j270wsm
09-12-2013, 11:58 AM
My oldest son has a passion for the outdoors, always wanting to be out side no matter what he is doing. 2 years ago he really started to show interest in hunting and shooting, so we started going gopher shooting and to the range. This spring we did alot more shooting than usual to get him ready for bear season. On his 10th birthday he got his youth lisence and during the end of may he managed to tag a beautiful black bear with a huge white patch on its chest( posted as Evans Bear ). As excited as he was about his bear he quickly turned his attention to elk/moose, asking when he can hunt them, which brought a smile to my face and caused me to laugh a little.
August 2013
Most of summer was spent at the range getting Evan comfortable with his cousins 6.5 x 55 mauser, scouting for elk and building a blind with my sons and their grandpa( Gunpower ). We intended to use the blind for opening day of elk season, Unfortunatly the last week of august didnt produce any fresh elk sign within 1/2 km of our blind so we were scouring the valley for areas we could set up 2 youth hunters.
Sept 1-7
With a white tail tag in hand, I took Evan out for a few morning and evening hunts. Using our time afield mostly for finding elk sign we did manage to find a few small bucks, unfortunatly their a lot faster than a 10yr old. Then the rain started and lasted for 2 days.
Sept 8
Mentally I was going nuts trying to think of where to take the boys in 2 days, I never have problems finding elk, especially cows and it was really starting to wear on me, so I spent lots of time hiking areas that always hold elk but I wasnt seeing any fresh sign. Frustrated and soaking wet, I decided to head home before dark , hoping to spot something on the drive home. About half way home I seen something dark 3/4 of the way across the field, as i pulled the binos up I found my first elk in weeks. After a few minuets of watching I determined it was a 260" class 6pt with 1 cow, only problem was the guy camped 200yds to my left was watching them as well. Now that I was in a better mood I decided to continue my drive home. 2km later I started slowing down for a cattle guard when out of know where a huge bull elk runs out towards my side of the truck, as i slam on the breaks he hangs a right and goes behind my truck and stops 30yds in to the cut block. Holy S**t where did he come from, sure glad he turned. Big bull elk + Brand new truck = Really pissed off hunter. Now Im really excited, the rain seems to have gotten the elk moving.
Sept 9
Dad and I headed out at day break and managed to find one more bull which didnt hang around long enough to determine how big he was. Things were looking great and wer decided to hunt this bull on opening day.
Sept 10
Leave the house at 5:50am, pick up dad and meet friends at the gas station. Things are looking great, no clouds, temp is around 9deg, not too many vehicles on the FSR......but someone is already parked where we wanted to go. All we can do now is go to the next spot. As we start to pull into the landing there are 2 cows and a 5pt bull standing in the headlights, and after 2min they slowly walk back into the cut block where we are headed. The 5 of us ( # adults and 2 youth hunters) get out and start slowly making out way into the cut block heading south so we dont get too close and spook the elk.
After about 35min of slowly creeping through the cut block, one of the cows barked at us causing us to freeze and start cow calling, our only hope is she will stay long enough for us to locate her and get one of the boys set up for a shot. Before we could move she exposed her self, but neither of the boys were capable of making that shot. I told Evan to follow me and we started creeping through the block again, hoping to get a better angle. We had only gone 30Yds when out of nowhere the bull and cow were right out in the open, but evan didnt have enough time to set up. We decided to look around a little more then headed back to the trucks. At the trucks we decided to try going about 600yds north and try and to get in front of them, but we never seen them again.
The evening hunt was unsucessful, only seeing a few deer and a Cow elk with a calf.
Sept 11
I decided to head into an area on the oposite side of the valley. We left early and got close to our spot just before first light, parked the truck and waited another 10min before starting to drive to where I wanted to do some spotting. We had only gone 300yds when I spotted something light colored standind in the cut block 250yds below the road. Upon looking throught the spotting scope I determined it was a 3yr old cow elk, now all we had to do was wait another 5-10min. While getting Evan out of the truck and set up we spotted another cow bedded in the cut block, she was bigger and about 20yds closer. As evan was getting lined up on the big cow, she stood up and wlked into the timber before Evan could get lined up. Redirecting his focus on the other cow, he got set up and ready to fire. After all the hard work of scouting and getting him comfortable with the rifle his chance was finally infront of him. I reminded him that he needed to aim for the center of the body and on the back edge of the shoulder, then I told him to fire when he was ready. After cow calling to keep the cow broad side I told him to fire......BOOM......Crack, you missed - reload quickly. Do you see her? " Yes ", ok fire again.....BOOM......Crack.....Missed again. Where are you aiming?? " where you told me to" ( probably shaking like a leaf ) Ok, stay behind the shoulder but aim for the top of the back. " Ok ". Are you ready? " yes" I cow called again and told him to fire.....BOOM.....WOOOMP, she took off heading towards the timber. I lost sight of her while helping Evan reload, but Grandpa said he seen her go down.
After taking a quick video asking evan what just happened, we moved the truck down the road to a landing and headed into the cut block to find his elk. After getting to the spot where the cow was standing we found her tracks and blood, we stared to follow the sign when I spotted the cow lying in a small depression. I pulled out my phone and started taking video of Evan and Grandpa looking for the cow. I didnt get the reaction I was hoping for when he spotted her but I knew he was super excited. After taking some pics we headed back to town to get some stuff to pack Evans elk out. Just before getting to the truck I recieved a call from a good friend saying he just shot a bull and needed help. To his surprise I said no, I cant help, Evan just shot and elk. He was more than understanding. I ended up helping him after evans elk was done and he was dropped off at school.
