Hi All,
Just sharing pictures of my 11 year old sons elk. We scouted the taneum unit. We hunted opening morning just south of Easton, saw lots of sign just no elk. We moved down to the Cle Elum area where we had scouted the most and found this 6x6 opening day at 4:00 in the afternoon. First we found a couple of cows and a possible spike. They milled around for about 15 minutes interested in our cow and calf calls. They wandered off so we thought we would call a couple more times with the cow and calf call to see if we could get them to come back. 5 minutes later we heard some crashing brush coming towards us. I told my son most likely it is the cows coming back but to be ready just in case. All of a sudden from out behind some trees about 20 yards away horns appeared above the brush and out stepped a large 6x6 only 18 yards away. My son was ready and put one right in the front shoulder. The elk humped up and then took off running. My son put another shot in just behind the front shoulder. The elk went down about 20 yards later. I never thought my son could shoot standing up free hand so quick. I think I was a way more nervous than he was. We could not believe this bull came in so close. It was an awesome sight. We joked that it was almost self defense.