R
ricalfredoleon
Guest
I posted the news of our success in the NM forum a couple of weeks ago but this online stuff is addicting?besides I finally got better pictures. This was a dream hunt for any one but for a father and son team it was the ultimate.(2008) My family (mostly my wife) was tired of me disappearing all by my lonesome every time September rolled around so I could go chase these animals called elk. She recruited my father who in his younger days did a fare share of riffle hunting to accompany me if we drew the following year (2009). After I went on a solo mission last year into wilderness with my stick and string doing what I love I came home to find family members overly worried even though at night I could see my own front porch light from3000 vertical feet and twelve miles away. So I put my father and I in for the same hunts even though I exclusively hunt archery and the only arrow my father ever shot was probably back in gym class (1979). Just like every one else I couldn't wait for the draw results to come and when they did I couldn't believe my eyes. Both of us drew for elk and for deer archery. I even drew speed goat archery tag. The shocking thing was that we drew Valle Vidal. I even put in on separate applications and some how we both drew? that day I went out and bought lotto tickets bit I didn't hit the lotto?but I still felt rich with our draw results. As soon as I calmed down and realized the opportunity that had been bestowed upon us I started the preparations. Fortunately I own multiple bows so the first thing I did was set up a rig for my dad. Getting him to practice was the difficult part. Eventually I got him shooting tight groups out to 50 yards.
Soon hunting season was upon me? well antelope season. In August I went down to south eastern NM and cashed in on a 14? loper?I missed the other two giants but the season couldn't have started off better.
August flew by and so did the antelope meat and that magical month of September was soon here. I had the first 15 days of September to deer hunt and more importantly get my dad some up close and personal experience looking at an animal thought the peep sight instead of the crosshairs. We had a fair amount of action and every buck we encountered was a chance to stalk in close. We almost got him to close the deal one weekend but just couldn't pull it off. He was working all week saving up his vacation for the Valle which started the 16 of September. I was almost going to give up on the mulies for this year when an unexpected hunting buddy gave me a chance to sneak away for one more shot at the grey ghosts. A man named Pat from Wisconsin, a man I had never met before in my life, shows up on my door looking for whom else but my dad. Turns out he and my dad had met a couple of weeks earlier while my dad was checking our cattle in the high country and pat was doing some scouting for an elk hunt he had coming up in that area. He showed up looking for my dad and found me instead we got to talking and looking at maps and no more than 45 minutes of knowing the guy he and I were off on a spike trip. I grabbed my gear and a bed roll and left my Wife, kids and mother worried again except this time I wasn?t going out alone I was going with a perfect stranger. Pat and I got up to our hunting spot a place where I couldn't close the deal on a awesome 6x7 last fall and within an hour pat had spotted a 6x6 and some cow bedded side hill a ? mile away. We got on them and I thought it was going to happen bit when we were in the zone (within 70 yards) we just couldn't pull it off. The next day we made it back to the vehicle and decided to check out another spot where I occasionally jump elk. We walked into the area found some good sign but no elk? on our way out we were fortunate enough to run into some deer and I was able to put an arrow through a respectable 8 point. With the help of Pat we made short work packing him out. Pat had more opportunity but with the rut barely kicking off and him having to leave to hunt antelope elsewhere otherwise I know he would have closed the deal on a bull. pat ended up shooting a nice freaky looking speed goat but i wish he could of stayed and hunted with us.
