arch3614elk
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When I was a young boy I knew hunting was in my blood and I loved to be in the mountains, the only problem was I never really had the opprotunity go every year. I had an older brother and my brother in law that went every year, but my dad had me staying home. It wasn't until I turned twelve that I started going on a regular basis with my brother and extended family. Sadly I never had the opprotunity to hunt with my dad, he passed away the year I convinced him to go with me. From what I was told by my family was that my dad was a passionate hunter and after he got hurt when I was young he couldn't hunt like he used to so he gave it up. I have taken my kids on as many hunts as possible to give them the opprotunity I missed when I was young. This years elk hunt was a life changing event for me. It looked liked I would be going hunting by my self this year. I had kids that had to work and school events they couldn't miss. One evening the topic of the elk hunt came up and I asked if anyone wanted to go one last time. I saw my daughters boyfriend Mike looking at me with the urgency of wanting to go but unsure how to ask. Finally asking him if he was interested and he immediately said yes. I got a text from him the next day telling me he had the whole week off. Mike is a good kid, he is very respectful and treats my daughter good. I found out later that Mikes dad had passed away at the first of the year. His dad had promised him they would go hunting but he was too ill to make it happen. Opening morning had us in meadow with three bulls bugling around us in the thick aspens,we headed toward the closest bull. Behind us we had some cows walking behind us stopping ten feet from Mike, his eyes were fixed on them this was the first time he ad ever seen an elk. They backed out and we just smiled knowing they almost ran him over. Then in the lower meadow Mike spots his first bull. I could see the excitement in his eyes, We let this bull pass I told him we were looking for a bigger bull. He was now spotting deer even getting to see a bull moose less than thirty yards away. I was starting to see interest of hunting turn in to a passion. On Wednesday we had got in to a clearing that had very good sign and decided wait out the cold wind and see what was coming in. I spotted a few deer in the edge of the trees so I told mike we should go for a quick walk to see what else was in the trees. We got to the edge of the meadow and I saw two elk stand up from there beds, The first one was a small bull a 3x4 that has us pegged. I let him walk as the second elk was getting ready to bolt. Mike was watching the first bull, as it walked off the second elk came out. I saw that he was a good bull and flipped my safety off he stopped and all I had was a head shot he took two steps and I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and fired. I saw him dip and start to run I put another shot in his shoulder and he went out of sight. Mike had thought we missed, we walked over and saw the bull starting to go down. One last shot put the bull down for good. I told him that this is where the hard work begins. My newphew Jeremy helped pack up the bull out the next morning. Two trips with loaded bacpacks Mike never quit he had more energy and a look of excitement as we hiked the bull out. On the way home Mike told me that next year he hunting elk with me. It wasn't really talked about whole time but it seemed like we both grew as a better person.
