Tomorrow starts our 2023 season

[jbseamus83]

Well, the truck is loaded, bags are packed, and.......I'm not going to be able to sleep. Tomorrow morning, my 14yo son and I will hit the road and drive 7 hours to our unit in Wyoming. It's a cow elk hunt and both of us have tags. The season actually opened for this area in mid August and runs until mid January. The best hunting is after the the snow in the high country has pushed a ton of elk down into this desert country, but I have been assured by 2 locals that there are resident elk in the unit year round. It's a matter of putting in the miles to find them. My son has never shot an elk (he took his first big game animal - mule deer- last year). We are spending 4 full days trying to make it happen.

We typically would have waited for the elk to migrate down, but my wife is due with our 3rd kiddo in late October, so we have to plan all of our hunts before then. We are going to put in a ton of miles, spend time camping, glassing, maybe shooting coyotes and jack rabbits, and do our best to find elk. If nothing else, it will be an adventure and memories.

Here's to everyone's 2023 season. May it bring joy, adventure, learning, and soul-filling inspiration that only the great outdoors can provide.

 

[mxracer317]

Best of luck to you and your son! Hunting with my dad has always been some of my fondest memories. Good on you for making that happen together.

 

[Derek44]

Seems like Valentine’s Day got the best of a bunch of the team this year.

All kidding aside, best of luck to you and your son, and congratulations on all fronts!

 

[steveshuntn1]

Good luck and remember to post pics and tell the stories. I’m looking forward to seeing and reading about the adventures!

 

[Pahoundsman]

Good luck and enjoy the time you have with your son. Looking forward to reading your hunt recap.

 

[rhunter]

Good luck! Send updates!

 

[Braveheart]

Good Luck Brother. Hope you and your son have a blast.

 

[BoulderBulls]

Good luck!!

 

[MT_elk]

Sounds like it'll be a great time. Good luck!

 

[jbseamus83]

I'll give updates soon. We just got back this afternoon. It was a great trip and there will be pics and story coming soon!

 

[jbseamus83]

So, this story actually starts all the way back in November 2022. I had drawn a whitetail buck tag for WY and picked up a doe tag for myself and my at the time 13 yr old son. We had driven to WY mid-November and experienced some great hospitality from a land owner who allowed us onto his land. We had filled one doe tag and saw some awesome rutting action. We were driving to get some dinner after hunting on our 3rd evening of the hunt and a cow - like a real “moo” cow - stepped out in front of us. I couldn’t stop in time and our hunt ended that evening. Gratefully, neither my son, nor I, were injured in any way. But my truck had $11k in damages done. Has anyone ever tried to get a tow truck to tow a vehicle from middle of nowhere WY to the Salt Lake City area? Well, after quite a few calls and talking with locals, we got in contact with a guy that does some side business of towing who used to be a truck driver. So, we got set for our 7 hour drive in a vehicle with someone we had never met. This turned out to be an awesome situation. The driver was a big hunter and had lived in the area his whole life. He recommended that we put in for cow elk tags in a unit near his home, and he would help point us in the right direction if we pulled the tags.

Fast forward several months, and both my son and I got the tags. However, during that time, we also found out that baby #3 was going to be born late Oct to early Nov. This changed the plan, as we were originally thinking that exact time period for the cow elk, as they were supposed to be moving down lower into this unit from the higher mountains out of the unit. The tag though, was valid from mid-August to mid-January, so we planned to go this last weekend.

Our driver friend gave us a tip about some ranches that had been having some elk getting into their hay fields. We made our way out that direction the next day and talked to one of them that was enrolled in the Hunter Management program, but the ranch typically didn’t open to the public until Sep 20. The ranch manager was gracious enough to let us hunt some of the hills and land on the large ranch anyway and let us know where he had been seeing 50-60 head of elk recently. To say that we felt fortunate is an understatement.

 

[jbseamus83]

We realized the first evening that we had made some packing mistakes. My son in all of his teenage wisdom, didn’t pack his coat, vest, and only 1 thin long sleeve shirt. I had literally given him a list of EVERYTHING to pack. About the time I was going to get onto him about it, I realized that I somehow made it all the way to camp without my hunting/hiking boots. The only shoes I had were my Brooks running shoes. Can I just say that they don’t exactly protect from the cactus very well. So, we were going to have to make due. I was going to wear running shoes and he was going to have to use some of my too big clothing if he got cold.

