't hear anything, and we kept hiking to our glassing knob, and we were probably about, I don't know, 1500 yards away or so, and it's like chaos. Just give it one more, and then I'll stop, I promise.

And like a drug addict, like, no, no, no. One more time. One more time. Just one more. Just one more.

And we heard two bulls fire off from that second bugle immediately. And I'm pretty sure one of them had cows, because I heard some muse.

So they're pretty close if you can hear mews, like, and they rip a bugle. Like, they got to be sub five, 600 yards, right?

Yeah. But I, I. I've been thinking about this, and I still don't know exactly what happened. I think the bull and the cows, they were on the move because that one bugle kept getting further away.

Yeah.

Whereas bugle number two, which actually sounded better. It sounded deeper, was getting closer.

Dude, that's so common, too. Like, especially if they've been running all night, like, you know, doing their thing. And then the cows are like, hey, we're headed to bed, and they take off. Like, I think oftentimes people think the bull is pushing the cows because he's in the back, but really, the. The lead cow is like, hey, we're going to bed now. And then the bull's following. And so, like, I. Oftentimes people will try to chase that herd as they're going up, but it's like, you can't. You can't run up a mountain faster than the elk can. Like, it's hard.

Which is a mistake I made in 2024. So I'm like, we're not chasing this bugle on the left. That's with these cows. Like, let's just hang here and see if we can't call this other bull in.

Okay, so you got. So, so you've got wind pulling down. Is that bull that you're wanting to chase, is he up above you still? Or is he okay?

Yeah, he's up above us.

Perfect. So you still have good wind for the, you know, next hour or two. So what happened next?

We. So we were calling from thick, tall evergreens, and the trees really thinned out where the bowl was, and it was kind of these spotted meadows that were separated by rows of short. I Don't know what they were. Just short trees.

Yeah. Like, I call them jack pines or alpine fir.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And it was right kind of at tree line. And he was. He was in those little tiny groups of meadows, bugling.

Nice, nice. And.

Ahmed didn't have his range finder because we were just planning on glassing. And he definitely should have had it, but that meant I got to go chase the bull.

Love how a plan comes together.

Great, man. So I was.

What was your setup? Did you drop him back and you snuck forward like he's. Is he calling? What. What's the. What's the play?

Yeah. So when we started, we set up and kind of thought we were going to be able to coax that bull in, but he stayed probably 250 yards away and was just kind of sporadically bugling. So after we set up and got ready for him to come into us, I told Ahmed, like, hey, man, hang 40 to 50 yards behind me and just rip a bugle every once in a while. Because he was responding, and he was fired up in the way that he was responding. So I thought he was going to keep. Keep responding. So I had Ahmed hang back, and I was trying to judge where he was and sneak up and go silent to poke him. And I think he had his head turned the. The second to last time I heard him bugle, because I was like, okay, I gotta cover some ground. He's far away. So I kind of booked it on the edge of one of those meadows up to kind of the border, that row of jack pines to the next meadow. And Ahmed bugled. And next thing I know, this bull sticks his head through a hole in those jack pines and bugles in my face, like, sub five yards.

Oh, my God. And I'm.

I'm just sitting here so exposed, and he just looks at me and turns to run, and thank God I had a reed in my mouth. I hit, like, four cow calls right away, and he stopped, and I hit this. Like, I drew. I drew back because he was looking at me, but I was behind those pines, and I was kneeling, and I kind of leaned back through this little gap in the pines. And before I shot, I was like, do not mess this up. So I. I thought about where I needed to aim because he was kind of downhill quartered away. So I was like, okay, I need to aim just a little bit back.

And.

Yeah, I let an arrow fly, and it. It felt really good. But he turned and booked it, and I. I heard the solid hit, and I just stopped to like try and take everything in, you know, get all the information that I could. But I heard him sprinting for, I don't know, 10, 15 seconds and then I just heard a crash. But he had dropped down into that bowl that we were going to glass into, which was really thick. So I, I had no idea where he went, but I knew he was down. And yeah, it was, it was insane.

