"Utah Produces Another MONSTER BULL"

In May of 1999, my wife called from her cellular phone on her way to work. She had a letter from the Utah DWR. As she read the word "successful" over the phone, I knew this was the call that would change the summer and fall for me. I had drawn one of Utah's limited elk unit tags after putting in for many years.

I knew if this hunt was going to turn out the way I wanted, I would have to put a lot of time into it. I spent many weeknights after work and every possible weekend scouting the area looking for the "bull of the woods."

News traveled rapidly that I had drawn one of the premier elk tags. Not only was I scouting the area, but also many of my friends were helping. All the time people were calling to inform me of what they were seeing.

After months of scouting, opening morning was finally here. Several days into the hunt I still had not taken a shot. I had seen some bulls that were extremely nice and very tempting, but I was holding out for the big one.

On the 9th day of the hunt, I was informed of a huge bull in the area. After driving to the edge of a meadow, we opened our pickup truck doors and immediately heard the sound of what we thought were five or six bulls bugling back and forth. It was still too dark to see, so we listened to the sounds of the bugling bulls until the sun started to show signs of daybreak. At first light, we saw two bulls fighting in the middle of a big, clear meadow. After the two combatants stopped, they ran into the thick pine trees. Their parting view showed how big they really were. I knew right then I would like to take one of the bulls home with me.

After a long day, it was still impossible to get some rest. It was almost like being a little boy on Christmas Eve waiting for early dawn.

Morning was finally here. Driving back to the same area, we started to hunt for the bulls. The first part of the morning was unsuccessful. Finally, my hunting partner heard bugling in the distance. As we approached, I could see this was one of the bulls I was looking for. Within seconds, I had shot what I thought was the prize of the hunt. We took pictures and then started packing the elk out.

The hunt I waited so many years for ended successfully. Thanks go out to all my friends for their help. The next day, I took my elk to Brad Roundy, a taxidermist in the local area, and he unofficially scored the bull at 404 6/8 gross and 384 3/8 net.

Written by Kelly Smith