Pat and his goat
Finally the 16 arrived and I wasn?t as excited as you would have thought. It turns out that the weekend before the hunt in the Valle started Pat, my Dad and I went scouting where pat had killed his Valle bull five years earlier and I hurt my ankle. I didn't think I had but that Saturday when we walked about 7 miles just checking it out I pulled a tendon in my upper ankle. I thought it would be better the 16th, four days after hurting it but I wasn?t. Opening day everything was going wrong. We woke up a little late and were the last ones out of the camp. My dad, my friend Eustacio and I had this plan of hunting a canyon we had scouted in the weeks prior and had seen outstanding bulls? so we gave it a shot. The only thing was it was across a large swift river so I brought some waders just for that reason. After the wader dance we started up our canyon and about half way up my dad looks at me smiles and asks me? where are your arrows?? I had forgotten my quiver back at camp several miles from where we were limping I mean hiking. I borrowed an arrow from my dads quiver and I limped on. We were just getting to the first of many wallows and the rain that we were hiking in turned into a down poor. Starting to soak through my rain gear we decided to get off the hill before we get struck by lightning. We went back to camp and I was hurting the only thing I could think about was ibuprofen. I took two damn much ibuprofen because when we left camp I was driving the truck and it was not long before I became a passenger?I was falling asleep in the middle of the day. After my much needed nap we ended up parking on the top of a road in an area we didn't even plan on hunting. We stopped to have lunch and the can of spam reminded me of just how much I vowed to never sit in the truck if I had ever drawn the Valle Vidal tag. I love to cover ground but my ankle wasn?t letting me do what I was capable of. The rain finally broke around 3:30pm and we started our drive down the long two track road. On our way down we saw some elk and it made me remember that I was hunting. A good bull was with the group but they of course blew out of there as soon as they seen the truck. ?The rain is going to work like a switch? I had to keep telling my self. On the way down we came to an area Eustacio and I knew but didn't scout. I dropped him and my Dad of there and told them to turn on the GPS and I will drive the truck down and Turn on mine. I parked near the bottom of the road and marked the truck so the boys could find it and decided to go for a walk. I started heading up hill slower than I would have liked but my ankle was hanging in there. Before I knew it I had covered some ground and thought I heard a faint bugle. I walked some more and heard it again, this time I was sure of it. One bugle turned into two and then into three and into four. The pain in my ankle went away and I was flying up the hill. The bugles sounded closer and more frequent and soon I say a cow and then a few more. The wind was blowing up hill at my back and I probably was scented in Spam the latest elk attractant. I opened up wide on the elk and trying to get the wind in my favor had a few close calls with some cows. Sneaking through the timber I looked at my bow and remembered I only had one arrow. Like I needed another challenge? I got above the screamers and came within 10 yards of a rag horn and was almost busted again. With the wind in my favor I worked down the mountain all the while being mindful of all the elk around me. I still had not seen a mature bull even though it sounded like there were four of them in close proximity of me. Finally I saw a nice 6x6 and decided to take a closer look. I got within 40 yards of the group of cows I though he was with but no bull could I see. The cows at 40 yards got nervous and I knew from there body language it wasn?t cause of me. A bigger 6x6 showed his face but was beyond the cows a ways he came into a lane and I stopped him with a mouth call. Perfectly broad side?I let it fly and watched my only arrow fly flawlessly until the last ten yards. My arrow appeared to hit the bull in what would have been a heart shot but when I went to look for my arrow it was clean. I MISSED? my only arrow had lodged itself in a clump of grass in between two logs. I picked the arrow up and looked down the hill at a few cows watching me holding my one arrow in disbelief. The Elk scampered off and I headed back to the truck thinking about what had gone wrong. From where I picked up my arrow I ranged back to where I had shot from and I got a reading of 71 yards. I wanted to cry but it was the first day and I was hoping that I didn't spook those elk off the mountain. I was getting close to the truck and my radio suddenly had the voice of my partners asking where I was. I told them what had happened and told them that I would bugle to let them know how far off I was. When I bugled to my amazement the bull I had just missed 15 minutes ago bugled right back at me and even more amazing was that he was only150 yards away. I told the guys about the bull and that they should head down the road on the truck and according to the GPS Park directly east of me on the road so I wouldn't have to walk back up hill. I snuck in on the group of elk and I was able to put my recycled arrow through both lungs at 65 yards. After the shot I immediately let Eustacio and my dad that I had hit him. They said ?We know we can hear him coming our way?. The next thing they said was that the bull had crossed the road 30 yards in front of them? I didn't even look for my arrow as it was already 6:25 and it had been getting dark at 7:05 when I got to where they were parked they had found blood right on the road. We gave him half an hour and put on our head lamps and set off looking for him. Not far Eustacio found the invincible arrow and not far from that we found my bull. The bull ended up going pretty far considering I hit him in both lungs but he was only two tenths from the road. My camera didn't work for some reason when we tried to take some pics in the field but I did get some the next day.
We were in the bulls every day after that we were just having a hard time getting my dad to put an arrow in one. On the fourth day of the hunt he even had a 5x5 and 6 cows lay down just 30 yards from where he was set up but when he went to draw the cows busted him and he never got a shot. That day we say so many bulls but the 5x5 was the closest to a shot. The second to the last day we were pretty wore out from hiking so much so fortunately thanks to Eustacio and his father we were able to saddle up the horses and do it the easy way!!! We got up high and sat around waiting for the elk to get fired up. It wasn?t long before the bulls were screaming again and soon after that we were on a monster we snuck in on this guy and his cows and had him at 20 yards but it was just to thick and when my dad stepped to the side at full draw to get the shot the bull busted him and high tailed it. On the way down that afternoon we again found ourselves surrounded by bulls. There were two bugling above us as we road down an old logging trail. We turned the corner and there were two more bugling across a canyon from us that the trail we were on led to. We tied up the horses there and analyzed the situation and ended up spotting a satellite bull working in between two other groups of elk. We didn't even need to really talk about it my dad just went down the logging trail and intercepted the bull as he worked his way from one group to another. At about 45 yards my dad arrowed the largest satellite I ever saw and from our vantage we watched the Bull Run up hill until we lost him in the trees. We gave him an hour before looking for blood because the shot ended up being a little far back. After an hour or so we found darn good blood going up hill and a spot where the bull had stopped for a bit leaving a large amount of blood. Not to sure where the bull was hit and because it was almost dark we got out of there and rode back down to the horse trailer. The next morning we road back up and sure enough found the bull and a blanket of snow. This will probably by far be the best hunting trip I may ever experience, good friends, good elk and watching my dad get hooked on archery hunting.
