I was one of 20 hunters to draw a highly-coveted Valles Caldera mature bull rifle tag in late October 2016. My hunt started on Saturday, Oct. 22, and I knew I had a great chance of harvesting a really nice bull in his unit. My father, Isaac, and his friend, James Lucero, had scouted the area weeks prior to my hunt date and had advised me of several nice areas that were holding lots of elk.
On Day one, we stalked and sized up a few different bulls that were truly monsters. We decided to come back on Sunday and make a play on what we thought was about a 300-inch bull. After an all-day search for this monster bull, we finally found him with just enough time to stalk within shooting range before we ran out of light.
As we reached what we thought would give me a 300-yard shot, our hearts sank when the bulls were no longer where we saw them last. We slowly kept stalking over the next hill hoping they had fed over and into the bottom of the draw. As we reached the top of the hill, I saw the bull feeding broadside at 100 yards. I centered the crosshairs on his vitals and took a shot. As the shot rang out, my bull hit the ground and I was officially a bull hunter. My bull scored 334 & 4/8”.
Nothing beats the great outdoors with family and friends.
Marcus Padilla
Age 12
Albuquerque, New Mexico
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