Scouting trip.......... cow down?

PowellSixO

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Mar 19, 2013
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Arizona
My good buddy, his brother, and I went down to our hunting unit to do some scouting before our bull hunt that starts on the 29th. We scouted hard for 2 days, with many miles on the quad, several miles on our boots, and hours and hours of glassing. We were able to find 2 spikes, 2 forkies, and one 6x6. Oh and dozens of cows. Well saturday night we go back to camp and end up talking to the guys camped across from us. There was a grandfather, father, and grandson/son out on a junior cow hunt (none of them were hunters, the father was trying to get his family into hunting). They had been in the area for some time and hadn't seen an elk. We offered to put them on some cows in the morning, which they gladly accepted. We asked the boy (12 years old) how far he could shoot, to which he responded "As far as I need too"gun)! That put a grin on my face:). Anyways we gave them the game plan for the morning and went back to camp to rest ourselves for the coming day. We met them at 6 am, drove to our spot (which will remain a secret, or at least until our bull hunt is over), parked the trucks and quads, and proceeded to hike a mile or so to our glassing location. My friend decided to stay with them where we had seen a few cows the night before, and I was going to go another 3/4 of a mile to the next look out so we could cover more ground. As soon as I sat down and started glassing, 25 cows came walking out in front of me at 100 yards. They walked up to their beds and laid down. I pack up my stuff and start sprinting back to get the rest of the guys so they can come back and knock one down. As a get 100 yards from where I left my buddy I see a bunch of cows on the ridge they were glassing. I put my binos on the heard and POWWWW! What do you know, one drops!!!!! I run over to were the grandfather is and he points out where my buddy is with the father and son. They climbed down to a point to get a shot at the heard. We set the spotting scope on the cow for refference and made our way down to the lucky hunter. When we got there the look on the boys face was priceless :D!!! You couldn't have knock that smile off with a 6 foot 2x4. I put my range finder on the elk and i was surprised!!! I was so surprised that I checked it 3 times. 396 yards. WOW. My buddy had told him to hold the Nikon Monarch on the 3rd circle on the reticle (rifle was a Ruger M77 7mm Rem Mag), take his time, calm down, take a deep breath, and squeeze one off. It was a perfect one shot one kill. The elk didn't take one step. Anyways we made our way down to the cow, and proceeded to show them how to gut and quarter an elk. Then came the fun part :rolleyes:. Hiking 1.5 miles back to the truck through manzanita trees, cactus, yuka plants, and rocks. I drew a short straw and ended up with a hind quarter. Lol. I took off and just pushed through the nasties and made it to the truck a short 2 hours later. Luckly for me, I'm in decent shape. 45 minutes after I made it up and took a nap, the rest of the crew made it out. I was extremely proud of the little boy. He packed out his head, and back straps the entire way. I don't know a lot of kids that could have made the hike down to the elk, let a lone back out with weight on their shoulders. But anyways, we got them back to camp and finished skinning the quarters, cleaning them up, and hanging them in game bags. Our entire 3rd day ended up turning into a cow hunt. We got to hunt and help a kid get his first elk, and give a few pointers to his dad and grandad. How awesome is that! Sorry so long, I guess I better leave a few pictures before I make anyone mad. Hehe. I hope you guys enjoy.

The proud hunter!!!!




My buddy starting on the gutting while grandad and dad take picutes.



Cow was standing in the middle of this picture on the big ridge near the top. All he could see was the head and neck. As you can see in the pitcure above it was a perfect neck shot!!!

 
Thanks guys. Yep, that little guy was a trooper. When we were gutting the cow, my buddy said you gotta take a bite of the heart. He picked it up and just about had it in his mouth before his dad told him we were joking. :D Then he was mad that we wouldn't let him do it. Lmao.
 
Thanks guys. Yep, that little guy was a trooper. When we were gutting the cow, my buddy said you gotta take a bite of the heart. He picked it up and just about had it in his mouth before his dad told him we were joking. :D Then he was mad that we wouldn't let him do it. Lmao.

Hahahahaha!!!!
 
What you guys did to help that little boy and his family was amazingly nice. Good job to you guys for that!

In the process you secured another hunter for future generations. The smile on his face was priceless to say the least. Good job men!
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I know a lot of the people on the site would do the same. That's why I like visiting this site. I just ask everyone to pass it on. I really do believe it's imortant to pass hunting on to the younger generations. My dad did that for me and my brothers, and I am forever greatful that he did. My favorite memories of my father were on all of the hunting and fishing trips he took me on. I can't wait till I can do the same for my son and daughter. I hope everyone else will do the same and pass it on, wether it's their own family or some stranger struggling on their hunt. America is in tough times, and it seems like we have fewer and fewer people that share the same views as us gun owners and hunters year after year. Eventually the tables will turn (more anti gun owners/hunters than gun owners/hunters) if we don't do something about it now. Congrats to all you sucessful hunters this year, and good luck to those who still have hunts to come :D!!!!!
 
Love the story. That kid will remember that his whole life. Not only the elk, but the part about some random nice guys helping them out. Kudos to you. :cool:
 
Sweet! Hopefully he will "pass it on." Giving that help to another kid some day or even an old man. Either way yall did a fine job.:D God will bless.....what goes around comes around...even in good stuff.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. Wish me luck. I'm headed down for my hunt tonight. The hunt doesn't actually start until Friday, but I want to get a little more scouting in. We just had a good storm come through this last weekend that brought a bunch of snow with it. This unit in particular depends on snow to bring the elk into it. My friend has been seeing a lot of elk come in due to the snow, so there should be more elk in the unit. Maybe Karma is already helping me out :D. I'll be sure to make a complete write up of the hunt when I'm done and share it. Hopefully I'll have good news to report.
 
Oh I forgot to mention that Karma has already helped me out in one way. I took this picture trying to catch a decent bull running over the top of the ridge. Unfortunately I didn't catch him in the picture, but kept it just for a reference when I go back down. I only saw this bull because I was heading down to help this family retrieve their cow. I woundn't have seen the bull period if my friend and I hadn't helped them out. The funny part is that when I was looking closer at the picture, I realized that there were three elk standing in the picture that I was completely unaware of. Lol. I can't tell what two of them are, but I can tell that one is a decent bull. Hopefully he will be there when I go back down. Fingers crossed.

First picture.



Cropped to see the bull.

 
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