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Tyler Jordan may have taken a few days off from school in mid-October to go elk hunting with his dad, but he didn’t miss out on his education. Not only did he take the opportunity to learn about elk, their habitat and habits, but he also learned about Native Americans during his time hunting on the Apache reservation in Arizona. Best of all, he made good on an opportunity at a giant bull!

“I was so excited about this trip,” Tyler said. “I’d always heard that the White Mountains have huge elk. Folks in the Realtree office kept telling me that I was going to see some of the biggest bulls of my life there. Last year, Realtree staffers took four bulls in the area that each measured over 400 inches, and I was hoping to at least see one of that size as well. I love elk hunting because it’s such an active sport. You don’t have to wait for the bulls to come to you. Instead, you can go after them. There’s a lot of calling and walking involved.”

Tyler, Bill and Tyler’s best friend, Johnny Carter, arrived late on the afternoon of October 15 and were greeted with beautiful weather. The mornings were cold with temperatures in the 30s, but the afternoons warmed up to 70 degrees each day.

With only an hour remaining of daylight that first evening, they decided to spend the time scouting. “We hiked up the side of a mountain and heard one elk.” Tyler said. “That was my first small taste of what would be expected of me each day. The terrain was extremely hilly with a lot of mountains and meadows. We hiked at least seven to 10 miles a day, and much of that was uphill. The hunting was strenuous to say the least.”

The second morning, Tyler, Johnny and their guide hiked up that same hill. Again, they heard a bull, but didn’t see it.

After returning from their hunt that afternoon, the boys did a little bit of exploring.

“We went to Geronimo’s cave, which was on the side of a large mountain,” Tyler said. “We climbed in and took a lot of pictures. We enjoyed that experience. We also went to the Apache museum, where we learned a lot about the Native American culture.”

That evening, the hunters set up in a meadow near a large water hole and watched as seven different bulls came in to drink. “Two bulls fought right in front of us,” Tyler said. “There were elk bugling everywhere, but none of them were shooters. I wanted a bull measuring between 350-400 inches, and I was willing to wait for it.”

After dark, the hunters accompanied their guide to another water hole in a meadow to do some more scouting for the following day’s hunt. There, they finally spotted a 400-inch bull. Deciding where to hunt the following morning was an easy decision. They were settled in near the meadow before daybreak the next day. Several 300-inch bulls came in to the water hole, but not the large trophy bull that they’d spotted the previous night.

That afternoon, they returned to the meadow and after waiting for a while, spotted a nice 380-class bull with a cow. He was across the meadow, around 800 yards from them.

“I got a good look at him through my Nikon Monarch binoculars,” Tyler said. “That’s when I knew he was a shooter bull and decided that he was the one. We made our stalk and got to within 200 yards. That’s when I shot him with my Thompson/Center .280-caliber rifle. I hit him good with the first shot, but followed up with two more shots just to make sure.”

After shooting the bull, Tyler, Johnny and the guide returned to the lodge and decided to wait and retrieve him the following day.

“I was confident that I’d gotten him, especially after reviewing the footage back at the lodge,” Tyler said. “I could see that the first shot was good. The second shot hit his right shoulder, and the third shot got him in the back.” Sure enough, the trio easily found the bull not far from where Tyler had shot him the next morning. He measured 377 inches—not bad for Tyler’s third bull and right in the middle of that 350-400 range he was looking for.

“We had a wonderful time, to say the least,” Tyler said. “I got a great bull, and I enjoyed sharing the experience with my dad and Johnny. Johnny had never really traveled or hunted much, so he enjoyed the experience as well. I got to see the biggest elk ever, and I truly enjoyed learning about the Native American culture.”

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