FishN4Eyes
Well-known member
The two girls and I were finally able to make our schedules mesh for a weekend and got out hunting.
With "Brutus" arriving on Thursday afternoon, I pulled them out of school at noon Thursday and we headed out in an attempt to beat the storm and get to our hunting spot safely and in time for a quick afternoon hunt.
With the storm hitting Thursday afternoon, visibility was nil and our hunts Thursday evening and Friday morning were pretty much a bust.
Finally the storm broke a bit on Friday afternoon and we were able to locate a good sized herd with a few bulls in it. Unfortunately we were not able to get in shooting range before we ran out of daylight so we put them to bed hoping they wouldn't move far in the night.
We got up Saturday morning to -5 temperatures and a nice cool breeze (great for elk hunting but not so great for a death march for two teenage girls!). Ally, my youngest daughter, graciously gave way to her older sister and told us to get Rylie one if possible then worry about her.
I was impressed and surprised with her generosity because I knew how badly Ally wanted to shoot a decent bull but Rylie and I took her up on her offer and off we went.
After hiking for about 45 minutes in the pre-dawn cold, we were able to locate the herd just as it got light.
Rylie and I made a big circle behind the herd to get the wind right and belly crawled through the snow to get in position for the shot. After waiting for about 20 minutes for the bull to get in the right shooting position, she was able to squeeze off a shot from about 300 yards. The first shot was slightly low and a little bit forward, breaking his shoulder.
He was obviously badly hurt but I had her put in a 2nd finishing shot and he was down.
After a couple quick photos and a finger numbing gut job by yours truly we hustled back to the truck to warm up and fill my Dad and Ally in on the story.
We warmed up and then Dad and I made our way back to the elk for the retrieval while the girls stayed warm.
After getting the elk back to the truck and getting the elk loaded we headed back to camp and got some breakfast and a quick nap and then Ally and I headed back out to hopefully find her a bull.
We were able to locate a good sized herd right at dark that had a decent five point in it but he wouldn't present a good shot and with darkness falling, we discussed our options and decided to fill Ally's Elk B tag.
She made a good shot in difficult conditions and took a nice cow but with darkness falling we didn't take pictures and got her quickly gutted and got Ally back to the truck to get warm while Dad and I made the walk back in and got the elk out.
It was a fun weekend with the girls and my Dad and hoping to have Ally gripping and grinning with a bull in the next couple weeks.
It was Rylie's 18th Birthday yesterday so it was great to spend several days out hunting with her and her sister and glad she got her "Birthday Bull" as she called it.
One final note, after the two girls helped load the elk in the truck for the drive home, both of them smelled their gloves and commented how they liked the smell of elk on their hands.
Ally stated, "It smells like victory!".
Anyway, that made me laugh and I can't describe how much it means to me that we have something we can do together that doesn't involve shopping or boys or friends or whatever else teenage girls like to do.
Hope you enjoyed the quick story, I sure enjoyed the weekend!
With "Brutus" arriving on Thursday afternoon, I pulled them out of school at noon Thursday and we headed out in an attempt to beat the storm and get to our hunting spot safely and in time for a quick afternoon hunt.
With the storm hitting Thursday afternoon, visibility was nil and our hunts Thursday evening and Friday morning were pretty much a bust.
Finally the storm broke a bit on Friday afternoon and we were able to locate a good sized herd with a few bulls in it. Unfortunately we were not able to get in shooting range before we ran out of daylight so we put them to bed hoping they wouldn't move far in the night.
We got up Saturday morning to -5 temperatures and a nice cool breeze (great for elk hunting but not so great for a death march for two teenage girls!). Ally, my youngest daughter, graciously gave way to her older sister and told us to get Rylie one if possible then worry about her.
I was impressed and surprised with her generosity because I knew how badly Ally wanted to shoot a decent bull but Rylie and I took her up on her offer and off we went.
After hiking for about 45 minutes in the pre-dawn cold, we were able to locate the herd just as it got light.
Rylie and I made a big circle behind the herd to get the wind right and belly crawled through the snow to get in position for the shot. After waiting for about 20 minutes for the bull to get in the right shooting position, she was able to squeeze off a shot from about 300 yards. The first shot was slightly low and a little bit forward, breaking his shoulder.
He was obviously badly hurt but I had her put in a 2nd finishing shot and he was down.
After a couple quick photos and a finger numbing gut job by yours truly we hustled back to the truck to warm up and fill my Dad and Ally in on the story.
We warmed up and then Dad and I made our way back to the elk for the retrieval while the girls stayed warm.
After getting the elk back to the truck and getting the elk loaded we headed back to camp and got some breakfast and a quick nap and then Ally and I headed back out to hopefully find her a bull.
We were able to locate a good sized herd right at dark that had a decent five point in it but he wouldn't present a good shot and with darkness falling, we discussed our options and decided to fill Ally's Elk B tag.
She made a good shot in difficult conditions and took a nice cow but with darkness falling we didn't take pictures and got her quickly gutted and got Ally back to the truck to get warm while Dad and I made the walk back in and got the elk out.
It was a fun weekend with the girls and my Dad and hoping to have Ally gripping and grinning with a bull in the next couple weeks.
It was Rylie's 18th Birthday yesterday so it was great to spend several days out hunting with her and her sister and glad she got her "Birthday Bull" as she called it.
One final note, after the two girls helped load the elk in the truck for the drive home, both of them smelled their gloves and commented how they liked the smell of elk on their hands.
Ally stated, "It smells like victory!".
Anyway, that made me laugh and I can't describe how much it means to me that we have something we can do together that doesn't involve shopping or boys or friends or whatever else teenage girls like to do.
Hope you enjoyed the quick story, I sure enjoyed the weekend!
