Two Bulls, One Arrow Each: The Double Kill Story You Need to Hear

Man, this one's for anybody who just loves talking to a regular dude who's put in the years and killed a lot of elk — because that's exactly what this episode is. Brian Rae grew up in Idaho with an outdoors family, killed his first buck AND his first bull at 12 years old within two weeks of each other, and has been chasing bulls in some of the nastiest, steepest, most brutal backcountry ever since.

We get into it all in this one. Brian tells the story of getting truly lost overnight at 19 — no coat, dead flashlight, sleeping next to a fire he built with toilet paper and a lighter, and the almost unbelievable coincidence of how he found his way back to camp. We talk about how close that feeling of panic really sits, even for guys who know these mountains better than anybody.

Then we get into the good stuff — the hunting. Brian breaks down calling in two six-point bulls back to back with his buddy Chad, a wounded-bull recovery that turned into "a bathtub full of blood," and an eight-yard, full-draw standoff with a black bear that walked right down a game trail at him.

But this isn't just war stories. Brian gets into the real strategy behind killing a herd bull consistently — why getting close beats bugling every hundred yards, why he mimics satellite bulls instead of challenging the herd bull head-on, and why wind and thermals will beat you every single time, no matter how good your setup is.

If you want to hear what it actually takes to kill mature bulls year after year — not the highlight reel, the real work behind it — this episode is for you.

This Episode is Brought to You By

onX Hunt

This episode's hunt-planning talk is powered by onX Hunt. Whether you're building color-coded waypoints, markups, and tracks or organizing an entire hunt folder before you ever set foot in the field, onX is where the planning happens. If you drew a tag this year, don't just show up and figure it out — build the system, build the plan.

Upgrade to onX Elite and unlock the full hunt-planning toolset.

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Bridger Watch

A smartwatch built specifically for hunting — with the best mapping capabilities of any wearable on the market. Save offline maps, pan and zoom right on your wrist, and integrate directly with your onX account to send waypoints, tracks, and markups straight to your watch. It's not replacing your phone's mapping — it's your backup when your phone dies, drops, or gets left in the truck.

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Chapter Timestamps

Time Segment 0:00 onX Hunt sponsor read — hunt planning & Elite features 2:15 Bridger Watch sponsor read — the wearable built for hunters 5:00 Welcome Brian Rae — Idaho roots and growing up in an outdoors family 8:30 First buck and first bull at 12 years old, two weeks apart 13:30 The "Hell Hole" story — lost overnight at 19, no coat, building a fire with toilet paper 20:00 Finding his dad's voice at the outfitter camp — the wild coincidence 24:00 Getting the whole family GPS units for Christmas 27:30 Arizona 2021 — dropping his phone miles from the side-by-side, texting his wife via inReach 34:00 Switching from rifle to archery in the early 2000s after wolf reintroduction 37:00 The double bull story with hunting partner Chad Booth — calling in two six-points back to back 44:00 The "laughing bull" and getting outsmarked by herd bulls 47:30 The tree-falling, sneaking-in six-point stalk 51:00 The wounded bull recovery — "a bathtub full of blood" 56:00 What actually makes a hunter successful year after year: luck, time, and physical work 59:30 Herd bull strategy — the satellite bull / "bar fight" trick 1:04:00 Small sounds vs. big bugles — reading what a bull is really telling you 1:08:30 Wind, thermals, and the "New Zealand" drainage they've never killed in 1:11:30 The buck brush bull that got away — twice 1:14:30 The eight-yard black bear encounter — full draw, standoff, and the "live grubs" story 1:17:00 Last season recap, plans for this year, and closing out the episode

Three Key Takeaways

Proximity beats volume. Once you locate a bull, the move isn't to keep bugling every hundred yards — it's to close the distance quietly and get as close as physically possible before making another sound. Herd bulls pinpoint calls with scary accuracy, so every call you make should come from a position you're willing to defend with a shot.
Make the bull jealous, not challenged. Instead of bugling head-on at a herd bull (which he may recognize as a threat or ignore entirely), mimicking cow sounds followed by subtle satellite-bull sounds — grunts, chuckles, raking — plays on his instinct to protect a cow from a sneaking rival. It's a subtler, often more effective way to pull in a smart, mature bull than an aggressive challenge bugle.
Wind beats setup, every time. No matter how well you know a drainage or how good your calling is, areas with constantly shifting thermals and crosswinds can make a spot essentially unhuntable — elk bed there specifically because the wind keeps them safe. Recognizing that some encounters are unwinnable on a given day is as important as any calling tactic.