So I was lucky enough to get a juniors 6a cow tag for October. It all started about 430 am opening morning we got are coffee made and got the jeep all warmed up! We were off to our spot where we saw cows weeks before, my dad and I sat in the car for about 15 mins before we jumped out to where we were going, by this time it was 515. I led the way with my trusty remmington 700 with a vortex scope on my shoulder and my glock 23 on my hip. no more than a hundred yards through the inches of snow on the ground,we stopped next to a tree and looked down at our gps to see where our spot was! After I took no more than 4 steps I heard a loud noise 5 yds from me, it came from behind a tree I fumbled for my pistol and flicked on my flashlight to see that there was two bull elk and four cows standing next to the tree 5yds away where they were once bedded. Sadly it was still 15 mins before shooting time. They darted off and we tracked them the best we could and couldn't end up catching up to them! We left to go meet up with my uncle, we sadly saw that there was a spike laying 50 feet from us in pain from the 4 gunshots to its stomach, we asked what happened come to find out a repeated offender in poaching had his kids shoot the spike and speed off in the car leaving it there! We waited for the game warden to pick up the bull and out it out if his misery! The rest if the day was a bust!
The next morning we decided we could sleep in a little after the last incedent so we did till about 5 then we woke up got ready and were out by 520 We got to our same spot as the previous day and hoped for the best once again it was a bust we kind of where wandering if we could see right because we heard shots all around. Finally my dad said we are getting out of the car and hiking that mountain right there so we can glass ! We parked at the base of the mountain and started to hike about 400 yds up the mt my dad spotted 10 elk and 1 bull about 100 yds away I quickly but quietly unbuckled my geigerrig hydration pack and prepared for my shot there was no cover or trees to set up with so I decided to take the shot standing I pulled my rifle up to find a cow that wasn't in the group. I took a deep breath aimed for the lungs and squeezed the trigger "bang" nothing happened they all looked at me( I thought in my head I was dead on) I loaded another I found the elk and shot at it again as I shot, it dropped where it stood! We waited a few minutes and walked over to it, it lay dead with two holes in the lungs I knew I was dead on! Now the fun began gutting it and getting it down the mt! We decided to drive my jeep up the mt with at least a 50 degree incline in some spots (we read you are allowed to drive off trail to recover game ). We got into the jeep and then took it back to camp where we skinned it. It was a great first elk hunt we left the next day for my dads limited hunt in springerville which was a huge bust!