That's nuts, man. Dude. And I. The first time that you kind of briefly told me this, I was like, wait, I don't want to hear the whole detail, but I commented something. The effect of like one of my clients in 2024 had that we had that same interaction where he came out way too close and then bumped and I cow called and he stopped and gave him a great quarter away 30 yard shot. And then earlier this year too, I was, I was calling for my friend Hayden and his wife Maddie, and we had called a bull in and I was in like an Ahmed type position where I was dropped back. It was kind of open in burns and that bull did the exact same thing. He came like straight on and she didn't have a place to draw. And he came to like 8 yards and then saw them and bumped out to like 40. And then she was actually able to make two shots, but both of them hit trees. But it's one of those things where like, I think if someone. It's unique to elk, in my experience anyway, that if they get in too tight and then they bump, but you lay down some cow calls, you mag dump cow calls, they will stop and turn and they give you a great quartering away shot. Like, and whether you have someone there to range for you or you can just kind of, you know, make a quick judgment, like that's a great, that's a great time to shoot an elk, especially in the shorter ranges because obviously they're. They're turned on and they're gonna jump a string or they're gonna jump. So it's not great when you're at a deeper end of your shooting distance. But yeah, 30 yards or whatever. So 40 yards, like an in. That's a great opportunity. And, and you made good. You made good on it. So good for you, man.

Yeah, I. Thinking about it, I probably could have approached a little smarter. Like the way that sound travels in the mountains is still so weird to me how he sounded so far away that second to last time I heard him bugle. And next thing I know he's sub five yards.

Yeah. And I don't think that there's like, a good answer, you know? Yeah. It's like, oftentimes just if you go, like, he was right here, like, just a minute ago, like, and we were working him up, like, he's got to be here somewhere. But it's only. It's like an instinct. It's a gut feeling. So it's kind of tough. But. So what happened after? Obviously, he ran off. He crashed. Did you give him an hour? Did you start looking right away, like, what was your guys's. You ran back and told Ahmed I shot.

Like, yeah, well, yeah, Ahmed. Ahmed heard him running through the trees, and then he heard the crash.

Okay.

So he sprinted up and was super stoked. But first thing we did was look for an arrow, tried to recreate the shot, and tried to find blood. We probably gave him an hour trying to put together the whole picture. The issue was there was no arrow and no blood.

Guess. Tough. Yeah.

Yeah, it was tough. And I tried to remember everything I could in those few seconds after I shot, but it was. It was such a blur, man.

Dude, it's one of the hardest things. Like, I don't. Whether it's me or it's a client I'm helping or it's like a friend. Like, just that moment. Especially archery. But it happens with rifle, too. Of, like, right after you shoot. Like, what the hell just happened? Like, I don't. For some reason, our brain, like, doesn't capture that moment. Maybe it's just the adrenaline or what, but it doesn't capture it very accurately.

Yeah, I think that's my. One of my big lessons learned, and I already kind of knew about it, but, you know, I really tried to take time to focus before I shot. And moving forward, I want to slow down right after I shoot and be like, okay, what did I see? Because that was tough and stressful.

Yeah. Yeah, it sure can be, man. And like, it, like, to your point, though, like, it is stressful and, like, your body's under all this, like, you know, crazy dump of emotion and adrenaline and all the things, and you just gotta, like, somehow keep. Keep everything together. I find it's a little easier. Well, on a rifle hunt, to be like, okay, that shot was good. Ran off, like, should be down, but I can't see him, like, keep our stuff together because at least you can walk up with your rifle and kind of be ready, but with a bow, it's so hard. So what ensued after that?

So I had an idea of where I thought he was, and Achmed and I dropped in the pole to look for him, it was really thick and still snowing. But I. I had this big blue tarp in my backpack. So I would take the tarp and tie it up to some trees and then run back up to where I shot him to try and be like, this is where I think he is. And every time I would do that, I was off by, like, five or 600 yards. Like, in that thick stuff, it is so easy to get lost. But I finally was kind of in the area where I thought he was, and we still couldn't find him.

Did you have tracks to follow, or was it that Duffy or, like, grassy stuff? So it was just kind of hard or.

Yeah, there were no tracks. The snow really started to pick up right after I shot.

Oh, man.

So if anything, I was like, whatever blood there is is just getting covered right now.

So it was sticking. The snow was sticking. Oh, it's brutal.

But next. Next step I took was I just glassed. Like, I got up on the edge of that basin and glassed down into. It was just looking anywhere for antlers. And while we were glassing for my bowl, we glassed up three bulls kind of right above tree line. I was like, hey, Ahmed, I don't know if you're interested, dude, but there are these bulls over here. He's like, no, no, no. Let's keep looking for your bull. And so we did. We spent another two or three hours. And after that, those three bulls were still up there.

