Three of us, myself, David Nelson and Monty Shropshire all chose this hunt after meeting Keith and his wife at the Dallas SCI show last year. Although this was a high fence operation (about 1000 acres of high mountain desert country with very thick brush), we decided that this was a hunt that we wanted to try. Bad backs, knees, ankles and age is what made us look for something that would not kill us or put us in the hospital. Horseback hunts like we use to do were looking like a hospital stay waiting to happen. Most of our objectives were for a big elk, not necessarily for the score as I will not enter any and neither will the other 2 guys. Nothing against scoring and P&Y, just not interested in putting one in the books. We arrived at Black Canyon Bulls (Crawford CO) Monday afternoon and got unpacked and shot our bows and got a tour of the ranch and the hunting area. Lots of bulls and lots of big bulls! Tuesday morning could not come fast enough. We found out real quick that this was not going to be a walk out, find a bull you wanted, get close and shoot. We all tried several stalks without success until David managed to get within 58 yards of a bedded bull at about 11am and hit him well. David hunted with Robert, an area taxidermist and friend of Keiths and Monty and I hunted with Keith. David did a follow up shot at 65 and eventually found his bull in the middle of one of the 3 ponds on the ranch. After a little rope tossing, Keith managed to lasso the horns and out he came, a magnificent 7x8 that scored SCI at 370". After taking care of David's bull Monty managed to get within 40 yards of a beautiful heart shaped 375" 6x6, but shot over him at 40 yards. He would redeem himself later. We tried to stalk several more without success and decided to choose one of the water holes for the afternoon. We choose the same waterhole that David's bull decide to "drown" in and settled in for a long wait as it was beginning to get hot. We had 4 bulls come crashing into the water about 2:30, but the one we called "Whale Tail" (a name I gave him after seeing him the afternoon before and earlier that morning) would not give me a shot. Something spooked them and they left as quickly as they came in. Keith got out of the blind to go and glass from the brushy ridge behind the blind and had not been gone more than 5 minutes when a big 6x6 appeared on the ridge to the SW of the blind. Only problem was, he was looking directly at Keith on the ridge behind us. Keith saw the bull and decided just to walk back to the blind and hpe for the best. The big 6x6 bedded on the ridge facing our position at about 250 yards and never moved. The next bull to approach the water was the one Monty shot. After drinking for what seemed like 15 minutes, he turned from facing us and made a mistake and stopped at the top of the tank dam and Monty placed a perfect shot at 50 yards. The bull made it only 30 yards and expired within sight of our blind. You could see the tops of his horns sticking out abouve the brush. This was at 5pm. A monster of a bull. A full 8x8 that SCI scored 444"! I was next as 3 nice 6x6's made it to the water around 5:50 pm, all around the 350" range, but I managed to shoot under one at 40 yards. These all left in a big hurry, but as they did I noticed that the big 6x6 that had been bedded on the ridge was now coming to the pond. After what seemed like an eternity, he was standing in the water at 38 yards and I managed to calm myself enough to hit him solid behind the shoulder. He stopped again at 44 yards and another arrow of mine hit him again through both lungs. He made it another 30 yards before falling. 345" of a beautiful 6x7. Both my bull and Monty's bull were only laying 17 yards apart. After picture taking and back slapping we got the bulls to the skinning shed and then all the lies and re-telling of stories began, along with some welcomed beer drinking. Black Canyon Bulls is not for everyone, but we had a blast and plan on going back.
My 345" bull
David's 370" bull
Monty's 444" bull
