Oh Boy, Oh Bull!! By Cindy Wortman We all have a hunt that we dream about, that "Once in a lifetime" hunt. Whether it be hunting Grizzly, Caribou or Moose in Alaska or Canada; hunting exotic game in Africa or something as simple, and more local, like an elk hunt in Arizona. Well, my hubby and I finally got our wish. Now I just hope we are successful. We live in Arizona and have been putting in for elk tags for 7 years now. Two of those years I drew cow tags, one rifle and one archery. I was successful on both hunts. My husband, Bill, has been drawn 3 times, one for rifle and 2 cow. He has also been successful all 3 times. But now we were finally drawn for bull elk, and I have to say that I am a little nervous about it.

I was nervous before my first archery cow elk hunt, but after it was all over I just thought, "well that wasn't so bad". It's basically the same animal, just with trees growing from their heads and a little louder than the cows. Personally, I am just hoping for something more than a spike, but hey, can't eat the antlers, so I really have no room to be picky. I am giving myself the first week of the hunt to try for that "big one", while the kids are still at grandmas, then after that I won't be able to be so picky. Bill, however, wants to get me in on them first and try to get one tagged before him. He gets more of a joy out of hunting just by watching me and witnessing my success. He is the one who taught me all of what I know, and I am grateful to him for that. He, of course, was very patient with me during my several misses and mistakes. He has many successes in his life of hunting with over 20 Whitetail and Mule deer, 3 Elk and 5 or 6 Javalina, and of course lots of quail, dove, snakes and rabbits. He tells me that he would rather see me get my tag filled before him even if it means that he misses out on his own time to hunt.

Last year we went up to help out our friends Julie and Rick with their elk hunt, as it was their first archery elk hunt. I stayed in camp and Bill went with the hunters. The only thing they got was a tree and wet, but they had fun. Julie got drawn for cow again this year. We told her that she was on her own this year though. 

I plan on spending most of the day out in the field. If you have hunted elk you know how exciting it is and know about the need to be successful, so you can rub it in the faces of those who missed. I can be very vindictive in that way. I am particularly talking about the macho men hunters (pardon me for having to say that) who hate to be shown up by a woman especially with a bow. Bill's boss also got drawn for bull in the same area and I never let up on him for any dumb mistake he may make. If I miss then I say "Yeah, yeah, shut up or I'll stick a broadhead where the sun don't shine", if he misses then I poke fun at him and can usually get away with it. Maybe it's just that I am a woman or maybe it's that I am just meaner.

Well, in our preparations, we have acquired some new camo, although, I could use a bit more. All I have ever been able to use is old BDU's that Bill had from the Army. I am really beginning to hate Woodland, but it does blend in well in the forest.

Camo clothing is just so expensive anymore and only having 2 sets of camo for 3 weeks is the pits. There will be in-camp laundry service, though. Bill is an excellent washer (hint, hint). Now I just need to get my supply of Scent Shield Scent-free soap and such to do all of that, for before we go too. We did manage to pick up a few bugles and calls. We bought some Primos ones, the Terminator and a couple of the Hyper lip cow calls. I do the bugling because Bill sounds like a cat with his tail caught in the door. He is great at cow calling and he has been working on the bugle, but I think I'll keep that for myself.

We have been driving the dogs crazy. I have two Boston Terriers in the house and when the bugles come out the dogs go nuts. Winchester, my male Boston barks and growls and tries to play fetch with my bugle tube. This makes it difficult to practice, but interesting none the less. It is really loud bugling in the house, so I try to step outside and practice, but as soon as I start the wolves start to howl and then I can't hear a thing. Of course, an elk bugle in the desert just doesn't have the same majestic sound as it does in the forest.

We have three weeks to finish getting ready and I haven't even started on the trailer yet. We are going to be there for three weeks so packing for that amount of time is going to be trying, but it is something that really needs to be done. First thing on the agenda is finishing sighting in my bow. I just got a new camo Oneida Black Eagle. I have paper tuned it and shot it at 20 and 30 yards, but I really need to take it out to 50 yards. I don't really want to shoot more than 40 at an elk, but we'll see how that goes when we get to hunting. I am toying with the idea of a new release. I am using a Winn glove right now, but I don't have the mobility with it to hold my binos or a range finder very well. It's getting almost to late to try a new one, but I think I can do it.

Well, that has been my fun for now. Hopefully when I write again it will be a great story about a great (successful) bull elk hunt. Wish us luck.