H
hobbes
Guest
Boyd is my youngest son at 14. He used to be Little Boyd, but he's been growing faster than I can keep him in clothes and is now taller than my oldest and I believe has caught me at 6'-1". Boyd and I hunted for deer on the Thursday of the youth season on and found very little in the morning except for one doe that Boyd passed and a herd of elk that were off limits until the following Saturday (they were on neighboring property anyway). We were headed into elk camp on Friday, so Boyd didn't plan to be too picky. That evening we waited next to some hay stacks in a Block Management hay field. Boyd decided to kill this whitetail doe about 15 minutes before the end of shooting light. He dropped her in her tracks at 150 yards with my 7 Mag.
This is his 4th deer.
IMG950166 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
IMG950165 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
On the Friday before the opener we drove the rocky jeep trail into the mountains to help set up an elk camp that we had been invited to spend the weekend in. The old fella that used to own all the equipment has been setting up camp here for 60 plus years. One of the other guys bought out his equipment years ago, but he was still in camp at 80 years old. I don't know if anything beats a wall tent with a warm stove for heat and cooking, bunks for sleeping, and enjoying elk camp with good folks telling stories.
Boyd was the only hunter in camp that was young enough to hunt cows with his general tag. The rest of us were limited to spikes. Boyd was going to be happy with either a cow or a spike. There was already some snow on the mountain when we arrived, and it snowed an additional 1 1/2" of snow on Friday. We heard three or four bulls bugling that evening as it got dark and into the night.
They pointed us to a good set of parks 3/4 mile away and 500' to 1000' higher on the mountain that the old fella really wanted to hunt, but he just can't do it anymore. We cut multiple sets of fresh tracks on the way in and heard one bull bugling east of where we were headed. We found 7 or 8 elk feeding high in a saddle just after shooting light. We started making our way toward them through a strip of timber that ran through the middle of the park about half way up the slope. We had made it about 2/3 of the way to them when one of them skylined above us looking our way. We both dropped to the ground and Boyd eased the bipod legs down.
It took several minutes but they slowly fed our way and down the slope enough that the front couple elk were no longer skylined. The lead cow finally moved out from behind some tree limbs but went behind the one tree above us in the open. I stopped her when she came out at approximately 100 yards and Boyd double lunged her. She made it just out of site over the rise, but I could see the shot was good before she disappeared. She only made it 75 yards or so and was done 20 minutes into opening day.
20171021_080250 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
20171021_080338 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
A bull bugled multiple times over the hill from us after killing the cow, so a buddy that had come to check out if Boyd had scored slipped over the rise (seen behind Boyd in the photo) to see if there was a herd that may hold a spike. Instead, it was one lonely 6 point that bugled multiple times.
We gutted the cow then drug/slid her 1/4 mile and 500' or so down through the steep park. It was a chore to stay out of her way and keep her from getting hung up in the trees. We hiked the rest of the way to camp, told the story to the camp, ate a camp breakfast with camp coffee, then hiked back to the cow with a sled for the rodeo of sledding an elk down the mountain through the trees and rocks. You spend part of the time trying to not let the elk have its final revenge by running over you and the other part fighting the loaded sled through rocks and around deadfall.
20171021_121554 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
It's rare for me to get an elk out whole, but that is their typical practice or two halves. They have a few rules about where not to shoot an elk or you are on your own getting it out. It's worked for them for a long time. We got the cow home to our garage on that Sunday and I reduced her to a skeleton. If you are interested, I'd say that she was an average size cow and yielded 165 lbs of unprocessed and deboned meat. That is fairly clean meat that I've already trimmed some fat and tendon from. We lost some shoulder meat on the back edge of the shoulder at the entrance wound and rib meat on the entrance and exit.
I will butterfly the loins before freezing, freeze the tenderloins whole, cut some steaks out of the hams, cut some round steaks, cut several roasts mostly for making Italian roast sandwiches, and then grind the balance. We prefer ground meat over most of the roast cuts. We'll also end up with some odds and ends cuts that will be used for stew meat. I'm assuming that I'll lose 10% cleaning her up during processing. There is no getting out of grinding up some tendon and silver lining, but I remove as much stuff as I can that will make eating the ground meat a less than happy experience.
