I am blessed to have girls who have showed an interest in hunting. So when I found out Utah had a youth season that had decent draw odds and you could hunt bulls mid sep. with a rifle I put my 13 year old and 16 year old daughter in for the draw. Low and behold they drew tags and I couldnt wait to take them hunting. I promised them that it would be a pack in trip to the High Uintah mts. I am lucky that I have a bro. in law that lives there and so we used his horses so I didnt have to haul mine that far. We got there and packed in 18 miles Through some beautiful country. I couldn't have done it with out the help of my bro and sis inlaw, and her dad. They made the hunt a sucess. We arrived in camp(elevation 11000') and got it set up and walked over to a ridge and my girls were able to here that sweet rocky mountain music for the first time....An Elk bugle. Well needless to say they didnt sleep much and neither did I. The next day we found that my older daughters scope had a screw come out of the base and rendered it useless. Well almost we used electrical tape aand got it to work kinda. So off we go . By late afternoon my girls are beat and have put on about 8 miles so we take a little break and start back to camp. When we reached to big meadow there was a nice 6 point bull working himself into a lather . I looked at my 13 year old and said its now or never cause its almost dark. So we took off and were able to stalk to 168yards and set up for a shot. When the bull turned right I cow called and he stopped and she polaxed him through the heart and then sent one through the lungs. Boy she was excited and so was dad. We took some pics and cleaned him and propped him open and left him till morning.(it got down to 19 that night.) After the butchering and packing we picked up camp and packed out figuring we could get my older daughter her bull down lower. On a side note my thirteen yearold turned 14 the day after she shot her bull. We had a poptart with a candle for her cake and sang happy birthday to her and she had the best present ever on the back of a horse. A 320" 6 point utah bull!
Back at the trail head y bro.in law took his wife to the bookcliffs where she had a limited entry elk tag, and left me to be the guide for my older daughter. we said goodbye and off we went. The next day in her excitement she missed a 5 point twice and she felt quite upset over the whole ordeal. After a pep talk and food we continued to hunt and the girls found out that elk hunting involves alot of work and you dont always even see an elk. Our hunt was coming to a close and we still needed one more bull but my wife insisted that the girls needed to be back in school
(whats up with that?) So to keep the peace I told them we had one more day to make it happen. My bro in law called and said his wife tagged out on a 367" toad and to not go any where cause he wanted to take us to a spot. So on the last day we ventured out and my daughter was sure she had missed her opportunity, Then we heard a buggle....Close. We sneeked up and set up and he was only 80 yards away with a couple cows in real thick lodgepole pine. There was only one little opening and when he hit it we cow called and he stopped and my daughter made a perfect quartering away shot on a nice 6 point. That made for 2 bulls in 7 days. How cool is that. My girls are now hooked forever and perhaps a little spoiled. I mean I haven"t even killed and elk that Big. Boy he sure lookes good on the wall though.
Both girls happned to use the one gun with a functional scope... Browning a -bolt chambered in 270 wsm. Shooting 150 grain nosler partitions. It performed flawlessly.
