After months of anticipation, the Cortez family finally got out for a family elk hunt. Earlier in June, Kiko Jr. (Elksniper) and Gail (mom/wife) had drawn out for the same hunt on different separate applications. Gail drew her first choice and Kiko Jr. drew his third choice. Two tags on this hunt would be fun and challenging experience for us.
One of the questions I thought about as this hunt approached was who would get the first shot. Finally one evening while we were having dinner, I decided to ask this very question. Gail suggested that Kiko Jr.get the first shot since he had never harvested a bull before. This was very generous on her part. She wanted her son to get his first bull elk, knowing that she had two bull harvests in her hunting resume. As proud as Kiko Jr. is, he suggested they do a coin flip. Kiko Jr. called heads and won the coin toss. Gail smiled and gave Kiko Jr. a big hug. I am pretty confident that Gail provided a two headed coin for the coin toss.
Weeks prior to the hunt found Gail and Kiko Jr. out shooting their favorite big game rifles. You could tell that Gail was not focused on elk shot placement during these sessions, instead her focus was on Oryx shot placement. She kept referencing Oryx shot placement. This was in preparation for her upcoming OIL Oryx hunt at Stallion in November. Regardless, with the way she was shooting, it did not matter what critter was standing in front of her. They would be in serious trouble. Kiko Jr. was also doing very well. This kid can really shoot!
The weekend prior to the hunt, Kiko Jr. and I went out to scout rutting elk within the unit in an area that we knew well. On this trip we were greeted by two or three bulls bulging up a storm. We glassed up on of the bulls. Even though the bull was on the smallish side, he would make a great first bull for Kiko Jr. Based on the results of our scouting trip, we had a plan for opening morning the following week.
The week blew by and opening morning was upon us. It started by us leaving the house at 4:00 am. At approximately 5:00 am we arrived at the ?Plan A? area. It was the spot we had scouted the week before. A lot can change in a week. The biggest change was a huge camp right on top of the elk. Dang it! These were the exact words I used, I promise. Remember this was a family friendly event. We stuck with the plan and decided to climb a ridge into saddle to see if we could glass up some elk or hear some bugling. Instead we glassed up some hunters on ATVs stopping every little while to blow on their grunt tubes. Elk are not dumb. They know that elk don't ride ATV?s. Oh well, so much for ?Plan A?. We hunted the area till about 10:30 am and headed back home for Santiago?s YAFL football game. After the game we decided to stay home for the evening hunt and come up with ?Plan B?.
The next morning had us up by 3:30 and on our way to another area by 4:00 am. We got to area ?Plan B? with enough time to take small power nap. We were pleasantly surprised that there were not many camps set up. We thought we were in great shape. Our naps were interrupted by a string of headlights coming up the road we had just traveled. As the vehicles approached and passed our location I said ?Dang it!? I promise those are the words I used. We decided to stay put and get to high vantage point and glass the open valleys and tree lines as the sun came up. All we glassed up was hunters driving around the base of the mountains ahead of us. I could not believe that even after the sun had come up, these guys still had their headlights on. Any elk could see them for miles. On a positive note, I knew with all this traffic and if elk were still in the area, they would be pushed around pretty good. With that in mind, we began to concentrate on elk movement in that vast country. After about half an hour of glassing, we decide to move around the bend of the hill that we were on for a different vantage point. Once we came around this bend, I could not believe my eyes. There coming down a broad valley was four cow elk and a bull just behind them. They looked like they were running from something. I told Kiko Jr. to get ready as I set up the Bogg Pods. I blew my cow call and got the group of elk to stop. I steadied the Leica Geovids and got a range on them. Kiko asked me ?how far?? Just as I whispered ?194 yards?, Kiko Jr. let one go from his Remington 700 .300 SAUM from a standing off hand shooting position. The bull dropped immediately. I could not believe it; Kiko Jr. had his first bull elk on the ground. As we all stared at each other in disbelief, the bull got up then fell over again. Before he fell over, I noticed a bright red spot right behind the shoulder. Good shot! We thought he was done. Gail and Santiago stayed behind as we approached the downed bull. When we got within about 50 yards, the bull got up again and began to run away from us. The bull was hurt bad. He could not go further as he stopped to look back at us. This time Kiko Jr. got on the rifle rest and put the bull down for good.