That evening (Sunday) we started working our way along some of the ridges and glassing the drainages. We ran into a couple of cows and calves, but they were too far out for my son to shoot and were out of dodge before we could get set up closer. A few minutes later, we had a different group of 4 on a different ridge. I ranged them at 316. My son really doesn’t feel confident shooting further than about 250 right now. I asked him if he was ok if I took the shot and he said “Yeah, of course!”. I got set up and steady. Looked through the scope and every single one of the group was a spike. And not just spikes, but spikes still in velvet - weird.

After a couple more small ridges were covered, we were headed back to the truck and just talking because the wind was on our backs and we knew we wouldn’t be seeing anything, but suddenly, my son says, “Elk! Dad, get down!” He didn’t have to tell me again. I hit the ground and looked down and a single cow was on her way right to us with the wind barely missing her. I knew if she moved another 10 yds closer, she would wind us. I wanted my son to take the shot because she was only at 240 yds, but he was not set up and was struggling with the bolt on his gun. So, I settled in and sent a 140 gr Sierra GameKing out of my 7mm mag once she quartered to me. She tried to take a step and then flipped over backward and was done. I looked at my son and we both said “That happened fast!”

I told him to stay up top and watch the long draw that we were in while I went down and did the dirty work. That way, if he saw something, we could move on it. Unfortunately, he didn’t see anything else. We did have to carry the meat up the ridge, but we were able to get the truck to within 600 yards of where the elk went down, so it wasn’t bad. I shot her at 5:30 and we were done by 9:45.

 

[jbseamus83]

The next day was forecast to be raining all day with severe storms in the afternoon/evening. There was a break in the rain midday and that’s when we were able to find the elk. We caught up to, or I should say ran into, a herd of about 25. They were feeding into a little draw. We let them move in and began our move toward them to cut the distance down to a manageable range for my son. Unfortunately, the elk didn’t stay down in the draw, they crested in front of us and had us pegged at about 300 yds. My son felt that if given the right opportunity with the time to go through his shooting sequence and not be rushed, he could make the shot. He’s a good shot and I trusted him. Unfortunately, the only shots that presented were cows that were stacked or cows that were skylined. He made the right decision and did not pull the trigger. The elk got tired of us being there and crested over the next ridge. We followed to see if we could get another shot. Sure enough, we got back on them, but they were moving. The only shot that presented itself was what looked like a cow, but through the scope, my son said “It has a club. I’m not shooting.” They took off and we never saw them again.

We rode out the afternoon primarily in the truck because of the intense storms and rain. We ended up seeing one cow and calf that evening, but they were on a part of the ranch we did not have permission for.

That left us with 1 day and a morning left. We hunted hard all day Tuesday and saw everything except elk. Mule deer, whitetail deer, coyotes, pronghorns, rabbits, quail, grouse. You name it, we saw it. But not an elk. The ranch manager gave us permission for one more portion of the ranch in the morning, and we were there before sunrise, but didn’t see anything.

My son could have been disappointed at the fact that I shot an elk and he didn’t. But, sitting on a ridge looking out over beautiful country on the last evening, he said “Even if I don’t shoot one, this trip has been so fun.” I can’t tell you how proud of him I am. He has only shot 1 big game animal and that is the mule deer he shot last year. But, he passed shots that too many people would have taken because he knew it wasn’t right for him or the animal. He worked hard. He woke up early. He endured bad weather. And still came out of it with an awesome attitude. I don’t know if at 14 yrs old I would have done the same thing. I learn so much from him and his younger brother who will be joining us in the field in a couple of years.

Also, my son got to do his first real bit of driving on the BLM land we were camped on. Talk about an ecstatic kid! I am constantly blown away by the kindness and generosity of people when you don't expect it. Without our driver friend and this ranch manager, this trip could have been a lot different. In fact, I don't think it even happens. All I can say is if you have kids, spend time with them doing the things that make you both happy. You will not regret it.

 

[270.Rose]

Congratulations on your elk and well done on the write up. Glad you had fun, thanks for sharing pictures!!

 

[Lab]

So cool!

 

[Wild Bill]

Great trip with your son! and congrats on the elk!

 

[3855WIN]

Hunting camp is a great place for a boy to grow up. Congrats on a great trip.

 

[Braveheart]

Sounds like an awesome trip!! He will remember it always. My son is 12 and I am excited to take him on his first out of state hunt one day.

 

[Pahoundsman]

Sounds like it was a great time,I’m glad to hear your son enjoyed it even without harvesting anything.

 

[williaada]

Glad you and your son were able to get out and go hunting.