DBZona

Shhh. Chris, you weren’t supposed to tell anyone about hitting the tree😉. It was pretty funny though. I swear that tree jumped right out behind me. I about gave AJ and I whiplash and all my truck had was a small scratch. I don’t mind camping in a tent. Even when it was as cold as it was. I am used to hunting and camping in Washington and Idaho. AJ Didn’t even complain about the cold. We did have a buddy heater in the tent though. I even lost the clip to my rifle running up to make sure the elk was down. That’s how bad and thick those thorns were. The bushes must have hooked the release and dropped it. I didn’t even bother looking for it later. One story I forgot to mention, that was pretty important to me happened on I think Tuesday or Wednesday of the hunt. It was pretty windy, so Chris and I left AJ in the truck as we walked out a ridge to glass in the late afternoon. As we headed back to the truck we noticed another truck pull up, get out and start walking out the ridge we were on. We met up with the two guys and we were not shy about asking people what they were looking for, knowing some were looking for giants, and if they were if they could keep their eyes open for something AJ could shoot. We explained AJs situation to them. It turns out this guy was a guide, and not any guide. A guide that people pay a lot of money to use. His Client was from Utah and they were looking for 370”+ And we knew he shelled out a lot of money for this hunt. When we told them AJs situation, and told them about Never meeting Chris before, but that he sacrificed his time and money to complete strangers, the client told us his story. He had lost his 12 year old daughter a few years ago to an illness. And since that time he had been helping throughout the west Kids and vets with disabilities. He was grateful for what Chris was doing for us. And then he did something, that I still can’t believe. He turned to the guide and said, “Do you think you could help these guys find a bull?” Knowing there was only a day or two left in the hunt he was asking the guide if he could help us. The way he said it also sounded like he was content being done with his hunt so they could help us. I couldn’t believe it, but we also couldn’t accept that offer. We knew how much this guy was spending and I just wouldn’t feel comfortable although. We politely declined and the client asked the guide if there were any reliable spots that we could get AJ to. (Finding elk was not our problem. Finding elk where we could get AJ to was.). The guide offered up a spot that had been reliable in the past. As we parted ways and at this point I knew the client and I shared the same faith, the client said, “ It’s going to happen (for AJ). I know it.” He said his daughter was with him and that he would pray for us and that the lord would provide us with a miracle and it was going to happen. I share that because the last morning I had come to terms with AJ not harvesting an elk, and that the hunt and the achievements and the time we spent with family and friends was our success. Later that morning, as we were stalking this bull, I couldn’t help but think of the words this man said. And I immediately started thinking more positively. That this was going to happen, that this is going to be our miracle. That his daughter was somehow watching over us as well. I will never forget that man and what he was willing to sacrifice for AJs success. In my opinion, the prayer he offered on our behalf was the greatest thing he could have done for us. The people we encountered on this journey just makes me want to shut off the news. There are still a lot of good people in this world. To not have a single negative comment on Facebook, where I also posted for help, blows my mind. I am excited for the future of hunting and for our kids being great humans, because these values are being instilled in our children

Chris, feel free to add anything I may have left out. For example, How much AJ eats. For context, AJ is only 12 and already 5’7”. He has grown 5 inches in the last 4 months. We went to eat at Hannagen Meadow one night, and we each got burgers. By the time myself, My dad, and Chris were halfway done with our burgers, we looked over at AJ and his burger was gone, So I gave him the other half of my burger. This kid can eat.

Chris, Thankyou again for all you did. You and Dawn are great examples of how we all should be, Selfless and kind. You didn’t need to help. Especially a complete stranger. I am proud to call you a friend.

this is what we were dealing with all week Three generations of elk hunters AJ, Chris, and myself Me and my boy

AJ wanted to walk up the hill through the thorns to go see his elk . enjoying the afternoon waiting for Chris and My dad to get back with the side by side so we could winch him down the hill AJ made it to his elk. A respectable 6x5