We were still in disbelief as Gail and Santiago came on over. After seeing all the hunting pressure, we did not think ?Plan B? was going to come together. It did big time! Gail was very happy for her son. She told him ?Congratulations on your first bull?. We are all very exited and proud of Kiko Jr. He is building quite a hunting resume. As always we gathered and thanked all who deserved to be thanked and began the photo shoot. It was time to field dress the bull. Whoever did not have a knife in hand held a leg and the job got done in short order. The rest of the day would be dedicated to getting the meat taken care of.
Gail still had a tag to fill. Since it was Columbus Day and we were all off, the next morning we were out again. Knowing that lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice, we tried a new area in close proximity to the area where Kiko Jr. took his bull. We wanted to repeat our luck from the previous morning. Our youngest little one Daniela came out with us to hold a leg. No luck this time. Just a bunch of hunters in the same spot Kiko Jr. took his bull. I was telling everyone that we should have made a bunch of burritos. We could have made a small fortune selling them to all the hunters parked at the ?Plan B? spot.
Gail and rest of the family were content with harvesting one elk instead of two. As always we had a great time. We are looking forward to other hunts we have scheduled this fall and winter. The next hunt on the agenda is Gail?s OIL Oryx hunt at the Stallion in November, my Uncle Ray?s MI Oryx hunt in December, and Santiago?s youth encouragement antler less elk hunt in December. We are seriously considering another freezer.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/4233kiko_elk_2010_005_1.jpg
Kiko Jr. (Elksniper) and his first bull elk
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/9851kiko_elk_2010_010_1.jpg
Kiko Jr. and Santiago
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/650kiko_elk_2010_015_1.jpg
Proud Dad with his sons
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/4724kiko_elk_2010_019_1.jpg
Proud Mom with her sons
One of the questions I thought about as this hunt approached was who would get the first shot. Finally one evening while we were having dinner, I decided to ask this very question. Gail suggested that Kiko Jr.get the first shot since he had never harvested a bull before. This was very generous on her part. She wanted her son to get his first bull elk, knowing that she had two bull harvests in her hunting resume. As proud as Kiko Jr. is, he suggested they do a coin flip. Kiko Jr. called heads and won the coin toss. Gail smiled and gave Kiko Jr. a big hug. I am pretty confident that Gail provided a two headed coin for the coin toss.
Weeks prior to the hunt found Gail and Kiko Jr. out shooting their favorite big game rifles. You could tell that Gail was not focused on elk shot placement during these sessions, instead her focus was on Oryx shot placement. She kept referencing Oryx shot placement. This was in preparation for her upcoming OIL Oryx hunt at Stallion in November. Regardless, with the way she was shooting, it did not matter what critter was standing in front of her. They would be in serious trouble. Kiko Jr. was also doing very well. This kid can really shoot!
The weekend prior to the hunt, Kiko Jr. and I went out to scout rutting elk within the unit in an area that we knew well. On this trip we were greeted by two or three bulls bulging up a storm. We glassed up on of the bulls. Even though the bull was on the smallish side, he would make a great first bull for Kiko Jr. Based on the results of our scouting trip, we had a plan for opening morning the following week.
The week blew by and opening morning was upon us. It started by us leaving the house at 4:00 am. At approximately 5:00 am we arrived at the ?Plan A? area. It was the spot we had scouted the week before. A lot can change in a week. The biggest change was a huge camp right on top of the elk. Dang it! These were the exact words I used, I promise. Remember this was a family friendly event. We stuck with the plan and decided to climb a ridge into saddle to see if we could glass up some elk or hear some bugling. Instead we glassed up some hunters on ATVs stopping every little while to blow on their grunt tubes. Elk are not dumb. They know that elk don't ride ATV?s. Oh well, so much for ?Plan A?. We hunted the area till about 10:30 am and headed back home for Santiago?s YAFL football game. After the game we decided to stay home for the evening hunt and come up with ?Plan B?.
