Elk Hunt 2010

My son and I had a plan to go elk hunting in the Unitah mountains this year. He and I have hunted there before and we know there are elk in the area, we just hadn't seen one. I think we were both ready for some success. I took my alpine camper and he used a friend's full-on 28 foot trailer. We made the camp in our usual spot and it was just beautiful, as it is every fall. This year was special because my son brought his entire family. Even little Quinn who is just 3 months old made her first trip to the elk camp. Dax's oldest son, Hunter, is 6 and he went out with the big boys this year in the early morning on opening day. My other son, Matt, came along and camped with me. It was so great as a father and grandfather to be with my boys hunting in such a beautiful area.

Saturday, opening morning, was great and aweful at the same time. Dax and Matt and Hunter were going to a spot where we knew there might be elk. They got close to their hunting position almost at first light. While they were walking toward their pre-decided location they heard a shot maybe 200 yards away. Sure enough, there were elk in the area and another hunter and his small son shot a 5 point bull very close to the area where they were headed. Dax is such a nice guy he helped the fellow clean and transport his elk to the road. The poor guy had shot the elk but hadn't the foggiest idea how to clean it. He was up to his elbows in blood and only had maybe a quart of entrails out of the elk carcass. {Sportsmen realize there are probably 20 quarts of entrails in an elk so the poor bugger had a long way to go.} Dax, Hunter and Matt didn't see any more elk that morning. Nor did I in another area kind of close.

We hunted the remainder of the opening day and in the evening. Dax's wife Tristie and the kids all went home around noon. Quinn had come ill prepared and only brought herself 5 diapers for the elk hunt. It was her very first elk camp so I don't harbor any preparation feelings toward her this year. That night after dark the big boys drove back to Roosevelt we spent the night in soft warm beds at Dax's home. Sunday morning Matt went home to Bountiful and his family. A day of rest and good food at Dax's was the order for Sunday.

Monday I returned to the elk camp as did Dax. He had to work at snagging a bear in someone's back yard in Vernal before he could come up to hunt. I hiked around in lots of likely spots and found lots of elk tracks and poop. I was getting excited as an elk had been shot in the area and I was finding lots of sign. Monday evening Dax and I went for a hike to a small meadow he had found on opening day. I sat in the western end of the meadow and tried to look like a bush in front of a tree. I didn't move and watched the meadow for movement and the trees surrounding it for elk passing through. Dax went on a short hike {100 yards or so} to the west and north of my position to look for elk and see if he could spot some mountain goats he had been watching on opening day. Around 6:45 p.m. I saw a 5 point bull elk walk into the meadow to graze. He was a fine looking bull for me. I moved my left arm ever so slowly to pick up my rifle. I put the crosshairs of my scope on his rib cage just behind the front shoulder. I clicked off the safety and pressed the trigger gently. The rifle went off and it was a surprise for me and Dax and the elk. The bullet went right where it had been aimed and the elk staggered and jogged off to the south east. I was shooting a .338 Win. Mag. so I doubted the elk could go far.

Dax came running when he heard the shot. He said he was maybe 20 yards away in the trees and thought it might have been me shooting -- then he smelled the gun powder and knew it was me. We both shoot the same rifle and ammunition so he knew the smell from practice sessions. I was not up on my feet yet and thought it wise to let the elk have a minute to lay down and bleed out. We went to where the elk was standing in the meadow to look for blood on the ground. Dax asked me, "you couldn't have missed could you?" I said "No here is some blood on the ground" and I started to track the elk drop by drop. The elk was bleeding lots so the trail of blood was not hard to follow even in the dimming sun light. Dax walked into the forest of trees thinking like a wounded elk. He walked down paths and between trees looking for an animal lying down. I was following the blood spoor. Last thing Dax said as he was entering the thick trees is "Where is George {the Namibian tracker} when you need him?"

I heard a shot ring out in the trees about 35 yards ahead of me. Dax had seen the elk lying down and his head was still moving so to prevent him from getting up he shot him again in the neck {to not waste any meat.} The elk was dead now. I walked quickly to Dax's position and we congratulated each other excessively. It is rare to harvest a 5 point bull elk on public land on an open bull tag. We have been hunting in this general area for three years for this guy and we finally got one! We took photos and were proud of ourselves in the dark. My shot had been right where I aimed and had trashed the elk's liver and some of his lungs. He was pretty closed to his last bite of grass when Dax saw him. He couldn't get up but Dax didn't know that and rather than risk chasing a wounded animal in the dark, he just put him down. Fine by me.

