Whale’s Tail

[Western Hunter]

By Curtis Crimmins

 

Drawing a permit for a prime unit is what every hunter hopes for. Sometimes one of the hardest things about a hunt for an experienced hunter is getting drawn for a record producing unit. After 30 years of hunting in Arizona my brother Mike Crimmins and his hunting buddy Jim Oliver finally drew prime unit bull tags in 2010. Mike had the good fortune to work with an experienced hunter, Bob Andersen, who knew the unit like the back of his hand. Bob has hunted Arizona his entire life and suggested water holes, strategies, and areas to scout for big bulls. Following Bob’s suggestions led to success.

 

The excitement started in August. For four weeks we scouted the unit, photographing and videotaping the most magnificent bulls we had ever seen. Not all elk units provide the terrain for glassing waterholes from a distance, but in this unit good binoculars and spotting scopes were a must. We spotted several bulls from over a mile away, and our Swarovski 15×56’s and spotting scopes made a big difference distinguishing between a 380 inch and a 320 inch bull. It was a great year for antler growth with good weather and a textbook rut. After scouting on four separate weekends we had plenty of pictures and video of half a dozen 350+ inch bulls using the same water holes. Some of those bulls looked like they would easily top the 365 inch mark, which was our goal. Nicknaming the bulls helped our group identify them while scouting. There was Doofus, Caribou, Big Bud, and the Schaffer Bull. Doofus was a huge bull with great mass, width and length; we thought he might be a 380 inch bull. Caribou was a tall 7×8 with long narrow tines, but with such length that we thought he might be pushing 400 inches. Big Bud and Schaffer Bull were also great bulls, but then there was Whale’s Tail!

 

We first saw Whale’s Tail two weeks before opening day. Mikes first strategy for opening day was to sit in a blind at a water hole. The weather was hot and the rut was up and running. We had set up his blind at a water hole. The very next day the bulls were hitting water as though they had never drank before. Ignoring Mike’s blind, they congregated in the early hours of the day near the water. I had never seen more than a 100 elk come to one water hole before 8 a.m., but this was Grand Central Station! We watched in awe from a hilltop over 500 yards away as herd after herd came in to drink at first light.

 

First, a couple of spikes sparred, followed by a couple of small 5x5s. Next to appear was a 350 class bull with cows. Then a couple of small 6×6’s showed up. They were followed by another lone 350 class bull. After over an hour of nonstop activity we thought it couldn’t get any better. Suddenly, a high lonesome bugle rang out and a stream of cows filed out of the trees. They descended into the small valley that held the tank. Close to twenty cows heralded the way for a huge bull that brought up the rear. With his head held back bugling his claim to monarchy, he trotted in and herded his cows on the way. The smaller bulls cleared out of the way. Those that didn’t were promptly challenged and chased off. The bull bugled his way down to the water’s edge, not 10 yards from the blind we had set up!

 

This bull’s brow tines were long, symmetrical, and ivory tipped. His thirds had length, symmetry, and mass. His fourths towered above. The fifth and sixth points swept in separate directions forming the shape of a whale’s tail. This was one BIG bull! We immediately named him Whale’s Tail. We watched him stalk around the water hole with his twenty cows, driving off smaller bulls and screaming with the urgency of a bull crazy in the rut, for 40 minutes. He then rounded up his cows and, driving them in front of him, trotted off the way he had come, bugling all the way. After Whale’s Tail’s visit to the water hole, things slowly died down. This promised to be a great hunt!

 

For the next three days Whale’s Tail came to the water almost like clockwork. However, as the hunt neared we began to worry. Another hunter set up camp with his family close to the 440 yard limit from water holes. Additionally, hunter traffic began to increase through the small valley. Oblivious hunters would slowly creep through in four wheel drive trucks glassing the hillsides with their engines running. Activity at the tank dropped to zero.

 

Sticking to his plan, opening day found Mike in his blind an hour before daybreak, fervently hoping for Whale’s Tail to show. Sadly, the elk activity in the area had faded. That morning, one small bull came in and meandered around Mike’s blind. This provided a perfect dry run, but the bull barely topped the 300 inch mark and wasn’t what he was looking for. Our concern about other hunters was warranted. After three weeks of the same bulls hitting the same water every day they were nowhere to be found. Mike sat the blind for two more days, but his enthusiasm was waning. The wait in a blind can be boring when nothing shows. By the end of the third day he was ready to try a new strategy.

 

Mike decided to try cow calling in a new area. His hunting partner Jim was surrounded by bugles every day just a mile away. Just a few miles from his original spot there was a drainage with thick cover. We had scouted that area previously, but could not glass from our hilltop. When we drove down there that afternoon we found good sign, and tracks crossing a road, that told us the elk were now watering at a different hole.

 

On Monday morning Mike and Jim went into the trees surrounding the lower drainage before first light. As they listened in the still morning air the calls of at least five bulls reverberated through the junipers. Separating from Jim, Mike stalked upwind through thick junipers toward what sounded like two big bulls roaring at each other. He paused to let out cow calls with a Primos Hyper Lip. The calls were answered with screams immediately. Mike slowly worked his way closer. The bulls continued screaming and answering the cow calls, but it seemed like they weren’t moving. Suddenly a new bigger sounding bugle rang out on his left side. The bull bugled again, closer this time. Mike began to look for shooting lanes. He glimpsed huge fifth and sixth tines above the junipers moving towards him 80 yards away. He found a shooting lane that would allow for perhaps a 40 yard shot, and knocked an arrow. The bull continued coming through the junipers until it was 15 yards away, but unfortunately it presented only a straight frontal shot. Sensing Mike’s presence the bull busted back through the junipers only to circle to get downwind. The bull crossed into the shooting lane again, this time at 40 yards and broadside. Mike let fly with a Rage 100 grain broadhead. The bull reacted to the hit with a lurch, ran about 40 yards, and then continued walking slowly through the trees.

 

Mike marked his position on his GPS and sat down to wait. Concerned that the shot was a bit far back, he didn’t want to push the bull. While planning his next move Mike spotted the bull lying under a tree less than a 100 yards from where it had been hit. It looked wobbly and unsteady. The wind shifted and the bull stood up, disappearing into the trees.

 

Not wanting to push the bull Mike decided to give him some time. He met back up with Jim and told him the story. Following a recommendation by Jay Scott in a Western Hunter Magazine article they decided to wait at least 6 hours before attempting a search. After lunch that afternoon they took up the trail. It wasn’t long before they found the bull under a tree about 400 yards from where it had been hit. Recognizing the antlers Mike’s heart leapt as he realized it was Whale’s Tail, the bull he had wanted from day one. The beautiful bull scored 386 3/8 typical SCI and 378 7/8 typical Pope and Young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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