So Elk Camp 2010 opened on Wednesday, October 20th with two full days of scouting. Our son Brent and his wife Josalyn, came up to the cabin early to help in preparation for the big hunt! With Beth, Greg, the boys and our nephew, Aaron and his family, coming up north, we planned on a houseful for the weekend!
Just so you know, Brent, Greg and Aaron had "Antlerless" tags and JB was designated as the "Guide. "
Day 1, Friday Oct 22.....JB, Brent and Greg went out at the crack of dawn to try and bag one of those critters. This year their tags were in somewhat of a new area for them, their usual zone was split up so they had to familiarize themselves! Oh, and I forgot to mention that this year was going to be especially interesting because Greg had one hand in a cast! If you'd like to hear how that happened you'll have to ask him, Brent or Jos.....(you probably don't want to know!)
While the boys were out in search of their trophies, Jos started a new crafting project making YOYO's!
The first day ended without an elk but they were excited about their chances. Brent jumped two "huge" bulls that ran towards JB down the mountain and he was wishing he had a bull tag and a gun! Later that day they decided to go to an area they thought promising but were a little sceptical. They ran across a small herd of two bulls, a cow and calf...there was a shot by Greg but no elk in the truck. (Must have been the cast).. Here's Dev after hearing all the stories about what "could have been.." He's enjoying his favorite "a roof bare float!"
Day 2, Saturday Oct 23....Today Aaron joined the hunting group but they returned again without an elk. They were disappointed but they saw many elk! More bulls today and Greg pushed a small herd to Brent through thick brush and a shot was fired. They spent all day in zone 3A which they had never hunted before and didn't think "in a million years" there'd be elk in the scrub brush juniper.
So many people in the cabin we had to set up a "kids table" for dinner on Saturday night!
With all these Elk stories...I needed a drink.
Brenty and the boys playing a little Wii.
Even Jos decided to join the men and spend some time hunting and looking for the elk. She was so excited to get dressed for the occasion!!
We really looked like the Beverly Hillbillies with two trailers and multiple vehicles on the property.
Day 3, Sunday Oct 24.... Brenty got his elk. It wasn't the biggest one he has ever shot but had one down! He decided to go back to the area where he had found them the day before and guess what? There they were....7:50am, it was down....turned out it was a young bull, good thing they had "antlerless" tags!
The entire hunting party!
Here's Brent and all the rest of the kiddies...Logan, Dil, Dev, and our great nephews Joey and Jake! They were all excited!!
Dev always wants to help out...pulling a few needles. Need to get ready for two craft shows.
More Wii time. Very intense competition.
Day 4, Monday 25... Logan and Dil decided that they were both going to get out of bed at 4 am to join the hunting party. (Logan's second day of rising early.) Aaron, Shari and their boys had to go home so the group was down one tag. By 10 am there was another kill! B&G had their plan and found a herd of two dozen or more while LOB and DJB sat in the truck with JB because the temp was 36 and the wind was blowing 20+mph. After seeing the herd Brent wasn't happy he couldn't carry a gun today. At 9am Greg had to make a conference call to work and ten minutes later he had his elk! They once again scrounged up a few elk and at over 100 yards he had a 400+ pound cow! They had to do more strategizing on how to get this critter to a truck because they were a long way from a road. Oh, that 4 wheel drive quad would probably be the ticket. JB came back home to load up the quad and Jos drove the second truck back with him. I guess the elk had to be drug about half a mile or so before they could load it into the truck. Another use for that quad! I think we're going to have more meat than we can deal with...Might have to plug in the freezer that is taking up space in the shed for this special occasion. The REAL trick will be how we are going to get Brent's share to Maui!
Logan had a blast seeing elk running through the woods and he even helped with the dressing in the field!
Happy hunters!
Dev wanted to celebrate with all the hunters in the hot tub!
The butcher guy was taking longer than expected so Greg needed to stay the night for the funeral (of the elk) and leave early enough in the morning to get the boys home in time for school. This tree had to be sacrificed in order to get Beth and Greg's trailer down the driveway.....and then backed up to be prepared for an easy exit on Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m.!
For some strange reason the boys needed to tie the two heads in a tree to rot away to be skeletons! It must be a warning for the other elk.
I think he's proud or something!
Let's go to the the Red Onion...eight of us all in one car! These three yawhoos are on in the back of the Lexus! Brent looks like he was partaking in the funeral a little too much.
Another successful elk camp....3 tags, 2 elk...not bad. I'm told that the AZ Game and Fish put the odds of success for their hunt at 30% and they more than doubled that! If you could only hear the stories.....I'm sure if you ask one of them, they'll tell you them over a beer or two...over and over and over...
Elk Camp 2010 is now closed! (Thanks to Brenty for being a guest blog contributor.)
