2017 Spike Elk Hunt

As I this year's hunting season approached I caught myself daydreaming about my hopes and dreams as to how I would like this year to pan out.   I envisioned bugling bull elk screaming in the dark ask I patiently inched myself into his element waiting for the lighting to bring a vision to images I had painted in my mind.  While I dreamed about this moment I put in work in attempts to do all I could to make this dream become a reality.  I have been around and involved in many successful hunts and have seen some amazing bull elk hit the ground, yet when was it going to be my turn?  When would I be the one behind the bow or grabbing the horns of a recent harvest?

Numerous trail cameras, hikes, scouting trips, and research all before season opener caused myself more anxiety than I feel it had prepared me for the season.  The area I had planned on hunting had far less sign of elk than previous years.  I often saw more boot tracks than I did elk tracks.  I saw coyotes and found winter kill almost every time I went out.   Through the despair I was feeling I endured my doubt and still sought out after the opportunity I had thought of all year long.  I had hunts which were full of disappointment as well as hunts which kept my drive a focus at an ultimate high while still never filling my tag.  While my dreams were big, my exceptions were quite low.  I had committed to shooting the first elk, no matter what size, as I had my family and their needs at my focus

As archery season came and gone I had seen a few elk but had never gotten close enough for to seize the opportunity.  I had one brief false sense of hope one day as I was driving off the mountain as I spotted a calf elk feeding on a small bush about 40 yards off the road.  I doubted my mind as I thought there was no way a elk, even a calf elk, would be feeding this close to a road.  I stopped my vehicle, found my release, grabbed my bow, stepped off the road, knocked an arrow, and let one fly.... I was baffled and confused but what happened next confused me even more.  As I watched my arrow fly true and pass through the calf elk, the elk merely flinched and took half a step forward... I literally shook my head, knocked another arrow and pulled back again.  By then the elk trotted a few steps and laid down.  As confused as I was, I decided I would place another arrow to quicken what I had hoped would already be a quick death for this calf.  Shortly after my second arrow, I could see the breathing stop, I was excited yet unsure about my experience.  It was nothing as to what I had hoped to have felt nor was it the monumental moment I had prepared for all year long.  Upon further examination, I found that this calf had two large wounds which were literally crawling with maggots.  The stench of the elk was almost more than I could handle.  My heart sunk as my already less than glamorous elk was now not even edible as to why I had committed to shooting the first elk I was able to.  I called IDFG and took care of the process of reporting and exchanging the rotten elk for a new tag.  I remember vividly, as I grabbed my new tag, the doubts filling my mind saying, "what good is a second tag... I was lucky to even get one elk let a lone get a second one this year".  I am not one of those hunters who shoot a big bull every year and then go out and purchase a non-resident tag to go out and harvest a second "wall hanger" during the same season.  I was full of doubt yet committed myself to seeing this season through.  I was raised to never give up and to never quit, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

As the General Any Weapon Season rolled around I did the unthinkable... yes I took a day off work... I selfishly sought out to fulfill my own desires rather than being an adult and taking care of the daily responsibility list.  I rarely take a day off work to go hunting, not because I don't want to, but because my days off usually get used for other adult/parent responsibilities which I am not complaining about, they are just part of life.

Early that morning as I loaded up my vehicle I decided I was in now way coming home empty handed.  I loaded my shot gun, a few duck decoys, my waders, my fishing poles, as well as all of my hunting gear.  I planned out my hunt in my mind, I would chase elk until around 11 and then head back to my vehicle.  At that point I planned on driving to the river and either shooting ducks or catching fish so that I could at least provide dinner on my day off work.  Needless to say, my hopes for tagging an elk were almost non-existent. 

As I pulled into the area I wanted to hunt, I slowly got out of my vehicle and grabbed my gear.  As I was strapping on my backpack I heard bugling in the distance.   My level of excitement always rises when I hear elk bugle while my level of expectation as been able to subside to prevent disappointment.  With the sounds of bugling all around me while I hiked in the dark, my expectations were growing in anticipation of watching some big bulls battling it out as the sun came up.  I hiked for a few miles in the dark and got to the spot I wanted to be right when the sun came up.  I could hear elk above me, below me, and on the ridges all around me.  I began to hear the loud cracking and grunting of two bull elk fighting.  The sounds were as loud as thunder and I could tell I was within only 100 yards or so of what sounded like an epic battle.  The sun was just peaking over the ridge line as I slowly moved toward the loud and escalating confrontation.   I could see glimpses of the two bulls aggressively spinning around while their antlers rattled together.  I crept up to a vantage point where I was able to sit back and watch the two bulls continue their battle.  As I sat back and enjoyed the show I saw cow elk wandering through the trees and other small bull elk gaze on much like I was as the two large bull elk established which of the two were the herd bull. 

