In Search of Steve's (the Elk) Dad...

The boys and I had a great time Elk Hunting together this year. Arrived in Alpine well after dark Thanksgiving evening and hit the sack early in anticipation of the hunt. Jeff's dad, Heber, graciously allowed us to use his home so we were warm and comfy (and definitely spoiled)! Got up at 0500 Friday and were out the door by 0530...still dark, but we had a 30 minute drive ahead. Jeff acted as our guide and R.B., Robert and I hunted hard for five days.



Just before noon on Friday Jeff spotted a couple of bulls up the mountainside above us and signalled me. I saw one bull move into heavier brush and then spotted what I thought were the upper tines of his right antler sticking out above the brush. Estimating where his right shoulder should be (I couldn't see his body for the thick brush), I fired a shot. He promptly made a turn and ran. We didn't find any blood so we assumed (never a good thing) that I missed and didn't spend too much time looking for him before continuing to hunt.

Saw a few more bulls and some cows on Saturday. Stayed in Sunday while the boys went out...they came back without seeing anything (something I've learned about hunting on the Sabbath!). Monday morning we were out before first light again and I spotted a 4x5 bull coming down a mountain across the meadow from us. I told Robert he might come right to us...but he stopped on his side of the meadow and stood facing us for quite a while. I told Robert to get into a prone position so as to be steady and shoot! It was about a 350 yard shot and Robert, who was on his very first hunt, hit him! We found good blood and Jeff, Robert and I tracked it for a long ways before losing his trail. We never found him so the coyotes had a good meal! I felt bad for Robert, but he took it quite well.



Tuesday afternoon we were hunting the same area that we did the first day (Friday) and Jeff spotted a bull lying dead that someone had shot and not found. It was a good sized 5x6 that was just starting to sprout a 7th point on the left side. We could tell by the smell and bloating that it had been killed a few days earlier. We continued hunting and got nothing that day. That night as I lay in bed, my mind kept going back to that elk Jeff found and I began thinking that it wasn't too very far from where I had shot at that elk on opening day. When Jeff found it, it never occurred to me that it might be the one I shot at, but the more I thought about it, it seemed a very real possibility. As we drove out to our hunting area the next morning, I asked Jeff to jog my memory as to where exactly I had taken that shot. He said it couldn't have been more than a couple of hundred yards away from where he found the dead one and that he had had similar thoughts about it being mine. We discussed it further and decided that is must have been the one I shot- the single bullet hole was where I had estimated to be shooting at, the antlers were right and it was less than 200 yards from where it had stood when I shot it. I was happy to know I had made a good shot, but very disappointed to have lost the opportunity to harvest that good elk meat...probably lost at least 300 pounds worth! You can bet the coyotes, crows and all the other predators and scavengers were thrilled with my loss.




The boys left Tuesday after lunch to return home, but I stayed one more night because I had to drive to Cortez, CO the next day for work. Robert tagged my elk so that I could hunt some more that evening and the next day and maybe get us some meat. But I hunted both that afternoon and evening plus the next morning and didn't see anything. But we had a very enjoyable trip- it was great to be able to spend almost a whole week with my boys. They have grown into fine men and I am very proud of each of them. Hopefully I will have many more opportunities to enjoy such times with both them and their sons.



One sad note- R.B. had such bad head, neck and back pain from some issues he is experiencing that he had to sit out two of the days we hunted and stay back at the house. When I questioned him more directly about those issues, he confided to me that he had a growth surrounding his spinal cord up in his neck area that was putting tremendous pressure on the area of his spine/neck. He had spoken to his doctor and was told that no good doctor would try to operate and remove it since one slight nick of the spinal cord could paralyze him. I told him that he needed a special Priesthood Blessing and he agreed. We will give him one in a couple of weeks when Sherry and I return to Mesa for Christmas. I pray the Lord will bless him to overcome this problem so he can better enjoy life and serve the Lord, his family and others.