What an absolute memorable hunting adventure we had being able to spend 17 days off the grid and truly living and breathing every moment. With two tags filled we were off and running to fill three more elk tags. Andy had a Cow Elk tag and I had a Cow Elk and Bull Elk tag which were all for early Muzzleloader.
This was the first year I had ever put in for Muzzleloader and the first year I had ever shot a Muzzleloader. I practiced and practiced prior to heading out. I had it dialed in and felt comfortable at a 100-150 yards. I was ready.
With months of preparation and logistics all dialed in, we were off and headed out of town to begin our adventure.
Opening day for us was September 17 but we left September 10 to head up to northern Nevada and meet up with a friend of ours who had a Muzzleloader Deer tag. By the time we reached camp he had already been successful in his harvest. We spent three days at deer camp and three days traveling a new area we had never been to. We saw herds of elk, sage hen, blue grouse and more mule deer.
We were truly living off the land. Field to Plate.
By September 14 we decided to pack up camp and head to elk camp which would be our new home while we filled our tags. Now granted we never really thought we would be lucky enough to harvest three more elk. I mean really that’s a TON of meat and fitting all that meat into the coolers was already pushing the limit, but I was optimistic.
It took us four hours to get all of our gear, vehicles and quads up to our camp. It was another four hours to setup camp but we did it with time to spare to get out and do some scouting.
For the next few days we heard elk bugling all morning and all evening long. It was on. Things were heating up. We saw more elk than I had ever seen in the past. Bulls and Cows. Large and Small.
We had a plan. It was Opening Day!
An hour in of cow calling, this Bull was getting HOT!
He screamed and screamed at that cow call. He was moving fast from the canyon and almost close to us. I still dream about how loud he was every night.
I had him dialed in to come through this perfect draw down low. I admit I was nervous. I couldn’t get my sticks right. I was fidgeting. But I knew once he busted through those trees, I had him at 120yards or less.
Well in a perfect situation a plan should come together, right?.
Instead of coming out down low where I was focused and ready to shoot, I hear the loudest scream busting through the trees coming direct from my right side. I’ll never forget it. This was the largest Bull I’ve ever seen at 30 yards direct from my right shoulder.
By the time I turn my muzzleloader to the right, he’s already busted me. HE’S GONE!
I beat myself up all the way back to camp, that night and the entire next day. All I could think about was that I wanted another opportunity to find that Bull.
I had a 340 class Bull at 20yards the next day but I was hilled out for the shot. By the time he saw me, he was headed to a different zip code. I was frustrated. All I could think about is how close I was to filling my tag on opening day. What I should have done differently. How I should have been setup with a wider spread. How I should have been faster. How I screwed up.
Three days later, we went back to where we found him. We started hunting the trees and cow calling that morning. We heard other Bulls responding to the call but it wasn’t him and then… we heard him. We spent hours inching closer and closer. The screaming was getting louder and louder. At this point there was no way he was going to fall for our cow call again and give me a second chance at 30yards. We had to chase him down.
We began that morning at 5:30am working our way up the canyon. Now it was 3:30pm. We had worked and worked to get to this point. Its peaceful in the trees. Quiet. You can hear a lot but so can everything else, and when you hear the sound of a herd breaking branches and running for their lives through what was once soundless, you know you’ve been busted.
Eleven cows filtered out through the trees, down the canyon and up the ridge. Three bulls also followed, but that wasn’t the Bull I wanted.
I hear “quick Kristy, here he comes”. He’s at 180yards and moving fast.
I couldn’t see anything but Cows and the other Bulls. And then I saw him. He was 190yards, 195yards, 200yards and then he stopped looked back at us broadside.
Did I shoot him? No. Why? I couldn’t do it. I should have taken a shot but at that moment I couldn’t. We worked all day on that Bull and I couldn’t do it. He turned and followed his Cows and then they were gone.
Hunting is tough. Killing an animal is tough. Taking a shot that I wasn’t sure of and wounding an animal is harder. I couldn’t do it. That moment, those experiences, that thrill is something that I will never forget.
It was the next day Andy shot his Cow. The day following, our friend shot his Cow. The next few days we didn’t see or hear any bugling.
I still had two tags to fill and I was bummed.
After eight days of 4:00am mornings and hiking hills, mountains and the trees I was getting burned out. I decided to go setup in a different area and glass. It was windy and hard to hear anything. I was discouraged, frustrated and short tempered. We parked for an hour and glassed. We saw nothing. We moved down lower and couldn’t hear anything. I told Any I wanted to head back to camp and work another area down low. He agreed.
As I started moving up the road, I saw something come over the ridge to my left. It was a Cow Elk. I thought for sure she saw me but she was focused on Andy who was less than 1/4 of a mile behind me. I quickly stopped my quad, grabbed my muzzleloader out of the gun bag got on my knee and took the shot.
BOOM. WHAP!
I watched her stand there. I reloaded my gun as best as I could. I was shaking bad. Telling myself to calm down, reload your gun Kristy. You’ve got this. You can do it on your own.
By the time I was done reloading and ready to go again she was down. One shot. I was thrilled. We said our prayers, offered thanks and began to get to work.
Heavy rains were forecasted for the weekend and were supposed to last up until September 30. I spent two more days looking for a Bull and two more days not seeing or hearing anything so I called it. I called the end of our amazing, wonderful, memorable adventure.
We were blessed to have so much meat and I was truly blessed to have an opportunity that a lot of people don’t have. I still wake up at night to the sound of that Bull crashing through the trees and screaming at me. That’ll be something that I never ever forget!