For those who can see the picture of Tom Miles and his Tremendous Hunt bull, you understand how it ends, however there may be way more to this story than a life-long elk hunter who killed a trophy bull. Miles, a 70-year-old native Idahoan from Meridian, drew the coveted Tremendous Hunt tag in 2021, and what adopted lived as much as the title.

“It was fairly the journey,” Miles stated. “We noticed a number of elk. Numerous bulls and many good bulls, nevertheless it wasn’t straightforward. It was the toughest hunt I’ve ever carried out.”

Miles is fast to level out it wasn’t simply his hunt. His entire household participated, together with his sons and their households. They knew the importance of what might be a once-in-a-lifetime tag, and have been very happy to share this expertise with their father.

Miles stated he places in for a Tremendous Hunt tag yearly, however solely spends modest quantities.

“I do know guys who put in hundreds of {dollars}’ price, and I’m not a type of guys,” he stated.

He stated he obtained a cellphone name final summer time and thought it could be spam, nevertheless it wasn’t. It was Idaho Fish and Recreation workers informing that he drew considered one of 10 Tremendous Hunt elk tags, which might permit him to hunt elk in any looking season in your complete state. Utility deadline for the primary Tremendous Hunt is Could 31. To use go to idfg.idaho.gov/superhunt.

Coincidentally, it was the second Tremendous Hunt elk tag drawn by a member of the family lately. From the second he obtained the information, preparation started. From analysis to boots-on-the-ground scouting, he needed to benefit from this uncommon alternative.

The bugles of September

September is a magical time for elk hunters. The autumn colours begin to seem, the climate cools down, and bull elk start bugling and difficult one another throughout the rut. It’s a time when usually secretive, solitary bulls develop into the neighborhood bullies who need to announce their dominance to the world.

Miles was aware of an space that holds a wholesome elk inhabitants during which tags are extraordinarily laborious to attract, so he headed into southern Idaho to catch the height of the rut throughout a muzzleloader hunt.

Along with his household as his workforce, they discovered the circumstances to be sizzling and dusty. As anticipated, there was no scarcity of bugling bulls, however there was an issue. The season hadn’t began, and as if taking part in a imply prank, the bulls stopped bugling the morning the season opened.

Miles and his household noticed “Mr. Massive” early in September, nevertheless it took a month of devoted looking earlier than Tom pulled the set off about 10 miles from they first noticed it.

Meet Mr. Massive

However that didn’t gradual Miles and his household from taking full benefit of the chance earlier than them. Like an outdated saying goes, looking is all luck, and the tougher you’re employed, the luckier you get.

They caught with it, combing the high-elevation ridges, canyons and attracts in less-than-ideal circumstances. They hiked the lonely nation and sat for hours peering via binoculars and recognizing scopes to find herds. Miles stated they noticed loads of elk, however not a bull worthy of the tag.

That modified one night after they noticed a herd of elk bedded in a brush patch. Upon additional investigation, they seen lengthy, sweeping antlers that have been protruding above the comb. The bull then stood up. It was at that second Miles realized he had discovered “the one.” They got down to get Miles inside muzzleloader vary, which is often about 100 yards, ideally nearer.

They tried for a complete week to the shut the hole on this prized bull, making a number of makes an attempt that have been thwarted by poor stalking circumstances, a savvy bull and a herd of sharp-eyed cows.

Though Miles by no means raised his muzzleloader, his sights have been set.

“I had my coronary heart set on that bull,” he stated.

They nicknamed the bull “Mr. Massive,” and because the muzzleloader season was winding down, it was as if he vanished into the mountains. They weren’t in a position to find him once more. However fortunately, there was a rifle season approaching, which might permit Miles to maintain looking for him.

Tremendous Hunt, tremendous strain

Miles has many years of elk looking expertise in his house state. He is aware of that in some years discovering any bull could be a problem, particularly in a basic season hunt.

“Once you draw managed hunt, your requirements come up a bit, and also you need to get a mature bull,” he stated. “However with a Tremendous Hunt tag, it goes as much as one other degree.”

The blessing and potential curse of a Tremendous Hunt tag is you’ve gotten a lot alternative in prime recreation nation that it may be tough to find out whether or not the animal in entrance of you is “the one.”

Will you later want you had held out for one thing bigger? Or do you let a bull, or a number of bulls, stroll away and later remorse it as a result of “the one” was standing in entrance of you, and also you didn’t understand it till it was too late?

It’s downside to have, however a problem nonetheless. Miles stated that regardless of the lengthy odds of drawing the tag once more, he was prepared to go house empty-handed quite than accept a bull that didn’t meet his excessive normal.

