Sweetpea gets it done on her youth hunt this weekend out of eureka!! Proud papa..kid finishes no matter what..damn what a hunt..and what an incredible animal..once in a lifetime for sure..
So..im in texas during the first week in september..out of cell phone range..0 contact..the way i like it...im checking out the new ranch i will be working on come november...spent 5 days down there..amazing place..but thats another story..so i get back into cell range as im driving back to d.f.w airport...my phone and email is blown up with numerous calls and emails fro D.F.G and green diamond resource company...damn..pretty rare d.f.g calls me..unless there has been an incident on one of my ranches...i call immediatley...i get the news that my duaghter had been drawn for the youth roosevelt cow hunt in the northwest part of the state..extremley north west..like cresent city..eureka type shat!! ha!! im like damn..when did i put here in for that? had to think..then remebered i put her and the 3 knuckleheads in for this draw months ago..its a private p.l .m. draw,,no part of the regular draw..thanks to a buddy of mine who tipped me off to this..or i ..like many..would never of got the 411...stipulations..have to be a youth hunter..which made it more appealing to me...hmmm 4 youth hunters?? odds should be pretty good regardless..prolly be going somewhere in this state every year considering the odds..jackastan does have plenty of opps. for the kids...they screw the adults pretty well..but take care of the kids..thats all that counts....Fast forwarding..we set the dates..which was great because our tag was good from sept 15th - nov.1st...
timing is brutal at the hatchet compound..between 4 kids in sports..school..work,,guiding,,and lloyd..we are always pressed for time!!! it would have to fall over a weekend.and be a 3 day ordeal..1 of which would be driving as it is 11 hrs each way for us..we would get a max of 2 days in the field..take it or leave it..we took it of course!!we roll up and arive at our 5 star motel 6 in the middle of no where about 2 am friday morning..take a 3 hr nap and meet the ranch foreman from the timber company at 05,30am..needless to say..sweetpea was grumpy..like her mama i spose..we get orientated..he says..i see elk at random times and places..we have 17,000 acres..so lets roll!! we jump in his polaris bench atv..enough room for 3..trust me..we took up every inch of that baby!!
with out that atv,,we would not have been able to go to 3/4 of that ranch..trails only logging rigs can get to..with a few main pathways..anyways..500yds from where i left my rigg..i look up on a ridge and see a huge 6 by 6 bull..prolly in the 320 ish range mad dogging us( for the duckers..a 320 rosie is a freakin giant.there horns are not as big as rockies,,but they dwarf rockies in body size..more on that later}..i whisper halt..i get em out we glass him for abit..amazingly..he is by himself..no ladies..what a sight thow..im thinking damn..this is gonna go down quick!! WRONG!! spent all day searching..not another elk spotted,,did have 3 bear encounters..several buck encounters..and for the bird shooters..the grouse is of the charts there with blues and ruffed begging to be stoned to death..literally dont move..you can damn near grab them..but hey..they are birds..nothing new there!! ha!
we could not shoot a bear until the following morning as bear/buck season started on the 20th up there..cool to see though..big bears too..like boone and crockett type shat ..not a care in the world either...Anyways..we head back to our motel completley exhausted after no rest for damn near 30 hrs now..the girl is a champ fellas,,tuffer than most grown men i lead around the woods..we get up at 0400 saturday morning..we now know the routine,,gonna be more of the same..but now we can shoot a bear and acow rosie..we are pumped! we start our assent again on the mountain..huge country..while heading to a section of the property we did not get to yesterday..we run into bachelor group of 6 giant bulls..and i mean giant!!! NO GIRL ELK...ARRGH!! we check them out for abit..and move on...
