My Sons Unit 1 Elk HUnt Beyond Blessed

[Xman2000]

Well Folks My Son Jay 15yrs Has A lot to be thankful for. He got drawn in Unit one for the October cow hunt ( and sorry this is going to be picture heavy!) and we started out leaving a Day early to get up to our favorite camp spot at Big Lake this meant they got out a day early from school as there fall break didn't start till this week so both my kids didn't complain Lol . we got to camp late because since it was just me and my 2 boys we stopped at Wal mart and loaded up on all kinds of snacks bait and goodies in Show Low , So we got camp setup quickly and pulled out the Arctic cat prepped are gear and loaded up gas ,and snacks for opening day the kids were so anxious they didn't want anything complicated for dinner so we ate lite Ramen , a salad and then smores by the fire of course the kids didn't sleep well as the anticipation burned in both my kids taking about where will find the elk and how far ect finally we went to bed and the alarm came to fast for my youngest Son Lil X but we managed to get out the door before day break and head to one of our spots no sooner had we started to a meadow when I spotted a nice Bull elk going through some trees then about 300 yards later an other Bull finally we got to our destination and waited in one of our lucky meadows. Jay and I walked a few yards from the arctic cat and set up with shooting sticks and nice cover while my youngest son stayed in the arctic cat and hung out we could see deer walking and an other bull but no cows then my youngest son said Dad I hear the Bulls calling from far away can I use my Elk call ,(he had bought a bugle last year and was raring to talk to them) so I said ok he started up and right away a Bull elk stated calling back then an other answered so he hit it again with in 5min he had the whole hill talking ( I got some video of him bugling and you can hear elk all over ill post soon ) he managed to bring in to huge Bulls in and a raghorn but no cows witch we hoped would have showed up as well but no luck so we waited till my son Jay got anxious and said lets move so I reluctantly said ok and we moved on since this was his hunt I wanted him to make the choices and Me just there to guide him so went to a location father away and settled on a little bit lower location so we could get out and start glass and walk so started on a trail off a dirt road, got in about 3 minuets driving and there were two cows just watching us Drive in! Jay said stop Dad he calmly got out pulled his gun out of the rack loaded his 270 and walked over to a tree leaned up against it and braced himself while trying to focus on the cows witch seemed to take an hour as he locked on to the biggest cow and waited for the right vitals as they slowly started to weave though the trees then with out warning as I am glassing KABOOM !!! my head hit the roof , I guess you are never ready for it if you are not the shooter Lol. I did see her wince and shake a bit ,Jay turned to me for clarification on the hit and motioned to him your shot was a little far back but she was still standing there I motioned him to send an other one he did this time it looked way better but she then started to move higher up hill so Jay followed her slowly to not push her but keep a good eye on her the other cow took off in a complete other direction and Jay started to see really good blood flowing on the ground and coming out of her so he motioned me to come over Xavier and I parked . As I got to him he said where she was and that she laid down we waited for about 15 min then started tracking heavy Blood. This was are big goof as she heard us coming she got back up and went over the hill and now down Jay got to the top and sent an other round to her to stop her .This time he hit her in the neck just behind her skull she slowly stated walking I told Jay shoot her again this time focus right behind her front leg he connected and down she went for the last time( she was a tank ). we all started down the hill confirmed she was done, and then celebrated all 3 of us it was great moment for me to give my son props for not only for getting it done opening day at 8;14am in the morning but for tracking her and being a responsible hunter once he made his first shot all the way to the end >Now the work began after the photos and tagging the elk we realized how much work we were now in for LOL but my kids were real troopers we made 12 trips up and back down the hill to the arctic cat and took us till 8;

