A
archerelk
Guest
No Bull for the Mrs. But what a hunt. I got to watch the Mrs. go from house wife to die hard hunter in just one short week. For those of you who have read my previous posts, you know that my wife was afraid to be in the field alone. Well that has all changed now.
Opening day we worked hard and found one heard of cows. We didn't see another elk until Sunday morning. We still hunted and walked up on a raggy that we decided to pass. Sunday afternoon I checked my voicemail and had a message from the sitter cancelling on us for the rest of the week. We came back to Phoenix, got our 3 and 5 year old, and headed back up to unit 8. This dramatically changed the hunt. My wife won't go out into the field alone, and there is no way we can pack the kids to the places I like. We resorted to alot of glassing. Monday we did not see a thing, the wife was becoming very discouraged. Tuesday just before sun down, we watched a few elk coming out of the trees into a meadow. We decided it would be good to get to the meadow very early and try to get in front of them, so that is what we did. We got out there about 1/2 hour before the sun came up, and the elk were just starting up the hill. Did not see any bulls in the heard but liked what we were seeing. That night we watched the heard coming into the meadow again this time with a couple of bulls. Not enough time to shoot so we decided to get to the meadow even earlier the next day, and we did. Thursday morning we got to the meadow, my wife was pumped. Just as it was almost getting light enough to shoot, we saw 8 bulls coming towards us at about 250 yards. One was about 370+ the others varied but were all shooters. Just as my wife moved into position to shoot along comes a guy in a truck through the meadow, the elk are gone. My wife gets up and takes off after them. I figured she would be gone for a few minutes and come back. 5 hours later, she returns after getting a ride from some old folks who found her about 8 miles away. She wasn't lost, she found a heard of about 75 elk and kept working them. She even got to take a shot. Now I just need to teach how to judge distance.
My wife is no longer afraid to be in the field alone. She has some great memories, and even got to experiance bull fever. I have found my best hunting buddy. The kids had a blast to. How many 3 year olds have seen a 370+ bull??? It was a trip I will never forget.
Blair
Opening day we worked hard and found one heard of cows. We didn't see another elk until Sunday morning. We still hunted and walked up on a raggy that we decided to pass. Sunday afternoon I checked my voicemail and had a message from the sitter cancelling on us for the rest of the week. We came back to Phoenix, got our 3 and 5 year old, and headed back up to unit 8. This dramatically changed the hunt. My wife won't go out into the field alone, and there is no way we can pack the kids to the places I like. We resorted to alot of glassing. Monday we did not see a thing, the wife was becoming very discouraged. Tuesday just before sun down, we watched a few elk coming out of the trees into a meadow. We decided it would be good to get to the meadow very early and try to get in front of them, so that is what we did. We got out there about 1/2 hour before the sun came up, and the elk were just starting up the hill. Did not see any bulls in the heard but liked what we were seeing. That night we watched the heard coming into the meadow again this time with a couple of bulls. Not enough time to shoot so we decided to get to the meadow even earlier the next day, and we did. Thursday morning we got to the meadow, my wife was pumped. Just as it was almost getting light enough to shoot, we saw 8 bulls coming towards us at about 250 yards. One was about 370+ the others varied but were all shooters. Just as my wife moved into position to shoot along comes a guy in a truck through the meadow, the elk are gone. My wife gets up and takes off after them. I figured she would be gone for a few minutes and come back. 5 hours later, she returns after getting a ride from some old folks who found her about 8 miles away. She wasn't lost, she found a heard of about 75 elk and kept working them. She even got to take a shot. Now I just need to teach how to judge distance.
My wife is no longer afraid to be in the field alone. She has some great memories, and even got to experiance bull fever. I have found my best hunting buddy. The kids had a blast to. How many 3 year olds have seen a 370+ bull??? It was a trip I will never forget.
Blair