At this point I was so engrossed in the show that I nearly forgot why I was there in the fist place.  I looked across the opening to my left and saw two spike elk walk out of the trees in curiosity of all the commotion.  I turned and raised my rifle to get a better look and the two spike elk both caught my movement and stared in my direction.  With absolutely no cover between us, I knew that the distance would not be negotiable.  I ranged the two elk at 370 yards and my nerves jumped to an all time high.  I had practiced out to 400 yards, but my furthest shot I had ever taken on an animal was just under 300 yards.  I felt confident in my preparation and decided to take advantage of the moment I had been given.  I set my cross-hairs on the front shoulder of one of the spike elk and slowly squeezed the trigger.  I watched the elk flinch as my shot hit him in the lungs.  The elk bolted down hill toward a shallow canyon and then disappear.  I gathered my composure and took of in his direction.  As I got closer to the spot where I had last seen him, I started seeing blood and plenty of it.  I moved in the direction I saw him go and quickly came upon him bedded down.  He jumped up and took off as I fired another round in his direction. 

As I saw his body fall lifeless to the ground, the realization that I had finally filled my elk tag started to creep into view.  I walked up to my elk and placed my hands on him, I was filled with a mix of emotions.  As much as I wanted to shoot an elk for myself and fulfill my own desires as a hunter, the only thing that was running through my mind was how humbled and grateful I was that my family now had the meat we so badly needed.  Our freezer was nearly empty, which may not seem like much of a tragedy to some, but my family has so many food allergies and sensitivities, we rely heavily on wild game for our food.  I reached for my phone to let my loved ones and friends know I had harvested an elk.  Phone calls and text messages sent which were all received with the same humility and gratefulness that I myself was feeling.  I said a prayer of gratitude as I grasped the skinny horns of the young spike elk and realized that my dreams and hopes of tagging a big bull elk were merely an illusion of what my heart truly wanted.  What I wanted was to harvest the elk God wanted me to harvest.  As I still would love to shot a big bull elk, I now see that my experience of harvesting that young calf elk which was full of maggots earlier in the season, as well as my previous years of unfilled tags were all preparing me in one way or another to set my goal on harvesting the elk God gave me rather than the elk I see in magazines.  My time will come for a big bull, and until then I will harvest the elk God gives me in the moments he provides me.  With that as my focus, I will always be grateful for the experience regardless of where my tag is at the end of the season. 

Why I hunt 

Year Of Success... Without Much Of My Own...

My hunting season has been full of ups and downs to say the least... Opening day August 15th, 2016 I was able to arrow an antelope doe! I have hunted spot and stalk antelope for 4 years with no success so notching a tag for an archery antelope was such a rush and rewarding hunt for me!  Little did I know, that was the pinnacle of my luck and from that point forward I was going to have one of the roughest archery seasons I have ever had.

From that point on, my luck has seemed to have a personal endeavor against me and my desire to get out hunting.  My vehicle has broken down not only once, but multiple times while on my way up to go hunting.  I can drive my vehicle all week long with no problem, but at 4 in the morning on the way up the mountain, it seems to have something against me... Aside from the vehicle problems, I have had numerous other conflicts that have frustrated me to no end this season.

With all the negative factoring into my hunting season, I have stayed persistent and have taken the back seat in some regards by unintentionally not expecting a lot out of my hunting trips.  Last year I helped get my cousin into archery hunting and helped him tag his first animal.  I got him out hunting once this year but due to my karma I must have rubbed off on him and the hunt ended unsuccessful.  Later that same week, my cousin said he wanted to get out hunting again and of course it was an evening that I had numerous conflicts and couldn't get out hunting with him.  Within an hour of my cousin letting me know he had made it to our hunting area, I got a text message saying that he had just arrowed a deer!  At first I didn't know if he was just pulling my leg or if he had really gotten out and got himself a deer.  As soon as I was free, I called him to get all the details and headed his way to help track and/or pack it out.  Sure enough he had a young whitetail buck double lunged and piled up when I got there.  As we sat back and talked about his hunt, we put together that one year ago to the exact date is when he shot his first archery deer less than 100 yards away from where he had just taken his 2016 buck! Hunts like this is what kept my fire going as the luck hasn't been on my side this year.  Sharing a small part of a memory like this is just as rewarding as filling my own tag... to an extent :)

