So after finishing breakfast and waiting till the thermals started switching I took my son and showed him how the thermals work. The elk were blown out of there anyway! We hike out to where tweedle dee and tweedle dum said they'd be and low and behold they weren't there. So we climb up to a vantage and spot them walking across a meadow right towards my spot #2 and watched them blow the elk out of there! Boy they definitely knew what they were doing! So by that time thermals had switched completely so we head over the top and down the backside into nasty stuff that we hadn't been able to glass previously. We slowly worked out way down watching the wind and sneaking into pockets. We hit a pocket and I caught a whiff of elk!! Checked the wind and oh crap it's swirling!! I was close to the edge of a steep drop into a fairly deep hole so quickly peeked over and caught movement 40 yards below me! Whispered at my son quick they're right below us! He stepped up beside me as a big cow stepped into view. I was way to excited and told him SHOOT!! SHOOT NOW!! There gonna smell us!! (I rushed him) shame on me! Any way from my vantage I had a clear shot to the vitals, he was to my right and had a different view. He did the best he could and shot!! Cow just stands there for about 2 seconds and takes off! I realized instantly that I was a bad Dad and he hit a little to far back. After kicking myself for rushing him, I settle down and apologize for rushing him. I told him we'll go check for blood then wait a minimum of an hour to track. Was pretty sure it was a liver hit. We waited,,,,,, and waited,,,,,,,, and waited,,,,,,, finally after about a week it seemed we took up the blood trail! Tracking was pretty easy at first but started to peter out after the first 100 yards. Lost it a few times but he picked it back up!!! At one point we couldn't find blood so I went by instinct and found her bed!! Blood everywhere! When she jumped she headed straight downhill bleeding heavily!! Spotted her below us about 200 yards standing and watching her back trail looking pretty sick!! This time I held my excitement down and one 220 grain slug and she was down!!! We made our way down and found found her laying right on a blm trail!! His first shot was too far back with liver and a little gut. Second was true, tight behind the shoulder!! Total tracking from initial shot to final resting place was about 350 yards. Don't think she would've made it much further. We got her skinned and cut up in about 2 hours and meat hung to cool. We head back to camp and relax and roast some fresh elk tenderloin on willow sticks for dinner over an Aspen fire. Sunday I had a packer come in and pack the meat out. Rest of the week we battled other hunters that made their way in there. Other years we had snow and no other hunters , this year no snow, easy hiking, and six different guys descended on us almost every day! We found some more cows that hadn't been blown out by careless hunters but no bulls for me. Last day I decided to still hunt a big loop through some dark steep timber and see if we could find a legal bull. Found a lot of good looking area but no bulls. We worked our way down, and set up on a small ridge overlooking the area my son's cow had been in. We heard elk in the timber up top but couldn't see them. With it being warm I figured they probably wouldn't come out till dark. We decided to hunt our way up and see if we could intercept them in the timber. We drop down through the valley and my boy finds a 6×6 deadhead. I strap it too my pack and we start working our way up a steep incline. With about a half hour of shooting light left we stop to rest and a bull rips a bugle behind us!! There's a legal bull on the ridge we just dropped off of!! I drop my pack to use as a rest but the deadhead is not cooperating!!! Look to my left and spot a flat rock perfect height for going prone. Range 318 yards, dial, quartering to me, private land not far away, have to anchor him on the spot. Pick a spot to break him down, and squeeze!!!! He stiffens up and turns broadside. What ? He should have dropped!! Put another round in him and he's down!!!!! We get him cut up and hung and get back to camp about 10 p.m. too tired to even make mountain house. Two major lessons from this trip- lesson one- I get way too excited helping my kids. I need to calm down and execute the way I do when I'm behind the trigger!! Lesson -2- public land can get crowded, don't let it get you down! Head for the stuff they don't want to be in and that's where they'll push the elk.
lol. Thanks for sharing your story.
