Finally a moment for 2 of the stories. I will try to keep them short...
My son drew a peaches ridge tag this year, and he, myself and my hunting partner put a lot of time in to scouting and preparation for the hunt. My son has been in the woods with the 2 of us since he was 4 years old. He is now 19, and had yet to harvest an animal, so this was going to be the year we went ALL OUT to get it done!
We all put a ton of work into making this year a success, and looking back, all of that work is what made this such a special year. The tagged elk were just a bonus!
My son and I had both really wanted to hunt a place we have named "Hell". It is a steep, deep hole that few will dare to travel, and we knew there would be elk there. The lure of the hard work draws me here, and I am proud to see that trait has passed to my son. Anyway, one morning after a blown set up on a hot bull in another area, we decide to run up to Hell, and see if we could get anything to talk. The 3 of us take our usual positions and do a little calling when immediately a bull responds ABOVE US! (They are never up there.....) any way, another bull sounds off from way down in "the hole" and a few cows begin to call. Immediately I realize I am in the wrong position to be the caller, but the elk are closing fast and there is no time to trade spots. Within seconds a cow and a spike appear in front of myself and my hunting partner. With the wind hard at our backs and them broadside at 43 yards, we both landed our shots and were very fortunate to tag 2 beautiful elk that morning!!! It was a long hard day, but very fortunately for us, neither went in the hole! We shot them at around 10AM and by 6PM both were quartered (We used the gutless method for our first ((and second)) time and will do so again in the future) and headed for the cooler!
This was actually a VERY quiet year in our area and not many elk were talking, so we knew what we had to do to give my son an opportunity to fill his tag. So, a couple of days later we returned to Hell to see if we could make something happen there again.
My son and I had located a bull earlier in the afternoon in "the bedroom" which is across Hells canyon, and decided to leave him alone until we had our partners to call for us. Later that evening, less than 100 yards from the spike carcass, my partner and his 9 year old son started calling. Say what you will about the hoochie momma, but in a 9 year olds hands they are PRICELESS!! His calls mixed with his dads estrus calls, brought this bull RUNNING!!!!
My son was 10 yards in front of me as we slowly moved towards the bedroom. All of the sudden (within 3 minutes of their first call) we hear a crashing and assumed we scared something away. Then, I see my son range something, and wonder "does he see something I can't??? Seconds later he blows a soft cow call, comes to full draw and releases his arrow!!! 50 yards, right through the heart!!! The bull took 10 steps looked back at us and fell over!!!!
What a moment and what a season!!! Too many memories and moments to share, but having my sons, my best friend and his son... I will never forget Elk season 2011! I am truly blessed!