We field dressed the elk and cut it in half. We lashed a cross pole to two pine trees and hung the halves up to cool in the night. I think it was around 35º that night and the elk meat was fine hanging at that temperature. We didn't want to invite any bears to share in our harvest so we had to hang it up. We hiked back to our transportation and then drove to a small peak where we had cellular service and called family to let them know we had success.

We calmed down from the hunting rush and went to sleep around 11 p.m. We were up early, 6 a.m., to hunt our way back to the elk hanging and maybe get Dax an elk too. We didn't see any elk on the way in and we packed the elk out to a spur in the road in two trips. Dax did most of the packing. I did however carry out the backstraps and a front quarter. We loaded up and went back to camp to make another cross bar to hang the elk meat on. Dax had brought some game bags to protect from flies and the elk hung there rather well in the shade.

We hunted for another day and a half for Dax an elk. We didn't see any but were in an area where there are lots of elk tracks and poop. I know there are more elk in there. Dax is going back next week to hunt a day or two and pick up the trailer he left there. I packed up my camper and hauled the elk meat down to a processing plant late Wednesday. I got to sleep in a soft bed and eat real good food again at Dax's house. Thursday morning I started for home 400 miles away.

I look back on this as another of the greatest hunts of my life. My sons were with me, my daughter-in-law was there and the grandkids. PLUS, we got to harvest a nice 5 point bull. It doesn't get much better than that, thanks to the Lord.

Namibia 2010

My son and I just returned from a week hunting in Namibia. We had a great time and bagged several fine animals. My son had never been over there before so this was all new to him. I was so happy to share the experience with him. Our guides were great, the food was good, and the hunting was outstanding. We ended up with a kudu, a hartebeest, a springbok, a warthog, 3 oryx, and a bonus of a big old male baboon.

Chizzler Season 2010 starts

Bounty Hunter 6 and I went out to see if the chizzlers made it through the winter. They were running all over the farm when we arrived in Beryl, Utah. We did our best to rid the farm of the little profit stealers but I doubt we made much of a dent in the population. I dropped some peanuts on the ground as I was reloading and shooting as fast as I could. A chizzler came over on the "bait" so I had to stop that with a .22LR. I think the chizzlers are really hungry and lonesome after their long winter nap. I am so jazzed to think of the coming months hunting the vermin. (This is not the big hunt, the BIG HUNT is going to take place in Namibia real soon.)

Guess What?

I have a big hunt coming up. I can hardly wait.

Antlerless Elk Hunting 2009

My last lucky tag drawn for the hunting year 2009 was for an antlerless elk on Deseret Land and Livestock Ranch, CWMU. Dax has worked on various elk projects there for several years in the past so I enticed {begged} him to come help his old dad and guide me on a fine hunt. We met in Bountiful, Utah on the evening of December 18, 2009 and had a good visit with my other son Rusty and his family. We had some fine food then when to sleep for a few short hours. Dax had arranged for us to be at the ranch at 7:00 a.m. I was driving up to the ranch via Evanston, Wyoming so we ended up leaving Bountiful at 5:30 a.m. and unfortunately with me driving -- arrived at the ranch at around 7:30 a.m. All the guides and hunters had already gone out hunting so we signed in at the guide shack and went for a look around the 250,000 acre ranch for just one antlerless elk. Dax drove us just about 3 minutes to the southwest along a main road and we saw a small antlerless elk running away from us down a road to the east. I think it was just a calf. We watched it for a few minutes and were pleased that there were still elk on the ranch. Dax said we could fill the tag and get some veal-elk. I said not now it is so early in the hunt. I thought I could see milk around its mouth from sucking on its mother. Maybe it was frost around the mouth as it was about 0º outside the truck. I didn't want to get out of the warm truck, stalk, shoot, track, clean, and get all that cold yet. It was only 8 a.m. and we had all day.