Were they just bedded out in the open up high?

Yeah, they were. They were kind of bouncing between bedding and feeding.

But when it's snowing, it's, like, not that warm. Right? So, like, you're able to just kind of be up and around all day. Like, that's cool. Yeah.

And the wind was, again, just so perfect because of that storm. And after those two hours, Ahmed put a stock on one of them himself and got him a bull.

So did Ahmed, like, call this in, or did he literally just go ninja mode and, like, sneak up on it?

Uh, we. I threw out a few. I threw out a few cow calls just to see, you know, gauge interest, and they. They didn't care at all.

Yeah.

So we just. I backed off probably a hundred yards, and Ahmed just went ninja mode. And. Yeah. Got the wind right. And also got a bull.

That's. That's nuts, man. That's so cool.

It was really cool because that. That's his first archery season.

That's crazy, man. Yeah, he's just. He's got the juice, man. He knows how to get sneaky, I guess.

Yeah. But we. I helped him butcher his elk a little bit and continued to look for mine, and just kind of swapped between packing out his elk, glassing for mine, walking around. There was a bull moose and a cow moose in there, too, and it was really thick. We probably bumped them five or six times looking for my elk. So I was also kind of on high alert moving through that thick stuff.

Yeah. Try not to get mowed over by a moose.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But didn't. Didn't find my elk. Finished packing out Ahmed's bowl by dark and just spent that whole night, like, reflecting on everything that happened, looking at the map, looking at, like, pictures I took of where I thought he was. And after all of that, like, I felt like I knew where he was for sure this time and went out there the next morning, and. Yeah, found him.

Oh, really? So you were able to, like, kind of just sit back, look at the map and, like, think about it creatively and be like, where did he go to that we haven't looked? And then walk right in there?

Yeah, it. It took, like, having an ONX track and also just being detached from the situation because it was. It was pretty easy to just want to walk up and down this basin, you know, and just hope I stumbled upon him. I think it being dark outside and me not being able to do anything else besides, like, really try and figure it out really helped. Yeah.

Yeah, I could see that being. That's critical, man. It's just like you said, detaching and being like, hold on, like, let's take another look.

Yeah, it was again, man, like, so many mistakes and so many lessons learned. But.

No, it's. It's part of the process, though, too, at some level. And like I said early on, like, it does never feel good to go through the mistakes, but, you know, you'll learn from them now. You recovered your bull?

Recovered my bull.

You recovered your bull? And Achmed got his bull to the truck. Like, you guys have two bulls down in one day. That's insane.

Yeah, recovered my bull. Called some of the boys in to help pack it out, because I was pretty fried. Yeah, but he was. That's probably the best bull I'll. I'll ever harvest.

I wouldn't say that, man. You got a lot of hunting in front of you. He's sweet. And just for people who like this kind of info, he. What. What did he tape at? Like, you had the. You had some boy do it?

Yeah. Gross. His gross score is 264 and 5.

8, 364 or 364 in five minutes. Things a giant. He's sweet. Yeah, he's super awesome, dude. Congratulations. And, you know, I think you. You kind of talked about it with me offline. Like, we only hunted, like, a day, and. But that just comes from. And that's why we spent so much time talking about it. This comes from, like, grinding in Wyoming, grinding for a full year and making mistakes and year prior, you know, like, it builds on each other, on itself, you know, and. And you roll in there and know right where you need to be at first light, and they do all the things. Right. So good on you for just making a great plan and. And executing. Dude.

Yeah, thanks, man. I appreciate it, and I'm excited to keep getting after it and applying these lessons learned.

Yeah. Oh, it's good. So on the. In the meantime, you also ended up with a pronghorn tag in Wyoming as a non resident, you and I had. You. You kind of had asked me, like, hey, where should I apply? I only have, like, a point or two. And I was like, ah, try some of these random odds. And too much of both of our surprise. You ended up with a tag. I was like, oh, crap, that's awesome. So, you know, your elk hunt's done. You got a. You got a rifle pronghorn tag coming up. How did that. Well, that just passed. Obviously, you ended up with one. So how'd that whole hunt go down?

