Matt's first elk

[Coach]

My two oldest sons drew their first elk tags this year in the 3A/3C Jr hunt. They also had the Jr. deer hunt in the same unit, but we weren't quite able to get it done. Pretty much every day we were seeing elk, but just couldn't find the deer. Once the elk hunt started we were pretty sure it would be a slam dunk, as we had been in perfect position for elk almost each outing for deer, but it turned out to be harder than we expected when the pressure hit Friday morning.

 

With help from friends, Eric (AKA Forest Ninja) and Skyler, we were on elk pretty much every morning and evening and opening day both boys got to shoot, but the shots were longer than I had practiced with them so we ended up with no hits.

 

Saturday, we were on them again in the morning, and almost closed the deal with bulls screaming and fighting right in front of us, but still no clear shot as the cows were in and out of trees at 235 yards. We had to bust tail to Holbrook for a couple youth football games, and by the time we got back out, it was a little late and all of our spots already had hunters in them.

 

This morning (Sunday), Eric came out to help seal the deal. We were on elk starting at daylight, but had quite a bit of pressure from other "hunters" (this is a whole story in itself - friggin idiots out there with no ethics - I'll vent more about this later) so the herd was constantly moving giving us only glimpses here and there. Finally, around 8 AM, we moved into the area we figured they would go to bed, and sure enough, as we topped a ridge, 4 or 5 bedded elk stood up right in front of us. It was actually my middle son, Nick's turn to shoot, but he didn't have quite the right angle and when he did get into position and tried to shoot, realized he still had the safety on - that's youth hunting . From where Matt and I were, we had a clean shot and I knew they were about to bolt, so I told him to take it.

 

He made a perfect double lung shot off hand on this really nice cow in the heat-of-the moment.

 

 

Of course, he was really happy to get his first elk on the ground. Now it's time to get Nick back out there and hopefully get him into position for his first cow.

 

Special thanks to Forest Ninja and Skyler for all their help, taking time off from work and family to help the boys on this hunt.

[stanley]

Great job Coach!!! Good for Matt!!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

S.

 

[bonecollector]

Congrats to Matt on his first elk way to shoot! Hopefully Nick can get out there and get one for himself! Good luck

[Apatkelley]

Cool, nice cow....looks big.

[standman]

Man that is a big ole cow!! Congrats to Matt!!! Hopefully you can make it happen on one more.

 

Brian

[Coach]

Got Nick into some cows off the bed this evening but it was real close quarters and no clean shot was presented. We laughed about how he had a good shot at their feet. We'll be out there tomorrow morning for another go at it. He's so exited. Man I love getting the kids out there - they get so pumped up. I'll post the results of tomorrow's hunt as soon as I can. I have a good feeling!

[willhunt4coues]

Congrats little guuy on a great harvest. Your dad is sure proud of you. Congrats to you both.

[tjwking]

That's awesome, congratulations

[azpredator@work]

very nice - congratulations.

[khaller]

Very nice! Thats alot of beef!!!

[Pine Donkey]

Great job Matt! Coach, how about an update on Nick...

[Coach]

Man, today Nick got it done big time. Rather than append his story to this thread, I started a new one called Nick's Turn - here's the link:

 

http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...showtopic=21627

 

Thanks for all the positive responses. It was a great youth hunt for sure!