Between my son, Logan, and I we have 10 tags:
- General buck – I had a muzzleloader tag and he had an any weapon tag for the same unit
- Private Lands Elk – I purchased one of these tags just in case we came across as elk in all our adventuring up at the family cabin
- Antlerless Elk – both Logan and I (along with my brother-in-law and niece) have a late season cow elk tag
- Doe Pronghorn – both Logan and I (again, along with my brother-in-law and niece) have two Wyoming doe/fawn pronghorn tags and I had a doe tag in northern Utah
This is the highest number of tags that my household has ever had, and it has made for an exciting fall thus far.
The first hunt on our calendar was the muzzleloader deer hunt. I should apologize for the lack of pictures in this post... I was so focused on this being Logan's first big game hunt that I failed to get my phone out during the hunt. My report mimics the report of many this year… we just didn’t see many bucks and the ones that we did see were young and still in velvet, which seemed odd. Logan had a chance at a couple young bucks early Thursday evening. As we drove down the road on the ATVs we passed a couple guys and they stopped us. They pointed out two young bucks and said that they would love to watch a young hunter shoot his first buck. I tried getting him settled on the shooting sticks but he had forgoten his hat back at the cabin and was trying to look into the sun through his scope. The glare was pretty strong and he wasn’t able to get a clear sight picture in his scope. Two young bucks walked up the hill without a shot ever being taken. We had quite a bit of discussion as we hunted the rest of that night about how most shot opportunities are fleeting and how you must be able to get yourself ready and take the chance within a matter of seconds. His intensity seemed to pick up a bit after that.
On Friday morning we decided to hike into a bowl that is not generally great in the morning because once the sun comes up you spend much of your time trying to glass into the sun, but it is always productive so it’s a game of give and take. Fortunately, a storm was forecasted and it was cloudy so we knew the sun wouldn’t be an issue. As we were hiking in to where we wanted to sit a bull elk sounded off about halfway up the bowl. We hustled to the spot where we like to sit just in time to see the bull usher a string of cows up over the ridge at the top of the bowl. Once we got settled and started glassing the bowl a couple stray cows began to feed down the bowl directly across from us. They were at 250 yards but slowly feeding closer. At the same time, the wind started to blow and it started to rain. There was a clump of scrub oak just a stones throw in front of us so we decided to drop down and take shelter there from the wind and rain and wait to see just how close the elk would feed. At just inside 200 yards one of the younger cows stopped and gave me a perfect broadside opportunity to fill that Private Lands Tag. My buddy Cody was on the glass and watched her as I shot. I settled the crosshairs, pulled the trigger, and Cody said she just dropped. We hiked up to her and sure enough, it looked like she just tipped right over where she was standing. We quartered her and carried her out in one trip. The pack out was easy, about 30 minutes of downhill to the truck. The only unfortunate instance was when I was traversing a beaver dam the sticks gave way and my right leg went in to about mid-thigh. I figured the damage was done so I just waded the rest of the way and dealt with wet pants and boots for the last 100 yards.
The most fun part of the trip for my son was getting into the large coveys grouse. There were a number of occasions where Logan traded the muzzleloader for the 410. One instance I was standing with my uncle and my brother just chatting with them and we watched Logan and his two cousins just kind of wander off. Moments later we heard a shot and then the boys squealing that they had got one. They ended up getting one more out of that covey and the three young teenage boys came running back to the truck carrying two grouse, brimming with pride. They had shot them on their own, with dads watching from about 60 yards away.
Friday afternoon my brother was able to shoot a young buck, but he was the only one that was able to get a shot at a buck the whole trip. I told him I would take it home and process it for him. The only thing he really wanted was some snack sticks so I bought a Hi Mountain hickory snack stick kit and made him 18 pounds of snack sticks in exchange for getting to keep the roasts.
We came home Saturday morning because of an afternoon soccer game but returned Tuesday after school to drive around and see if we could spot one from the road. We ended up getting into a really large covey of grouse and chased them for the better part of the evening. Ultimately between Logan and I we shot 5 that night.
The deer hunting was rough, but we ended up with one cow elk, one little buck, and several grouse... we ended up doing just fine.
Just for reference... this is what 18 pounds of venison snack sticks looks like (before smoking) and I ended up with 32.5 pounds of elk ground for my freezer along with the roasts:
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