When we got back to the landing we ran into another hunter that I kind of know, after telling him about evans elk he offered to help pack it out. The extra help was greatly appreciated( Thanks Jason ). While quarting the cow another friend I called showed up to help. After about 1hr we had the cow back to the truck.
Hands down this was the Best hunt I have ever been on, Now I hope to help dad get his first elk in 20+yrs.
I will try to post pics, but have had trouble posting them in the past
August 2013
Most of summer was spent at the range getting Evan comfortable with his cousins 6.5 x 55 mauser, scouting for elk and building a blind with my sons and their grandpa( Gunpower ). We intended to use the blind for opening day of elk season, Unfortunatly the last week of august didnt produce any fresh elk sign within 1/2 km of our blind so we were scouring the valley for areas we could set up 2 youth hunters.
Sept 1-7
With a white tail tag in hand, I took Evan out for a few morning and evening hunts. Using our time afield mostly for finding elk sign we did manage to find a few small bucks, unfortunatly their a lot faster than a 10yr old. Then the rain started and lasted for 2 days.
Sept 8
Mentally I was going nuts trying to think of where to take the boys in 2 days, I never have problems finding elk, especially cows and it was really starting to wear on me, so I spent lots of time hiking areas that always hold elk but I wasnt seeing any fresh sign. Frustrated and soaking wet, I decided to head home before dark , hoping to spot something on the drive home. About half way home I seen something dark 3/4 of the way across the field, as i pulled the binos up I found my first elk in weeks. After a few minuets of watching I determined it was a 260" class 6pt with 1 cow, only problem was the guy camped 200yds to my left was watching them as well. Now that I was in a better mood I decided to continue my drive home. 2km later I started slowing down for a cattle guard when out of know where a huge bull elk runs out towards my side of the truck, as i slam on the breaks he hangs a right and goes behind my truck and stops 30yds in to the cut block. Holy S**t where did he come from, sure glad he turned. Big bull elk + Brand new truck = Really pissed off hunter. Now Im really excited, the rain seems to have gotten the elk moving.
Sept 9
Dad and I headed out at day break and managed to find one more bull which didnt hang around long enough to determine how big he was. Things were looking great and wer decided to hunt this bull on opening day.
Sept 10
Leave the house at 5:50am, pick up dad and meet friends at the gas station. Things are looking great, no clouds, temp is around 9deg, not too many vehicles on the FSR......but someone is already parked where we wanted to go. All we can do now is go to the next spot. As we start to pull into the landing there are 2 cows and a 5pt bull standing in the headlights, and after 2min they slowly walk back into the cut block where we are headed. The 5 of us ( # adults and 2 youth hunters) get out and start slowly making out way into the cut block heading south so we dont get too close and spook the elk.
After about 35min of slowly creeping through the cut block, one of the cows barked at us causing us to freeze and start cow calling, our only hope is she will stay long enough for us to locate her and get one of the boys set up for a shot. Before we could move she exposed her self, but neither of the boys were capable of making that shot. I told Evan to follow me and we started creeping through the block again, hoping to get a better angle. We had only gone 30Yds when out of nowhere the bull and cow were right out in the open, but evan didnt have enough time to set up. We decided to look around a little more then headed back to the trucks. At the trucks we decided to try going about 600yds north and try and to get in front of them, but we never seen them again.
The evening hunt was unsucessful, only seeing a few deer and a Cow elk with a calf.
Sept 11
I decided to head into an area on the oposite side of the valley. We left early and got close to our spot just before first light, parked the truck and waited another 10min before starting to drive to where I wanted to do some spotting. We had only gone 300yds when I spotted something light colored standind in the cut block 250yds below the road. Upon looking throught the spotting scope I determined it was a 3yr old cow elk, now all we had to do was wait another 5-10min. While getting Evan out of the truck and set up we spotted another cow bedded in the cut block, she was bigger and about 20yds closer. As evan was getting lined up on the big cow, she stood up and wlked into the timber before Evan could get lined up. Redirecting his focus on the other cow, he got set up and ready to fire. After all the hard work of scouting and getting him comfortable with the rifle his chance was finally infront of him. I reminded him that he needed to aim for the center of the body and on the back edge of the shoulder, then I told him to fire when he was ready. After cow calling to keep the cow broad side I told him to fire......BOOM......Crack, you missed - reload quickly. Do you see her? " Yes ", ok fire again.....BOOM......Crack.....Missed again. Where are you aiming?? " where you told me to" ( probably shaking like a leaf ) Ok, stay behind the shoulder but aim for the top of the back. " Ok ". Are you ready? " yes" I cow called again and told him to fire.....BOOM.....WOOOMP, she took off heading towards the timber. I lost sight of her while helping Evan reload, but Grandpa said he seen her go down.
After taking a quick video asking evan what just happened, we moved the truck down the road to a landing and headed into the cut block to find his elk. After getting to the spot where the cow was standing we found her tracks and blood, we stared to follow the sign when I spotted the cow lying in a small depression. I pulled out my phone and started taking video of Evan and Grandpa looking for the cow. I didnt get the reaction I was hoping for when he spotted her but I knew he was super excited. After taking some pics we headed back to town to get some stuff to pack Evans elk out. Just before getting to the truck I recieved a call from a good friend saying he just shot a bull and needed help. To his surprise I said no, I cant help, Evan just shot and elk. He was more than understanding. I ended up helping him after evans elk was done and he was dropped off at school.
When we got back to the landing we ran into another hunter that I kind of know, after telling him about evans elk he offered to help pack it out. The extra help was greatly appreciated( Thanks Jason ). While quarting the cow another friend I called showed up to help. After about 1hr we had the cow back to the truck.
Hands down this was the Best hunt I have ever been on, Now I hope to help dad get his first elk in 20+yrs.
I will try to post pics, but have had trouble posting them in the past