As the month went on, my focus switched to elk as I was hearing about how many people were seeing and harvesting elk in my area.  I chatted with my dad and one of my brothers about chasing elk in an area we have always loved to hunt.  As I got into our area with my dad and brother I will admit, I had very little hope of seeing much.  I had gotten into this area just two weeks earlier and saw literally nothing yet covered miles of ground... This trip however started off quite promising as we started hearing elk bugle within the first 15 minutes of our hike in.  We talked and formulated a plan on how we were going to set up and then hustled to where we wanted to be just before daylight.  We were all set up and spread out to the three different locations we know the elk typically travel in this area.  I stalked in and had elk all around me.  I saw two bulls chasing a cow back and forth between some trees.  I snuck into bow range and ranged a tree at 60 yards.  Just as I set my range finder down, one of the bulls stepped out from behind the tree I had just ranged and stopped broadside!  I pulled back, put my 60 yard pin right on him, and let go! Just as if it was in slow-motion, I watched my arrow come out of my bow, soar through the air, and just as it got to where the elk was it flew right underneath the elk... Of course all the elk ran off as I could see my arrow in the dirt behind where the elk had been standing.  At that moment I kicked myself for not compensating for the fact that the elk had stepped out from behind the tree I ranged and was 8-10 yard behind what I had ranged... Luckily it was a clean miss and I didn't wound an animal.

Shortly after I picked up my arrow I got a text from my brother telling me he had just arrowed a cow elk.  I slowly worked my way through the trees in hopes of catching a straggler elk that may have stayed behind the others... I caught a glimpse of some elk walking though the trees just on the other side of a large clearing.  I sat and watched as the closest I could get was 200 yards with very little cover.  As I was watching the elk graze through the pine trees, I saw an elk dart out of the trees to the right of all of the other elk.  I turned to watch this elk as it stopped, rolled around in the grass as if it were wallowing in a mud hole.  I was super confused as I could see where the elk was, it was extremely dry and open... just as I started to put two and two together the elk stopped moving and lay motionless.  I grabbed my phone and texted my dad who was supposed to be on that same ridge.  Just as I clicked send on my phone, I got a message from him staying he had just shot a 5 point bull!  Shortly after this, we all met up and shared high fives, and laughed at how awesome it was that we had two elk on the ground.  After taking a closer look at the bull my dad had shot, I realized it was the same bull I had flung an arrow at earlier that morning!

With the close of archery season, my luck hadn't changed.  I got out a few times but didn't accomplish anything other than burning calories and wearing out my boots.  Through the month of September I was keeping an eye out for a good bull as my older brother had an early bull tag for the rifle season.  As I caught glimpses of a few potential bulls I wasn't 100% we had found one worthy of receiving the 300 win mag bullet.  As my brother's hunt started, we went back into the same area my dad and other brother had tagged their elk.  This is the same area I had come two other times without seeing a thing... Of course seems how I wasn't hunting, we were seeing elk left and right! We saw a few cows, a couple small bulls, and then... the big guy!

My brother snuck out from behind a tree and got ready for a shot.  I slowly moved in behind him to selfishly watch him shoot.  Just as I peaked over my brother's shoulder I saw a great 6x7 bull elk bugle while staring right in our direction.  The bull had us pinned and was getting nervous.  Just as the bugle ended I heard the safety go off on my brother's rifle... second after this, my brother sent a bullet in the direction of the bull immediately dropping the bull right in his tracks! The rush of excitement when the bull hit the ground was indescribable! As we walked up on my brother's bull, it's rack seemed to just keep getting bigger and bigger! Once again, the moment, the hunt, the rush, and the passion all compensated for all of the bad luck I had experienced up to that point this season.

