In September of 2021, one of my hunting buddies was murdered by a felon released by a progressive judge. A story now relayed too often in our current society. He was with me the last time we were successful elk hunting, where we had three branch bulls come in on us and were able to tag two together. Thirty days after he passed, I set out on a very tough season. Both emotionally and physically. Hunting a lot of it solo, I pressed on day by day for seven days. In hopes of dedicating the season to him, I hunted hard, but in reality, It seemed like it was going to be a bad season. A few elk herds kept skirting public land and not offering me a chance on public or other sections I could access. The evening before the last day of the season, I spotted a herd about 1200 yards away. I was able to get within range after closing almost 900 yards through canyons, but the sun was down before I could get a shot. That night I was eating dinner with my family, and I told my wife. "If you want to come with me tomorrow, we'll get into elk. I can feel it, and Chris will send them our way." So she decided to join me.
At first light, we spotted the herd (150 elk) on private, but we put together a game plan and moved to a position where I knew they had a corridor to travel on public land. We set up, and sure enough, they did exactly what I thought they would do. Except they skirted the public land fence by 30 yards. We decided to go after them and see if any would come over, so we packed up from a ridge and peeled off. 2 hours later, with no luck in sight, I decided we should head back to the truck and drive some backroads to maybe glass and see where they went. Walking back to the truck with my head down and somewhat frustrated, we cut up over a ravine, and then... BAM, out of nowhere, we had walked on a small herd of 20 cows with some spikes. I was utterly surprised and ended up running the sidehill to get in position to take a shot at a spike at 250 yards. After catching my breath and realizing what happened, we set off to confirm what I thought... that I had missed. It was confirmed, I missed clean. There was no blood, and several minutes later, we spotted all the elk again running up a canyon. At that moment, I realized Id messed up. My mind raced a million miles a minute. It was a tough shot... probably should not have taken it. We should have stayed in our original position. And on and on. I was pretty bummed. So I turned to my wife and said... "well, I guess we should still head back to the truck."
Then again, like lightning striking twice, it happened on the way back. Another small herd of elk had broken off and decided to use the corridor I had initially thought they would use. On the way back to the truck, in a matter of 5 seconds, it was over. The herd ran and stopped for a slight second to look at us. The shot rang out, and the herd ran off, all of them. They were about 200 yards away, and I had put my crosshairs on the big bull. I watched him flinch as the trigger went off. I knew it was a perfect shot. My wife turned to me and said, "what happened? I didn't see you hit any of them". I replied. "I shot the big bull; he will be pilled up right over that ridge. We trekked off, and sure enough, from the top of the spine, we could see him at the bottom. Expired in maybe 20 seconds. It hit me so fast that all I could do was laugh with tears in my eyes. This photo is indeed a grip and grin. Smiles from ear to ear. I knew on that day that my buddy was with me or had encouraged the big man to send them my way.
I'll leave you with this. Don't take anything for granted; life is short and fragile. Die with memories and not dreams. Hunt hard and press on.
At first light, we spotted the herd (150 elk) on private, but we put together a game plan and moved to a position where I knew they had a corridor to travel on public land. We set up, and sure enough, they did exactly what I thought they would do. Except they skirted the public land fence by 30 yards. We decided to go after them and see if any would come over, so we packed up from a ridge and peeled off. 2 hours later, with no luck in sight, I decided we should head back to the truck and drive some backroads to maybe glass and see where they went. Walking back to the truck with my head down and somewhat frustrated, we cut up over a ravine, and then... BAM, out of nowhere, we had walked on a small herd of 20 cows with some spikes. I was utterly surprised and ended up running the sidehill to get in position to take a shot at a spike at 250 yards. After catching my breath and realizing what happened, we set off to confirm what I thought... that I had missed. It was confirmed, I missed clean. There was no blood, and several minutes later, we spotted all the elk again running up a canyon. At that moment, I realized Id messed up. My mind raced a million miles a minute. It was a tough shot... probably should not have taken it. We should have stayed in our original position. And on and on. I was pretty bummed. So I turned to my wife and said... "well, I guess we should still head back to the truck."
Then again, like lightning striking twice, it happened on the way back. Another small herd of elk had broken off and decided to use the corridor I had initially thought they would use. On the way back to the truck, in a matter of 5 seconds, it was over. The herd ran and stopped for a slight second to look at us. The shot rang out, and the herd ran off, all of them. They were about 200 yards away, and I had put my crosshairs on the big bull. I watched him flinch as the trigger went off. I knew it was a perfect shot. My wife turned to me and said, "what happened? I didn't see you hit any of them". I replied. "I shot the big bull; he will be pilled up right over that ridge. We trekked off, and sure enough, from the top of the spine, we could see him at the bottom. Expired in maybe 20 seconds. It hit me so fast that all I could do was laugh with tears in my eyes. This photo is indeed a grip and grin. Smiles from ear to ear. I knew on that day that my buddy was with me or had encouraged the big man to send them my way.
I'll leave you with this. Don't take anything for granted; life is short and fragile. Die with memories and not dreams. Hunt hard and press on.
