kidso Report post Posted October 20, 2013 That was Awesome! The day before we left the valley for my wife’s cow elk hunt, a good buddy called me up and told me that a group of hunters were camping in my intended spot and were planning on setting up a ladder stand near the trick tank where I already had set up a blind a week ago for my wife. Past posts on CWT dealing with the dilemmas of “public land hunting” racked my brain as I began thinking about a plan B for my wife’s hunt, which I had never previously considered. Fortunately, my buddy was the perfect ambassador and after a short conversation with the other party, they agreed to set up their stand elsewhere. A little before 4:00 am, I rolled out of my sleeping bag and cranked up the Buddy Heaters in our pop-up tent trailer to tame the encroaching cold that had slipped in around us during the night. I excitedly told my wife that it was time to get up and dress for her first hunt. She rolled over in bed, looked at her watch, and calmly responded that she had seven more minutes to sleep, based on the schedule I had planned for her the night before. After layering ourselves in multiple tops and bottoms that we previously washed in scent-killer laundry detergent, I grabbed a few extra blankets, a couple of folding chairs, and we headed out the door. After a short five minute drive, we exited our Jeep and began hiking through the woods towards our blind. Although the full moon was still up in the air, the tall trees blotted out its light and we walked quietly through the cold, dark foreboding shadows to our destination. We climbed into the blind at 5:00 am, right on schedule, and prepared for the seemingly endless wait for the legal shooting hour to arrive. The wind was gusting incessantly, which caused the branches on fallen snags to crack and break, thus increasing our heart rates and giving us false anticipation of approaching game. Finally, daylight came, and with it…nothing. My trail camera had shown cow elk in the area practically every day of the last week between 6:00 and 6:15 am. But, it was now 6:30 and I was growing impatient. I had wanted everything to work out perfectly, like clockwork for my wife’s first big game hunt. I wanted it to be picture perfect, so she would fall in love with hunting, just as I had. ---But, I should have known better.--- Shame on me. I did know better. Hunting is never picture-perfect. In fact, it is the unpredictability of the game, weather, and other factors that draw me back into the field year after year. If hunting wasn’t so difficult, I wouldn’t enjoy it so much. Nothing good was ever easy. At 7:00 am, I told my wife to open the blind and retrieve the radio outside so I could contact my buddy to see if he had found any elk and to touch base with him, which we had planned to do every hour starting at 7:00. She had unzipped the door, was leaning out of her chair, and was reaching out to grab my hunting bag, when I spotted a mature cow that had materialized from out of nowhere right in front of our blind. I grabbed my wife and pulled her back into her chair while whispering, “Big cow, you’re going to take this one.” I reached down, grabbed our camcorder, and turned it on. I told my wife to take the shot when she gets a chance. BOOM!!! I didn’t even get to lift the camcorder up to my face. I looked up and saw the elk breaking away into the forest. In three seconds, it was gone. My wife was completely beside herself and totally bummed out that she had missed the broadside cow at 30 yards. I told her that “buck fever” attacks every hunter the first time they put crosshairs on their quarry and not to worry about it, that she would have another chance in an hour or two after things calmed back down in the forest. I told her that we needed to check the area for blood; just to be sure that she had missed the cow. We left the blind and went to the spot where the cow was grazing. We could see her incoming tracks and what we thought were her exit tracks, but found no blood in the area. We disagreed on the exact exit route of the elk, so we followed multiple sets of tracks out of the area searching for any sign resulting from a ballistic impact on the elk, but found none. I radioed my buddy and he insisted that we should continue to search for blood and that sometimes a cow might go a hundred yards before blood eventually hits the ground. I knew he was giving us false hope, but it made my wife feel a little bit better. He joined our search which led us all over the surrounding area, but again to no avail. About two-and-a-half hours after the shot, our radio silence was shattered when TJ announced, “I got blood.” That sentence broke my concentration and I looked down at my radio and turned it up a notch and asked TJ to repeat what he had just said. Again, TJ stated, “I got blood.” I looked up and amazingly replied, “Well, I got elk.” “It’s right here, ten feet in front of me, staring right at me!” At that instant, the wounded elk jumped to its feet and took off like an Olympic runner sprinting through the trees. We gave her an hour, then started to track her from her last resting spot which contained two large puddles of blood-soaked grass that were the size of paper plates. We were very optimistic about recovering my wife’s cow for a couple of reasons. First of all, the cow had only gone about 50 yards from the original site of impact to where she had bedded down, which indicated that she must have