Click.
That’s the sound of a firing pin striking a centerfire bullet that didn’t show up for work.
In the case of Lake Leelanau native Roger Schaub, it could have also signaled the unsuccessful end to a miles-long stalk behind one of the biggest bull elks in Michigan, which in turn would mean a sixth straight frustrating day in Pigeon River State Forest.
But Schaub’s guide, lanky James Bunker of Wolverine, was not about to panic. Despite a lack of libido on the part of the bull — the girls were done breeding weeks ago — the 700pound bull stayed his ground after hearing Bunker’s cow call. Schaub racked in another .300 Winchester magnum bullet. This one went bang, and Schaub’s luck continued.
After beating the odds against drawing an elk tag — even after applying annually for 22 years, his chances of being selected were about one in 2,000 — he had downed a bull estimated to score more than 320 points. The Michigan elk herd of 1,100 to 1,400 animals contains only about five bulls that big.
Schaub’s mind went back to his last elk hunt with members of the close-knit Schaub family.
“This elk hunt meant a lot. The last one I went on 22 years ago was going to be with dad (in Colorado), and we lost him six weeks before I went. I know he’s smiling down,” said Schaub, a real estate broker with Schaub Team Premier Realty in Suttons Bay.
Schaub, who drew a tag for the second season that ran from Dec. 9-17, and Bunker hunted under conditions favorable to elk survival.
“On day one, it rained. Then it got cold for three days and what snow we had left was very loud for stalking. (Bunker) kept saying, ‘Perseverance will pay off.’ I was just trying to feed him big lunches to get him to slow down,” Schaub said.
The pair would head out long before daylight looking for elk tracks crossing back roads, then follow them. They covered 46 miles on foot, passing up five smaller bulls along the way, before a big elk made a fatal mistake.
“It really wasn’t an option to settle for anything less than a good bull. And I’m about the furthest thing away from being a trophy hunter,” Schaub said.
He stayed on point thanks in part to some home cooking. Camp time in a rented cabin near Vanderbilt was shared with Bill and Harrison Schaub, his brother and nephew, and friends Jeff and Gary Gaudard. “You’re beat at the end of the day, but I had someone to cook for me and pick me up and tell me to keep going,” Schaub said.
The bull he tagged, a 6 by 6, was 7 1/2 years old, according to MDNR biologists who examined the animal.
Schaub did shoot a 5-by-5 bull in Colorado 23 years ago, the year before his father died. The next year his nephew Drew Schaub harvested a bull with his grandfather’s rifle.
“That made for a very special moment. Then I started raising kids and coaching. But now my kids are raised and I’m not coaching, so I went elk hunting … it was absolutely fulfilling. It was the hunt of a lifetime in northern Michigan for a trophy elk.
“How can you write that script any better?”
