Well my dad and brother both drew early archery bull tags this year. My brother however was just accepted to veterinary school and knew he would not be able to hunt. He was kind enough to give up his tag to hunt of a lifetime. A young man was able to harvest a bull. We are very thankful to work with Mathews Inc. as they donated a crossbow to this young man as he battles his physical challenges. We are grateful for these opportunities to help out and applaud Mathews for their kind act! A big kudos goes out to my brother Vaughn for giving up his tag to help a young man fulfill one of his dreams!
So off we went to hunt. The first morning brought a ton of excitement but the swirled a few times not allowing us to get a shot. Also my dad passed on a few 6 points that were not what we were looking for. The 2nd evening brought the most excitement for me as we were in elk all evening long and the rut was on!!! We called in a bull to 15 yds but my dad was pinned down and was unable to draw his bow. The bull spooked and I stopped him at 60 yds but my dad missed judged the distance and shot just under the bull. Check out the footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezduZYqtaDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I had to go home after opening weekend, however my dad continued to hunt with Dustin and my uncle. My dad missed one other time at a 320 class bull and we thank Keith for stopping him from shooting a spike at 5 yds! My dad was tempted but I told Keith not to let him shoot a small bull early on.
The hunt wound down to the last day and I told my dad that I would take the last day of the hunt off and would come up to hunt. I told my 3 yr old son he could come with me. Well I was leaving and my 5 yr old daughter said she wanted to come to. I said lets go and let her ditch kindergarten for a day. Boy am I glad I did. The wind was almost unbearable but we were able to get in on a few bulls in the morning, however were messed up by the wind. We went and got some breakfast and headed back to a place we knew there was some respectable bulls. I took the kids and went to push off the point as my dad made a big circle to meet us. We bumped 3 little bucks out and a coyote. My dad never showed up. I was starting to get a little concerned about my dad because it had been quite a while. Finally he showed up and said where have you been? I said looking for you. He said I shot one but can't find him. We headed down to the location and sat for another 45 minutes to give the elk time. We starting following the blood trail that ended in a manner of 25 yds. I was worried that we weren't going to find the bull. We started tracking the bull and ran right into him about 200 yds later. What an incredible day! My kids were ecstatic. I hiked the 4 quarters out and another load of 100 lbs of meat while my dad was boning it out. It was a blast and a hunt I will not soon forget. Thanks again dad for having us along!
Enjoy the pics!
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| Found a Broadhead in his shoulder |
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| Found a piece of arrow in his neck |
