Bubba’s Cow-A-Saurus

[Flatlander]

After being in Wyoming with my son Nash we returned home to spend the second half of fall break on my oldest son Hunter’s youth elk hunt. It was an exciting trip for me because it was the first time ever my Dad had joined my boys for a hunt. It was a lifetime of anticipation finally coming to fruition.

We left on Thursday and stopped at the range to confirm zero on the rifle and backup rifle. From there we spent the rest of the day napping in our friends’ amazing “cabin” before heading out to scout for the afternoon. While we checked familiar spots the boys climbed some huge trees and took turns opening gates. Late in the afternoon we found a group of elk at the same tank where Hunter shot his elk last year. We watched for a few minutes before pulling out to leave them for morning.

At this point we had been hunting / road-tripping for a week straight and I was starting to wear down. O’ dark thirty came early and I was struggling to rub the sleep from my eyes. We finally got on the road with at least a plan for the first few hours. I was feeling a little stressed as I didn’t feel like we had a solid backup plan of the elk weren’t where we left them. But a quick conversation with my dad reminded me that they were elk and it was early October. Somewhere we were bound to hear a bugle and give chase.

As we got within a few hundred yards of where we planned to park we came over a hill to see 20 elk staring back at us from the middle of the road. I cruised on by trying not to excite them too much. When we were out of sight we parked and listened. We could hear the two bulls from the night before bugling in the opposite direction of the herd we had just seen on the road. We had a decision to make. Remembering the discussion from the night before I proposed we follow the bugles into the junipers.

As we began our pursuit we circled to get the wind in our favor but that put a group of cattle between us and the bugling bull. We slipped in close enough to hear the bull raking his antlers in the junipers just ahead, but the cattle were getting nervous. Finally an angus and her two calves came around the tree we were hiding in and decided they had enough. They crashed through the trees directly in line with the elk. As they disappeared into the juniper the bull had been taking just moments before the thundering of hooves grew and I knew this gig was about up. I let out a few soft cow calls and we moved forward rapidly to try and get a look. As I rounded a juniper 8 cows were staring back in my direction. I froze and looked back to see hunter 10 yds behind me. I threw up the tripod with triclawps and urged him forward. Just as he leveled his rifle one cow started to break away. I hit a soft mew and she stopped broadside momentarily. Hunter didn’t hesitate and it was all over but the cutting. In a few short minutes my dad and Hunter’s brother Nash were standing with us in a big group hug.

A lifetime of anticipation fulfilled. 
 

I want to add a special thank you to Kasey James. We don’t know him, but he donated his youth elk tag to OE4A providing this once in a lifetime opportunity for 3 generations of our family. It may not have been what some would call a premium tag (although my boys who didn’t draw with 4 BP might disagree) but it was a premium experience. I hope that my sons are learning that the value is in the experience not the score. We’ve had some pretty awesome adventures but I can’t think of any that topped this.

What a week.

[NOTAGS]

Very nice!  Great times  and memories there!!   , tell Hunter congratulations!

[Eli]

Awesome write up and awesome ending!! That is a beast of a cow for sure! Congratulations!

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Great job Hunter!! Sounds like a full week! Way to go Andrew on involving the family

[Will K]

Awesome picture of you guys. Congrat's.

[duxngeez]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing!  3 generations together on a hunt. Hard to top that. 

[CatfishKev]

Big cow and cherished memories! Big congrats to all.

[eddielasvegas]

Congrats and good story and pix.

That is one large cow.  Any idea of its weight?

 

Eddie

[Flatlander]

22 hours ago, eddielasvegas said:

Congrats and good story and pix.

That is one large cow.  Any idea of its weight?

 

Eddie

She yielded 125 lbs of boned out meat. So that would probably put her somewhere around 350 lbs. She was a tank. It was tough to move her even a few feet for pics.