It took Josh Kelsey greater than 20 years of looking and a half-decade spent chasing the identical bull to understand crucial lesson of all: If you wish to kill the largest elk within the woods, you must be the largest elk within the woods.
The 35-year-old Oregon bowhunter tells Outdoor Life that he additionally realized most of what he is aware of now about elk looking from the errors he’s made. And within the years since he and a buddy first laid eyes on Oregon’s new No. 1 Cascade Roosevelt bull, he’s made loads of these.
“Five years ago he was a heavy 7×7. But we never even came close to shooting this animal. He was just smart and shy,” Kelsey says. “He got big for a reason. It just took us a while to figure it out.”
Roughly two years later, Kelsey modified his complete strategy to elk looking. Instead of day journeys into the elk woods, he dedicated to three- to five-day backpacking hunts—all the time on public land and in the course of the normal season. This gave him the liberty and mobility he wanted to grasp elk on a deeper degree.
“Instead of going home or back to camp every night, I had camp on my back, so I could just pick up where I left off the night before,” Kelsey explains. “That was the biggest game changer for me, because it gave me the ability to stay with the elk and live with the elk.”
It labored, and Kelsy began killing extra elk. And whereas he slowly pieced collectively the habits and mannerisms of the heavy 7×7 that also roamed his dwelling county forests, the bull all the time eluded him. After screwing up setup after setup, he’d go hunt a unique unit and harvest one other elk, after which he’d be tagged out for the season. That would give him one other yr to stew on the elusive bull.
“The mental side of solo hunting is just hard,” explains Kelsey, who was spending increasingly more time alone within the woods as he obsessed over the bull. “You miss your family and your kids, and all that jazz.”
The different psychological hurdle Kelsey needed to overcome was tempering his impatient nature. He doesn’t like sitting in a single place, and his tendency to maneuver in too quickly usually pushed the bull (or the herd) too laborious. So, going into the overall season archery opener on August 27, 2022, he determined to take a extra affected person strategy.
Don’t Forget to Call Your Wife
On opening day, Kelsey hiked into the identical closely pressured unit in Jackson County, and headed straight to a spot the place the large bull appreciated to hang around. The bull bugled that morning and let Kelsey know the place he was. The elk wasn’t tremendous vocal—he by no means was—however Kelsey was in a position to get eyes on the herd by noon. Unable to withstand the opening-day temptation to maneuver in on the bull he’d been chasing for thus a few years, he labored nearer and checked the bull’s temperature with a problem bugle, waking the bull from his noon nap. The huge herd bull rounded up his cows and break up.
Kelsey went dwelling and licked his wounds for a pair weeks. By mid-September, he was again in the identical unit along with his pack on. This time, he instructed himself, he would really be affected person.
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When he returned to the identical spot he’d hunted on the opener, he couldn’t find the bull. So, he sat and waited.
“I’m thinking, okay, stick to your plan,” Kelsey says. “So, I hung out and stayed a few nights. On the third day I was able to hike to a place where I could get cell service. I was able to get [a call] out to my wife and she mentioned it was time for me to come home. And this is why I can say that I never would have killed this bull if it wasn’t for my wife.”
Sure, he agreed. He’d begin heading dwelling. It was Sept. 14, and Kelsey nonetheless had two days’ value of meals. He knew that on his means again to the truck, he’d cross another spot the place he had a good likelihood of discovering elk. It may not be the elk, nevertheless it was value a glance.
“So, I hit a locate bugle, and he answers—well, an elk answers. And I’m like, Hmmm…I’m supposed to be going home, what do I do? If I close the distance and I get him down, she’ll understand. Or I’ll figure it out.”
Noting the thermals, Kelsey repositioned himself on the slope and bugled once more. The bull bugled proper again. His temperature was getting increased.
Spooking a Record Bull
Moving slowly via the timber, Kelsey bugled once more. A bull got here operating—all the best way to inside 25 yards. But the forest was so thick he couldn’t even glimpse its antlers. The bull snorted twice and rotated, working his means again to the herd. Kelsey waited half-hour, stalked round to maintain the wind in his favor, and he tried one other locator bugle. At this level, the elk was nonetheless above him on the mountain.
“I cut the distance down and bugled again. And at this point I’m challenging him, trying to pick a fight,” Kelsey says. “This bull just doesn’t want to fight. And this is why I think he got so big. He would always bugle real low, and then push his cows farther away.”
