Operation Condor

[utah400elk]

I have done three or four semi-live hunts on Hunt Talk and they have all gone well. I have gotten good feed back so...I give you Operation Condor.

First the back ground,

My son, Christian, is 12 and has been on several hunting adventures with me. He hunted deer in AZ with me in Oct 2013 in AZ. We shot a small buck but he really wanted me to get a deer and he was a little guy. That was really my first semi-live type hunt post. He was too little to really hike so we were limited in how far we could go. The hunt was a great adventure and was a great way to introduce him to hunting.




My job has had us move all around the country. We have lived and hunted in 6 different states and are now moving back to VA again. Christian has been a real trooper. He does not complain and has always looked at our moves as adventures. He and I have hunted deer, pigs, alligators, and elk together. He loved the Florida alligator hunt and he got a 6 foot alligator. We were using a snatch hook and he everything but the bang-stick. He also took his first deer in FL. He liked deer hunting but didn’t love it. It was hard for the little guy to,sit in a tree stand.

Last year I got a leftover muzzleloader cow tag in CO and took my son. Murphy’s Law, we saw more bulls than cows and had a 330+ bull bugling at us less than 100 yards away. He loved everything elk hunting. He really liked chasing bugles, cow calls, the sights smells sound....everything. He was instantly hooked.

As we all know, 2020 has been rough. COVID really messed with his school and athletics. He has really turned into a great swimmer and made Texas swimming championships (TAGS) last year. This summer was going to be a great year but he was forced out f the pool for three months. His school has gone to straight on-line. He is back in the water training and doing well.

Side note, sorry fellas, I have the best wife in the world! No questions she is just the best. She saw what all of this is doing to him and asked me one night if I would want to buy my son an elk tag to go elk hunting this year? She gave me a crazy budget and said go and have fun. The original plan was for the entire family to come out on the hunt.

We needed a way to talk about her idea so as a joke I said “let’s call it Operation Condor”. Well the name stuck.

 

[utah400elk]

We were set on buying an elk tag, we were really looking at NM or Utah and almost bought a Utah tag through the RMEF. I had looked at several youth tags in NM and we just about got a Utah tag. However, I pretty sure we got a clear message from above when my son was drawn for the Utah youth tag. I had lived and hunted in Utah for 20 years before the job change so we could go to my old stomping grounds. I was trying to be frugal but my wife wanted this to be a great family adventure. She was all on board for a 8-10k tag then whatever gear we needed. Like I said, best wife ever!

So I went a little crazy...

First the rifle:

We found a Weatherby Vanguard with a 20 inch barrel in 7mm-08. We added a timely trigger and a Leopold Scope. Anybody looking to get a scope that does not go through Schmalts is crazy. We got him a VX3I 4.5-14x40 CDS. The gun will shoot sub MOA for me. He can legit shoot a 1.5 MOA from the bench.



We set up a serious shooting schedule that had us at the range a lot. We worked up a good shooting load (shout out to Buzz. Thanks for all the suggestions on 7mm-08 loads). We settled on 140 grn Accubonds with 41.2 grns Varget. We kept all his targets and it was pretty impressive. He had over 150 rounds that would fit inside a softball size. His last groups were all legit 1.5 MOA and he was calling his flyers.

I found a crazy deal on some Ziess Conquest HD Binos. We topped off his hunting equipment with a few things fromSitka and Badlands and he is ready for just about anything Mother Nature can throw at him.

As an added bonus to operation Condor, my hunting buddy was lucky and got a good CO archery elk tag. So the plan now includes a hunt in UT for my sons elk then onto CO for my buddies elk hunt. We are both bring our kids and have worked an on line school schedule that will allow then to hunt for 13 days and only miss 3 days of school. Out sons are almost the same age and have been hunting and fishing together since they could walk.

 

[utah400elk]

2020 just keeps getting better. As I had previously said, after we got the tag we got word that I had been transferred back to DC. This threw a monkey wrench into the entire family plan. We have a move date of Sept 26 and the hunt opens the 12th. It’s going to be crazy. We got the house on the market and sold. Bought a new puppy (who doesn’t need a new chocolate lab) and a new car all in the last three months.

My wife decided to stay home because she couldn’t let her self kennel the new pup. We also obviously have a lot going on right now. So it’s a guys trip out west for the hunt!

Operation Condor takes flight. Loaded and heading for airport.



The plan was fly to Denver, get rental car and drive half way to Dutch John. A few fun adventures along the way. The first car truck they tried to give us was straight out of a Cheech and Chong Movie. It smelled like there was weed all over the truck. So...free upgrade to premium F-150 platinum to include massage chairs. I wish I could have gotten a pic of my sons face as we were driving. Heated seats and built in massage, just saying.