So even though my season has been a frustrating one in regards to my own success, I have been involved in some amazing moments and memories with those I love.  It is a great reminder that any time spend in the outdoors is time well spent.  Even if your luck is as bad or worse than mine, there are always silver linings that help remind us of why we do what we do!
Remember that success in hunting isn't measured in inches, tags, limits, or even days/hours that are spent in the field.  Success in hunting is based solely on your experience and your interpretation.  Don't look at your hunt compared to someone else's hunt, or even compared to a past hunt of your own for that matter.  Each day is it's own day... you have an opportunity every day to make that day the best and most memorable day you can.  When negativity keeps swarming you and your plans, just look for those silver linings. Look for the positive in life.  I know this hunting season so far has helped teach me to take the focus off myself and my experiences and to focus on others.  Being selfless is never a bad trait to have... Now if I can keep that focus and perspective, then I may be getting somewhere :)

Sometimes It Rains, Sometimes It Pours... A Summary of my Hunting Season

Sometimes it rains, sometimes it pours…

My hunting season has been far from typical for me this year.  As I finished my schooling, started a new job, bought and remodeled a house, and had a baby all around the time hunting season started, I didn’t expect to get out hunting very often.  My evenings and weekends leading up to hunting season were spent cleaning, remodeling, parenting, and being a husband instead of hiking, scouting, patterning, or watching the game I was after. 

Me and my son Carter

When opening weekend came around my son was not even a week old and I had a sticky situation on my hands.  My brother who had moved to Missouri for school had come up for opening weekend to spend time with our family hunting.  My wife assured me over and over that the weekend had been planned for a long time and that she would be okay with her mom and other family there to help out.  As bad as I wanted to go hunting, these feelings were all secondary to fulfilling the responsibility I had at home with my little family.  Even the night before we were to leave for the hunting trip, I had it in my mind that I would stay home and be there for my wife, two year old and our new baby.   Through much conversation and persuasion of my wife, I was told that I needed to go hunting but that I needed to get back as soon as possible.  

My brothers and dad hiking in the rain

Coming up with a game plan

Once I arrived at hunting camp, I was welcomed by my brothers and dad.  Camp was all set up earlier and all I had to do was show up and relax before opening day the next morning.   We sat around the fire catching up and talking about our high hopes of what the next day might bring.  The next morning we woke up early and headed out to our spot.  There was some light rain that made our movement seem stealth enough to walk right through a heard of elk without drawing their attention.   We set up where we had planned to hunt and let the time be the factor we were waiting on…  Unfortunately even with the time passing to shooting light, the rain had picked up and kept the elk in their beds.  We regrouped and decided to sneak around and try to locate the elk in the thick timber rather than get rained on while sitting watering holes and open clearings.   We hunted and hiked, trying to locate the elk that we had seen on our trail cameras but all we got was soaked!  After getting rained on for hours, we decided to get into the dark timber and start a fire to dry out a bit before we hiked out for the day.  Even though we didn’t see a single animal, the time spent with my brothers and dad in the woods was time well spent.  With my older brother being back east for schooling, times with the three of us brothers are becoming far too rare to let the opportunity pass.  We cooked some lunch and joked about our failed hunting plan and pondered what to do next…  If at this time I knew that this was about how the rest of my season would have gone I don’t know how much more I would have gone out chasing elk with my bow…

Drying off hiding under a tree...

Shortly after the opening weekend hunting adventure came to a close, my older brother headed back east and the rest of my family returned to our busy lives.  Every once and a while I would get out with a friend to see if we could find an elk but all of our efforts just seemed to result in tired legs and frustrated friends.  We had moments where we had elk surrounding us but it seemed that the elk were working together against us.  Just when we would think one elk was closing the distance and going to make a fatally wrong decision, another elk would draw him the other direction and change his mind.  This back and forth game went on every weekend I was able to get out hunting, which got a bit frustrating.  Even though I was frustrated and exhausted at the end of every hunt I was glad that I had the experiences, as well as glad I didn’t injure an animal by making a poor shot. 

When the season came to a close, my younger brother and I had planned to go out the day before the season closed and see if we could find a deer to fill our doe tags.  I need to mention that as I focused on elk during the archery season, my little brother spent his summer and archery season time patterning deer.  My brother had a lot of frustrating times while he spent hours and hours patterning and locating the deer he was after.  He had two stands stolen (the ones I have complained about losing on my twitter and Facebook account!), including his wife’s new ladder stand!  Even with all of the bad misfortune, he was still persistent and planned on filling a tag during the archery season. 

The evening we had picked to go out, his son got sick and he decided to stay home and be a dad.   As excited as I was to get out and attempt to fill my tag I recognized a pattern in my hunting season when this happened!  For the last few weekends I had spent my time chasing what I had labeled “trophies” which were nothing more than animals who wandered the woods.  My efforts were making me frustrated and even a little upset at times.  The time I was spending at home, with my real trophies, I was happy and full of joy.  I do want to clarify that I would always pick my family over hunting even before I made this connection during hunting season.  This lesson was just a reminder to me that my time in the woods was just that… time in the woods nothing more and nothing less… it was not bad, nor did I feel guilty for it, but it wasn’t time with the trophies that fill my life with joy. 