1 hour later we run into a giant bear scratching a redwood..he has no idea we are there..i ask her if she wants to shoot him..she says{ not really..i dont wanna crack a round off and scare anything that may or may not be up the next drainage]..im like..o.k..lets roll..bear gets a hall pass,,here is were old folks must take a lesson..i would have shot that bear..we no sooner go past the bear and get to the ridgeline..look acroos the valley..and BAMM elk shangrala!! ..must me 40 head feeding on a steep hillside anbout 1/2 mile away..she looks at me and said"i told you" you ready to roll? ha!! cant believe she actually said that..but she did.. i put the glass on them..i would say at least 3/4 of the heard where bulls...with a handful of mature cows..well..it only takes one..so we are off ..
left the a.t.v. there as they are way to loud..and i'll say it again for the folks that dont hunt large mammals much"they aint glued to the mountain!!" them bastards hear or smell you and they are GONE! we get downwind from them and start our stalk..all down hill..then up the next..much of the stalk..we could not see the elk,,had to rely on the foreman back at the a.t.v for the hand signals...on our final approach..i look back..all is well..thank the lord jesus christ!! this might actually go down..i know that if i get the assassin anywhere near the 300yd mark..big mamma is gonna take a dirt nap!!! well..we come up a little ravine..actually walking on a game trail..i peek around the corner..and BAMM!! there they are!! im like sweetpea..go ahead and chamber a round..i get the silent nod..damn she learns well!! to my surprise.. i thought these elk were about 200yds away..the lieca reads 380!!! damn these elk are huge!!!!! i call her off..tell her we are gonna get closer..once in a lifetime deal..we are gonna make it count..we close to the last littlle pine tree on our hands and knees..pull up with the lieca..180!!!! stop your feet,,its dead meat!! she deploys the bi-pod..gets comfy and settles in..now at this point the elk are in full rut mode..big bulls fighting..cows running with thier butts touching the ground as not to be violated by 1000lbs of shear tool!! the hard part was trying to pic out a big mature dry cow...we manged to identify 1,,this cow had now idea the amount shear punishment it was about to recieve from the 257wbymag spitting 120noslers at a ripping 3200 plus feet per second..damn..makes me cringe..
we sit for at least 10 minutes..feels like hours when your in those situations..lots of scenarios running threw my mind..i look at the athlete..stone cold..respiration prolly 16..heart rate 68..ice cold..im pumping feeling like this may be it..im gonna have the big one in front of my daughter,,damn..i gotta get it together!! she whispers.."dad..she's clear..as soon as she steps forward.im gonna send it" i respond 10-4....with my 10 power swaros on the cow...i see the elk rear up on its hind legs..pack her front shoulder and do 2 summer salts done the mountain THEN!! i hear the the report of the rifle..KAPOOOOW!! THUDDD!! for the mammal guys..you understand what im saying..for those that dont..light is faster than sound right? i turn to sweetness..she has the spent cartidge in her hand ..then hands it to me.."lets go get her" another moment fellas damn,
Well..we get up and start angling over to where we last saw her role...and then it happens..big mama comes walking out of the canyon up the other side packing her front shoulder and hobbling F%CK!@!.. before i can say anything i hear her chamber another round..i side step the girl and she gets down prone..i tell her to make it count..KAPOOOW!! shot #2 rings out...THWAAAACK!! another solid hit in the money ring..the cow just stands there..i put the swaros up..blood pumping out of the pump station..i tell sweetness to chamber another just in case..she does..at this time the elk beds down..right behind some ferns and logs..nothing but the head neck shot{ i love it} but dont advocate it as there is much room for era..well..we collect ourselfs..watch the elk for a good 15 minutes..she is doing the head bob..not a pretty sight ..but reality for any big game hunter sometimes..emily is not happy about it..i sence the anxiety in her..i make the move..tell her..lets go finish..this is by far one of the tuffest animals i have ever been on..and ive been on 1 or 2.,,i take us up above her..get to within 60 yards..still no shot..only the head..she tells me..'dad..im shooting her in the head..shes gonna go down for good" i say go for it..she steadys..pops off the safety..just about that time the elk turns and looks straight on towards us as if to say "bring it" well ..she brought it..right between the eyes...good night nurse..no coffee tonight!!elk down!! now the high fives and 'attempted daddy daughter hugs" are going down..i say attempted because i think i went for several and completed 1?? i dont know..i do know it was not enough!!!
anyways..upon autopsy of the giant..i found all 3 rounds, 2 in the opposite shoulder..both lungs were scrambled and there was a burn mark to the heart..and the shot between the eyes was lodged in the base of the neck...no second guessing that one..damn what a tuff animal!! this will go down as my all time best hunt..not because it was a once in a lifetime hunt and that it was a roosevelt elk..but for the many other things we learned from each other on this hunt..i like to think i taught her a few things here and there along the way..but in reality..that girl teaches me something new every time i hunt with her...kleenex please..the end.