Soon hunting season was upon me? well antelope season. In August I went down to south eastern NM and cashed in on a 14? loper?I missed the other two giants but the season couldn't have started off better.
August flew by and so did the antelope meat and that magical month of September was soon here. I had the first 15 days of September to deer hunt and more importantly get my dad some up close and personal experience looking at an animal thought the peep sight instead of the crosshairs. We had a fair amount of action and every buck we encountered was a chance to stalk in close. We almost got him to close the deal one weekend but just couldn't pull it off. He was working all week saving up his vacation for the Valle which started the 16 of September. I was almost going to give up on the mulies for this year when an unexpected hunting buddy gave me a chance to sneak away for one more shot at the grey ghosts. A man named Pat from Wisconsin, a man I had never met before in my life, shows up on my door looking for whom else but my dad. Turns out he and my dad had met a couple of weeks earlier while my dad was checking our cattle in the high country and pat was doing some scouting for an elk hunt he had coming up in that area. He showed up looking for my dad and found me instead we got to talking and looking at maps and no more than 45 minutes of knowing the guy he and I were off on a spike trip. I grabbed my gear and a bed roll and left my Wife, kids and mother worried again except this time I wasn?t going out alone I was going with a perfect stranger. Pat and I got up to our hunting spot a place where I couldn't close the deal on a awesome 6x7 last fall and within an hour pat had spotted a 6x6 and some cow bedded side hill a ? mile away. We got on them and I thought it was going to happen bit when we were in the zone (within 70 yards) we just couldn't pull it off. The next day we made it back to the vehicle and decided to check out another spot where I occasionally jump elk. We walked into the area found some good sign but no elk? on our way out we were fortunate enough to run into some deer and I was able to put an arrow through a respectable 8 point. With the help of Pat we made short work packing him out. Pat had more opportunity but with the rut barely kicking off and him having to leave to hunt antelope elsewhere otherwise I know he would have closed the deal on a bull. pat ended up shooting a nice freaky looking speed goat but i wish he could of stayed and hunted with us.
Pat and his goat
Finally the 16 arrived and I wasn?t as excited as you would have thought. It turns out that the weekend before the hunt in the Valle started Pat, my Dad and I went scouting where pat had killed his Valle bull five years earlier and I hurt my ankle. I didn't think I had but that Saturday when we walked about 7 miles just checking it out I pulled a tendon in my upper ankle. I thought it would be better the 16th, four days after hurting it but I wasn?t. Opening day everything was going wrong. We woke up a little late and were the last ones out of the camp. My dad, my friend Eustacio and I had this plan of hunting a canyon we had scouted in the weeks prior and had seen outstanding bulls? so we gave it a shot. The only thing was it was across a large swift river so I brought some waders just for that reason. After the wader dance we started up our canyon and about half way up my dad looks at me smiles and asks me? where are your arrows?? I had forgotten my quiver back at camp several miles from where we were limping I mean hiking. I borrowed an arrow from my dads quiver and I limped on. We were just getting to the first of many wallows and the rain that we were hiking in turned into a down poor. Starting to soak through my rain gear we decided to get off the hill before we get struck by lightning. We went back to camp and I was hurting the only thing I could think about was ibuprofen. I took two damn much ibuprofen because when we left camp I was driving the truck and it was not long before I became a passenger?I was falling asleep in the middle of the day. After my much needed nap we ended up parking on the top of a road in an area we didn't even plan on hunting. We stopped to have lunch and the can of spam reminded me of just how much I vowed to never sit in the truck if I had ever drawn the Valle Vidal tag. I love to cover ground but my ankle wasn?t letting me do what I was capable of. The rain finally broke around 3:30pm and we started our drive down the long two track road. On our way down we saw some elk and it made me remember that I was hunting. A good bull was with the group but they of course blew out of there as soon as they seen the truck. ?The rain is going to work like a switch? I had to keep telling my self. On the way down we came to an area Eustacio and I knew but didn't scout. I dropped him and my Dad of there and told them to turn on the GPS and I will drive the truck down and Turn on mine. I parked near the bottom of the road and marked the truck so the boys could find it and decided to go for a walk. I started heading up hill slower than I would have liked but my ankle was hanging in there. Before I knew it I had covered some ground and thought I heard a faint bugle. I walked some more and heard it again, this time I was sure of it. One bugle turned into two and then into three and into four. The pain in my ankle went away and I was