We will share a package or two, but will keep the majority of it for our own use. A second elk would be very beneficial to getting us through to the next season. I'll be hunting with the same camp a day or two next weekend, then my older son a day or two. I've also got a B cow tag for another unit that runs out past t
20171022_165655 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
This is his 4th deer.
IMG950166 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on FlickrIMG950165 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on FlickrOn the Friday before the opener we drove the rocky jeep trail into the mountains to help set up an elk camp that we had been invited to spend the weekend in. The old fella that used to own all the equipment has been setting up camp here for 60 plus years. One of the other guys bought out his equipment years ago, but he was still in camp at 80 years old. I don't know if anything beats a wall tent with a warm stove for heat and cooking, bunks for sleeping, and enjoying elk camp with good folks telling stories.
Boyd was the only hunter in camp that was young enough to hunt cows with his general tag. The rest of us were limited to spikes. Boyd was going to be happy with either a cow or a spike. There was already some snow on the mountain when we arrived, and it snowed an additional 1 1/2" of snow on Friday. We heard three or four bulls bugling that evening as it got dark and into the night.
They pointed us to a good set of parks 3/4 mile away and 500' to 1000' higher on the mountain that the old fella really wanted to hunt, but he just can't do it anymore. We cut multiple sets of fresh tracks on the way in and heard one bull bugling east of where we were headed. We found 7 or 8 elk feeding high in a saddle just after shooting light. We started making our way toward them through a strip of timber that ran through the middle of the park about half way up the slope. We had made it about 2/3 of the way to them when one of them skylined above us looking our way. We both dropped to the ground and Boyd eased the bipod legs down.
It took several minutes but they slowly fed our way and down the slope enough that the front couple elk were no longer skylined. The lead cow finally moved out from behind some tree limbs but went behind the one tree above us in the open. I stopped her when she came out at approximately 100 yards and Boyd double lunged her. She made it just out of site over the rise, but I could see the shot was good before she disappeared. She only made it 75 yards or so and was done 20 minutes into opening day.
20171021_080250 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr20171021_080338 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on FlickrA bull bugled multiple times over the hill from us after killing the cow, so a buddy that had come to check out if Boyd had scored slipped over the rise (seen behind Boyd in the photo) to see if there was a herd that may hold a spike. Instead, it was one lonely 6 point that bugled multiple times.
We gutted the cow then drug/slid her 1/4 mile and 500' or so down through the steep park. It was a chore to stay out of her way and keep her from getting hung up in the trees. We hiked the rest of the way to camp, told the story to the camp, ate a camp breakfast with camp coffee, then hiked back to the cow with a sled for the rodeo of sledding an elk down the mountain through the trees and rocks. You spend part of the time trying to not let the elk have its final revenge by running over you and the other part fighting the loaded sled through rocks and around deadfall.
20171021_121554 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on FlickrIt's rare for me to get an elk out whole, but that is their typical practice or two halves. They have a few rules about where not to shoot an elk or you are on your own getting it out. It's worked for them for a long time. We got the cow home to our garage on that Sunday and I reduced her to a skeleton. If you are interested, I'd say that she was an average size cow and yielded 165 lbs of unprocessed and deboned meat. That is fairly clean meat that I've already trimmed some fat and tendon from. We lost some shoulder meat on the back edge of the shoulder at the entrance wound and rib meat on the entrance and exit.
I will butterfly the loins before freezing, freeze the tenderloins whole, cut some steaks out of the hams, cut some round steaks, cut several roasts mostly for making Italian roast sandwiches, and then grind the balance. We prefer ground meat over most of the roast cuts. We'll also end up with some odds and ends cuts that will be used for stew meat. I'm assuming that I'll lose 10% cleaning her up during processing. There is no getting out of grinding up some tendon and silver lining, but I remove as much stuff as I can that will make eating the ground meat a less than happy experience.
We will share a package or two, but will keep the majority of it for our own use. A second elk would be very beneficial to getting us through to the next season. I'll be hunting with the same camp a day or two next weekend, then my older son a day or two. I've also got a B cow tag for another unit that runs out past t
20171022_165655 by riverbottomstaxidermy, on Flickr
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