Cody's first elk hunt

[gotcoues]

I put my three kids in separate for elk, first choice bull and second choice cow. I like the results of this decision and will keep the same choices for next year. My twelve year old son Cody drew his first elk tag for a youth cow hunt. We were able to get out for a weekend and do some scouting. I was warned how thick the unit was and they weren't kidding. We came up with a plan of working our way down into a long canyon glassing as we go. I wanted to hunt in the bottom lower areas mid-morning and then sit water at night.

 

Our friends Tracy (Gr8WhiteJr) and Angie (Girlygirlhunter) offered to come up and help out for Cody's hunt. Work, for both Tracy and I started to pile up! Opening morning got pushed back to Sat instead of Friday. Cody was pretty bummed, but I let him know we could hunt Monday if need be. We left Tucson Friday night and headed to our camp spot. Angie met us on the way up and Tracy had a few hours of work Saturday morning and then would come up to join us. Saturday morning we were up early and getting our gear ready. I had put some faith in the bulls being pretty vocal since the previous hunters were left somewhat robbed of bugles on their hunts. We were heading down into the canyon before light so I decided to pause for a bit and wait till first light. Cody could shoot across the canyon and I didn't want to get down in there too early. While we were waiting I decided to hit the bugle once and got an immediate response from down in another canyon. Thick Thick Thick!!! I knew we couldn't pursue elk in that direction. My 10yr old son Dillon hit the cow call I gave him to carry for the hunt and he too got a quick response. The hunt had officially started exactly like I had hoped. We were all on cloud nine and we could barely see since it was so early. We slowly drove down the canyon stopping often to get out and glass across and down in front of us. We came up empty on the long drive down to the bottom. At the bottom, we stuck to the plan and hiked through some of the bottom country. We stopped to call two or three times, the bulls were responding but we couldn't get them to come in, or better yet bring a lady friend with them. We kept pursuing a vocal bull confident that he would have cows with him. After about an hour it seemed we were losing ground and I decided to move our hunting party to a small ridge to get a better vantage point. By the time we got there we were already hot and tired. We had over-dressed a bit and were shedding layers along the way to the ridge. I set up the tripod and glassed for about 15 to 20 minutes. Angie was also glassing, but we both came up empty. Dillon, my younger son had expressed disappointment and had left his glasses in the truck. Angie quickly handed over her 10's and started working the hills. Wouldn't you know it; he had elk within minutes of freehand glassing with Angie's binos. I put my glass on them and figured they were a thousand yards out, maybe more. I had looked at that hillside several times, not sure how they eluded me and was just ecstatic to be looking at elk so early in the hunt. We quickly mapped and headed in their direction. As we got to the next vantage point we decided Cody and I should move on alone. Angie and Dillon had a good spot to watch it all go down. We moved off towards the bedded cows. We didn't even make it twenty yards from the other half of the hunting party and we were stopped in our tracks by a very LOUD bugle. We were walking right into a bedded 280 plus class 6 by. We were fortunate enough to watch him for about five or ten minutes at a hundred yards. Coolest stare down ever for Cody for sure, he was blown away by the sight of such a magnificent creature so close and so bigger than life! We finally got cows back on the brain and proceeded forward. The bull quickly stood up and held his head way down to look under the tree branches and keep a close eye on us. He ended up having one cow with him, but Cody and I never laid eyes on her. It was so thick; he took a few steps and was out of sight. As Cody and I continued on our stalk, we were treated to our 6 by laying out bugle after bugle, non-stop as he led his lone cow away. He let out maybe as many as thirty bugles. At one point, Cody was shaking and told me it was the coolest thing he had ever been a part of. We were certainly blessed on this morning! Back to the cows, my goal was to get into position for a 300 yard shot at a bedded cow. Rifle was dead on for 300 yards and I was confident Cody could pull it off. After several zig zags we were at 300, but left with no shot. We moved a little further up the ridge to get position on a different cow. We sat down and I set the tripod up for Cody. The shot would be just less than 300 yards. No sooner than we laid the rifle on the tripod, our cow was up and slowly walking behind the tree she was bedded under. Busted!!! To my surprise, 6 cows and a raghorn bull were moving to our left and thing became a little desperate really fast. He was able to get on the herd and quickly announced he had the bull. I told Cody just move one elk behind him and steady on her for the shot. As I had done in the past, I let him get on the animal at the lowest power setting and then cranked it after he was on the animal. Before I could even throw my glass up the shot rang out. I got the herd in my glass in time to see a stumbling cow having a very difficult time standing. She went down several times before falling what we thought would be the last time. I had tried to get him on her for a follow up shot, but she kept falling and the brush was too thick for a shot while she was on the ground. Cody stayed on point ready to shoot again if necessary while I back tracked to find Angie and my other son Dillon. The celebration began premature as we walked back to Cody. I think all the hooting and hollering got her back up again. The cow elk was now up again and moving toward the ridge top. I helped Cody get back on her by adjusting the scope for him. Second shot rang out, I heard the thump, but couldn't tell where he hit her. An immediate third shot rang out and she went down hard for good. My son showed incredible composure and I was overwhelmingly impressed he had connected three for three.

 

I couldn't have dreamed of a better hunt for any of my kids!

 

Thanks a million Angie for all the hard work and enjoying the hunt with us. Sorry work kept you from enjoying such an incredible hunt Tracy. Hopefully there are many more to come!!!

 

 

[Gr8 White Jr]

Great write up Justin! Congrats again to all of you on a successfull hunt and especially to Cody for knocking down his first elk! I'm sure there will be many more to come. Angie couldn't stop talking about what a great time she had and what a great experience it was to witness Cody taking his first elk. I wish I could have been a part of it! Next time I WILL be there!

 

-Tracy

 

PS-WORK SUCKS!

[Ernesto C]

Congratulations to all of you excellent team work. Nice pictures with every body smiling

[RAM]

Way to go, sounds like a great hunt.

 

-Ryan

[mcgrew24]

congratulations to cody and the rest of the gang. great job guys.

[stanley]

Way to go!!!! Outstanding Cody!!!!

 

S.

 

[elkhutnaz]

way to go, great job, keep it up

[girlygirlhunter]

That was so much fun! Ended kinda quick but it was a blast. Wish I could have had some lady luck there for Dillion's hunt. Maybe next year. Ashley's hunt is right around the corner though. Can't wait. Again though congrats to Cody he's the man...

[luvdemcoues]

Way to go Cody!!!!!

[GTT]

Great job Cody & crew! Awesome story & pic's Justin...Bret