If he had saved his vow to stay affected person, this might have been the tip of Kelsey’s hunt. But after so a few years studying the unit, Kelsey realized he was within the excellent location to push even tougher. It was after 10 a.m., and he knew the cows would wish to mattress quickly. He additionally knew that the far facet of the following ridge harbored a cool, damp patch of timber the place they’d be inclined to cease.
Kelsey determined to attempt pushing them in that path. He bugled and the herd would transfer off. He’d wait 10 to fifteen minutes after which bugle once more. He saved pushing the herd like this till early afternoon, once they reached the far facet of the ridge, and he lastly received a have a look at the bull broadside from 60 yards. The bull was large, with lengthy tines and a closely palmated proper antler.
“I looked, and yep, it’s really him,” Kelsey says. “This is the first time I’ve been able to see him this close. This is what I’d been working toward.”
Maybe the bull had gotten fed up with the competitor that had been dogging his harem all morning. Or perhaps he was searching for stray cows. For no matter motive, he stopped retreating and walked instantly towards Kelsey’s place. The bull lastly received to inside 50 yards and handed behind a tree, however when Kelsey drew, the bull spooked and disappeared.
Third Time’s the Charm
Kelsey was too shut to show again or sit tight now. He dropped farther down the ridge, hoping to identify the bull once more. Before he knew it, he had stumbled proper into the center of the herd. Surrounded by cows and calves, he dropped to his knees and froze. Because he was imagined to be heading dwelling, Kelsey nonetheless had his full pack on. He was laborious to overlook.
The boss cow stood up and barked, and he knew that no matter occurred within the subsequent 30 seconds would dictate the remainder of his hunt. In that second, he turned the largest elk within the woods.
“I was told by my elders that if you ever get in the middle of elk and that bull is hot and heavy, you have to act like a challenger,” Kelsey explains. “Chase the cows, get in the middle of them, and rip a bugle that’ll challenge the herd bull to make him defend his cows. Make him come to you.”
The bull got here operating, alright. Just not from the path Kelsey had been hoping.
“Nothing happened at first,” he says. “But then I start to hear something, and sure enough, he’s coming in right behind me. I’m caught red-handed. So, I do the slow turn. I make it slow—very slow. I finally get my eyes around and could start to see an elk coming into my peripheral.”
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Kelsey seemed round as the large bull labored nearer. He was in a position to select two taking pictures lanes: a gap within the bushes at 35 yards, and one other at 45 yards. As the bull walked behind a bush, he nocked an arrow and drew.
The bull was quartering away when he stepped behind the farther gap. Kelsey hit the cow name to cease the bull, anchored, and launched because the pin settled.
“I shot from 47, and the arrow stayed in him at full fletch,” Kelsey says. “The bull ran a short ways, stopped, and then proceeded to walk towards the herd at the ridgetop and out of my life again.”
Only this time, Kelsey had a blood path to observe. He knew he’d made shot, and after ready a pair hours to let the bull expire, he began the restoration. Kelsey walked up on the bull roughly 800 yards from the place he’d launched his arrow. Then he arrange camp and started working. He didn’t make it dwelling to his spouse that evening. She would simply should be affected person.
A New Record-Book Bull
Notching his tag on the bull he’d nicknamed “Poppa Pig,” Kelsey closed an extended and significant chapter in his life.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for this animal. More than most could ever understand,” Kelsey says. “In the end, I had to keep the old man up past his bedtime, steal his woman, and ask him to fight!”
Official scorers with Pope & Young gave Kelsey’s bull a closing gross rating of 431 5/8 inches, and a web rating of 401 2/8. The bull was additionally measured by scorers with NW Big Game Records, which maintains the state file books for Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. According to NWBGR’s scoring system, which is barely totally different from P&Y’s, the bull obtained a closing rating of 409 3/8 inches.
This makes Kelsey’s bull not simply the brand new No. 1 archery Cascade Roosevelt bull ever killed in Oregon, however the highest-scoring Cascade Roosevelt bull ever killed within the state–no matter technique of take.
The 7×8 bull was scored as a typical, though it appears to be like quite a bit like a non-typical. This is especially because of the bull’s unbelievable mass, particularly on its proper beam.
“It looks like a moose on one side in some ways, so people automatically think non-typical,” Kelsey explains. “But according to their scoring systems, he scored typical for both the Oregon Book and Pope & Young.”
The P&Y entry continues to be pending, and Kelsey must wait roughly two years for a panel of scorers to formally affirm Poppa Pig’s rank. The present No. 1 typical Roosevelt bull in Oregon, based on the P&Y file guide, scored 391 6/8. The present No. 1 typical Rocky Mountain bull scored 378 6/8 inches.