S
sledboy
Guest
LAST EDITED ON Sep-29-05 AT 11:20AM (MST)[p]I don't normally do this, but I will explain a little about myself and my situation. I grew up in Wyoming with parents that loved the outdoors. My dad is still an avid hunter and fisherman. However, when I was 17, I crashed on a motorcycle and broke my back. I have been in a wheelchair ever since.
After high school, I moved to Utah to go to college and married a beautiful and wonderful girl. She graciously put up with my attempts to continue one of my passions, hunting. But after four years of pointlessly chasing big game from a vehicle and competing with Utah's massive road hunting population, I reluctantly gave it up.
Then three years ago, while watching an archery hunting video, my wife made the comment that it looked like fun. Well, I jumped at that opportunity and got her outfitted with a new bow and all the essentials. She wanted to hunt elk and I was going to do all I could to ensure her success. My dad was more than happy to guide her. As it turned out, she did not get one that year but she got a shot at a large 5 or 6 point. The arrow narrowly missed the elk after glancing off a limb in the thick timber.
Her experience rekindled my interest and love for hunting big game and decided to buy a deer tag. I did a lot of planning and picked a remote area that was still accessible by vehicle. At 4:00 am opening morning, I woke my three oldest boys up and off we went. Luck was with us and I got my first mule deer in over 15 years. It was also my first 4 point and it was down before the sun peaked over the eastern horizon. Man was I pumped. And my boys witnessed the whole hunt (all one hour of it)!
The next year (last year) took me a little longer. I had an even larger 4 point down at 9:45 am opening morning. I was able to share this experience with the same three sons as well as my dad! I have truly been blessed with two very memorable and successful hunts!
So this year rolled around and I noticed a change in the Utah laws. Persons in wheelchairs can now actually hunt the general elk areas during the youth elk hunt, smack in the middle of the rut! This presented me with a real possibility of getting an elk. I had never elk hunted in Utah because of the near zero chance of seeing anything from the road. The pressure from the masses keep the elk pushed back into the heaviest timber. It was pointless!
So four months ago, with the help of a loving father and good friends, we planned my elk hunt. Because of limited time, I would be able to hunt the weekends and only one week day.
On the opening day, I saw 9 cows but no bulls. But my serious hunt did not begin until the following Friday and Saturday in an area 4 hours from where I live. Friday proved to be an exciting day. Just after light, we got a bull to answer our bugle. We were able to drive into the park where he was bugling from, but we never saw the bull. We saw several of his cows take off into the timber, but never got a chance to see him. However, we spent the next 20 minutes cow talking and bugling to him trying to pull him out of the timber. He never came but it was awesome listening to him answer every time we bugled. This was actually the first time I had heard an elk bugle in the wild. It was awesome! We don't know how big he actually was, but he was a mature herd bull.
We only saw a cow and calf the rest of the day. Just after dark, we hooked up the trailer with the four wheeler on it and headed home. As we came around a sharp corner, we were greeted with a small 5 point standing in the middle of the road. I couldn't believe it as it was only 5 or 10 minutes after legal shooting time. Even if we had elected to take a shot, we would not have been able to because as I got the truck stopped, he hopped off the road into the darkness of the timber and night. What an experience that was! As we stopped, he was literally 10 feet from the hood of the truck!
The next day was the last day that I was able to hunt. Sadly, the day ended without seeing a single elk.
I was bummed as I realized that I would not get an elk. But I was grateful for the experiences that I had.
After I got back home, my wife suggested that we go out after work on the day before the season closed, one last small attempt. I eagerly agreed. She and all four boys picked me up after work and we headed to an area relatively close where we had seen some cows on opening day. Our plan was to get to a watering hole about an hour before dark and wait for something to come in.
About half a mile from the watering hole, I stopped the truck abruptly when I spotted an elk across a canyon about 250 yards away. I poked the gun out the window and tried to locate antlers on this lone elk. It was standing behind a skeleton of a burned tree so it was hard to make certain it had antlers. It looked like it did but I couldn't tell if it was branches from the tree or antlers. We all sat there quietly for about a minute waiting for him to move his head to see if the branches (antlers) moved with his head. This was good because it gave me a little time to calm my nerves! Finally, his head moved slightly and I could see his antlers moving with him. There was a clear spot about a foot in diameter in the tree that allowed me to see his shoulder/chest area. I told the kids to plug their ears as I took aim, hoping to thread my bullet through this opening. At the shot, he lunged forward and headed around the hill and out of our sight.
Several seconds later, we heard a crash. At the same time, five elk came into view from the same area the bull had just gone. I looked closely at each of them and could not see antlers. Curiously, as they made their way to the top of the hill, they kept pausing to look back in the direction we last saw the bull. Finally, they topped the hill and were gone.
The shot had felt good, we had heard the crash and we had not seen the bull emerge from around the hill. My hopes were high! There was no way to drive or get the wheelchair through the canyon below us, so my wife and all four boys headed out to see if they could find any sign of him. After searching for a good half hour, my wife?s voice over the radio finally confirmed, "We found him!"
I had hit him square in the chest with my .270 WSM. It destroyed the top of his heart and bottom half of his lungs. He only went 40 yards before piling up! The hunt was finally over! Here is a picture of my spike elk and my four boys!
A couple of calls and the calvary was on it's way! First on the scene was my brother-in-law, Kerry who located him in the dark. I also called Mitch (my neighbor and good friend) and he was eager to help. Several minutes later he called me back and said he was on his way with two of his high-school buddies. They got it packed out and back home by 3:00 am. What a day! A big thanks to Kerry, Mitch and his two buddies, Taylor and Justin.
