East Side Elk Mafia Strikes again with emotional Peaches Tag

[brianb231]

Our group has hunted together for the past 20 odd years and is a very close group. 8 plus guys that we now call the (East Side Elk Mafia). My father passed away in 2009 and our oldest member (72 years) in the group is Ed (Fast Eddie). He is Trophyhunt’s Dad and BrianMTSinc’s uncle. I consider him my uncle as well or another father in the woods. He finally drew a Peaches tag for archery. He is disabled and cannot travel far from roads or down or up any hills so it was going to be a challenge. We decided that we were going to do everything we could to get him in a position to harvest his first and probably last branched antlered bull elk. We had several bulls returning calls to us but not many that would travel up to us or that we could get Ed into a postion that he could shoot despite the world class calling. LOL. We did get him in on a pig of a bull in a place we call “The Farm”. After a half an hour of calling in the late afternoon this bull comes storming in and presents a broadside shot to Ed. It had to be about a 315-320 bull. I was so excited for him I was pissing myself as I was calling it in. He pranced in front of Ed and BrianMTSinc. Ed shot and he was soooo excited I thought he was going to have a heart attack!. He was overcome with joy and excitement from the experience. We thought he laid the smackdown on the bull only to find out that he had missed. But the experience itself was exhilarating and considered a win anyway. We had a few other close calls but the days were starting to catch up with Ed and he decided that he was done with the hills and canyons and asked that if we got a bull going again that I shoot it for him as his companion (legally holding his companion card). We then went to a place that we call “Hell”. It always holds elk but we did not go there with Ed originally due to its extreme terrain. We drive as close as we can to the edge of Hell and we all get out and Ed is out with his bow as well but is not venturing far from the truck at this point. So Trophyhunt and  BrianMTSinc start the calling sequences for me. I setup on the canyon side hill next to a small group of pines. I heard the usual dragonesque bugle from the bottom of Hell that we call the Dragon bull. I knew he would not come all the way up to us. But we heard other elk in the area. I look to my right and I see a bull coming straight up out of hell at a quick pace coming to the calls from BrianMTSinc and Trophyhunt but he was going to pass me at about 40 to 60 yards so Brian and Trophy ran to my left and gave those sweet sounds and the bull veered towards me. At 60 yards I drew and at 15 yards he stopped behind the only thing he could that would prevent me from taking my shot. A giant root ball from a tree that had fell over. He paused…. then heard another bugle and sweet cow sounds that he could not resist from the guys behind me. He started past me and  I cow called to stop him at 10 yards. I let the VAP V1 blast right through both lungs and I cow called again and he stood there… …………! Then he took about 10 trotting steps away and flipped ass over teakettle down the hill and luckily caught his horns on a tree or he would be another 150 yards down into Hell and another couple hours to get out! . When I saw him go down in sight I yelled out loud and we celebrated after I tossed my bow and fell to the ground.  It was an awesome group harvest. My job was the easy one at 10 yards. It would not have happened without everybody involved in the calling and Ed’s tag and overall spirit of the group.  In the end Ed filled his tag and created memories that will last a lifetime. The smile on his face says it all. This bull is not a monster but it represents the result of our teams determination and love of “Fast Eddie”! I hope Ed can be with us for a few more years in camp hunting or not. Cherish this time with your Dad Jerry (Trophyhunt). He has brought our group tremendous joy and laughter, usually at his expense, LOL!
Enjoy the Photos.

[LittleJohn]

AWESOME !!!!!!!!!

[bearpaw]

awesome, way to gitter done.... 

[billythekidrock]

Congrats to all involved.

[trophyhunt]

Thanks for posting bri, great job!  That night was very emotional, these guys gave up their own hunts to help my dad try to kill his first bull, thanks again guys!  You archery guys know how much work and determination it takes to fill a tag, this was a great group effort and I was blessed to be part of it.  This was the last day my dad was going to hunt, he was just getting too exhausted.  Hard work, determination and a bit of luck made this happen.  We got this bull within 20 minutes left of light, last minute bull!  Thanks again you guys, love the "Eastside Elk Mafia"!

[SnakeEyes]

Very Cool! Congrats!

[bearpaw]

Thanks for posting bri, great job!  That night was very emotional, these guys gave up their own hunts to help my dad try to kill his first bull, thanks again guys!  You archery guys know how much work and determination it takes to fill a tag, this was a great group effort and I was blessed to be part of it.  This was the last day my dad was going to hunt, he was just getting too exhausted.  Hard work, determination and a bit of luck made this happen.  We got this bull within 20 minutes left of light, last minute bull!  Thanks again you guys, love the "Eastside Elk Mafia"!

wow, even better 

[MLBowhunting]

Nice job.  Love this kinda stuff. 

[BENCHLEG]

Great work jerry. Congrats now it's time to go get another with the muzzy.

[rtspring]

Congrats! Peaches has been slow for archery guys.  I think the muzzy guys should do very well...

Steep and deep!!!

[trophyhunt]

Great work jerry. Congrats now it's time to go get another with the muzzy.

3 weeks and we are going at it again, it should be a great hunt in the white river.  Thanks for the compliments guys.

[Odell]

nice job guys, great work!

[Bigbuckoholic]

White river is an awesome hunt! Good luck!

[deerhunter_98520]

Great story thanks for sharing 

[gunnarnewt]