Good Morning!
Ok, today is another day of rest for me. My ankle is doing ok today but I can see that it's still swollen. I forgot to mention, yesterday night we watched a wwe pay per view. Night of Champions, I believe. I hated it! The wwe is so predictable these days. Totally not worth it but since I still have that wwe network that I purchased several months ago, I'm just keeping that for my grandpa because he's still into wwe wrestling. Me, I haven't watched my TNA programs in a few weeks now. My damn Directv was shut off a while ago and so because of that, I've missed IMPACTwrestling every Wednesday night for about 3 or 4 weeks now. Sux!!!
Ok now I promised to tell about my actual hunt. Yesterday I shared the problems we had, or I had with my ankle and with my dad and his chest pain, which is why we raced home a day early. So now I'll tell of the hunt itself.
It was Awesome!! The first day was so exciting. No more than twenty minutes into the hunt, we saw a big bull elk. Dad saw it first and he told me to get ready and that it was coming. So he got behind me and started trying to call it out. I was ready, bow in hand, arrow knocked and just waiting. Soon, it came into view. Dad was standing about 10 yards behind me, still calling. That bull got about 40 yards away from me, downhill but it was behind a tree. I drew my bow back and waited for him to step out....he didn't. Aaaahhhhh!!!! Damn, I swear I was standing there holding my bow at full draw for a while. My dad always talked about that experience and I finally got to go thru it. After a while, my arms began to shake because I couldn't shoot. The elk was behind a tree, no shot and he was staring at me! Finally, I released my draw without shooting the arrow. Couldn't hold it anymore. That bull spooked slightly, but he never ran. Instead, he stayed in line of the tree so I still had no shot and he walked down the slope and away. We never saw him again! Dad was all excited because he saw me draw. He thought I'd get him. Throughout the week he kept mentioning it. "Dang that first day you would've had that elk" lol. It would've been cool. I would've had an elk on Day One of the hunt, which would've been one for the books. Crazy!!
Later that first day, we had done a lot of walking. Up slopes, down slopes. Walked miles and miles combined. Through rough forest and everything. During the late afternoon that first day, we came across some domestic cows. Not far from where they were grazing, we came upon some Bull Elk. One of them was pretty big, and the other was a spike bull. I had no shot at the bigger bull but the spike bull, he was about 61 yards away and so I drew my bow back. I had him in my sights and he was turned broadside to where I saw a clear shot. I fired!! DAMN, MISSED!!!! Somehow my arrow hit a tree up high so I think what happened was my arrow deflected off a branch or something because it really knocked my arrow off the path I shot it on. It was a heavy forest area and there were lots of trees and branches everywhere. Thick area! Yet another experience that my dad and other hunters have talked about. Deflected arrow! I experienced that also. Very cool. It was exciting, but again, No Dice.
The following day we didn't see anything. We walked in many places. There's a place that my dad and his buddies nicknamed 'The Saddle' because of the way it's shaped. There's also a place nicknamed, 'The Black Hole' which is a very steep canyon where not many guys can get to but there are lots of elk. A place called 'The Backbreaker' because one year my dad hurt his back in that area. A place called 'Jones Peak' because it's where my dad's buddy, Jones, went to which was super far from the road, like way way out there where nobody goes. Then there's an area nicknamed, 'The Treestand' because there's a homemade treestand up in a tree that's been there for years and a place called, 'Christmas Tree Top', because it's a meadow that has lots of these nice Christmas Tree style trees everywhere. Now, there's a new place my dad and I nicknamed, 'Werewolf Ridge' because one year his friend was up there hunting and heading back to his truck. He was deep in the woods and had a long way to go and it was getting dark. The whole way back, there were some wolves that were following him. Really freaked him out. He hurried out of there and thankfully made it out safely. Spooky! And now lastly, we have another new place which my dad named, 'Twisted Ankle Ridge' which is where I twisted my ankle on Friday and fell flat on my face LOL. So now, that place will forever be known as that! I feel honored honestly. Now I have my own stake and stories out at that mountain!