been hit pretty good. Secondly, during the following two-and- a-half hours of searching for any blood sign, we had invariably come within 20 yards of her multiple times and she never got up and left, which also suggested that she was close to expiring. Thus, we carefully followed a clear blood trail through the woods stopping every few yards to glass ahead of us under the trees in hopes of spotting her carcass. After tracking her through a couple of tricky areas over a 200-yard exodus, I glassed the dying elk lying in the grass on the edge of a ravine. My wife put a final stalk on her cow and ended the pursuit with a five-yard head shot from her .40 caliber Glock. It was over! My wife had harvested her first big game animal on the opening day of her hunt, which would inevitably bring us back home to our twin girls that very same day. A special thanks to TJ, who shared in our short, but memorable hunt. It was great having you around to help in the skinning, butchering, and packing out of my wife’s elk. In addition, I wish to thank the forgotten hunters who backed out and let us hunt that spot opening morning without argument or discontentment. After packing out the elk, we stopped by to chat with the group and I invited them to freely use my blind. I left to up in the field and explained the elk patterns that I had documented on my trail camera to leave them with the best possible chance of successfully filling their tags as well. Do unto others…isn’t that what the good book says? Author’ Note: I kept badgering my wife all day long to find out if she enjoyed the hunt, if she liked hunting, and whether or not she would do it again. Her responses to my questions were very non-committal and ambiguous, which had me somewhat worried. Finally, about an hour into our drive home she blurted out, “That was awesome! That was the most amazing thing! Now, I understand what you go through in the field when you’re out hunting. I want to do this every year!” 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkhunter1 Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Great story, you kept me on the edge of my seat. Great job on not giving up! Congratulations! Welcome to the hunting community. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shedhunteraz Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Great story and write up. Congrats to your wife and all on an excellent hunt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
singleshot Report post Posted October 20, 2013 First time I've ever seen "Pajamaflage"! Congrats on a great cow. 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted October 20, 2013 First time I've ever seen "Pajamaflage"! Congrats on a great cow. Pajamaflage. How classic! You need to patent that word and start a marketing campaign for hunter sleepwear. I love it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Congrats to your wife Keith. That was an awesome write up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHALE Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Congrats to you and your wife on getting her first elk. Nice of TJ to be there to lend a hand. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lonne Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Nice work to you and your wife Keith!!! I'm showing my wife now...TJ, you're a real great guy to have helped out !!!! Now my wife wants me to do as much work as you did and set it all up for her. LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
out2hunt Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Kudos to all your efforts and a great first animal! Your wife is hooked now, how blessed you are my friend!? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capoeirajosh Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Congrats! Way to stick with it! That must have been nerve racking to know that you might not be able to hunt in that area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt Meyer Report post Posted October 20, 2013 Congrats to your wife. great story Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted October 21, 2013 Nice write up, and congrats to your wife on her kill - I hope she is hooked like you are. Way to stay with that blood trail too - I'm sure glad you guys were so diligent and found her when you thought the first shot might have missed. Great ethics there. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted October 21, 2013 Nice.! "I have seven more minutes to sleep" ......that's good stuff right there. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SirRoyal Report post Posted October 21, 2013 kidso , You oughta be an author. I normally don't read long posts, but yours kept me spellbound! Excellent story, excellent hunt , excellent pictures!!! Huge congrats to your wife! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted October 21, 2013 Keith, I would like to thank you and Renata for letting me tag along on Renata's first hunt. You would not of known it was her first hunt as she displayed exceptional hunting skills for her first time. There's no doubt it was due to all the stories of your own hunts that you have shared with her over the years. Her enthusiasm with every part of this hunt and the exctement you were showing just made me so glad I was fortunate enough to be part of your special day. Keith, congratulations again to your new and successful hunting partner. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