flying up the hill. The bugles sounded closer and more frequent and soon I say a cow and then a few more. The wind was blowing up hill at my back and I probably was scented in Spam the latest elk attractant. I opened up wide on the elk and trying to get the wind in my favor had a few close calls with some cows. Sneaking through the timber I looked at my bow and remembered I only had one arrow. Like I needed another challenge? I got above the screamers and came within 10 yards of a rag horn and was almost busted again. With the wind in my favor I worked down the mountain all the while being mindful of all the elk around me. I still had not seen a mature bull even though it sounded like there were four of them in close proximity of me. Finally I saw a nice 6x6 and decided to take a closer look. I got within 40 yards of the group of cows I though he was with but no bull could I see. The cows at 40 yards got nervous and I knew from there body language it wasn?t cause of me. A bigger 6x6 showed his face but was beyond the cows a ways he came into a lane and I stopped him with a mouth call. Perfectly broad side?I let it fly and watched my only arrow fly flawlessly until the last ten yards. My arrow appeared to hit the bull in what would have been a heart shot but when I went to look for my arrow it was clean. I MISSED? my only arrow had lodged itself in a clump of grass in between two logs. I picked the arrow up and looked down the hill at a few cows watching me holding my one arrow in disbelief. The Elk scampered off and I headed back to the truck thinking about what had gone wrong. From where I picked up my arrow I ranged back to where I had shot from and I got a reading of 71 yards. I wanted to cry but it was the first day and I was hoping that I didn't spook those elk off the mountain. I was getting close to the truck and my radio suddenly had the voice of my partners asking where I was. I told them what had happened and told them that I would bugle to let them know how far off I was. When I bugled to my amazement the bull I had just missed 15 minutes ago bugled right back at me and even more amazing was that he was only150 yards away. I told the guys about the bull and that they should head down the road on the truck and according to the GPS Park directly east of me on the road so I wouldn't have to walk back up hill. I snuck in on the group of elk and I was able to put my recycled arrow through both lungs at 65 yards. After the shot I immediately let Eustacio and my dad that I had hit him. They said ?We know we can hear him coming our way?. The next thing they said was that the bull had crossed the road 30 yards in front of them? I didn't even look for my arrow as it was already 6:25 and it had been getting dark at 7:05 when I got to where they were parked they had found blood right on the road. We gave him half an hour and put on our head lamps and set off looking for him. Not far Eustacio found the invincible arrow and not far from that we found my bull. The bull ended up going pretty far considering I hit him in both lungs but he was only two tenths from the road. My camera didn't work for some reason when we tried to take some pics in the field but I did get some the next day.
We were in the bulls every day after that we were just having a hard time getting my dad to put an arrow in one. On the fourth day of the hunt he even had a 5x5 and 6 cows lay down just 30 yards from where he was set up but when he went to draw the cows busted him and he never got a shot. That day we say so many bulls but the 5x5 was the closest to a shot. The second to the last day we were pretty wore out from hiking so much so fortunately thanks to Eustacio and his father we were able to saddle up the horses and do it the easy way!!! We got up high and sat around waiting for the elk to get fired up. It wasn?t long before the bulls were screaming again and soon after that we were on a monster we snuck in on this guy and his cows and had him at 20 yards but it was just to thick and when my dad stepped to the side at full draw to get the shot the bull busted him and high tailed it. On the way down that afternoon we again found ourselves surrounded by bulls. There were two bugling above us as we road down an old logging trail. We turned the corner and there were two more bugling across a canyon from us that the trail we were on led to. We tied up the horses there and analyzed the situation and ended up spotting a satellite bull working in between two other groups of elk. We didn't even need to really talk about it my dad just went down the logging trail and intercepted the bull as he worked his way from one group to another. At about 45 yards my dad arrowed the largest satellite I ever saw and from our vantage we watched the Bull Run up hill until we lost him in the trees. We gave him an hour before looking for blood because the shot ended up being a little far back. After an hour or so we found darn good blood going up hill and a spot where the bull had stopped for a bit leaving a large amount of blood. Not to sure where the bull was hit and because it was almost dark we got out of there and rode back down to the horse trailer. The next morning we road back up and sure enough found the bull and a blanket of snow. This will probably by far be the best hunting trip I may ever experience, good friends, good elk and watching my dad get hooked on archery hunting.