That gets us all up to date with history. We are in hotel waiting for my son’s online learning to end to head out to Dutch John for the hunt tomorrow. We are actually hunting on the open bull units off red cloud loop area but staying in Dutch John. My buddy and his son are meeting us there tonight. We are going to stop at the range tonight to make sure the gun is good. There is a fun one outside of Rock Springs that will let him shoot steal out to 500. Obviously he won’t take any hunting shots that far but will but fun.

 

[rmyoung1]

I have a compact Weatherby Vanguard in 7mm-08 for my boys, as well. It should serve your son well! Have fun.

 

[utah400elk]

Opening morning!

Christian was up at 3:30 for our 5:00 wake up. He said he couldn’t sleep. We only have so many opening days in our hunting lives. Enjoy them!

We had a 5x5 cross the road in front of us in the headlights and continued to the area we wanted to hunt. It was cold clear and very still. We ran into the first group of elk about 45 min into the morning. We could smell then and hear them but never saw them. It was very thick. They walked off without getting spooked. We found their tracks and it looked like a bull and three cows.

Kept working to a ridge where we could hear them the night before. We got there a little later than we wanted. Fresh sign everywhere but didn’t see any elk.

While my buddy and I glasses for a bit, Christian and Q had a snowball fight.

Took a few pics


We still hunted back to the truck and got into three more groups. We could smell and hear the first group.

We saw And smelled the second group and got to within 80 yards. He was a little loud and they walked away. We only saw a cow and single calf and believe that was all of them.

The third group we saw them after smelling them. Christian did well and actually got a cow in his scope. He wants a bull (his tag is either sex) but was great practice. This group was two cows and three calf’s.

All-in-all it was a great opening morning.

more to come...

 

[blueridge]

Good luck to all of you! Keep it coming!

 

[vanish]

Lucky kid and dad

 

[utah400elk]

Ok. Little bit of a late night and we were exhausted.

We got into a screaming bull and a few cows. Problem was that they were 800 vertical feet down in a nasty canyon and we found the bull about 1/2 hour before dark. We decided to wait until morning to go after then.

As we were walking out we ran into a couple
Kids road hunting in UTVs. Their grandfather was driving them around in a Honda UTV. It was actually a little sad. The grandfather started joking around and poking fun at us for hiking. He asked if we had gotten enough hiking in. The kids looked miserable in the UTV. The grandfather had his phone on and was getting loud text notifications. While his phone was beeping we could hear the bull bugling. The grandkids said they could hear the bull bugling and the grandfather said he didn’t so they drove off. The kids looked sad.

We got back to the cabin and Christian checked his Fitbit. He has over 30,000 steps and we were at 12 miles for the day. He ate, got a quick shower then told me he was not tired...you guessed it, two minutes later he was out.

we went back out this morning and had our original plans thwarted by another group of hunters. Plan B...we got into elk and we’re digging a heard we could smell them and hear them and followed the fresh sign into a thick area.

We backed out and went to Grizzly peak for a few pictures.



Today we ran into a few grouse and a bunch of deer as well. We are now back at the cabin and getting ready for our evening hunt.

 

[utah400elk]

Tonight was a bust and then was great...

We planned to hike into a canyon that was 1.5 miles from the nearest quad trail. After parking and hiking into the mouth of the canyon we heard ATV/UTVs driving. We walked about 200 yards from the mouth and found a new illegal trail. We decided to change it up and basically ran back to the truck.

Christian was upset and said he didn’t want to go back to the cabin yet. I told him we had a plan “B” and went to another area. We has glassed for about 45 minutes and the boys were getting bored...until we found a heard with a very large bull. Christian wanted to ran at them. We explained they were approximately 2 miles away and that we could not get to them in the remaining 45 min of light. We continued to check the remaining canyons/slopes but kept our eyes on the herd until dark.

We are back at the cabin now getting ready for tomorrow and pouring over the maps to see the best approach for the morning.

 

[vanish]

I know you're already out there, but good luck!

 

[utah400elk]

This morning was a bit of a heart breaker. Great morning...so close but not quite there.

We drove out to where we thought they would be from last night. We started our hike out before shooting light moving very slowly. Right at shooting light I spotted the herd. 1/2 were on public and half were on private. They were about 600 to 800 yards in front of us. There are two big bulls in the group. A 5x6 that will go over 300 and a 6x6 that will push 315-320. Both bulls are awesome for Utah public land open bull units.

The wind was terrible but no way to work it better because of the private. There was also a 5x5 rag horn and a spike with about 25 cows. The rag horn and about half the cows were on public with both big bulls over the fence.