It went down pretty well. I. I hunted pronghorn archery for two weekends to kind of shake the frost off for elk season and really fell in love with that unit that you told me to apply for. I. I really enjoy that spot. It's cool country and loaded with pronghorn. So once I had my elk tag filled, I was itching to get back out there. Man, that's sweet. And. Yeah.

So did you end up using some of the access. Did you end up using some of the access areas, or were you just kind of mobbing on BLM land? Like, how did you. You know, obviously, you learned a lot through the archery season, being out there and figuring out access and where pronghorn are at. But when it came to rifle season. Yeah, it started late September, and you kind of rolled right out there and got her done. So how did that. How'd that all shake out?

Yeah, man. Being out there during archery season, I felt like I had a pretty good idea where the goats were going to be. And for the most part, they were.

In.

The same spot that they were during Archery season, just in bigger groups. And it was. It was a combination of those walk in hunting access areas and then also just a lot of blm.

Yeah, those walk in areas or hunter management areas in Wyoming. Like it. I think guys can overlook them because you might have the service turned on or you might not have done the research on it or whatever. But I've got. Actually, when this episode releases, I'm going to be on a pronghorn hunt with one of my best friends and we're hunting an access area. Like, that's kind of what our plan is built around. So they can be gangster, especially for these lower. These lower point or easier draw or better random odds type units in Wyoming. So. Yeah. So you used a little mix of both, huh?

Yeah. And just on that note, I mean, I would have fallen for that, like thinking that there's no access in that unit if I didn't have your help, because I remember you told me, hey, check this one out. And I remember thinking like, yeah, there's some blm, but I bet it gets hammered. And I, Yeah, I just wasn't looking at all the walk in access areas, which is something I'm excited to continue to look at moving forward because that just made that hunt so fun.

Oh, good, man. Yeah.

Yeah.

So what happened? Like, you. You rolled out there and you shot the first buck or like, what, like what went down?

Yeah, so I went out there with my buddy Sam and we got to the unit at, I don't know, 2 or 3pm on opening day and just drove around and tried to get a feeling for where the goats were and what their behavior was.

Was there a bunch of people running around at 2, 3pm that's, that's also.

What I was kind of wondering. And honestly, not really. We saw like two dudes hunting.

Nice.

It was a. It was a Thursday, I think, which is probably part of it. But yeah, not that many people. And we saw a bunch of. Bunch of pronghorn out there and some really cool bucks, too. So the first day we were just trying to get a sense of, you know, what's out there and what's going on. And I've never seen pronghorn rut before. They were absolutely rutting. And it was really cool to see, like, seeing bucks chase other bucks like a half mile off of does.

That's so sweet, huh? They like, so fun. They rut so hard. And you said, oh, my gosh, they're relentless. Yeah, no, that's sweet, man.

I've got a. I've got a pronghorn decoy for my bow that I bought because I was bow hunting. And, man, I wish that. I kind of wish it was still bow season or I went out there with that decoy during bow season just because seeing they were so fired up, but it was. It was really cool. So the first night, we surveyed around and figured out where the goats were and just kind of made a plan for the next day. And we camped right beneath this big kind of rocky bluff. And right at first light, I climbed up the rocky bluff and glassed around and saw two different big herds within a few miles. And, yeah, decided to go to the closer herd and just wanted to check out the buck. And I was like, you know, I think I'll know if I want to take the buck or not. And I thought he was super cool, so belly crawled in there and just watched him. They were across a little canyon in some trees, and they were on the move, and so I knew they were gonna, like, pop out in between these trees. I arranged it, got my rifle ready and everything, and right when the buck popped out in between the trees, he just started sprinting. And I was like, damn, did we spook them? Like, we had the sun to our back. It's like, maybe they saw our long shadows or something and kind of pulled up my binos, and the does were all still there. He was just chasing off another buck. I'm not kidding, dude. He chased that thing off like, a half a mile away.

That's crazy. So did you just wait for him to come back, like, or did you go chase him? Like, what's the. What was your move?

I mean, he was full sprinting, and this is my first pronghorn hunt, but I was like, there's no way I'm chasing this thing. Like, we can just wait for him to come back.

The fastest land animal in North America. Yeah. You're not gonna bust out across prairie forms. Okay, good, good. That was the test. So you passed.

Glad I passed the test.

Yeah.

But while we were waiting for him, my buddy was, like, fidgeting around. He was messing with something, and he spooked off all the does.

Oh, no.

I was like, stop moving, dude. But all the does spooked off to the left, and he ran to the right.

