nakneker
Gold $$ Contributor
As much as I like hunting big bulls and bucks I also enjoy meat and memories. Today was a good day for meat and memories. I lost my cousin and best friend in May, too soon at 54. He has a daughter I’ve always been close to and she asked the Game and Fish if they would let her use her Dad’s elk tag that he drew this year. They were awesome and got the tag transferred in her name. Pete, my cousin, enjoyed cow elk hunts for meat and that’s what this tag was for, a cow hunt. Once she got the tag in her name she called and asked if I would take her, silly question I told her, lets go!
Her hunt started yesterday and we didn’t see an elk. We did see three yotes and four muley bucks. The rut is on for mule deer so it’s a good time to see some big bucks. One of the bucks was approaching 200 inches, always fun to see something like that. It was cold, 8 degrees here in the mountains of Arizona but she was a trooper and never complained. We walked out some ridges and glassed till our eyeballs hurt but found no elk. What we did find was lots of beds and lots of tracks. Day one was done.
Since we saw so much sign we went back to the same area again today. That big buck was still hiding out with his does, we saw him as soon as the light allowed. We enjoyed watching him for a few minutes and moved on. We hunted for about 30 minutes and then changed areas to another set of ridges that weren’t far away. As we crawled along in the Rubicon we would stop and glass. The last stop and glass spot before we reached our intended destination had a ridge about 1200 yards away that is covered in buck brush and shrub oak, I’ve seen a lot of game in the past during the winter months feeding on that buck brush so I wanted to look at it. As soon as the binos went up all I could see were elk, lots of elk. They were busy feeding and had no clue we were there. We parked the Jeep in a big bunch of cedar trees and walked around a knoll trying to get as close as we could. As we were approaching the opening we wanted to get to we saw three other elk standing broadside, they had already seen us and were on high alert. You could see horns with your naked eye but through the binos we could see three bulls all of which were big, the biggest was 380ish and the other two weren’t far off. They started trotting away with their heads up like they do, such a majestic sight for me, never gets old. The only problem was they were headed for the group of cows we had glassed. We got back on our game and headed for the opening we originally planned on, it wasn’t far and we were there in short order. The cows were all watching the three big bulls and wondering what had them spooked. I sat up the death grip tripod and got her settled in with my 6.5x47L. I hit the range finder and it pinged 681. Elk were standing broadside watching the bulls. There was a small cow all the way to the right, she was the target. Cora, my cousin’s daughter was doing everything right. We had practiced the week before shooting out to 700, she had been money on the steel all week and the practice paid off. One shot and the cow crumpled in her tracks. This was her fourth elk.
As we walked to where the elk lay she was all smiles. I was too, I was very happy for her. We were laughing and knuckle bumping all the way there. When we got there we took a couple pics and she took a pic of her tag and her Dad’s case trapper by the tag with blood on it. It was her Dad’s lucky knife. As she looked up there were tears in her eyes and she said “ that was for you Dad” which kind of made me tear up.
I called my son and he brought the truck out. We were back home by 10am and the job was done. I cleaned up the equipment and put It back where it belonged. My cousin was on my mind. Ironically he shot his last elk on the other side of that ridge last year, shot it with the same rifle and just about at the same distance. When me and my cousin were young we were always dreaming and chasing the big bucks and bulls, my grandpa would remind us “it’s not always about the horns”. We all know it’s not, hunting is about time spent with friends and family out in the great outdoors. A big buck or a big bull is a bonus, a doe or a cow is meat in the freezer and also a bonus. It’s about the memories and the people we make those memories with. Today was a good day for that.
The pics are her this morning and her with her first elk which I was lucky enough to help her with also.
Her hunt started yesterday and we didn’t see an elk. We did see three yotes and four muley bucks. The rut is on for mule deer so it’s a good time to see some big bucks. One of the bucks was approaching 200 inches, always fun to see something like that. It was cold, 8 degrees here in the mountains of Arizona but she was a trooper and never complained. We walked out some ridges and glassed till our eyeballs hurt but found no elk. What we did find was lots of beds and lots of tracks. Day one was done.
Since we saw so much sign we went back to the same area again today. That big buck was still hiding out with his does, we saw him as soon as the light allowed. We enjoyed watching him for a few minutes and moved on. We hunted for about 30 minutes and then changed areas to another set of ridges that weren’t far away. As we crawled along in the Rubicon we would stop and glass. The last stop and glass spot before we reached our intended destination had a ridge about 1200 yards away that is covered in buck brush and shrub oak, I’ve seen a lot of game in the past during the winter months feeding on that buck brush so I wanted to look at it. As soon as the binos went up all I could see were elk, lots of elk. They were busy feeding and had no clue we were there. We parked the Jeep in a big bunch of cedar trees and walked around a knoll trying to get as close as we could. As we were approaching the opening we wanted to get to we saw three other elk standing broadside, they had already seen us and were on high alert. You could see horns with your naked eye but through the binos we could see three bulls all of which were big, the biggest was 380ish and the other two weren’t far off. They started trotting away with their heads up like they do, such a majestic sight for me, never gets old. The only problem was they were headed for the group of cows we had glassed. We got back on our game and headed for the opening we originally planned on, it wasn’t far and we were there in short order. The cows were all watching the three big bulls and wondering what had them spooked. I sat up the death grip tripod and got her settled in with my 6.5x47L. I hit the range finder and it pinged 681. Elk were standing broadside watching the bulls. There was a small cow all the way to the right, she was the target. Cora, my cousin’s daughter was doing everything right. We had practiced the week before shooting out to 700, she had been money on the steel all week and the practice paid off. One shot and the cow crumpled in her tracks. This was her fourth elk.
As we walked to where the elk lay she was all smiles. I was too, I was very happy for her. We were laughing and knuckle bumping all the way there. When we got there we took a couple pics and she took a pic of her tag and her Dad’s case trapper by the tag with blood on it. It was her Dad’s lucky knife. As she looked up there were tears in her eyes and she said “ that was for you Dad” which kind of made me tear up.
I called my son and he brought the truck out. We were back home by 10am and the job was done. I cleaned up the equipment and put It back where it belonged. My cousin was on my mind. Ironically he shot his last elk on the other side of that ridge last year, shot it with the same rifle and just about at the same distance. When me and my cousin were young we were always dreaming and chasing the big bucks and bulls, my grandpa would remind us “it’s not always about the horns”. We all know it’s not, hunting is about time spent with friends and family out in the great outdoors. A big buck or a big bull is a bonus, a doe or a cow is meat in the freezer and also a bonus. It’s about the memories and the people we make those memories with. Today was a good day for that.
The pics are her this morning and her with her first elk which I was lucky enough to help her with also.
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