Elk Hunting

The title of this post might lead you to think it is something about The Farmer. But in fact it is about me and my first elk hunting experience, my first hunting experience of any kind. We headed out in the morning to head down the road to check the neighbors property since the elk had been there recently. The Farmer peeled out around the barn to the driveway as we both looked up at the field across the street and saw the elk, now running since we spooked them pulling out.

We drove over to the neighbors and got out to weight around to see if more would come because what we saw running was no where near the whole herd. Sure enough after about ten minutes they started wondering out of the woods at the northwest corner of the field. We were in the southeast corner of the field so we got in a good position to shoot and waited for them to make there way to us. Once they came closer I took a shoot at the lead one and they all ran off back to the woods they came out of. The Farmer and I walked up to where the elk was to check for blood. There was none, after some investigation we confirmed it was a miss.

We got back in the car to see if we could find them. For the elk to leave the part of the woods they ran into they would have to cross a road or some more open terrain where we would see tracks. Wouldn't you know they had not come out. They were still in the same, small patch of wooded area. So into the woods we went to see if we could find them. The night before we got a light dusting of new snow which made it quite easy to find and follow their tracks. As we were walking as quietly as we could we could hear them moving around. Eventually we found ourselves about 20 yards away from them but too thick of brush for me to feel comfortable taking a shot. They took off running so we made our way to a nearby road and walked out to the main road. We were nearing home looked up in the same field and there were the elk again running through the field to the east. We started running up the road to the same spot I shot from before. Two coyotes scared the elk so they went running back to the west to the same woods they have been in for most of the morning.

We made a plan to set me up and The Farmer (aka He Who Hunts Buff-alow/Shooter/Over Kill), to head to woods to push the elk out. I was to give him 15 minutes and then head home. Well about ten minutes later the elk come out of the woods. My heart was definitely racing but I worked at keeping myself calm and steady. They were all standing together, as soon as one stepped out of the herd I took a shot. The elk got excited but they didn't go running off. After a bit they all wondered off except the one shot, she just stood there. At that point my brother in-law joined me and the elk stepped into the woods standing right at the tree line. We walked over to The Farmer and waited for awhile before we walked over to where the elk was, we could not see her from where we were standing. As soon as The Farmer stepped into the woods where we knew the elk went in she took off running. And that began the long track of finding her through multiple properties. Thankfully all the owners gave us permission to continue to track her. There were a few times the three of us had to split as other tracks appeared until one of us found blood. Around three hours after my shot we got her.

At this point we ended up just above a service road for the irrigation company. We were on a very steep hill covered in ice and the elk was stuck on some trees. The plan became to pull her loose and get her down to the road then we could drive the truck up to the elk. What we were unable to tell about this steep hill was that is dropped off about ten feet before the road. My brother in-law was on the downhill side of the elk and The Farmer commented that he better watch out once they get her loose because she will really start moving. She did get moving and so did my brother in-law, together down the hill and off the ten foot cliff. They landed on the road with the elk on top of my brother in-law. We got a verbal that he was okay and then we started laughing. It is funny thinking about the fact that a dead elk landed on him. Though he is still hurting from it and I feel quite bad that it happened. At the this point The Farmer and I took off to get myself home so I could take Micah to music class and so he could get the truck. 

That was end of my involvement. I wanted nothing to do with the gutting and skinning. I wouldn’t have minded cutting up the meat but I still left that to the men.What an experience! Fun but I certainly don't plan on going hunting with all of them in the fall. We are very thankful for the harvest of meat that we get to share and enjoy.