Son got a dandy bull elk

Okanagan · November 19, 2015, 10:04:22 AM

My son David's bull elk he got on Sunday is a typical 6x6 with good mass.

It snowed Sunday morning. After glassing a herd that had no bulls David and his 14 year old son, Riley, drove a road looking for elk tracks and found where a herd had crossed. Steep down after the herd they were soon below snow level. They caught up with the herd four times over several hours and due to various miscues did not get a shot the first three. Riley saw the bull several times and got a much better look at it than his Dad. He said that it was very big and his Dad wondered if the young man was merely excited.

Finally it was getting late in the day and they were so far down that they needed to head out and even then would not make it in daylight. David decided that they would push fast after the elk to one more low ridge to see if they could catch up and then head out if they didn't. The bull was there, broadside behind a small tree. Riley could not see him so David shot it because he knew that it was bigger than a usual small four or five point, and it turned out to be bigger than he had realized.

They took out a daypack load of meat each, about one full frame pack load total, and it took them 3 hours to reach the road. Riley headed back home for school and basketball try-outs on Monday, and three of his cousins and an elk hunter friend came out early Monday to help David pack meat. With David it gave them five meat packers and they carried it out in one trip. They needed pitw's front end loader in a bad way! And a road...

Photo below is down at the elevation where they got the elk, with three teenage grandsons of mine to help their uncle David pack meat.

coyote101 · November 19, 2015, 10:10:40 AM

That's a beauty.

Pat

Dale · November 19, 2015, 11:35:58 AM

most excellent...

HuntnCarve · November 19, 2015, 11:57:22 AM

Congrats to David. That's a great looking bull. He sure earned that one.

Dave

bambam · November 19, 2015, 03:51:05 PM

That is a brute !

FOsteology · November 19, 2015, 04:27:32 PM

That's a beauty! Congrats.

Having a fair idea of the terrain involved, it would indeed be a challenge to pack it out.

Dave · November 19, 2015, 05:15:44 PM

Damn that's a monster.
And those packs your son and grandkids do keep getting tougher - haha.
Tell the crew that's a job well done

pitw · November 19, 2015, 05:36:23 PM

Congrats to David and Riley on a most amazing hunt. Pretty dang cool to have young backs with positive minds to replace a front end loader. Thanks for the pics and story.

Okanagan · November 19, 2015, 05:50:28 PM

Quote from: Dave on November 19, 2015, 05:15:44 PM
Damn that's a monster.
And those packs your son and grandkids do keep getting tougher - haha.
Tell the crew that's a job well done

Yep, the meat packing trend is not good.

Those two photos in the first post were taken the same day, one shortly before they started climbing back to the road and the other up on the road when they arrived, above the freezing level so the precip was snow instead of rain.

Was thinking last night that I have posted more than I likely should have.