So..im in texas during the first week in september..out of cell phone range..0 contact..the way i like it...im checking out the new ranch i will be working on come november...spent 5 days down there..amazing place..but thats another story..so i get back into cell range as im driving back to d.f.w airport...my phone and email is blown up with numerous calls and emails fro D.F.G and green diamond resource company...damn..pretty rare d.f.g calls me..unless there has been an incident on one of my ranches...i call immediatley...i get the news that my duaghter had been drawn for the youth roosevelt cow hunt in the northwest part of the state..extremley north west..like cresent city..eureka type shat!! ha!! im like damn..when did i put here in for that? had to think..then remebered i put her and the 3 knuckleheads in for this draw months ago..its a private p.l .m. draw,,no part of the regular draw..thanks to a buddy of mine who tipped me off to this..or i ..like many..would never of got the 411...stipulations..have to be a youth hunter..which made it more appealing to me...hmmm 4 youth hunters?? odds should be pretty good regardless..prolly be going somewhere in this state every year considering the odds..jackastan does have plenty of opps. for the kids...they screw the adults pretty well..but take care of the kids..thats all that counts....Fast forwarding..we set the dates..which was great because our tag was good from sept 15th - nov.1st...
timing is brutal at the hatchet compound..between 4 kids in sports..school..work,,guiding,,and lloyd..we are always pressed for time!!! it would have to fall over a weekend.and be a 3 day ordeal..1 of which would be driving as it is 11 hrs each way for us..we would get a max of 2 days in the field..take it or leave it..we took it of course!!we roll up and arive at our 5 star motel 6 in the middle of no where about 2 am friday morning..take a 3 hr nap and meet the ranch foreman from the timber company at 05,30am..needless to say..sweetpea was grumpy..like her mama i spose..we get orientated..he says..i see elk at random times and places..we have 17,000 acres..so lets roll!! we jump in his polaris bench atv..enough room for 3..trust me..we took up every inch of that baby!!
with out that atv,,we would not have been able to go to 3/4 of that ranch..trails only logging rigs can get to..with a few main pathways..anyways..500yds from where i left my rigg..i look up on a ridge and see a huge 6 by 6 bull..prolly in the 320 ish range mad dogging us( for the duckers..a 320 rosie is a freakin giant.there horns are not as big as rockies,,but they dwarf rockies in body size..more on that later}..i whisper halt..i get em out we glass him for abit..amazingly..he is by himself..no ladies..what a sight thow..im thinking damn..this is gonna go down quick!! WRONG!! spent all day searching..not another elk spotted,,did have 3 bear encounters..several buck encounters..and for the bird shooters..the grouse is of the charts there with blues and ruffed begging to be stoned to death..literally dont move..you can damn near grab them..but hey..they are birds..nothing new there!! ha!
we could not shoot a bear until the following morning as bear/buck season started on the 20th up there..cool to see though..big bears too..like boone and crockett type shat ..not a care in the world either...Anyways..we head back to our motel completley exhausted after no rest for damn near 30 hrs now..the girl is a champ fellas,,tuffer than most grown men i lead around the woods..we get up at 0400 saturday morning..we now know the routine,,gonna be more of the same..but now we can shoot a bear and acow rosie..we are pumped! we start our assent again on the mountain..huge country..while heading to a section of the property we did not get to yesterday..we run into bachelor group of 6 giant bulls..and i mean giant!!! NO GIRL ELK...ARRGH!! we check them out for abit..and move on...
1 hour later we run into a giant bear scratching a redwood..he has no idea we are there..i ask her if she wants to shoot him..she says{ not really..i dont wanna crack a round off and scare anything that may or may not be up the next drainage]..im like..o.k..lets roll..bear gets a hall pass,,here is were old folks must take a lesson..i would have shot that bear..we no sooner go past the bear and get to the ridgeline..look acroos the valley..and BAMM elk shangrala!! ..must me 40 head feeding on a steep hillside anbout 1/2 mile away..she looks at me and said"i told you" you ready to roll? ha!! cant believe she actually said that..but she did.. i put the glass on them..i would say at least 3/4 of the heard where bulls...with a handful of mature cows..well..it only takes one..so we are off ..
