CatfishKev Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Well it was pic heavy, til I took the pics down of my kids due to creepers. Aside from the birth of my newest daughter and the success of my oldest daughter (which this post is about) 2016 has probably been my personal worst year. Lets review... 1. Took on a second full time job to have one to transition into after I give my half of my Roofing company to my business partner at the end of the year. 2. Two full time jobs, a dying father, 5 kids, financial stress, and seeing my mom run herself ragged taking care of my dad, (and me not being able to help) took their mental toll. 3. I had a vasectomy and didn't have enough time off before going back to work. It got infected and I grew a donkey heart where my balls are supposed to be. Because of this, I got to spend 4th of July (our all time favorite holiday) in the hospital. 4. Dumped over $2k into the family vehicle and I'm pretty sure the problem still isn't fixed. 5. And the icing on the cake was my pops lost his battle with Lou Gehrigs Disease (ALS) passing away 2 weeks before my daghters hunt. Now to the good stuff, my daughter filled her cow tag. Big thanks to BC777, cjl2010, Buddy Dog, Flatline, and AZ23 for all the help and suggestions that were offered. And also a big thanks to Dale and heather at Wild Heritage Taxidermy! My mom was so excited and impressed with her she talked to the paper about an article so she had me write one up. They said they might run it as a "Human Interest Piece" Here it is.... Local Teen Gets Her Elk Thirteen year old Aurora, a seventh grader at Berean Acadamy in Sierra Vista, made her ever first hunting trip last week with her father, Kevin. The hunt was in Unit 23 just south of the Mogollon Rim. Not having a chance to get to the area to do any scouting before the trip they showed up the evening of opening day. Saturday morning they got up at 4 am to get there free breakfast at the AZ Deer Associations free youth Elk and Deer Camp. The camp is put on for the whole weekend free of charge to all the hunters and their hunting parties, all done by a great group of volunteers. With the advice of the camp host and some members of AZ hunting website couesewhitail.com, they set out to find some elk with cow tag in hand. The night before, having only a few minutes of light left after setting up camp, they only got a brief idea of the area. From that they came up with a gameplan for the next morning. Before light they got into position but all they heard that morning was a lone bugle in the distance. Nada. After nothing the first morning they took the walk of shame back to the truck. The next couple days not much luck until they tried a new area. Early in the AM before the sun ever touched the earth they found a lone bugling bull while glassing. After watching a bit they saw he had some cows with him so they set off in hot pursuit. By the time they closed the distance he was already making his way with his herem into thick cover. Aurora was gung ho and didn't want to retreat but Kevin assured her that they would be there the next morning and that they didn't want to spook them and possibly blow their chances for the next morning. They headed back to the truck disappointed but still excited to finally have seen something. That evening after driving around more and getting to know the area they hiked out to a ridge where they could glass. They spotted a large herd high on a canyon wall but it was just to far to reach them with enough light to get a good shot in time. "Besides" Kevin said, "I don't really want to do a pack out that far up a mountain, especially at night". Again, Dad had to tell his daughter that they needed to back off. Heads down again, they took the walk of shame back to the truck. The next morning they got up even earlier to get on the small heard they had seen the morning before. They had driven into the area before light and started making there way up a small canyon while listening to the bull in the next canyon bugle the whole time. While hiking the canyon it seemed the bull was moving parallel to them the same pace as they were. Something seemed wrong, they started hiking quickly to try to cut them off. Once they got to the spot where they would be exposed if they went any further, Kevin told Aurora "Stay here and I'll go see where they are". He peeked over the ridge to see the bull quickly rounding up his cows at a frantic pace and disappearing into the same thick area they ran into the morning before. After following them a bit they saw some other hunters nearby which clued them in on why the elk were scared off. Aurora and her Dad weren't the only ones hunting the herd that morning. That night was again uneventful. Again the walk of shame back to the truck. At this point Kevin was starting to panic a little, it was Tuesday evening and He realized he spaced on the dates of the hunt. They had already missed opening day and he realized the hunt ended on Thursday not Friday, "How could I screw that up? I should have known that!" he said angrily out loud to himself. He went into Young to visit the good folks of Wild Heritage Taxidermy. Brandy had spoken to Dales wife Heather on Facebook whom also had a daughter that had been drawn for the youth hunt. She had kindly offered to help Aurora if she needed the help. After much generous information from Dale and Heather, they set off. Dale even offered to take them out last morning if they ended up in a real jam and didn't tag out the next day on their own. What a great bunch of people! The next morning the pair set out just before day break on Wednesday, October 12, onto a canyon ridge just off the Mogollon Rim. They glassed the opposite canyon and saw nothing so they jumped in the truck to head to the next canyon. While glassing Aurora spotted what she thought was a a heard of Deer in an opening. "Dad Look!", He looked "Those are Elk!" Aurora heart skipped, excitement welled up inside her! Success was hopefully on the way! They creeped along the canyon wall trying to get into position. Around that time a lone squirrel in a tree saw that they were up to no good and started barking at them, blowing their cover. At the same time the wind shifted and Aurora and Dad saw the bull running off with his cows. Suddenly success didn't seem so likely. They were busted, they walked to the edge of the ravine to see if they could see anything. Nothing. They were long gone. They headed back to the truck, heads down. The walk of shame