Nephew's 1st Elk

[KB-AZ]

I spent the weekend in 6A helping my nephew Jonathon on his first elk hunt. My brothers and I have had a few archery hunts in that area in the past, so we were pretty confident that we would get him on some elk. My youngest brother and I arrived Friday night to reports of few elk and no shots fired or heard.

 

I had been up the month prior helping some friends on their archery hunt and scouted a few new areas which held promise. We hit up one of the spots Saturday morning and at first light heard a weak bugle. We moved in a little closer and set up, but nothing materialized. After a while we moved to a saddle and were glassing a small canyon. My youngest nephew does a great cow call with his mouth. He made a few calls, and shortly after we spot a few hunters sneaking in to the sounds. At this point the kids are getting tired and hungry so we decide to still hunt back to the truck. Rounding a bend, dad spots a herd feeding 100 yards out. Jonathon get's set up to shoot and a cow steps into the clear. BOOM! I didn't hear any impact and the cow didn't react at all. He loads another round, but holds off on his shot as he can't re-acquire the same cow and didn't want to shoot a different one in case he had hit the first one. The herd eventually spooks and I can see the cow was not hit. We make our way over to where they were and confirm there is no hair or blood or any sign of a hit. He was disappointed in missing, but we assured him he did the right thing by not shooting another without first making sure he didn't hit the first one.

 

Sunday morning we try a new area. After a few hours, all that was spotted are cattle. We start looping back around to the truck and spot a lone 4 point bull. We watch him feed off, then see some wild horses in the distance. After about 100 yards, my youngest nephew says he see's some elk and points to where the horses were. I'm thinking he has spotted the horses, but pull up the binocs and sure enough here comes a herd of about 40 elk. My brother and Jonathon start crawling up closer and are soon within 150 yards of the herd. I can see Jonathon getting ready to shoot, then catch movement off to my right. Ten cow have split from the herd and are angling right to us. My brother see's this also, and re-positions his boy. The first 6 walk by at 100 yards but never stop for a shot. Then one comes by at 80 yards and stops broadside. CRACK! She buckles and hobbles two steps. CRACK! She's down for good and Jonathon throws up his arms and let's out a yell. Here he is with his first elk.

 

 

 

Here's some fresh backstraps that we enjoyed that night.

 

 

I also want to thank azcouesandelk & 125coues and the AZ Elk Society for the camp they had set up. The kids really liked the hats they got as well as shooting the bows. Good to talk hunting with you, Christian.

 

Kris

[AzHunt]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

MMMMMM.....backstrap....mmmmmm

[AllBoutHuntn]

Always good to see a youngster get his first elk. congrats Jonathan on a good looking cow!!

[azcouesandelk]

Way to go guys! I like your nephews hats

 

It was good meet you up there and even better to see him get 1 down after the first days happenings!

[Coues Archer]

That looks so good. Great job kid.

[TLH]

Congrats and way to go getting the kids out hunting!! Everyone looks very happy!