We visited all those places. We saw mostly Bulls out there. We didn't see any cows, not until Friday a few hours after I twisted my ankle. We were heading back toward the truck but we were still pretty far out there. Down at the bottom of a meadow, we spooked up a big Bull again. He ran up into the trees on the side of a slope. About 10 mins after we saw him, we saw our first Cow (female elk) and a calf. They came running out of the trees and around the side of the slope, out of sight. They were never in any danger though because I will NEVER shoot a cow or a calf. I don't hunt females, EVER! A lot of guys can't understand that, especially my dad, my grandpa and my uncles. They see meat as meat! But, I have strong morals. I will Never hit a woman or abuse a lady, ever! Same with animals. I could never kill a female animal. So I never hunt females. I treat them all with respect, same with little babies (calf). I only hunt Bulls!!! Anyway, after we spooked up that bull, this is where the fun came in. Dad and I walked up the side of the slope to where the Bull ran to. Dad spotted him still in the trees. So we got a good distance away from him. We thought he saw us, but he never did. We sat there watching him for a long time. Then, dad made some suggestions for me to go over there and get him. Rather than climbing the slope to the top and risking him hearing me then running off, I decided to use my indian skills and crawl thru the tall grass over closer to him, which I did. I took off my pack and crawled over to the next batch of trees closer to him, staying hidden in the tall grass. Then, dad wanted to help so he walked all the way down the slope and into the tree line across the way. He got my attention and told me to get ready to shoot. I stood up next to the batch of trees. Up ahead of me was a wide open meadow. Dad came walking up that slope toward where the Bull was standing. It spooked and just as dad planned, it came out walking right to me. Omg he came right into the open up above me, about 40 to 50 yards away, but he was completely uphill from me. I went to draw, but my arrow slipped out of the clip and I fiddled with it for a few seconds. I thought the Bull saw me, but he just glanced at me after stopping in the meadow, when he turned his head and looked up the slope, I drew back. I took aim....then fired!!!! Oh man I was sure I hit him because he turned and almost stumbled over, then he took off running back into the trees. It happened so fast! I knocked another arrow in and headed up the slope, looking for blood. I looked and looked. Dad was coming up the slope from the bottom. As he got closer, I found my arrow. No blood :( I think what happened was I grazed the bottom of his belly. I don't have much practice shooting uphill. AAAARRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! Missed him!!!! Damn!!! Dad was really excited for me though. He comes up and hugs me, tells me that That's what Elk Hunting is all about!! There was another experience I got. Now I have my share of stories and mistakes to learn from, as all bowhunters do. I was so thankful to God for the experiences. I'm glad now that I didn't hit that elk. I'm so so glad I didn't hit it, but I'm also so so thankful that I got the chance to do it! That's what matters to me, the experience!
So we continued to walk around. We saw some more elk, but no more shots for me. It was a really fun time! We had lots of laughs out there. I was trying out my new elk calls and they ended up sounding like a cat hahaha. Dad was laughing so hard and we're out there hunting. One afternoon, we cooked steak and potatoes back at camp. Afterwards, we were so worn out from walking and with a full stomach, we each took a nap. Dad cracked me up when we both didn't wake up til amost 5pm lol. He says, "Hunter?!! Just eats steak and goes to sleep!" hahahahaha :D That was so funny!!!! My dad says the corniest things and just makes me laugh like crazy. That was fun! One night also, we built a fire outside and roasted polish dogs and looked up at the stars. You can see so many up there, unlike here at home because of the city lights. Later in the week we went down into Chama and used to RV facilities down there to shower and get cleaned up. It was nice to get a hot shower. Dang, I needed one really bad because I was sweating like crazy up there. By the end of the week, I stunk pretty bad. Those elk probably smelled me before I got out of the truck LOL. Anyway, that was pretty much a rundown of the hunt. I got two, almost three shots at some Bull Elk. We're already looking forward to going next year, same time. I've got a year to really practice and perfect my Bow shooting. First, I've got to buy my own bow. I was using my Dad's out there. Next year, I want my own. I saw this really nice Red and Silver one over at Xpert Archery here in town. Just my style ;) Well, that's about all I've got for the hunt. I'm still goin to be resting up for a few more days. Lisa thinks I may have sprained my ankle. It still looks slightly swollen, but it doesn't hurt. Still, I don't wanna start pushing myself and end up injuring it more severe. I'll have to just suck it up a few days. My dogs are getting really restless, especially Cody. He hasn't been walking in about 2 weeks now. So I'll need to take him out soon. Ok, well thanks for reading about my hunt and my dad and I's crazy adventure! Lookin forward to next year!
Fyrescape continues ;}
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