I had a cow elk tag that ran through the end of the year for 2015 and had been unable to make much time to try and fill this tag, so a couple friends and I decided to take the last two days of the year off and dedicate that time to chasing some cow elk. The night before (so the 29th) as the kids were getting ready to go to bed I asked my wife if I should take my oldest son with me. As soon as my wife said that would be fine, I got nervous... the forecast was for exceptionally cold temperatures and I began to get uneasy that I would be able to keep him warm enough to be able to out there for very long. When I asked him if he wanted to go he just lit up and I told him to gather his snow gear as if we were going snowmobiling.
The next morning (the 30th) I poked my head into Logan's bedroom at 5am to wake him up and he popped up out of bed. We got dressed in the kitchen where I had laid out his clothes and made sure that he matched how I dressed layer for layer. We jumped in the car and headed for the canyon. As we pulled into the parking area of the WMA there was a large herd of elk just off the side of the road. These elk were safely within the fences of private property. As we entered parking lot to the WMA we found a dozen or more trucks already there with small orange dots peppering the hillside and canyon in front of us. I'm conditioned to hunt private property where pressure is light, and in many instances my hunting party may be the only one on the mountain for days, so this was going to be very different for me... let the rodeo begin.
We chatted briefly with a gentleman that was waiting in his truck for a friend. He was extremely anxious because his friend has access to the private area adjacent to the WMA where the large roadside elk herd was located. I asked if there was any way for others to gain access or permission from the landowner but was told that only 4 individuals were granted access to the ranchers property. After hearing that I immediately considered the possibility that this rancher who is not allowing hunters to push elk off his property would soon be crying for assistance from the DWR to pay for damage to his property and feed by these elk... a frustrating train of thought. The roadside herd of elk began working it's way out of the bottoms into a large bowl that is also part of the ranchers property.
He began to use some colorful language in front of my 8 year old son, so I ended the conversation and began hiking. We worked our way up the bottom of the canyon for about a mile. We spotted a good number of deer but no elk. We had heard a handful of shots early while talking to the gentleman in the parking area, but we were not seeing much in terms of elk.
We picked out a small knoll that we figured would give us a good vantage point and made our way to the top. At the top we spotted two cow elk bedded in in a open area about a mile away.
As we looked over these two cows, we also spotted two orange dots between us and the elk. We thought for sure they had seen the elk and were working their way over to them. As we watched these two hunters for several minutes it became apparent that they could not and had not seen the elk. A plan was hatched for a couple of us to skirt below the two hunters who had hunkered down under a couple pines and close the distance on the two bedded cows. I asked Logan if he wanted to come with me or if he wanted to stay on the knoll with a couple of the other guys. He was coming with me, so off we went blazing our own trail through thick brush and thigh deep snow... waist deep for him. He was with me stride for stride and we covered ground faster than I had thought we would. Doug had reached the landmark before I did and had a couple minutes to get settled into position and keep and eye on the elk.
Logan decided to stay by the tree while Doug and I moved 30 or 40 yards to get a clearer shot.
My elk was to be the one on the left, so with a clear shot on the bedded cow I took aim and fired. The bedded cow stood, so a second shot was taken. At the second shot she lurched and took off on a mad dash down into some of the thickest and nastiest stuff I have ever seen. We found the blood trail and we followed it for a short time until we found her laying down in an even thicker thicket. We negotiated thick brush, steep slopes, and waist and thigh deep snow... and the whole time Logan was right there pointing out drops of blood that had frozen on twigs and branches. A final shot was administered to ensure the chase ended there shortly after noon. My goodness, she went through some of the most awful brush that I have ever seen and had there not been a blanket of white snow on the ground making a blood trail clear I would guarantee that we would have probably never found her.
Doug took a couple pictures with Logan and I. I've taken some amazing pictures hunting and fishing over the years... but these are my favorites.
Logan is a very methodical and observant little guy and had a litany of questions as I began to skin and quarter the cow (which we actually determined to be a female calf, her ivories had just barely erupted). He watched as I began to peel the hide back to reveal the muscle and observed that muscles continued to twitch and everything appeared to be “wrapped in plastic already.” He made sure that I took all of the meat that he could see. I skinned and quartered solo since Doug had left Logan and I once we had found this elk to go and track the other one. I wanted no part of coming back into that area for a second trip so I loaded up my pack with all the meat it would hold, then made up a second sack that I would carry in my arms. We would go about 50 yards and I'd need a rest. Bless his heart, Logan was right there in my footsteps.
It was about a half mile to where we would meet up with the guys that we had left (they had worked their way one knoll closer to where the elk had been), and when we finally reached them I was absolutely gassed, and Logan was talking a blue streak. His energy and excitement really kept me going. Josh offered to take the bag that I was carrying in my arms, which really helped. We were able to get back to the main trail which really helped, because plowing through deep powder with an extra 70ish pounds on your back is pretty rough. We made it back to the parking area and loaded the meat in the cooler at about 4pm.
The heater in the car was turned on and layer after layer of clothes were shed, toes and fingers were warmed up, and picture texts were sent to mom and just about every family member I had a phone number for showing our trophy saying we would be home soon.
My Fitbit read 8.25 miles, more than half of that was plowing through fresh powder... and throughout the day I did not hear one word of complaint from Logan. I am not only prouder than heck of him but I'm truly impressed with him... he's one tough little dude.
With the meat home I took the next couple days to butcher everything and get it into our freezer. I laid out the steaks and roasts. My other boys ran over to the table and screamed “STEAK!!!” much like a Civil War General would have yelled “CHARGE!!!” to his troops. I got my wife's attention with the 17 pounds of ground that I later laid out on the table. For many years now I have put meat in the freezer and it's always been “dad's elk” or “dad's deer”... this one is different, it's “our elk” and I hope that he takes as much satisfaction and pride in putting it on the table as I do.
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