Some of the elk I enjoyed watching before the season started

The very next day, my brother sent me a text and said that even though it was pouring rain (just like our first hunting trip of the year) he was planning on giving it one more shot to fill his tag.  Shortly after that text, my wife called me and asked if I was planning on hunting one last time before the season closed… She told me, “Might as well give it a shot,” … soo…. My mind was made up that I was going to end the season the same way I started it in the pouring rain.

As my brother and I both sat in the pouring rain, I was beginning to doubt if our efforts were warranting the same results as the rest of our archery season.  He discovered that the tree stand he was planning on sitting in had been stolen and the rain had picked up to an absolute down pour.  Just when I thought about getting out of my stand, my brother texted me and told me that he knew where the deer were bedding down and that he would head in that direction to see if he could get a shot or spook one my way… I told him I would be the one that tried to spook one toward him, seems how he had put in all the work in the off season, but he told me this is what he wanted to do… within minutes a doe white tail deer hopped into my clearing at 35 yards away and turned to look at what had pushed her out of her bed… this would turn out to be the worst and last decision she made in her life… My 100 grain Muzzy laid her down for a dirt nap in 30 yards from where she stood.  My brother and I both celebrated that not only did his plan work EXACTLY how he said it would, but that we had filled a tag on the absolute last moment of archery season! We were counting our blessings that we found her when we did in the weather that we were faced with… and then the work began!

My deer as she was when I found her

Me with my doe

The lesson I learned this hunting season is that no matter what life throws at you, don’t give up and keep your eye on the prize!  Even though my trophies (my family) were all at home when I created a wonderful memory filling my tag with my brother, my heart and mind were with my family more during this hunt then they had been earlier in the year.  The weather and my season did not go the way I had hoped, but at the end of the storm there is always a rainbow… you just have to look hard enough in the right place to find it.  So in other words, no matter how much your life may be raining or even pouring… keep enduring and enjoy the ride because your times spent in the rain help you realize how amazing and the rainbows of life are.

6 Point Bull Elk

I would love to be the one writing this next story but even though I'm not, I can't help but want to share it.  This story is of my cousin Jackson Clark who was lucky enough to draw out and fill a late season bull elk hunt with his rifle! I'll let him tell the story...

Jackson Clark with an Idaho 6 Point Bull Elk

Like most hunters, this hunt for me didn’t just start on opening day but instead it started months earlier when I found out I drew out on the late bull elk hunt in my area.  This hunt is a pretty rare one to draw out on and is often a “hit or miss” opportunity depending on the weather.  The fortunate part for me was that I spent most of the summer working up around the area I was going to be hunting so I was able to get to know some of the area pretty well.  When hunting season came around I was getting excited and nervous hearing about everyone’s success or failures while I waited patiently for the general season to end so that my late season hunt could begin!

It was a cold foggy morning with 6 inches of snow on the ground when I had the opportunity to get to the mountains.  As my friend and I hit the saddle we knew it was going to be a cold wet day as it had already dumped about 7 inches of snow the day before while continuing to snow.  Without being able to see more than 100 yards ahead we decided to travel as slow and silent as we could on horseback. As we made it half way up the mountain we spotted a herd of elk!  My heart was racing as I tried to make out the distinction of the silhouettes walking through the storm.  Once we were able to get our optics to focus in on the herd of elk we saw that this herd was full of cows and a few smaller bulls, but nothing we were looking for so we continued up the mountain.   My heart rate still hadn’t returned to its normal pace by the time we were sneaking through a nice draw when all of a sudden we spotted a nice bull making its way across a clearing.  By this time my heart felt like it was stuck in my throat stopping me from breathing.  I reached for my gun and before I knew it I was off my horse with a 6 bull centered in my cross hairs.  As I watched him in my scope he was standing broadside looking at me just like I had been dreaming about for 5 months since I drew out on this tag.  The bull turned his head to run but I wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass me by, there was no way I was even going to give this guy the chance of getting away. Just as I pulled the trigger and saw his body buckle underneath him as he hit the ground. When I pulled the trigger, my horse spooked and took off running about 40 yards away then slowed down…  My friend and I got my horse and then waited about 15 minutes before going up to the elk.  The feeling I got when I walked up to my elk was just the way I had hoped I would feel when I first drew this tag.  I didn’t want to settle for a small bull when I knew what I potentially could put my tag on in this area.  We celebrated for a good while before field dressed him and figuring out how to get him out of there.  The snow turning into being a blessing in disguise allowing me to drag this guy out behind my horse.  It was easy going for the most part except for when we would have to tie up the horses and drag him through the random rock piles.  When we finally got to the trailer we were exhausted from all of the work and excitement but knew that all of our efforts had paid off exactly the way we had hoped they would! 