Dax drove us around many roads and locations where there were usually elk. I saw lots of snow and really cold things. We never got stuck in the snow but I am sure it was because of Dax's driving skills in the 18 inch deep snow here and there. We saw and photographed 5 bull moose. We saw many pronghorn antelope, and mule deer. We could not seem to find out where the elk were. We crossed the main elk traveled "highway" path at least 3 times yet we could not find the elk. Finally, around noon I said do you want a sandwich? Dax looked at me like I was never going to ask. He was starving. We drove to the top of a moderately tall mountain and I made some sandwiches with extra good bread, cheese, and best meat Dax had brought. He even brought me some Diet Coke. What a kid! He got out his spotting scope and proceeded to look around the ranch all the way to Wyoming for elk. I looked also between bites of sandwich and swigs of Diet Coke. I spotted 10 -12 head of elk at a distance of maybe 1 mile to the east of where we were. Dax moved the spotting scope over and said "good spot Dad, but they are all bulls." Sure enough at the distance I could tell they were elk with my binoculars but could not see the antlers. I looked through his spotting scope at around 50X and they were all trophy elk. I would be proud to harvest any of the big brutes but not today. Today I was a "Ladies Man" and going for an antlerless animal. We started to drive to the north off the peak of the mountain and down into some sagebrush rolling country. There were lots of small little coolies where elk could hide. Around 1 p.m. we finally found some of them.

Down in the rolling sage flats Dax said, "There they are!" Off to the west of us were a couple of rag-horn bulls, a spike, two calves, and 3 - 4 antlerless large animals. We stopped the truck and tried to get a better look with binoculars and I tried to get a range on them with my laser range finder. I could not get the range finder to read. Dax tried the range finder also without luck. I think we had earlier been looking over 1 mile away at animals so some elk "just" 400 - 500 yards way looked close. My range finder only reads animals to about 500 yards. I slipped out of the truck and turned my scope up to 20X to check out the elk. I could see a fine cow in the northern most lead position. I put the crosshairs on the upper part of its front leg and moved the safety off. I held my breath both to steady the shot and because of the cold. I pulled the trigger, boom, and it felt like a good shot. It hit low under the cow so I worked the bolt to reload and shot again with the same hold. I hit low again. My .300 Win. Mag. is sighted in to hit only 20" low at 500 yards so I easily could have been shooting under the cow elk. The elk could not see us very well and the wind was in our face so they didn't smell us. They started to run right toward us. I thought why not let them come right to the truck if they want to. At about 200 yards they saw us and stopped moving. Dax had put up his spotting scope and was watching and I tried another shot at the lead cow. I heard the "ploop" of the bullet striking the elk. Dax said "You shot it in the butt". I couldn't believe I did. I was a reasonable shot and had practiced just three days before with the rifle and the loads. I thought I was sighted in perfect. I was sick. I wanted the elk to drop from a heart shot. Not so. The cow laid down and had its head up. One of the rag horn bulls went over and stomped around it to make it move. Finally out of desperation he actually stomped on the laying cow. She didn't move so he ran off. Dax started to move over toward the downed cow from the south to make her run toward me if she got up. She didn't move so I started to sneak up on her straight on in the sage brush. I got to within 60 yards or so and shot her again, in the head. It was over. My original shot was a perfect double lung shot not the butt. Dax was just pulling my chain to get me worked up. He also told me to not shoot it in the backstrap when I was shooting for the head. {When I was prepping the hide to dry it I found the perfectly mushroomed bullet stuck in the hide on the far side of the elk.}

Dax and I took some photos and we went back to the truck to see if we could drive to nearer the downed elk. Dax found a gate and we drove to within 10 feet of the elk. He more or less cleaned the animal for me. He is such a help. We dragged her up the removed tailgate of the truck for a ramp. Dax drove us out to the ranch shack and we weighed her in at the scales. Then off to Bountiful. It was only around 3 p.m. Of course we had to stop at our favorite Mexican cafe in Evanston on the way home. We went in to the cafe with rifle cartridges on my belt loops and blood on our clothes but no problem in Evanston. We had great food and good service then home to Bountiful.

Dax had to head home to Roosevelt that evening. I imagine he was way tired. I went down to Rusty's house to show him the elk and see how they were all doing. I slept in the next morning and then took the elk to be processed. It was all-in-all a great hunt. I got to visit with both my boys and harvest an elk. We all look forward to the elk steaks and elk burgers to come this winter. I hope we can have some meals all together from this adventure.