It would have been nice to get a bigger bull (when isn't it), but I am not disappointed at all. It is my first elk and, once again, my whole family was there with me! Doesn't get much better than that!
After high school, I moved to Utah to go to college and married a beautiful and wonderful girl. She graciously put up with my attempts to continue one of my passions, hunting. But after four years of pointlessly chasing big game from a vehicle and competing with Utah's massive road hunting population, I reluctantly gave it up.
Then three years ago, while watching an archery hunting video, my wife made the comment that it looked like fun. Well, I jumped at that opportunity and got her outfitted with a new bow and all the essentials. She wanted to hunt elk and I was going to do all I could to ensure her success. My dad was more than happy to guide her. As it turned out, she did not get one that year but she got a shot at a large 5 or 6 point. The arrow narrowly missed the elk after glancing off a limb in the thick timber.
Her experience rekindled my interest and love for hunting big game and decided to buy a deer tag. I did a lot of planning and picked a remote area that was still accessible by vehicle. At 4:00 am opening morning, I woke my three oldest boys up and off we went. Luck was with us and I got my first mule deer in over 15 years. It was also my first 4 point and it was down before the sun peaked over the eastern horizon. Man was I pumped. And my boys witnessed the whole hunt (all one hour of it)!
The next year (last year) took me a little longer. I had an even larger 4 point down at 9:45 am opening morning. I was able to share this experience with the same three sons as well as my dad! I have truly been blessed with two very memorable and successful hunts!
So this year rolled around and I noticed a change in the Utah laws. Persons in wheelchairs can now actually hunt the general elk areas during the youth elk hunt, smack in the middle of the rut! This presented me with a real possibility of getting an elk. I had never elk hunted in Utah because of the near zero chance of seeing anything from the road. The pressure from the masses keep the elk pushed back into the heaviest timber. It was pointless!
So four months ago, with the help of a loving father and good friends, we planned my elk hunt. Because of limited time, I would be able to hunt the weekends and only one week day.
On the opening day, I saw 9 cows but no bulls. But my serious hunt did not begin until the following Friday and Saturday in an area 4 hours from where I live. Friday proved to be an exciting day. Just after light, we got a bull to answer our bugle. We were able to drive into the park where he was bugling from, but we never saw the bull. We saw several of his cows take off into the timber, but never got a chance to see him. However, we spent the next 20 minutes cow talking and bugling to him trying to pull him out of the timber. He never came but it was awesome listening to him answer every time we bugled. This was actually the first time I had heard an elk bugle in the wild. It was awesome! We don't know how big he actually was, but he was a mature herd bull.
We only saw a cow and calf the rest of the day. Just after dark, we hooked up the trailer with the four wheeler on it and headed home. As we came around a sharp corner, we were greeted with a small 5 point standing in the middle of the road. I couldn't believe it as it was only 5 or 10 minutes after legal shooting time. Even if we had elected to take a shot, we would not have been able to because as I got the truck stopped, he hopped off the road into the darkness of the timber and night. What an experience that was! As we stopped, he was literally 10 feet from the hood of the truck!
The next day was the last day that I was able to hunt. Sadly, the day ended without seeing a single elk.
I was bummed as I realized that I would not get an elk. But I was grateful for the experiences that I had.
After I got back home, my wife suggested that we go out after work on the day before the season closed, one last small attempt. I eagerly agreed. She and all four boys picked me up after work and we headed to an area relatively close where we had seen some cows on opening day. Our plan was to get to a watering hole about an hour before dark and wait for something to come in.
About half a mile from the watering hole, I stopped the truck abruptly when I spotted an elk across a canyon about 250 yards away. I poked the gun out the window and tried to locate antlers on this lone elk. It was standing behind a skeleton of a burned tree so it was hard to make certain it had antlers. It looked like it did but I couldn't tell if it was branches from the tree or antlers. We all sat there quietly for about a minute waiting for him to move his head to see if the branches (antlers) moved with his head. This was good because it gave me a little time to calm my nerves! Finally, his head moved slightly and I could see his antlers moving with him. There was a clear spot about a foot in diameter in the tree that allowed me to see his shoulder/chest area. I told the kids to plug their ears as I took aim, hoping to thread my bullet through this opening. At the shot, he lunged forward and headed around the hill and out of our sight.
Several seconds later, we heard a crash. At the same time, five elk came into view from the same area the bull had just gone. I looked closely at each of them and could not see antlers. Curiously, as they made their way to the top of the hill, they kept pausing to look back in the direction we last saw the bull. Finally, they topped the hill and were gone.
The shot had felt good, we had heard the crash and we had not seen the bull emerge from around the hill. My hopes were high! There was no way to drive or get the wheelchair through the canyon below us, so my wife and all four boys headed out to see if they could find any sign of him. After searching for a good half hour, my wife?s voice over the radio finally confirmed, "We found him!"
I had hit him square in the chest with my .270 WSM. It destroyed the top of his heart and bottom half of his lungs. He only went 40 yards before piling up! The hunt was finally over! Here is a picture of my spike elk and my four boys!
A couple of calls and the calvary was on it's way! First on the scene was my brother-in-law, Kerry who located him in the dark. I also called Mitch (my neighbor and good friend) and he was eager to help. Several minutes later he called me back and said he was on his way with two of his high-school buddies. They got it packed out and back home by 3:00 am. What a day! A big thanks to Kerry, Mitch and his two buddies, Taylor and Justin.
It would have been nice to get a bigger bull (when isn't it), but I am not disappointed at all. It is my first elk and, once again, my whole family was there with me! Doesn't get much better than that!