September 19, 2016 by Shawn Chittim
We continue to profess how lucky we are to have a great family and the greatest of friends, but we were extremely lucky and fortunate to have an opportunity to book and hunt with a gentleman, in Rob P. It was by happenstance that Rob found us when he drew his 305 Northeastern CA Bull tag in June 2016, it was a great opportunity for us. From our first conversation with Rob we knew we were the lucky ones.
Rob and I had several conversations by phone and he was able to plan a face to face meeting with Shelley and I at The Bean & Mercantile in Cottonwood, CA in early-July, when he was passing through Shasta County. We made arrangements for the hunt and scheduled a tentative trip in early August to see the ranch we’d be hunting come early September. Rob, Shelley & I combined that ranch tour with a scouting trip in early August. It was a great day and it served as an occasion to get to know each other outside the gravity of the hunt. It also affirmed how lucky we were to have had Rob chosen SC2 Outdoors to guide his hunt.
Shelley & I continued with our preseason scouting, trail camera sets, early morning trips to listen and building a list of bulls we hoped to hunt come September 14th, when Rob arrived. Rob would periodically check in with us, while taking care of his business and preparing for the hunt. Each of us had prepared to take the entire 12 days of the season if necessary to get Rob’s bull.
As always time fly’s probably faster for us than Rob, but September 13th was here and Rob was in town and it was time to elk hunt. Life was good. The first morning found us standing on an oak studded hill in the darkness listening for bugling bulls, things were pretty quiet this is not what we had expected. The evening of day one, all of day two were pretty much the same, full moon, hot, dry and quite. The best of plans out the window and it’s only the end of day two.
Shelley is the logical one of this team, me on the other hand, I’m full of stress and second guessing and too quick to hypothesize, analyze what could have tragically gone wrong with my game plan. Rob was a pillar of support, he had placed his confidence in us and he let us know that he had no reservations. Life was good.
Day Three was a new beginning and more bugling, of course I had outsmarted myself and it almost worked. We found ourselves with several bugling bulls where we were on day one and two, however the herd bull and his 18-20 cows were leaving the pasture at about 8:00 a.m. and headed in our general direction. This just might work, almost so close, nope. The herd bull came up in the oaks about 400 yards on to the neighbors. I tried my best to call him over to no avail, but at least we’d know where he was headed that evening. We sat on him that evening and listened to him bugling hoping he’d show, only to walk out in the darkness listening to him bellow the siren’s song.
As the hunt goes on your emotions continue to build in a reservoir and on this day the dam was going to burst. This morning found us on the oak studded hills listening in the pasture below. This time the bulls were serenading the cows, while trying to keep other suitors at bay. We marched back and forth trying to keep the swirling winds in our favor. One particular bull growled and bugled, without a doubt he was our man, he was the herd bull from yesterday. The sun couldn’t rise fast enough.
We crept through the oaks we spotted the cows in the fields getting pushed around. The first bull was a 6x6, we sat up on him and began to evaluate. As we looked him over our herd bull bugled off to the south. When he appeared there was no doubt, even busted up he was a grand daddy. You know what they say we have this six in our lap, it was bird in the hand syndrome. Rob and I talked it over as Shelley watched the herd, I gave him my honest opinion, right or wrong. He looked me straight in the eyes and said “However it works out Shawn, I’ll have no regrets, whatsoever, no matter what happens”. Love to hear that from the guy with the gun.
We dropped off the hill and down a star thistle filled draw, we were within range in no time, completely undetected. Rob got into the prone position and I ran the range finder. While we ran through the scenarios that were about to unfold, we waited for the big bull to separate from tending the cows. It didn’t take long before a spike wondered a little too close to his cows, the big bull charged him and to our good fortune brought him closer. Once broadside Rob took the shot and to my amazement the bull never even flinched. Rob quickly chambered another round and touched that one off, he instantly said he knew he shot high, as Rob was chambering his 3rd round, the bull took 4-5 steps and tipped over. That’s when the emotions only a hunter knows took over, high fives, back slapping, hugging and giving thanks.
Shelley arrived to join in on the celebration, we had just finished bandaging up Rob’s “Badge of Honor”, from her vantage point she told us that the first shot reported that familiar “Whaap” of a solid hit, something I hadn’t heard so close to the muzzle. The second was a miss as Rob had thought. Few bulls grow in size on the ground, this bull most definately did, we could not believe the mass this bull had packed. We discovered that he had somehow managed to bust an estimated 36 – 40 inches of antler from our previous trail camera pictures of him, but it simply did not matter. We were in awe at the presence of this massive old bull, worthy of Rob’s long awaited tag.
Our time spent with Rob on the phone, in texts messages and during the hunt was always a pleasure; he is a class act gentleman. He approached the hunt like few others putting the experience above the kill. He put great trust in us, it made our job easier, while at the same time it made us yearn for him to have a sucessful hunt. Rob is a very caring individual and accepted us, our family and friends whom arrived to help with the chores of a downed bull elk. Anyone who says hunters don’t love animals has never met a person like Rob. He walks that fine line that most hunters do, we love and care about nature, we want to see it protected and preserved and know the importance of hunting asa tool of that very conservation.
Shortly before Rob booked with us I had found out that my nephew drew 1 of the 2 tags for the 409 Northeastern California (Apprentice Hunt). I had asked Rob if there was a bull he didn’t want to shoot, if he’d mind if we took him, without hesitation he said absolutely it’s all about getting our youth involved. That’s the type of person we had the pleasure of guiding.
We are fortunate to lease and manage a great California ranch with owners whom are partners in our long term goal of building a quality hunting destination. We are fortunate to have friends and family whom support our efforts in all different ways. We are fortunate to have crossed paths with a client like Rob, whom makes a job we already love that much more gratifying. Life if good.
Posted in: California Rocky Mountain Elk Hunting, News