The next morning had us up by 3:30 and on our way to another area by 4:00 am. We got to area ?Plan B? with enough time to take small power nap. We were pleasantly surprised that there were not many camps set up. We thought we were in great shape. Our naps were interrupted by a string of headlights coming up the road we had just traveled. As the vehicles approached and passed our location I said ?Dang it!? I promise those are the words I used. We decided to stay put and get to high vantage point and glass the open valleys and tree lines as the sun came up. All we glassed up was hunters driving around the base of the mountains ahead of us. I could not believe that even after the sun had come up, these guys still had their headlights on. Any elk could see them for miles. On a positive note, I knew with all this traffic and if elk were still in the area, they would be pushed around pretty good. With that in mind, we began to concentrate on elk movement in that vast country. After about half an hour of glassing, we decide to move around the bend of the hill that we were on for a different vantage point. Once we came around this bend, I could not believe my eyes. There coming down a broad valley was four cow elk and a bull just behind them. They looked like they were running from something. I told Kiko Jr. to get ready as I set up the Bogg Pods. I blew my cow call and got the group of elk to stop. I steadied the Leica Geovids and got a range on them. Kiko asked me ?how far?? Just as I whispered ?194 yards?, Kiko Jr. let one go from his Remington 700 .300 SAUM from a standing off hand shooting position. The bull dropped immediately. I could not believe it; Kiko Jr. had his first bull elk on the ground. As we all stared at each other in disbelief, the bull got up then fell over again. Before he fell over, I noticed a bright red spot right behind the shoulder. Good shot! We thought he was done. Gail and Santiago stayed behind as we approached the downed bull. When we got within about 50 yards, the bull got up again and began to run away from us. The bull was hurt bad. He could not go further as he stopped to look back at us. This time Kiko Jr. got on the rifle rest and put the bull down for good.
We were still in disbelief as Gail and Santiago came on over. After seeing all the hunting pressure, we did not think ?Plan B? was going to come together. It did big time! Gail was very happy for her son. She told him ?Congratulations on your first bull?. We are all very exited and proud of Kiko Jr. He is building quite a hunting resume. As always we gathered and thanked all who deserved to be thanked and began the photo shoot. It was time to field dress the bull. Whoever did not have a knife in hand held a leg and the job got done in short order. The rest of the day would be dedicated to getting the meat taken care of.
Gail still had a tag to fill. Since it was Columbus Day and we were all off, the next morning we were out again. Knowing that lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice, we tried a new area in close proximity to the area where Kiko Jr. took his bull. We wanted to repeat our luck from the previous morning. Our youngest little one Daniela came out with us to hold a leg. No luck this time. Just a bunch of hunters in the same spot Kiko Jr. took his bull. I was telling everyone that we should have made a bunch of burritos. We could have made a small fortune selling them to all the hunters parked at the ?Plan B? spot.
Gail and rest of the family were content with harvesting one elk instead of two. As always we had a great time. We are looking forward to other hunts we have scheduled this fall and winter. The next hunt on the agenda is Gail?s OIL Oryx hunt at the Stallion in November, my Uncle Ray?s MI Oryx hunt in December, and Santiago?s youth encouragement antler less elk hunt in December. We are seriously considering another freezer.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/4233kiko_elk_2010_005_1.jpg
Kiko Jr. (Elksniper) and his first bull elk
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/9851kiko_elk_2010_010_1.jpg
Kiko Jr. and Santiago
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/650kiko_elk_2010_015_1.jpg
Proud Dad with his sons
http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos/4724kiko_elk_2010_019_1.jpg
Proud Mom with her sons
