Roy
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When 16-year-old Kenyon (long time MMer TripleK's youngest son, whom she lovingly refers to as K3) drew the Utah Youth Bull Elk Tag earlier this year, he was excited but tempered his expectations as he knew that on this hunt any bull bigger than a spike would be a great result for his first bull elk.
TripleK's two other boys, K1 and K2, had both put in for this tag multiple times but had never drawn it. So, as a proud mom should be, she was excited as well and just hoped that her son would have a great experience hunting with family. At the end of the hunt, both of their expectations were certainly exceeded - by miles and miles!
Both TripleK and K3 knew that he would have plenty of help from Kenyon's uncle Grizz who would serve as his guide and hunting companion, as he always does for anyone else in his family. No one ever has to ask, Grizz just shows up, and he was there right along with K3 for every step of his hunt.
Things started out slow the first weekend of the hunt as they covered a lot of miles and glassed a lot of hills but didn't see a single elk. K3, who also plays football for Union High, couldn't miss any school or football practice so they only had one evening during the week and then the weekend to get the job done. So, on Thursday night, Grizz took K3 to an area where he knew two smaller bulls had been hanging out. Sure enough, they found the bulls and called one, a 4X5, in to within 100 yards. But, as it was getting close to dark, K3 just couldn't find the crosshairs on the bull, and he just didn't feel right taking the shot and passed. It was a tough decision for an anxious 16-year-old, and he knew that his brothers would give him grief about it, but he knew it was the ethical choice and decided to stand by it, a decision that would prove to be wiser than he realized.
After a long day of school and a disappointing football game on Friday night, K3 and Grizz set out the next morning with high hopes, but again, the morning hunt was unproductive. After a few rounds of target practice to "wake the chickens up" and slipping back into town for a quick burger for lunch, they headed back up the mountain, undeterred, for the afternoon hunt. They debated on a couple of different areas but ultimately decided to go back an area close to where they had seen the two bulls a couple of days before.
After another intense round of glassing, they finally spotted a few cows and then, higher up on the mountain, about a mile away, straight up the hill, they spotted the big bull. Grizz quickly surmised a plan of attack, and they started their stalk from close to 1000 yards away. They had to slip through the sparse piñons and junipers from tree to tree and even belly crawl in places to avoid spooking the cows, but slowly made their way to about 400 yards straight down the hill from the bull with the wind in their favor. It was getting close to dark again but as they were higher up on the face of the steep hill, they had better light this time and K3 could clearly see the reticles as he drew up on the bull and pulled the trigger.
The bull went down but got back up so K3 fired again, and again, and again. Now, we won't say exactly how many shots it actually took him to get the bull down but suffice it to say he took some difficult uphill shots and with just three shells remaining, the bull finally went down and they didn't see it get back up.
They waited a few minutes and after not seeing any more movement or any elk heading over the skyline, they figured he was dead, or dying. As it was too dark by then to really pursue him any further, they made the agonizing decision to back out and not run the risk of pushing the bull in the dark.
On Sunday morning, after a short night full of anxiety and anticipation, they made their way back up the mountain and began glassing to see if they could see the elk lying down in the sagebrush where they had left him the night before or make a plan to go after him if they didn't see him right away. After a few minutes of glassing the hillside though, Grizz spotted his antlers sticking up above the tops of the sage - big bull down!!
By then, other family and friends had started to arrive and Grizz's cousin Rusty congratulated K3 and smiled at him and looked up the hill and said. "Well, the fun part's over now!" K3 didn't quite know what he meant by that and asked him, "What do you mean?" to which Rusty just smiled and replied, "You'll find out."
He soon did too as the euphoria of the hunt gave way to the drudgery and pure hard work of the pack out. K3 commented "I don't know which was worse, football practice or packing that elk out, but I can tell you this, I'm going to football practice again tomorrow but I'm not gonna be packing another elk out off of that steep of a mountain anytime soon!"
Welcome to elk hunting Kenyon! Congrats on a great first bull!
TripleK's two other boys, K1 and K2, had both put in for this tag multiple times but had never drawn it. So, as a proud mom should be, she was excited as well and just hoped that her son would have a great experience hunting with family. At the end of the hunt, both of their expectations were certainly exceeded - by miles and miles!
Both TripleK and K3 knew that he would have plenty of help from Kenyon's uncle Grizz who would serve as his guide and hunting companion, as he always does for anyone else in his family. No one ever has to ask, Grizz just shows up, and he was there right along with K3 for every step of his hunt.
Things started out slow the first weekend of the hunt as they covered a lot of miles and glassed a lot of hills but didn't see a single elk. K3, who also plays football for Union High, couldn't miss any school or football practice so they only had one evening during the week and then the weekend to get the job done. So, on Thursday night, Grizz took K3 to an area where he knew two smaller bulls had been hanging out. Sure enough, they found the bulls and called one, a 4X5, in to within 100 yards. But, as it was getting close to dark, K3 just couldn't find the crosshairs on the bull, and he just didn't feel right taking the shot and passed. It was a tough decision for an anxious 16-year-old, and he knew that his brothers would give him grief about it, but he knew it was the ethical choice and decided to stand by it, a decision that would prove to be wiser than he realized.
After a long day of school and a disappointing football game on Friday night, K3 and Grizz set out the next morning with high hopes, but again, the morning hunt was unproductive. After a few rounds of target practice to "wake the chickens up" and slipping back into town for a quick burger for lunch, they headed back up the mountain, undeterred, for the afternoon hunt. They debated on a couple of different areas but ultimately decided to go back an area close to where they had seen the two bulls a couple of days before.
After another intense round of glassing, they finally spotted a few cows and then, higher up on the mountain, about a mile away, straight up the hill, they spotted the big bull. Grizz quickly surmised a plan of attack, and they started their stalk from close to 1000 yards away. They had to slip through the sparse piñons and junipers from tree to tree and even belly crawl in places to avoid spooking the cows, but slowly made their way to about 400 yards straight down the hill from the bull with the wind in their favor. It was getting close to dark again but as they were higher up on the face of the steep hill, they had better light this time and K3 could clearly see the reticles as he drew up on the bull and pulled the trigger.
The bull went down but got back up so K3 fired again, and again, and again. Now, we won't say exactly how many shots it actually took him to get the bull down but suffice it to say he took some difficult uphill shots and with just three shells remaining, the bull finally went down and they didn't see it get back up.
They waited a few minutes and after not seeing any more movement or any elk heading over the skyline, they figured he was dead, or dying. As it was too dark by then to really pursue him any further, they made the agonizing decision to back out and not run the risk of pushing the bull in the dark.
On Sunday morning, after a short night full of anxiety and anticipation, they made their way back up the mountain and began glassing to see if they could see the elk lying down in the sagebrush where they had left him the night before or make a plan to go after him if they didn't see him right away. After a few minutes of glassing the hillside though, Grizz spotted his antlers sticking up above the tops of the sage - big bull down!!
By then, other family and friends had started to arrive and Grizz's cousin Rusty congratulated K3 and smiled at him and looked up the hill and said. "Well, the fun part's over now!" K3 didn't quite know what he meant by that and asked him, "What do you mean?" to which Rusty just smiled and replied, "You'll find out."
He soon did too as the euphoria of the hunt gave way to the drudgery and pure hard work of the pack out. K3 commented "I don't know which was worse, football practice or packing that elk out, but I can tell you this, I'm going to football practice again tomorrow but I'm not gonna be packing another elk out off of that steep of a mountain anytime soon!"
Welcome to elk hunting Kenyon! Congrats on a great first bull!
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