Frank and I left the ranch early and headed up to his cousin Jimmies' ranch forty minutes away. We ridge ran for a quarter mile when we heard a bugle and worked our way up towards the bull. It took us a while to get to him but before long we were setup and ready to call. I bugled first and the bull immediately responded, Frank took over from there. The bull bugled pretty good but hung up a hundred yards away. We moved closer and the bull became more aggressive. I quietly set up across a meadow and sat down just as the bull stepped out. He was really big, a 6x6 that would go low to mid 300's. We tried every trick in the book but just couldn't draw him out of the trees. The bull eventually walked off.

Frank walked up to me and while we were whispering I caught the movement of a cow bedding down about 90 yards away. The wind was good and having the cows bedded down meant that the bull was probably around too. So Frank and I decided to camp on the elk and spend the entire day watching that cow. Somewhere after two I leaned forward to check on her and she was gone. We waited until 5:00 PM and then set up close to where the cow was last seen. Frank bugled first. No response. He tried again and the second time the bull responded - he was still there! We kept bugling, sometimes I would bugle in response to Frank's bugle which fired up the bull. He started to come in. I could hear him walking and when he bugled it as deafening. I couldn't see him through the pines but he was probably 40-50 yards. Then a wind swirled and brought my scent to him - I caught a brief glimpse of him running away through the trees. It was a great day and a great effort on this big bull.