I had planned on taking a few days to go hunt blacktails here in one of our local wilderness areas but at the last minute I had the great idea to hop on a plane and go hunt elk (he had the only tag) with my youngest son who is a student at the University of Wyoming. With only two and a half days to hunt we would be up against it to make it happen but I was feeling pretty good about our chances being as he had been in the unit quite a bit during archery season and while it’s not a super high density area, he had been seeing some animals. I flew into Denver, got a car and was in Laramie by 12:45 where we loaded up and hit the road with plans on squeezing in an afternoon/evening hunt. Well we made it out into the field and after about a three mile hike, found ourselves sitting on a great glassing point that would let us cover a tone of beautiful country.
Literally within a minute of getting set up he says, “Did you hear that cow?” For whatever reason, I had not heard anything but within another five minutes we both heard two mews from a cow right below us is some thick aspens and pines. Soon after, about fifty yards below us, I catch a patch of hide moving through the aspens and then see antlers confirming a young bull and some cows and calves. We had already had the conversation regarding antler size and since this would be his first elk and we were short on time, he wasn’t going to be too picky. After the bull finally worked himself into a spot that allowed for a shot, he had his first bull on the ground!
Literally within a minute of getting set up he says, “Did you hear that cow?” For whatever reason, I had not heard anything but within another five minutes we both heard two mews from a cow right below us is some thick aspens and pines. Soon after, about fifty yards below us, I catch a patch of hide moving through the aspens and then see antlers confirming a young bull and some cows and calves. We had already had the conversation regarding antler size and since this would be his first elk and we were short on time, he wasn’t going to be too picky. After the bull finally worked himself into a spot that allowed for a shot, he had his first bull on the ground!
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