JohnSWA
Senior Thread Mover
Hey guys, my son finally went on his first hunt and it was an elk hunt to boot!
He drew a Jr. Antlerless tag in unit 4A in Arizona which I thought would be a sure thing. We arrived a couple days before the hunt to do some scouting and found elk all over the place! We saw mostly cows, but also saw a nice spike! In the area we chose to hunt we saw mega elk sign and a HUGE black bear! He wasn't phased by us watching him at all. He was just slowly cruising down towards a full heard of elk! We knew that there were animals in the area, but in this spot we didn't see any until the bear spooked the whole herd! We heard the forest crashing down when the bear finally found his quarry! We figured that we hit the mother load, so we went back to our camp and impatiently awaited opening day.
Well, opening day was a bust. We hunt out above some fresh beds before dark and waited for some action and nothing happened. In the evening, we tried to spot and stalk and nothing happened again.
Day two, we did what we shouldn't have and went road hunting in the morning. Yes, you're right, nothing happened. In the evening we went out to Chevelon Butte. It was awesome! There was fresh sign everywhere! Prints, scat, rubs, but no elk! We climbed the butte and stalked the flats but came up with nothing.
Day three, we went back to the original plan, but decided to slowly and quietly walk the canyon in the place we scouted. This was Michael's first hunt and he knows NOTHING about being quiet! I told him to pause between steps and walk as if his life depended on it! Well, I guess stomping the forest with size 13 boots and blowing your nose and sneezing means being quiet to this 16 year old! Anyway, about an hour into our hike, I see some elk moving quickly up hill from the bottom of the canyon! I told him "Let's go" and I take off running up the hill trying to catch them in an open area where we can shoot! While I'm running up the hill excited about getting a shot off, he's slowly moving behind, not really enthused at all! I whispered as loud as I could and told him to move his @ss! Well, he finally catches up with me and I told him that he needs to keep up if he want's to shoot his first elk.
Luckily, we didn't have to go far to spot the herd although they were still moving faster than I would have liked. We were on to them, but there was no way to get a shot off in the thicket where they were moving! Frustrated, I looked to my left and to my amazement, there was a beautiful calf just grazing maybe 10 yards infront of us! I pointed to the calf and thought that he would wait for the calf to move out in the open which where it was heading when all of a sudden "BOOM"! The cow buckled but then moved out into the open and I told him to get on one knee for a steady shot and then another "BOOM". Elk down! Perfect shot! Needless to say, I was and still am one proud dad!
Here's a few pics. By the way, Michael dwarfs me at 6'1" 235 lbs. I'm 5'10 155 lbs.
He drew a Jr. Antlerless tag in unit 4A in Arizona which I thought would be a sure thing. We arrived a couple days before the hunt to do some scouting and found elk all over the place! We saw mostly cows, but also saw a nice spike! In the area we chose to hunt we saw mega elk sign and a HUGE black bear! He wasn't phased by us watching him at all. He was just slowly cruising down towards a full heard of elk! We knew that there were animals in the area, but in this spot we didn't see any until the bear spooked the whole herd! We heard the forest crashing down when the bear finally found his quarry! We figured that we hit the mother load, so we went back to our camp and impatiently awaited opening day.
Well, opening day was a bust. We hunt out above some fresh beds before dark and waited for some action and nothing happened. In the evening, we tried to spot and stalk and nothing happened again.
Day two, we did what we shouldn't have and went road hunting in the morning. Yes, you're right, nothing happened. In the evening we went out to Chevelon Butte. It was awesome! There was fresh sign everywhere! Prints, scat, rubs, but no elk! We climbed the butte and stalked the flats but came up with nothing.
Day three, we went back to the original plan, but decided to slowly and quietly walk the canyon in the place we scouted. This was Michael's first hunt and he knows NOTHING about being quiet! I told him to pause between steps and walk as if his life depended on it! Well, I guess stomping the forest with size 13 boots and blowing your nose and sneezing means being quiet to this 16 year old! Anyway, about an hour into our hike, I see some elk moving quickly up hill from the bottom of the canyon! I told him "Let's go" and I take off running up the hill trying to catch them in an open area where we can shoot! While I'm running up the hill excited about getting a shot off, he's slowly moving behind, not really enthused at all! I whispered as loud as I could and told him to move his @ss! Well, he finally catches up with me and I told him that he needs to keep up if he want's to shoot his first elk.
Luckily, we didn't have to go far to spot the herd although they were still moving faster than I would have liked. We were on to them, but there was no way to get a shot off in the thicket where they were moving! Frustrated, I looked to my left and to my amazement, there was a beautiful calf just grazing maybe 10 yards infront of us! I pointed to the calf and thought that he would wait for the calf to move out in the open which where it was heading when all of a sudden "BOOM"! The cow buckled but then moved out into the open and I told him to get on one knee for a steady shot and then another "BOOM". Elk down! Perfect shot! Needless to say, I was and still am one proud dad!
Here's a few pics. By the way, Michael dwarfs me at 6'1" 235 lbs. I'm 5'10 155 lbs.