But that is exactly what that bull did. We got AJ on the death grip, had the turrets dialed for a 480 yd shot. Turn the camera on to aim, and my heart sinks. The camera is blown out, over exposed, and we can’t make out anything. Than I decided to pull the camera off and I would have to aim for him while he pulled the trigger. So I put my eye behind the glass and told him to pull the trigger when I say shoot. “SHOOT!” BOOM!!! Chris and I both see that bull drop. i couldn’t be a prouder dad at that moment. I hugged AJ to the ground. “You did it buddy! Hes dead! You dropped him right there!” Chris and I couldn’t believe it. The week had been such a grind. And the sense of relief that came over myself was almost too much to handle. My boy, has overcome so much. To live with Cerebral Palsy and an intellectual disability yet fulfill a dream of hunting. All I wanted out of this hunt was to see him push himself. And he did. And HE NEVER ONCE COMPLAINED.

Now I have a problem. They are too far to shoot from where we are, but if we go closer the trees block our view and we can’t see them. We decide to continue on and hope that somehow we can get a shot. we reached the point where the road turns left and goes along the base of the hill, but there are too many trees. I notice a trail off to my right that leads to what might be an opening. I told AJ and Chris to stay put, while I checked it out. I finally get to a spot where I can see through the trees and there is a cow standing in the only shooting window we have. I wave them over and hope that at some point we could get a shot. As they were slowly coming they got halfway to where I was when the bull popped out into the opening. Now I am frantically waving them over. First of all, this hillside has elk all over it. What are the odds that the only bull in the group pops into the only opening through the trees that we have. Secondly, what are the odds that that bull would stay in that small opening for as long as he did, allowing them enough time to get over to me, get set up, and get a shot off. this is the small window we had.

Elk are running confused as they sometimes do when being shot at. I don’t see an elk on the ground where the spike was, so I quickly start looking for him. My hands are shaky, so I pull out the spotter and find him in amongst the cows. Unscathed. I do my due diligence and go check for blood, knowing he missed. But I always double check. My dad said he would go around to the other side and see if they cross the road over there. Chris and AJ followed him. I look and look and I knew exactly where he had crossed the fence, and I confirm there was no hit. Missing that spike was the beginning of our miracle. the spike in with the cows after the shot As I am walking out to meet Chris and AJ I decide to look up on the hill behind me and I can see elk through my Binos. It’s over a mile so I cannot make out what they are. I see AJ and Chris with my truck further up the field where the road crosses, so I hurry back to them to get the spotter and see if we can find a bull on this hill. sure enough. We can make out a bull. And not a raghorn you would see with a heard of cows like this. He’s a respectable bull. Not a giant, but not one you figure you would see with a heard of cows. We saw smaller bulls in bachelor groups. we meet up with my dad and come up with a game plan. AJ, Chris and I would drive as close to the base of the hill as we felt comfortable so as not to spook them. When looking at them through the Binos it looked like they were going to feed down into the timber, so we figured parking a half mile away could give us a chance to intercept them. we slowly walk up the road picking apart the forest in front of us hoping to see an elk coming through the timber. But they did not. Instead, we started spotting cows on the hill where they were previously. this is the bull up on the hill

Wednesday night, before the last day, we gave AJ the option to go to where we had been the last few mornings and hope for that spike, or go to where we saw the spikes on day one. He chose to go to where we were on day one. I will admit, at this point I had lost a little bit of hope of harvesting an animal. The hunt had already been a success to Chris, my dad, and I. But I knew we needed a miracle. We showed up just before daylight, but when we could see we knew there were no elk there. We decided to drive up the road where we had sent my dad to see if there were any further up the field and as we came around the corner the elk were just off the road. We went around the corner and the topography that we had allowed us to get set up without spooking any elk, but they were feeding away from us. We got AJ prone, which is very hard and difficult for him to do, but he did it. And let me tell you…. Trying to shoot one elk out of a heard of over 100 is not easy. I was helping him aim, and probably 8 times he almost fired but had to quickly back off because a cow got in the way. Finally, at a distance much further than I would like to shoot the spike cleared. This was the closest to shooting we had been all week. It’s The last day. We aim and I tell him to shoot. BOOM!!!

On Tuesday afternoon we decided to try a new spot with no luck. However, driving out we had two bulls run across the road. But we never stood a chance. We knew that in order for this to work with AJ, we needed to see the elk well before they saw us because of the setup involved. On Wednesday, the second to last day of the hunt, we didn’t see an elk. However, we did see a really nice ram.