Christian did awesome and remained very calm. He knew we were too far but was able to practice getting the rag horn in the scope.

A few of the elk caught our wind. They didn’t single file out but kept putting there noses on the air. They took about 20 minutes to walk over the ridge and the elk on public jumped the fence to follow. From the sign along the boundary they cross the fence regularly to get to water in the public.

We were very close and it was a great practice run. We are going to give these a day or two to calm down and see if they return.

Sorry, no pictures from this morning. Too much going on to try and grab any photos.

Christian was able to log onto online classes this morning and he is getting his school work done now. We are concocting a plan for tonight.

Please keep you fingers crossed for us. Christian and Q have put 18+ miles in so far and 75,000 steps. Their spirits are high and I hope we can find some vocal elk for them.

More to come...

 

[Lyfter1013]

Great story I’m following along, good luck!!

 

[utah400elk]

I guess my buddy did get a few pictures this morning...

 

[Steelsearchin]

So cool- best of luck to you guys!!

 

[WNC2500]

Enjoying following along. You are making lifelong memories.

 

[3855WIN]

Awesome. Y’all are doing great.

 

[cahunter805]

Awesome write up! Stick with it man! Those boys look like they are having the time of their lives.

 

[utah400elk]

Sorry for the delay. Last night was awesome!

My buddy and his son glassed a separate area so it was just Christian and myself. We found a herd at about 6:00 and were about 1000 yards away. Most if that down hill. We glassed them for 1/2 hour and never saw a bull. They were in a clearing so had plenty of time to glass. Christian did not want to hike after them. He really wanted a bull after yesterday morning. I know we could have gotten onto them because I have done the same hunt numerous times before.

We ran into a couple guys in quads and they were talking about chasing down bulls on quads but the Bulls were always able to get away in the trees. They reminded me Deliverance. The gun had at least 50 rounds of ammmo on double bandoliers. His quad looked like it had broken headlights because he had flashlights taped and strapped to his quad rack as headlights.

We decided to hunt away from the bandolier hunters with duct taped flight headlights. About 1/4 miles for this quad guys we got into elk. We could smell the. And hear them moving up the hill but the quad trail went that way. We moved of and could hear the quads start up and hear the guys screaming as the ran into a cow and calf.

Christian and I continued still hunting. We walked very quietly to a small meadow I know of. I had stopped to glass a suspicious log and Christian said he saw an elk. I just smiled and kept checking out the suspicious log that looked like an elk when I was gently (quick hit to the shoulder) show where he was looking. Sure enough, Christian had spotted a cow about 20 yards from where I was looking. We quickly got him set up on shooting sticks. I ranged the cow and she was 165 yards. He was trying to get settled and she walked behind a tree. We were trying to move to a better spot when another cow stepped out. The second cow was about 85-90 yards away. She had seen us moving and was quickly walking away. I gave her a for cow call and she stopped at a perfect quartering away shot maybe 120 yards out. Christian was all set and I was sure he was going to shoot. i watched him switch the rifle of safety and was sure he was going to drop the cow. He then slowing out the rifle back in safe and said he was going to pass because he really wanted a bull.

It was an awesome experience. The look on his face was priceless. As the cow started to walk of he said “I think I actually want to take her”. However it was too late she and the other cow simply walked out of the meadow.

It was a very cool night and an awesome day. We had seen over 40 elk and four bulls and he passed a great opportunity at a cow. All smiles until he fell asleep.

My buddy found a single cow and got some awesome pictures of the smoky sunset.

 

[utah400elk]

This morning was crazy. We drove to the edge of a canyon and were being very quiet. As we sat trying to decide which way to go a bull bugles below us in the steep canyon.

We did a quick hike to get the wind right and dropped in to see if we could find them. My buddy and his son were with us today.

In very short order we had moved down the hill, had the wind right and started moving in...then we had cow calls almost all around us. They were calling like crazy and the bull was bugling. We were trying to move to a spot where we could actually see them and have a shooting lane.

Things were looking real good then the thing most elk hunters hate! A nice cool breeze on the back of our necks. We could hear the herd moving off. A little sad about the wind caused us to sit and try and develop another plan.

Then we started hearing more cow calls and another bugle further up the canyon. There were actually two herds. We followed that herd and tried to get on them but they were moving and calling. We were always close but the trees were too thick to see them. They were able to slip away un molested and un bothered .

We also glassed up another herd across the canyon but it was all cows and no bulls.
All in all a great morning. We were almost able to get it done again!!!

More to come...

 

[Lyfter1013]

Reading this on my lunch break and you got me hooked hope u guys can get your son on a bull sounds like you’re both working hard at it!