O
OldRookie
Guest
Well, the long anticipated hunt is over..My 16 yr old son, wife and myself got home last night about 8:30pm from Colorado..
It's hard to put this one into words: We didn't bring any elk home, but the hunt still has to be qualified as an unconditional success.
The weather was terrible for elk hunting in the high desert where we were planning to hunt (50-60 degrees and no elk moving)
Our outfitter Larry Bishop went far above and beyond anything we expected to try and get Chance (my son) on an elk. By the middle of the week he had located elk on another ranch (in the mtns) and we purchased the proper tags and Weds night he has us on Elk..
the goal was to try and fill Chance's tag and if i got lucky so be it..
Larry did his job and Thursday night Chance got a shot on a nice cow but unfortunately the shot wasn't well placed...He's an excellent kid (honor student and no trouble other than being 16 to his parents) and an experienced white tail hunter..
I have no doubt he would have made the shot has we been sitting and he would have had time to settle in and squeeze it off..
Unfortunately the elk weren't going to give us that opportunity, we had to hustle down off a mtn and across a short drainage to get into position for the shot and the excitement got the better of him (and me i have to be honest here) and he pulled the shot.
Chance, his mother and myself spent 5 hrs in the mtns friday am tracking the elk, we jumped her from her bed twice..About 4 hrs into the tracking job I was physically whipped Chance and his mother (she's a tough chick and in great shape!!)forged on ahead and trailed the elk until she doubled back onto her trail. I made it up to them finally and we tried to sort it out, but it was entirely too confusing..And we have trailed up a few animals so all are decent trackers. By that time they were physically exhausted also and we called it quits. Chance is still pretty blue over pulling the shot, it's the first time he's ever wounded an animal and not recovered. I have to admit as I sit here I'm mentally drained, there was a lot of effort expended getting that shot and also trying to recover..Here are a few points I would like to make about this trip.
1. Larry Bishop is as fine a gentleman as you will ever do business with. I recommend him wholeheartedly and if he'll have us Chance and I will be back next season (I think we are doing a mule deer hunt!!!!!!!) We paid for an unguided cow hunt and Larry Bishop went way above and beyond..He put great effort in getting a 16 year old boy an elk..
2. Friday when I came down off that Mtn I made a mental vow to shed 60 lbs before next season and get off my lazy butt and exercise more
3. My wife son and I got to spend a great week together, she rode in the truck with us and tagged along on all trips out but two. She managed some great photos (i'll have Chance post some on this thread a bit later today he's still in bed!), we had a couple of great play days in Steamboat before the hunt and all enjoyed it very much..It's cool to sit in an outside hot tube in 19 degree weather and see the mtns and the stars.
4. I thank God that we were able to take this trip together, even though we didn't bring an elk home it's one we'll never forget. And the fact that Chance was there with us is also a miracle..He was involved in a car accident on Oct 22nd, he made a mistake while driving home from school and totally destroyed his chevy pick up. It's only by God's grace he's here today the truck flipped upside down, went thru guy wires holding an electric pole up and slammed into a tree on the drivers side. The drives side door was pushed in 24" around the tree, the electric lines on the pole were less than 6 " from touching..Three 16 year old boys walked away with some bruises and one broken thumb. All had seatbelts on and obviously God has further use for them somewhere down the road.
Hope you and all your families have a great Christmas and please let's all remember the reason for the season.
Larry Hall and Family
It's hard to put this one into words: We didn't bring any elk home, but the hunt still has to be qualified as an unconditional success.
The weather was terrible for elk hunting in the high desert where we were planning to hunt (50-60 degrees and no elk moving)
Our outfitter Larry Bishop went far above and beyond anything we expected to try and get Chance (my son) on an elk. By the middle of the week he had located elk on another ranch (in the mtns) and we purchased the proper tags and Weds night he has us on Elk..
the goal was to try and fill Chance's tag and if i got lucky so be it..
Larry did his job and Thursday night Chance got a shot on a nice cow but unfortunately the shot wasn't well placed...He's an excellent kid (honor student and no trouble other than being 16 to his parents) and an experienced white tail hunter..
I have no doubt he would have made the shot has we been sitting and he would have had time to settle in and squeeze it off..
Unfortunately the elk weren't going to give us that opportunity, we had to hustle down off a mtn and across a short drainage to get into position for the shot and the excitement got the better of him (and me i have to be honest here) and he pulled the shot.
Chance, his mother and myself spent 5 hrs in the mtns friday am tracking the elk, we jumped her from her bed twice..About 4 hrs into the tracking job I was physically whipped Chance and his mother (she's a tough chick and in great shape!!)forged on ahead and trailed the elk until she doubled back onto her trail. I made it up to them finally and we tried to sort it out, but it was entirely too confusing..And we have trailed up a few animals so all are decent trackers. By that time they were physically exhausted also and we called it quits. Chance is still pretty blue over pulling the shot, it's the first time he's ever wounded an animal and not recovered. I have to admit as I sit here I'm mentally drained, there was a lot of effort expended getting that shot and also trying to recover..Here are a few points I would like to make about this trip.
1. Larry Bishop is as fine a gentleman as you will ever do business with. I recommend him wholeheartedly and if he'll have us Chance and I will be back next season (I think we are doing a mule deer hunt!!!!!!!) We paid for an unguided cow hunt and Larry Bishop went way above and beyond..He put great effort in getting a 16 year old boy an elk..
2. Friday when I came down off that Mtn I made a mental vow to shed 60 lbs before next season and get off my lazy butt and exercise more
3. My wife son and I got to spend a great week together, she rode in the truck with us and tagged along on all trips out but two. She managed some great photos (i'll have Chance post some on this thread a bit later today he's still in bed!), we had a couple of great play days in Steamboat before the hunt and all enjoyed it very much..It's cool to sit in an outside hot tube in 19 degree weather and see the mtns and the stars.
4. I thank God that we were able to take this trip together, even though we didn't bring an elk home it's one we'll never forget. And the fact that Chance was there with us is also a miracle..He was involved in a car accident on Oct 22nd, he made a mistake while driving home from school and totally destroyed his chevy pick up. It's only by God's grace he's here today the truck flipped upside down, went thru guy wires holding an electric pole up and slammed into a tree on the drivers side. The drives side door was pushed in 24" around the tree, the electric lines on the pole were less than 6 " from touching..Three 16 year old boys walked away with some bruises and one broken thumb. All had seatbelts on and obviously God has further use for them somewhere down the road.
Hope you and all your families have a great Christmas and please let's all remember the reason for the season.
Larry Hall and Family