left the a.t.v. there as they are way to loud..and i'll say it again for the folks that dont hunt large mammals much"they aint glued to the mountain!!" them bastards hear or smell you and they are GONE! we get downwind from them and start our stalk..all down hill..then up the next..much of the stalk..we could not see the elk,,had to rely on the foreman back at the a.t.v for the hand signals...on our final approach..i look back..all is well..thank the lord jesus christ!! this might actually go down..i know that if i get the assassin anywhere near the 300yd mark..big mamma is gonna take a dirt nap!!! well..we come up a little ravine..actually walking on a game trail..i peek around the corner..and BAMM!! there they are!! im like sweetpea..go ahead and chamber a round..i get the silent nod..damn she learns well!! to my surprise.. i thought these elk were about 200yds away..the lieca reads 380!!! damn these elk are huge!!!!! i call her off..tell her we are gonna get closer..once in a lifetime deal..we are gonna make it count..we close to the last littlle pine tree on our hands and knees..pull up with the lieca..180!!!! stop your feet,,its dead meat!! she deploys the bi-pod..gets comfy and settles in..now at this point the elk are in full rut mode..big bulls fighting..cows running with thier butts touching the ground as not to be violated by 1000lbs of shear tool!! the hard part was trying to pic out a big mature dry cow...we manged to identify 1,,this cow had now idea the amount shear punishment it was about to recieve from the 257wbymag spitting 120noslers at a ripping 3200 plus feet per second..damn..makes me cringe..
we sit for at least 10 minutes..feels like hours when your in those situations..lots of scenarios running threw my mind..i look at the athlete..stone cold..respiration prolly 16..heart rate 68..ice cold..im pumping feeling like this may be it..im gonna have the big one in front of my daughter,,damn..i gotta get it together!! she whispers.."dad..she's clear..as soon as she steps forward.im gonna send it" i respond 10-4....with my 10 power swaros on the cow...i see the elk rear up on its hind legs..pack her front shoulder and do 2 summer salts done the mountain THEN!! i hear the the report of the rifle..KAPOOOOW!! THUDDD!! for the mammal guys..you understand what im saying..for those that dont..light is faster than sound right? i turn to sweetness..she has the spent cartidge in her hand ..then hands it to me.."lets go get her" another moment fellas damn,
Well..we get up and start angling over to where we last saw her role...and then it happens..big mama comes walking out of the canyon up the other side packing her front shoulder and hobbling F%CK!@!.. before i can say anything i hear her chamber another round..i side step the girl and she gets down prone..i tell her to make it count..KAPOOOW!! shot #2 rings out...THWAAAACK!! another solid hit in the money ring..the cow just stands there..i put the swaros up..blood pumping out of the pump station..i tell sweetness to chamber another just in case..she does..at this time the elk beds down..right behind some ferns and logs..nothing but the head neck shot{ i love it} but dont advocate it as there is much room for era..well..we collect ourselfs..watch the elk for a good 15 minutes..she is doing the head bob..not a pretty sight ..but reality for any big game hunter sometimes..emily is not happy about it..i sence the anxiety in her..i make the move..tell her..lets go finish..this is by far one of the tuffest animals i have ever been on..and ive been on 1 or 2.,,i take us up above her..get to within 60 yards..still no shot..only the head..she tells me..'dad..im shooting her in the head..shes gonna go down for good" i say go for it..she steadys..pops off the safety..just about that time the elk turns and looks straight on towards us as if to say "bring it" well ..she brought it..right between the eyes...good night nurse..no coffee tonight!!elk down!! now the high fives and 'attempted daddy daughter hugs" are going down..i say attempted because i think i went for several and completed 1?? i dont know..i do know it was not enough!!!
anyways..upon autopsy of the giant..i found all 3 rounds, 2 in the opposite shoulder..both lungs were scrambled and there was a burn mark to the heart..and the shot between the eyes was lodged in the base of the neck...no second guessing that one..damn what a tuff animal!! this will go down as my all time best hunt..not because it was a once in a lifetime hunt and that it was a roosevelt elk..but for the many other things we learned from each other on this hunt..i like to think i taught her a few things here and there along the way..but in reality..that girl teaches me something new every time i hunt with her...kleenex please..the end.