We got a tip from someone about a place there might be some bulls, so on Monday we went and checked it out. Walking in we bumped a large herd of elk with one spike in it. This spike stood and stared at us for 10 minutes or so at a little over 100yds. I asked AJ if he wanted to shoot the spike and he said no. It was day four and it was his hunt, so I wasn’t going to make him do anything he didn’t want to. Plus we had the other spikes from day 1 that would hopefully still be an option. We knew there were elk further down the road because we could hear them, it ended up being only 5 cows. At this point the main herd of elk with the spike have made their way 500 yds up the mountain. AJ asks me if the spike is still there. I said, “yes. Why? Do you want to shoot it? And he said yes! Chris and I just laughed we asked him why he changed his mind and AJ said he was hoping there was something bigger with the elk further down the road. But now since there wasn’t, he wanted to shoot the spike. Knowing the shot was too far at this point ( he didn’t know that) we told him “nope. Not a chance. If you wanted to shoot that spike, you had a chance when we was just below the road. There is no way we are going to let you shoot that same elk on top of the mountain, A lot further from the truck.” We all had a good laugh and finally told him it was too far anyway, but maybe we would come back in the morning and try again. We tried the same spot the next 3 mornings with no luck.

We saw bulls everyday of the hunt, except the second to last day. But they were all just in tricky spots to get AJ to. On that Sunday we went back up to where we had seen the injured bull, hoping he would come out. Instead we found the biggest bull we would see the whole hunt, a 320 class bull. AJ was so pumped when we showed him, he was willing to walk out an old road to get within 350 yds of where we had last seen him. There was one problem, the road was full of blow down and thorn bushes, but AJ was willing to try it. I decided to take everything we needed to get a shot off and went as fast as I could to see if it was even possible for him to make it and if not I would go back and stop them so AJ wouldn’t have to go any further. Chris helped him navigate over logs and through the thorn bushes as I went up ahead. AJ was a trooper and made it all the way to the point. But we never turned that bull up again. 3/4 mile in and 3/4 mile back. I couldn’t be prouder! Experiencing this hike with him, a kid with CP, was one of the highlights of this trip. We took a lot of breaks… but he did it! AJ getting ready to hike out

After a few minutes we finally found the injured bull, bedded 100 yds up the hill from the others. I ranged him at 620 yds. A long shot, but conditions were calm enough I thought we could pull it off. Getting AJ set up in the bog pod and getting aimed was a lot trickier than doing it at the range. Just about the time we finally got settled, a side by side pulled up to us and that bull and his two buddies got up and walked straight away from us. We never saw them again. this is the injured bull as we were getting ready to shoot him.

The night before the hunt we thought we had a plan, but driving back to camp we ran into a herd of elk with a 5 pt and a 6pt in it, so we changed our plans. We would hit the fields these elk were headed to at first light. Before daybreak on opening morning, we started hiking towards the field where we thought these elk would be. When my Binos were able to finally gather enough light, I could start to make out elk in the field. There ended up being well over a hundred. But they were really far away. And the only bulls we saw were threes spikes. I asked AJ and he said he wanted to hold out for something bigger than a spike. So we decided to keep these elk in our back pocket for later. Later that morning we decided to split up to cover more ground and would meet up back at camp at 2. AJ and I ran into one 10 yr old and his family waiting out a bull that had bedded. Chris had much better luck. He had actually run into a guide who was watching three smaller bulls, one with a broken leg. His client was looking for something much bigger. They understood our situation with AJ and said they would help us out when they see something they didn’t want to shoot. He asked Chris if AJ would be willing to shoot one of the three they were looking at. Chris hurried back to camp and grabbed us to go take a look. Thanks goodness we had the side by side, because there is no way we would have gotten to most of the elk we did encounter on this hunt. On the way in, of course it started to snow, and visibility went to maybe 100 yds. And it stayed this way for the next 30 minutes or so. When the storm cleared I found two of the bulls in the bottom of the canyon. They were a little over 500 yds. But We had committed to shooting the injured one if we could find him.