The morning of the opener of Utah's general season muzzleloader elk hunt came along a lot faster that I would have ever imagined. I found myself glassing for elk like I had imagined all summer long. My heart skipped a beat when I finally spotted tan dots in the distance moving into a stand of oak. My binos dropped to my chest and I grabbed the spotting scope and tripod and lined them up as if I was going to take a shot. At over a 1000 yards I could tell the that the bull that I was looking at was a 6pt on at least his right side. From that point on I had enough adrenalin to last me into the end of the day. We decided that since in years past we could just aimlessly wander the hillsides and come across elk there was nothing to lose going in after those elk so immediately we packed up of the heavy gear and left it in the car as we started hour trek towards the elk. Just before dropping down where we would lose sight of where they were we noticed another herd just below a saddle headed in the direction we wanted.
As we arrived at where the elk were we discovered that they were no where to be found. So I radioed Jared and he informed me that they had moved to the pines above my current location. It was then that I realized that I had a vacant rangefinder pouch on my belt. I am famous for losing rangefinders and apparently my trademark move manifested itself again. I did a brief retrace of my steps and never located it and finally decided to pursue the elk in the pines. As I approached the pines I discovered 3 hunters at the top of the hill and I can only assume that at least one of them was hard of hearing because they were all talking in a manner that would enable me to hear their conversation from hundreds of yards away. I figured that any elk in the area would move on since their voices echoed throughout the canyon.
The next hill over is beyond what I would consider to be reasonable hiking distance from our vehicle but I decided to go ahead and check it anyways. As I reached the summit I picked out a tan dot leaned up against a triangle shaped rock several ridges over. Unsure if it was an elk I decided to check it out anyways. Sure enough as I hiked and hiked and hiked the dot stood up to graze and to adjust to get comfortable. From 1000's of yards I could tell that it was a cow elk but I had high hopes that perhaps a bull was in the vicinity. The location was miles and miles from where I had originally started out and there were several 1000ft of elevation that I would have to go up and down in order to get to the elk, but I figured an elk is an elk. The triangle shaped rock was a perfect landmark and I just wanted to kill an elk.
So I dropped down 1000ft in elevation only to climb 549ft to be able to get a better look at the cow. Once I reached the summit I discovered that several moose were going to be obstacles that I was going to have to work around to get to the elk undetected. 2 bull moose and a cow and a calf were going to have to keep mum as I snuck past them in order to line up a shot on a non existent bull bedded with the cows. I figured worse case scenario I get a little bit of practice at stalking elk and best case scenario there is a bull bedded down with the cows. So I had nothing to lose and stalked past the first 2 bulls. I could watch the tips of their palms as I snuck past them and they never even stood up. Next the cow and the calf decided to stand up and they head up the hill and vacated the area. I was able to keep tabs on the cow the entire hike and she finally had me pinned once I got within 200 yards of her. She stood up and I expected her to vacate the area and I got ready for a shot in case a bull followed her. As she got antsy I noticed other elk in the stand of trees magically appear and stand up from her proximity. Soon they started to file out 2 cows and a calf exited the bedding area and one calf remained.
I once heard on a forum that a calf elk weighs about as much as a big buck deer and I figured I could handle packing out a calf and I happened to have a cow elk tag on me so I lined up a shot and got on the ground and rested my muzzleloader on my pack. Boom! Smoke and rotten eggs smell was all over the place. Then when the smoke cleared the calf was laying right where I had shot at her and her legs were kicking up in the air. I gave a high five to an imaginary friend knowing that he would not be helping me with the pack out. I began to hike towards my elk and suddenly it got its hind feet up. It made an attempt to bleat but blood clogged its throat and it spit out blood. It was doing a rear wheel drive plow and moving along. I could hear all kinds of commotion in the direction it was headed and I knew it would not be getting far. I waited for about 30 minutes because surely I had a dead elk on my hands.
After an eternity of cleaning my gun and loading a round I headed up and found sure signs of a lung hit and foliage smeared with blood. Just as I was approaching where I expected her to be I noticed 2 camouflage hunters on a dead run. As soon as I raised my binoculars onto them I gazed over at their quarry. Sure enough I spotted the calf bedded down with grass matted down on a circle around her. Just as I focused on her I watched her hind quarter raise and she rolled over and a nano-second later I heard a boom! She was kicking in the air unable to get up this time. From my optics I watched an adult approach the elk and slit its throat. I was headed down to make sense of what had just happened when I could see camera flashes on the hillside. I raised my binos to see a kid holding up the head of the calf. It was getting late and I still had miles and miles to hike before reaching civilization so I decided to let the young hunter and mentor enjoy their moment.
The next day we observed the same hunters with some pack horses and the calf wrapped up in florescent orange. I couldn't help but feel better about not having to have to pack that calf out of there. My cow tag is a late season tag that will be starting at a later date for the same area so I would have another opportunity to fill it.
Sometimes things just work out.
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