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Congratulations to the 2010 Arizona Super Raffle Elk Tag holder Pete Shepley.
Well what can we say, the smile on Pete's face says it all!!
Pete Shepley, a resident of Tucson, AZ, and owner of PSE Archery was fortunate enough to have his name pulled from the Arizona Super Raffle barrel last year and has had this elk tag in his pocket for just shy of 365 days. To say Pete and Mossback AZ put their time in and deserved a bull of this caliber would be an absolute understatement. Pete tallied over 50 days in the field in pursuit of bull he felt was worthy of this once in a lifetime opportunity and was willing to hold out "Until they turned the lights out" (These were his exact words). Mossback AZ guide Jay Lopeman located this bull in June and instantly recognized him as the caliber of bull that one would be happy to hang their tag on opening day of a year round tag. However, this bull Jay dubbed Corky, proved why he has been able to elude hunters long enough to grow a set of "drop-jaw" head gear as he took Mossback AZ and Pete on a 3 month long game of cat and mouse.
In an attempt to pattern Corky, MBAZ guides sat water, slow stalked ridges and valley bottoms, glassed, and scrutinized every topo we could get our hands on just trying to figure out any type of pattern this bull would have. Unfortunately this humbling experience continued week after week. Jay was able to get trail cam photos and videos but finding this bull in daylight seemed to be impossible.
Mossback AZ Guide Jay Lopeman and Pete Shepley
Throughout this chase, Pete passed many absolute giant bulls with bow in hand. One morning, Pete had a bull we've named Donkey come in to water. Unbelievably, Pete had the will power to hold off on this estimated mid-390s class bull while he drank 25 yards away for several minutes. Even though thoughts of doubt crept in as the hunting continued to get tougher, Pete remained persistent and patient while waiting for the right bull and the right opportunity.
As these bulls are now beginning to rub, they all head to the thick cover and are rarely seen in open country in the daylight. These bulls are starting their big moves to their rutting ground and will spend countless hours rubbing their velvet off and strengthening their necks. Over the last few days, Jay and Pete seen very little elk and even went 2 entire days without seeing a bull. When most others would have settled for lesser bulls in order to fill a tag, Pete kept hunting with his bow, but with only few days left in a year round season, he now began carrying his rifle for that "Just in Case" moment. Well on the morning of August 11th, 2011 that moment finally presented itself. On a hunch, Jay decided that he and Pete would approach one of Corky's water source from a previously untried angle hoping that this would provide an different outcome from the countless unsuccessful previous attempts. As daylight crept in, Jay's jaw just about hit the floor when he spotted Corky with two other bulls. Pete had seconds to get set up as the wind swirled and the youngest of the bulls caught Jay and Pete's scent and went into full alert. As big bulls usually do, Corky and his other giant buddy did not stand around long to see what had the younger bull nervous. Pete made a split second decision to get behind his rifle as Corky made his way back into the heavy timber. Call it fate, luck, curiosity, or whatever, but Corky made the fatal mistake of pausing for a fraction of second and Pete wasted no time is dropping the hammer. Pete said everything happened in the blink of an eye but the end result was exactly what Pete Shepley, Jay Lopeman, and Mossback AZ had set out to do almost a year ago, have an exciting, rewarding hunt with the chance to hang this special tag on a special bull.
We had score estimates from the high 380's up in to the 400" range but despite having trail cam photos and video clips, this bull was a very tough bull to score. From certain angles he looked 420s then he'd turn and look 380's. Now that we get to compare the real deal with photos its easy to see why he was difficult to judge. Look at the size of this bulls body. He's an all around giant. His body was so big, it made judging antler size tough. Range conditions had Corky in prime condition and the amount of body fat we encountered while field dressing this bull was incredible. Hopefully this means more giants will fall if body conditions are any sign of what the rut may hold in store. Once again, a huge congratulations to Pete Shepley on harvesting a true AZ giant bull. Pete spent more days in the field on this hunt than most folks have done in a lifetime of elk hunting. Enjoy the pics and we'll update the blog with more pictures in the near future.
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| Corky's body was huge making him a difficult bull to judge. |