September solar vs. October snow

Miles’ muzzleloader season was coming to a detailed, and the household had an opportunity to relaxation and proceed scouting earlier than a rifle season opened. They hoped the climate can be extra favorable, and it was to some extent. Temperatures dropped and snow arrived, together with howling winds that made it a problem to get to Mr. Massive’s yard excessive within the mountains.

They hunted extraordinarily laborious, spending day after day in bone-chilling wind. They noticed bulls by the handfuls, together with some bulls that Miles stated he wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot with another tag. After enduring the hours, days and miles of freezing, predawn hikes into elk nation and returning after darkish having sat and glassed distant canyons and slopes for elk, he began to have his doubts.

“I began to query whether or not I ought to maintain passing them up,” he stated.

The eyes have it

However a part of a household hunt is the help he bought from the workforce, which included six relations and two prolonged household, who have been with him each step of the best way. That stored his morale excessive and gave him the motivation to grind out every day, even when it felt extra like work than enjoyable.

The times began mixing right into a sequence of darkish, chilly mornings and windy days that result in the identical outcomes: a number of elk, however not one he needed to take and finish his hunt.

When considered one of Miles’ sons noticed a distant herd via his recognizing scope that had an enormous bull, their curiosity was piqued. Miles estimated the herd was about 2 miles away in rugged nation, however the herd bull regarded promising so that they began towards it.

However halfway there, they noticed a separate herd in a unique course, and it additionally had a big bull.

“My son stated, ‘Is that Mr. Massive?’ ” Miles stated.

The herd was a mile away, and the bull was roughly 10 miles from the realm the place they first noticed Mr. Massive, which is a day stroll for an elk herd, so it was nicely throughout the realm of chance. They determined to get a better look.

However like desert puddles after a summer time thundershower, elk herds tend of evaporating into skinny air, which is strictly what this one appeared to do.

Miles stated over the weeks within the area, they’d realized, or relearned, invaluable classes about elk habits, and located it extra productive to let their eyes do the work as an alternative of their legs.

They posted up, cranked up the magnification and began selecting aside the panorama for any signal of elk.

Lastly they noticed an elk in a big patch of aspens, however didn’t know if this was Mr. Massive’s herd, or a unique one. An elk moved right into a clearing, and so they noticed it was a spike bull.

They suspected they’d a herd pinned down, however couldn’t see all of them. Daylight was fading, which pressured a call whether or not to sit down and await the elk to maneuver into the open, or make one thing occur.

They dipped into their bag of hunters’ methods and tossed a rock down into the aspen patch and waited.

This time, two spikes and a raghorn emerged, after which disappeared again into the aspens. Understanding the herd was there and time was brief, they rolled a bigger rock down the hill and into the aspen patch.

“It exploded with elk, and so they have been all bulls,” Miles stated.

As they’d hoped, considered one of them was in reality Mr. Massive. He was trailing the herd and working full velocity instantly away from Miles and throughout the canyon. It was a tough, if not inconceivable, shot to make.

“I used to be bummed out,” Miles stated. “He was one and regarded just like the one we’d been chasing since Day 1.”

A breath of nonetheless air

However it wouldn’t be days or perhaps weeks, and even subsequent yr, till Miles had one other probability at this bull, as a result of it made a deadly mistake. It stopped, turned broadside and regarded again.

Miles’ son referred to as the vary at 638 yards, which is past the vary of many hunters and their rifles. However Miles was capturing his .300 PRC, and he’s totally conscious of its capabilities as a result of he spends numerous hours on the vary training earlier than every season and capturing at numerous distances. Whereas the state of affairs was lower than splendid, he didn’t second-guess himself.

“Belief me, I used to be nicely ready for that shot,” he stated.

The bull stopping coincided with the climate lastly cooperating. The wind died earlier than the shot rang out, and Miles dropped the bull with a single shot.

The hunt was over, however not the journey. The bull tumbled down a steep hillside on the alternative facet of the canyon because the night gentle light.

As if on cue, a snowstorm began that rapidly become a blizzard. They needed to navigate throughout the canyon and up a steep, slick slope to get to the bull.

After they bought there, Miles stated he was certain it was Mr. Massive due to the lengthy third tines on the antlers, the form of the primary beams, and that the bull had a definite face.

In addition they had a photograph of the primary time they noticed him, and the bull matched it.

A hunt to recollect

For Miles, Mr. Massive stands out as the spotlight of his lengthy profession of elk looking in Idaho. However there may also be one other Mr. Massive in his future, as a result of he’s not prepared to shut the e book on elk looking. He stated there are extra chapters to be written, possibly even one other Tremendous Hunt tag.

“I’ve already bought my cash in on this yr’s drawing,” he stated.