Saturday morning was chilly as we took two vehicles up the bobsled run with me glassing from a good vantage point trying to guide the others into some elk. Unfortunately the elk were not where we left them. After watching three cows disappear over the ridge I decided to head down the road to check a piece of private property. Arriving at the large center pivot irrigated hay pasture along the main highway I slowly drove along looking for deer. At this spot the west side of the road is private property and the east is public huntable land. The public side is a relatively steep hill with thick ponderosa pine forest, the perfect bedding spot. With the deer consistently crossing back and forth it provided an ambush opportunity. That morning there was nothing worthwhile and an evening hunt around camp was equally uneventful.
On Sunday dad and I headed straight to the center pivot to see what would come across, stalking one buck to no avail. Late morning we drove up the road we camped along looking for a doe for Doc without success. We left Devin on a glassing knob for the evening and Doc tended to camp while dad and I went to the pivot. As we were about to turn onto the highway my dad pointed to three animals walking down the road. I couldn’t quite tell what they were but I said “I think they’re baa sheep”. Sure enough there were three wool laden domestic sheep waddling down the middle of the road. My dad started taking a video as we were rolling past them laughing at the unusual sight. When we got back to camp Doc and Devin didn’t believe we had seen sheep on the road so my dad showed them the video. I was watching the video when in the corner of the screen I noticed Devin’s phone sitting on the hood of my truck. Oops. I asked Devin where his phone was as I paused the video and handed it to him. After several unkosher words Devin could do nothing but laugh. Jokes about his predicament would last the week.
Monday morning dad and I headed to the center pivot driving slowly and looking for Devins phone along the way. At the pulloff we had glassed from the evening before I hopped out to look for the phone. I spent about 10 seconds searching before looking down the highway where a herd of elk was streaming across the road. I vaulted back into the truck and shouted for my half awake and hungover father to drive. To his credit he laid on the gas and peeled out while I dug his rifle and ammo out of the back seat. As he came to a stop below the elk I shoved the rifle and ammo at him. He stumbled out of the truck jamming rounds into the magazine before hopping the cattle fence and following the elk up the hill. Jumping the center console I got the truck turned around as I heard several shots. I realized my dad was much farther up the hill than I expected and made my way up to him. The hill is much steeper than it looks and even I, who had spent the last month chasing elk with clients, got sweaty getting up to my dad who was cool as a cucumber riding on adrenaline. Unfortunately he had missed and after a brief look for blood decided that was a fact. We hopped back in the truck laughing at what had just transpired and headed down to a road that would lead us to the backside of the mountain the elk had just crested. Grinding our way up the hill we were just topping out when my dad slammed on the brakes. Feeding across the hill in front of us not 400 yards away was the herd of elk. We backed up and very quietly got his rifle and bipod. There was exactly zero cover between us and the elk and I knew my dad wasn’t comfortable shooting much past 300 yards. To my amazement the elk didn’t seem all that concerned we were there. When elk give you such a gift, make the most of it. Crouching and waddling across the ridge we got to what I thought was as close as possible. A quick look at the herd revealed a large number of spike bulls which I knew my dad wouldn’t be able to discern through his scope very well. I tried to direct him to a broadside cow but there were so many elk moving around that it was nearly impossible. One cow in particular with a brilliantly white butt stood out. As soon as she was clear I whispered “shoot the one with the white ass”. BOOM. I could see her flinch with the shot and the herd began streaming up the hill. I was trying to find her in the pile of animals moving around when I noticed a cow behind a large ponderosa pine. I could clearly see her white butt and was praying she would go down which she promptly did. As we were walking towards her she popped up again and began trotting up the hill after the herd. “Hit her again” I said as my dad dropped to a knee and took another shot. She shuddered and wasn’t in good shape, a third shot finished the deal. We were stoked that we had not only managed to find elk but kill one. Now was the hard part. I went and got the truck and was able to drive relatively close. After gutting her we managed to lift her into the bed of the truck. Pretty knackered after such an adrenaline filled morning and the full body exercise that is cleaning and loading an elk we headed back to camp. After getting her hung on the gambrel and skinned we headed to my house to clean up. While there we checked the weather and were concerned to see another large snow storm forecast for Wednesday night. Our campsite was awesome but if the 6-12 inches were to fall there was a chance they would find us some time in April having eaten the weaker members of the tribe.
Tuesday morning dad went with Doc to find him a doe and Devin went with me back to the pivot on the chance that the elk were back. The elk were nowhere to be seen but a sizable buck piqued my interest. After watching him for a few minutes it was clear he wanted to cross the road to public land to the north of the property. I zoomed around to the other road and parked in a small depression. Grabbing my rifle and gear belt I snuck to a spot overlooking the small gully that I was pretty sure the buck was going to walk up. It was at this moment that rush hour started. A satellite tv company van passed below me, followed by a pickup truck and then a rather loud dump truck. The buck turned from the road and headed back into the property moving east. I sprinted back to the truck and zoomed back around to the main highway and sure enough there he was wanting to cross. I whipped into the pull off and started working up the hill to the small gully he and his doe’s were headed for. I could see the first does starting to cross. Settling into a perfect shooting lane between a couple of juniper bushes the unmistakable rumble of a diesel pickup truck could be heard. The truck had to slow down to not hit a couple does and as soon as they were clear he hit the gas growling and belching black smoke right at the buck. I don’t know if the driver saw me and intentionally wanted to screw my hunt or was just ignorant but either way the buck started running up the hill and never slowed down disappearing over the hill. That’s the risk one takes hunting public land. Arriving back at camp we helped skin the doe Doc had shot then spent the rest of the day looking for deer, elk and lost iphones to no avail. Our friend Lindsay rolled into camp that night bringing a weather update with her. We elected to hunt in the morning and then shift camp to my backyard so we didn’t get stuck in the wilderness for the rest of the winter.
Hunt with History 