My Trophy!

Draggin him out!

What Does Opening Weekend Mean to You?

The view from our Elk Hunting Spot

Opening weekend...

Those two words alone have carry a lot of meaning and excitement for many different people.  Those words also bring a flood of memories and emotions to many of us who have spent that time with friends and/or family in the outdoors. To me those words take me back to when I was a kid hunting with my dad and brothers.

Before I go much further I do want to give credit to Sole Adventure's blog for sparking my interest in this topic for a blog post. His post a while back gave tips on how to have the right focus concerning hunting and responding to other hunter's success. One point he made in his post was a bold statement which emphasized, "HUNTING DOES NOT MATTER"... To some, those words may be offensive but in the grand scheme of things the act of hunting is very close to zero on the list of important events in life.  If that statement doesn't sit well with you it may be time to sit down and evaluate your life.  I am not, nor was the original blog post, indicating that hunting is not fun or enjoyable but rather just that the act of hunting itself is simply not a life or death priority even if it may seem like it to some people.  His post shared a lot of great tips to make sure your priorities are where they need to be if you are a hunter this hunting season so be sure to check it out! (http://soleadventure.com/2013/08/hunting-is-worthless-and-4-other-things-you-need-to-know/) So back to my thoughts...

Some families go on big vacations, some go on trips through out the summer, and some families have other traditions such as a family get together on holidays.  Part of my families tradition growing up was hunting together on opening weekend as well as throughout the hunting season.  One of my favorite hunting memories was when we were all pushing through the river bottoms looking for white tail deer as a family.  When we hunted this way we were always safe to keep track of where everyone was that where we never shot in the direction of another person.  While we were pushing through the thick river bottom brush, I suddenly heard my brother Dustin holler out, "DEER!!!".  When my brother hollered out that he had just spooked up a deer I knew there was a good chance that deer would be heading in my direction so I had to get ready.  I pushed through the little brush pile I was in and stepped out onto a small trail I hadn't seen until the moment I stepped foot on it. Just at that time I saw a flash of tan from my left... The next few seconds of my life moved slower than ever as I watched a white tail doe come around a small tree, leap into the air about 3 feet away heading straight toward me!  The deer didn't realize I was there until the same moment I notice her. The deer's reaction was a lot like mine as we both curled up into a ball turning our shoulders to preparing ourselves for the impact.

That deer could have played on any NFL football team delivering hits like she did on me.  She flat out knocked me off my feet and threw me onto my back while knocking my gun out of my hand.  We both scrambled to get back on our feet and do what we had both come there to do.  As the deer hurried to her feet, I was looking around desperately to find where my gun had landed after the collision.  By the time I got myself together, the deer was nowhere to be found... Shortly after I got to my feet, I was met by my brother Dustin who was asked me if I had seen the doe he scared up... I used to think it was hard to convince someone of a big buck you saw without someone else there to verify it, but trying to get my brother to believe me that I was knocked down and ran over by a white tail doe was difficult.

My dad and brother Travis hiking

An elk wallow we found on our trip

Memories like this one are one of the most important reasons I hunt.  Yes I love the sport and man do I love a fresh back-strap dinner, but none of it would mean half as much if I didn't have my family right there with me.  This year on opening weekend I was lucky enough to go out with my brother Travis and my Dad on an over-night elk hunt which didn't turn out to be very successful in regards to filling the freezer, but this was the first over-night hunting trip the three of us had been on together.  On this hunt we didn't have much go our way to help us on hunting but we still had a blast hiking around, talking, and spending time together in the outdoors. 

Bear tracks by our tree stands

Winter moose kill... had all the elk scared away

This archery season will be closing up soon and for me that is a little hard to cope with.  I haven't gotten out much and to me, like I said earlier, its not the hunting I will be missing but the excuse to get outdoors with my family and friends is what I am not looking forward to letting go of.  I am not saying we don't spend time together other than the time we are hunting, it is just the type of bonds that we build while hunting are a kind like no other.  These things may sound odd to those who don't share the same passion yet everyone knows what it takes to create a lasting memory! So get out there and make some memories with those you care about this fall!

Shout out to my brother Travis! You are a stud!