8:00pm to get back to camp as the arctic cat stalled on us ,we for got our bone saw and a rash of other mishaps that really took us that long to get back to camp the great thing was we were done got the elk hung had a warm bed to crawl and limp into as everyone was soar and beat , slept in till 11:00am the next day then went to the Youth unlimited outdoor inc elk camp had lunch there met some great peeps and then went squirrel hunting my son Lil X couldn't wait for those big greys ,Mark from Youth outdoors said comeback tonight for the bonfire and raffle we said ok .Sure enough we showed up and got to meet more fine people listen to game and fish and get feed great food once more as then night progressed every kids was excited about the raffle and the Grand Prize ,My Kids got there raffle tickets and great prizes were getting handed out left and right but my kids had nothing then it was down to 3 kids my 2 sons and an other kid they called little x he won a great backpack (but had his heart on a knife ) then it was Jay and the other kid and they called the other kid for 2nd place prize a knife set so Jay started cheering because he knew he won a brand new Savage youth model 7mm.08rem with a Nikon scope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too good to be true Lol,

They next day we went trout fishing at big lake they kids were not allowed to bring there devices but only enjoy the outdoors so while we waited on fish they leaned to widdle wood and catch crawdads , we caught 4 trout enough for dinner that paired exceptionally well with the back straps and backed beans .We even ran into Pine Donkey at the Lake that Day

the day after that we picked pine nuts and found more grey squirrels then dropped into Springerville to get dinner and stopped by my good buddy and Taxidermist Kevin at Dead On Taxidermy ,Jay shared how favored he had been the past couple of days and Lil X got to share too about winning the back pack ( witch he was really happy for ) but had his heart set on a knife since at his age was super cool. Kevin said he had something he wanted to give my sons if that was alright I said sure and went to his safe and pulled out 2 collectors knives form the hunting heritage collection a case folding knife he gave to little X and Camillus knive he gave to Jay super nice pieces ,We took Kevin out to dinner and he told Jay to bad you don't liver here I would hire you in a heart beat ,he is sooooooo Busy this time of year he needs a lot of good help Jay said What time do you want me there and just like that Jay was hired on the spot to work there so we got back to camp that night ,got up the next day and dropped Jay off at the Taxidermist and he went right to work ,loving every min of it becoming a sponge talking to guides that showed up and learning the trade ,while I got to spend some quality time with Little X ,we went the black river and caught boat loads of fresh craws ,3 rainbows one apache trout and a huge nasty looking sucker fish the craws and rainbows we kept the apache and the sucker we let go .we got done got back to town and Jay was smiling from ear to ear he wouldn't stop talking about how cool it was to work at a taxidermist shop .Kevin was more than impressed he said he was asking all the time what else could he do to help around there and was more than kind paying Jay! they final day we took our time getting up making an awesome breakfast and then breaking up camp ,

Jay is more than stoked on his time elk hunting, we even hammerd out all our game. Already finished processing our elk completely , all the ground elk ,the steaks and summer sausage done enjoying a tasty summer sausage done up with fresh Hatch green chile and cheese and crackers. This was the trip to remember, We give all thanks to Abba Father (Sons of the most high!!!) for Lavishing us with Blessings and Favor,

 

[Flatlander]

Great to see a family enjoying the outdoors together. Sounds like a full weekend of great activities.

[4Falls]

Great story. Great pics. Great kids!

[elkslare]

Looks like you guys had a awesome time, good memories and congrats on the elk.

[Couestracker]

Exceptional hunt and great times with your boys! Hard to top all your blessing there. Congratulations to you and your son, awesome family! You are doing it right for sure!

[stanley]

Way to go!!!! Looks like a great time had by all!

 

Thanks for sharing the story and great pics with the site!

 

S.

 

[Zeke-BE]

I love stories like this! Plus my wife just tolerates hunting. So stuff like this I show her the family hunt trips pictures and explain to her the amount fun we are going to have. My kids are young so I can't wait until they get older!!

[Will K]

Very nice.

[Pine Donkey]

Great story. Co Gratulation to Jay. I enjoyed meeting you at South Cove Sunday evening. Always good to meet a CWT member, share pictures of the hunt and swap the stories

[hoghntr]

Awesome!

[Xman2000]

Amen was a great time meeting you ,any luck on the trout?

[MT_Sourdough]

FANTASTIC!

[More D]

Very cool, congratulations!

 

Looks like you all had a blast, awesome memories for sure