again. Halfway back to the truck they heard the bull bugle, not that far off. "Maybe theres still a chance" he told his daughter. They headed they're way around the other side of the canyon where they could see better. After awhile, down in a ravine they spotted the cows. They were back in business! They hiked down the side of the canyon one agonizing slow step at a time. It took about fifteen minutes to get down 50 yards to be about 200 yards across from where the elk were. Once in place Kevin set up the tripod for Aurora with a Triclawps mounted to the top. Now all they had to do was wait for there chance. It seemed like an eternity, Aurora had been practicing with her 7mm08 rifle up to 100 yards. She was nervous, she never shot 200 yards before. Once she finally decided which cow to take a shot at she lined up the scope and took aim. Just as she was about to take the shot the cow stepped behind a tree. "Nooooo" she whispered aloud. "Just keep watching, one will move into place" Dad told her. Finally three cows moved into the open but the bull noticed them and started looking towards them intently. "The bulls looking right at us, don't move!" Kevin told her. Once the bull finally looked away they breathed a sigh of relief and focused again on the three cows. "Are you good?" he asked her. "Yup" she said. She looked through the scope trying to stay still... Boom!! the whole canyon echoed and the three cows shuffled a bit and the whole heard went motionless. They all stood there, trying to figure out what had happened. "I think you missed, but you need to make sure you shoot at the same cow, take another shot". Kevin watched the cow intently through the binoculars while Aurora lined up the scope again. "Wait, she's starting to sway!" the cow started to sway ever so slightly, she went to take a couple steps forward and fell face first over a log and went crashing. "Holy crap you got her! Shouts of joy and excitement rang through the canyon and sent the rest of the heard running. The shouts then turned to congratulations, tears and multiple hugs. This was a moment neither of them would ever forget. They hiked down the ravine and back up to the animal so she could lay hands on her prize. "It's so freakin big!" she said. She couldn't believe it had finally happened. After taking pictures Aurora helped hold the legs up to assist her dad in the cleaning process. The next 6 hours was spent skinning, quartering and packing out the precious meat. It would't go unappreciated or wasted in the large family of 7. Aurora had her chance at skinning the hind quarters the rest of the way and cleaning them for the game bags. After getting all the meat back up to the truck Aurora said "Now I know what you mean about packing out, I'm glad we didn't have to do it off the side of a mountain!". They headed back to camp eager to Show Brandy, (Auroras mom), and Auggie, (her brother) all the pictures and share the excitement. Once the excitement died down Kevin prepared some tenderloins and the Squirrels that Auggie had shot with his pellet gun earlier that day (Also Auggies first ever hunt and kills). They kicked back told the stories of their adventures and replayed they're moments of success over and over again in their minds. Good times! Congratulations Aurora and Auggie! Still scared to touch the dead thing... Feeling Nostalgic Proud Daddy! Her first pack out... Bloody shirt n all! We tried squirrel! 16 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwoGuns Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Very cool. She will remember that the rest of her life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flatline Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Congrates to your daughter and you on filling the tag. Sorry for your loss, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
buddydog Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Wow, awesome!! Looks like you guys had a blast. Great job!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stallone A. Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Great story, thanks for sharing. A lot of determination and hard work always pays off in the end. God bless you and your family. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cramerhunts Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Lot's of emotions and struggles and you were able to prevail. Congratulations. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest oneshot Report post Posted October 23, 2016 The Outdoors Life is the greatest healer... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattys281 Report post Posted October 23, 2016 The Outdoors Life is the greatest healer... +1 So sorry about the loss of your dad and the rough year. Hope the time spent with family and good people helped to find some peace. Congrats on the hunt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zackcarp Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Nice. Is going to be in the Herald. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Allforelk Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Awesome silver lining. Congratulations to the young hunter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted October 23, 2016 Nice. Is going to be in the Herald. I doubt they will run it, at least as I've written it. I know they said they wouldn't post any pictures of the dead animal. Because even though probably over half the population hunts or fishes and 90 some percent of the people reading it eat meat they apparently don't know where it comes from. I'm pretty sure pictures of gay pride week would be ok though and considered to be "non offensive". 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bughalli Report post Posted October 28, 2016 Making memories...that's what it's all about! ....and these will last longer than your lifetime. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azpredator@work Report post Posted October 28, 2016 Nice job dad. We all go through peaks and valleys in our lives. Stay persistent and positive. Congrats to both of you.... ***I bet that squirrel was nasty! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bustedknuckleinc Report post Posted November 14, 2016 Wow! Your 48 years old? Speechless! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost85 Report post Posted November 14, 2016 lets go ahead and request that this clown gets removed from the site. Someone needs to get ahold of Chris Hansen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