Okay.

And we waited five, ten minutes, and this buck comes sprinting back in. We can see him, you know, a thousand yards, 800 yards, kind of trying to judge where I think he'll be. And he would stop and just destroy these little trees. Like, he was so fired up that he Was raking them and kind of stomping on them.

That's awesome.

And I would, like. I kept getting ready to shoot. Like, I would range him. I'm like, okay, 340. Like, I feel good about taking this shot. And he would just be dead on facing us, and then turn to destroying these trees, and then he'd run 50 yards closer and do the same thing. And we. We started, like, bleeding to try and stop him. Like sheep calling, just making bounds. And every time, he would just face us dead on. So I could never get a broadside angle. Finally, he's at, like 200 yards and he turns broadside. And I was in kind of a weird spot, but I was able to move my rifle enough to get a good shot and take him, and it was really cool.

Dude, that's sweet. Good work, Good work. Um, gosh. So what do you think of pronghorn hunting? Is it fun or what?

That's gotta be some of the most, like, fun hunting ever, dude.

Yeah, I know we gotta get you on. I. We'll look. We'll look off. Offline here, but we gotta get you on some good pronghorn hunting in Colorado too, I think. I think he got some opportunity there for sure.

I. I'd be interested for your opinions because it feels kind of washed from my perspective, but.

Well, and this is your magic. You mentioned. You mentioned decoying pronghorn, and I had to go back to the archives. I was like, what day did I do that? I had a pronghorn tag the first year I moved to Wyoming. Second choice. And I was like, I got to do this in archer season because the rifle season is going to be messed up. And it was like, September 28th, a friend of mine went out, he held the decoy, and we had one decoy into 29 yards, and I shot my pronghorn, my first pronghorn at 29 yards. It is a blast. It's. If you can do that. Oh, it is such a good time. Yeah. Well, good. I'm glad you've got the pronghorn bug now too. And. And as an archery hunter, you've got some good opportunity down there, so hopefully you can get into some more here pretty soon. Or you can play the random odds and we'll try to see if you can squeak another one out in Wyoming.

We'll see. Might as well apply for it, right?

That's right. You can't get it on the random if you're not in the game, so that's awesome. Well, cool, man. You know, like, you've had some, some awesome success this year. And, like, obviously, like, from my perspective, your, your success and your learning has been way accelerated, like, compared to what my experience was. Like, it took me seven years to shoot my first elk with a bow. What? You know, if you were to talk to yourself four years ago, right, as you're getting into archery, hunting especially, what do you think the biggest lesson you tell yourself would be?

Oh, man, I think just shoot the bow or the rifle in unique situations.

Nice.

Yeah, I, that pronghorn, I was like, downhill kind of shooting across a canyon, and there were rocks, you know, under the base of my gun. And I think part of the reason it worked out is just because I felt so comfortable with that gun. Like, I shot it so many times this year. And same thing with the bow, like, kind of leaning back, crouched through a hole in the trees, just shooting in weird positions. Like, even if it's not, what is going to happen when you punch a tag? I think every rep helps.

Yeah, I think that's so good. Yeah, it's like doing the right kind of practice, not just practicing for practice sake.

Yeah.

Yeah. Love it. Well, cool, man. This has been fun to hear these stories. I appreciate you taking the time. So do you have any, do you have any requests or, like, ask of the audience, like, do you want folks to follow you or, or go do anything in particular?

Sign up for a Hunt west session. Dude, I really don't think I could have done this without you. I just want to say thanks for everything you've taught me. I feel like it's a, it's a lot more complex than just go out to this spot. I feel like I'm a lot better equipped to have meat in my freezer every year, you know, wherever, Wherever I have tags, and I'm really thankful for that. So thanks for everything, man.

Well, thank you for making that plug. I didn't ask you to do that, but that was, that was really kind of you. And like, I, I, I've said this before to you and then to others, it's like, dude, it's so much fun for me to, to watch you get out there and, like, just get after it and have fun doing it and learn and, like, fail and then have success. It's like, it's. The roller coaster is so enjoyable to watch, and I know that it might not be enjoyable to be on sometimes, but thanks for letting me kind of follow along and be part of it. I appreciate it.

Hell, yeah, man. I appreciate it, too. I hope you have a good one.

All right. You too, brother. That's the pod. Thank you for listening to the Hunt west podcast.

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