The Hunt of a Lifetime

A great 7×7 typical elk from Utah

by Jim Giles

My quest for a huge bull elk started back in 2002 when a couple of my good friends bought me a landowner tag on the San Juan Elk Ridge, limited-entry unit in Utah for helping them with a land development project they were working on. Since then, I guess you could say I have become a bit of an “Elkoholic.” I spend hundreds of days scouting and hunting both for myself, my wife and my friends. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing better than getting up close and personal with a big, bugling, bull elk.

Over the years, I have been very fortunate to take a number of bulls ranging from the low 370’s to the low 390’s. But in 2007, I was fortunate enough to take a true giant 7×7 typical bull. It all started at the end of July when I started scouting to see what type of bulls I could turn up. I knew it was going to be a good year when, after only a day and a half of scouting, I had turned up two bulls over 400-inches and two more that would break the 380 mark. One of the two bulls over the 400-inch mark was the one that I ended up taking. I knew he would go over 400, but I honestly did not know he would push the 420 mark.

The afternoon of September 5th, 2007 turned out to be one heck of an afternoon for me. I was pulling down a side road to park my truck and walk to a lookout that allows me to see for miles. The location where I hunt is relatively flat, and there are only a few vantage points to glass from. I was about 500 yards from where I like to park my truck when I spotted some cows in between a 30-foot opening through the cedar trees about 400 yards away. I stopped the truck, glassed the opening, and could see one cow standing and a few more lying down. Just as I started to move forward, one of the cows that was lying down got nervous, stood up and instantly started trotting away from me across a CRP field. This caused the entire herd to start running. As I glassed the opening, it turned out that there were about 25 elk and it was one cow after another until, out of nowhere, bringing up the rear, there he was – the big 7×7. My eyes just about popped out of my head. I had not seen him since the end of July in the velvet. At this point, my excitement level was as high as it had ever been. I pulled my truck up a couple hundred yards into the cedar trees, parked it, grabbed my gun and started running the 400 yards to the edge of the CRP field. As I reached the edge of the field, I leaned up against a tree, looked through my scope, and could see the last three elk up against the cedar trees on the other side of the field 480 yards away. It was two cows and the big bull. I decided that it was now or never. I shot and the big bull acted like he had been hit, but was still standing. I fired a second shot and the bull walked five steps and into the trees. I felt confident that I had hit him the first time, but due to excessive shaking, I felt like I had missed him the second. As I was walking across the field to get to where he went into the trees, I called to let my buddies who were hunting another part of the unit know that I was pretty sure I had hit the big 7×7 and asked them to come and give me a hand.

I hadn’t walked more than 25 feet into the trees when the big bull jumped to his feet and took off. It was obvious he was hit, but I was not sure how hard. I got on his tracks and started tracking him. I tracked him 150 yards further into the trees and then out onto a sagebrush flat. As I stood at the edge of the flat, the big 7×7 got back to his feet about 100 yards away. I hit him two more times and put him down for good.

As I started across the flat to go get a look at the bull, I looked behind me and could see my buddy, Nate Jacobson, running for all he was worth. I waited for him to catch up. We walked up to the bull and I grabbed his antlers and turned his head. I could not believe my eyes. He just kept getting bigger and bigger. About ten minutes after Nate and I walked up to the bull, my two other buddies, Barry Fullmer and Steve Forman, caught up to us and the high fives started all over again.

It is hard to put into words what it felt like walking up to a bull of a lifetime after hunting and scouting for literally hundreds of days over five years. I will probably never have another opportunity to take a bull of this caliber but, I can tell you this, I will have fun trying. My bull has been green scored at 417 5/8 gross and 404 7/8 net typical B&C and could be one of the biggest typical elk taken in 2007.

Almost exactly 24 hours after I had harvested my bull of a lifetime, Steve and Barry climbed to the vantage point that I was headed to the day before and, standing below them in the same field with the same group of cows, was Barry’s bull of a lifetime. He made the shot count and harvested a huge 6×6 bull grossing in the high 390’s and netting in the high 380’s. In two consecutive days, two buddies had taken two Boone and Crockett bulls. It does not get any better than that. It truly was the hunt of a lifetime.

I would like to give a special thanks to my wife Heidi and my three girls Kira, Kenzee and Katelyn for letting me pursue my addiction for hunting and the outdoors. I love you. I am grateful that, when time permits, they spend their free time with me in the field in pursuit of big bucks and big bulls. Whenever possible, take a child with you and let them experience the magic of the outdoors. Start taking them early even if they are going to be in the way and are too noisy and could cost you an animal. I have heard all the excuses. Remember, it is never too early, only too late.