I shared this on my 'home' site here in AZ (cw.com) but thought I would post it here too. LOVE hunting with my kids more than anything on this earth!
My son Nicholas, was drawn for the 6A Jr. Elk hunt this year. He just turned 17 last month, so this was his final 'Jr.' elk tag, and we had a GREAT time together! Due to misc. reasons, none of my usual hunting buddies or older son could come along (Ken and his son were going to come-up Friday after work to help, but that ended-up not being necessary..... ). So it was just the two of us!
We took it easy this time and stayed at my sister's house in Flagstaff as opposed to gearing-up to camp. Woke-up early yesterday and drove down to the Lake Mary / Mormon Mountain area. First light found us about 1.5 miles in to the Pine Grove Quiet area (closed to vehicle traffic....). There were some bulls bugling here and there, so that was a bonus as Nick had never really been on an elk hunt where the bulls were active. Fun stuff!!!
Well at about 7AM we heard two shots about 1/4 mile away down in a little canyon. I told Nick we should just chill out because you never know what direction the spooked elk might run. Sure enough about 30 seconds later I start seeing elk moving through the pines across the flat terrain about 400 yards away. There were 30-40 of them, bulls and cows moving nervously trotting, running, stopping, like they do when kind of confused and not sure where they want to go. We positioned ourselves for a little better view and sure enough they kept moving and started to make there way a little closer. At about 275 yards, one of the cows finally stopped clear of the others by herself in a nice opening and gave Nick a clear shot. He was using his grandpa's Remington 7MM. and with one perfectly placed shot she dropped on the spot!
Ended-up 1.9 miles (GPS) from the truck, so we spent the next 6 hours hiking the meat out. Thank God for a strong 17 year old boy and Eberlestock packs!
Leaving on Thursday for 6 days of deer hunting in Utah with some old friends. Some fresh elk back strap chops will be an awesome addition to our menu!
Happy hunting all!!!!
S.
Amazing morning with great clear & cool weather!
Resting after we hiked back to pick-up the remaining meat prior to loading-up. We made the decision to bring all four quarters out in one load (two packs) apposed to doing the four mile round trip a 3rd time. ;-)
My son Nicholas, was drawn for the 6A Jr. Elk hunt this year. He just turned 17 last month, so this was his final 'Jr.' elk tag, and we had a GREAT time together! Due to misc. reasons, none of my usual hunting buddies or older son could come along (Ken and his son were going to come-up Friday after work to help, but that ended-up not being necessary..... ). So it was just the two of us!
We took it easy this time and stayed at my sister's house in Flagstaff as opposed to gearing-up to camp. Woke-up early yesterday and drove down to the Lake Mary / Mormon Mountain area. First light found us about 1.5 miles in to the Pine Grove Quiet area (closed to vehicle traffic....). There were some bulls bugling here and there, so that was a bonus as Nick had never really been on an elk hunt where the bulls were active. Fun stuff!!!
Well at about 7AM we heard two shots about 1/4 mile away down in a little canyon. I told Nick we should just chill out because you never know what direction the spooked elk might run. Sure enough about 30 seconds later I start seeing elk moving through the pines across the flat terrain about 400 yards away. There were 30-40 of them, bulls and cows moving nervously trotting, running, stopping, like they do when kind of confused and not sure where they want to go. We positioned ourselves for a little better view and sure enough they kept moving and started to make there way a little closer. At about 275 yards, one of the cows finally stopped clear of the others by herself in a nice opening and gave Nick a clear shot. He was using his grandpa's Remington 7MM. and with one perfectly placed shot she dropped on the spot!
Ended-up 1.9 miles (GPS) from the truck, so we spent the next 6 hours hiking the meat out. Thank God for a strong 17 year old boy and Eberlestock packs!
Leaving on Thursday for 6 days of deer hunting in Utah with some old friends. Some fresh elk back strap chops will be an awesome addition to our menu!
Happy hunting all!!!!
S.
Amazing morning with great clear & cool weather!
Resting after we hiked back to pick-up the remaining meat prior to loading-up. We made the decision to bring all four quarters out in one load (two packs) apposed to doing the four mile round trip a 3rd time. ;-)
