3:00am-I am up again and am beginning to wonder why
3:30am-Snackshack shows up all smiles. He tells me today is BBD-Big Bull Day. He just knows this is it. His enthusiasm sparks a confidence in me. I believe today is the day. I know that I will not be getting up at 3:00am tomorrow because I will be home in my own bed with my kids sleeping in their own beds.
4:45am-We have gone to a new area. There are a few clearings and a mountain. Our hope is that one of them will come off the mountain into one of the clearings. As daylight approaches, we hear a few bugles and one sounds pretty big. As that goofy sheriff, Roscoe P. Coltrain on Dukes of Hazard used to say, "We're hot pursuit!" We followed the bull off and on, he teased us with a bugle here and there. Next thing I know, we're halfway up the mountain, still haven't seen him and I am a little tired. Good news though, being on top of the mountain, I can get cell phone service. I call my friend who has my kids and get a quick update. Before I can really find out what has been going on and talk to the kids, I lose service again. But, I thought, "God is good. One moment of connection with my kids is better than nothing." We finally decide to throw in the towel as we realize we are not going to catch this sneaky bull and head back down the mountain. When we get to the quad, Nimrod lets me know we have walked 3 miles already. No wonder I am tired. I am finally starting to feel a little fatigue in my legs from the last 5 days. Well, Nimrod and Snackshack think we need to take the scenic route back to camp. Not my idea of fun, but do I have a choice? The road we drive on is horrendous. We might as well have been on a rock crawling adventure--that is how big the rocks in the road are. When we stop to check a tank, Snackshack gets a flat tire. Good thing we have slime, whatever that is. I am beginning to get a little hot and hungry, and sleepy, cannot sleep on this road. But, I haven't complained this whole time so I figure I might as well not start today. I, being the great hunter I am, suck it up. And, I am glad I did. Out in this clear meadow, the men start to talk so I turn on my cell phone for kicks. Guess what? I got service! I call my friend back and get to talk to Punky Girl. She was off to music class but at least told me she loved me. After I hung up, I lost it! I need to get home. I need to see my kids and hug them and hold them. Nimrod knows I am not doing too good. This puts a little added pressure on him to find me an elk to kill.
Back at camp, I take a much needed nap and eat a ton of food. This blows my theory that I am going to lose weight on this hunt. The MilkyWays and Zingers are getting to me. Anyway.... we head out earlier than we have and we go back to the cactus patch. Snackshack still believes that today is BBD. He heads to a nearby ridge that looks down on us so he can tell us what is ahead of where we are. Driving down the road, Nimrod and I come up on a bull and his cows. They are out in the middle of the afternoon! No wonder we can't find them at sunrise and sunset. This one is too small, but we're excited. A few minutes later, Nimrod sees another bull and some cows. We get off the quad and start sneaking around a tree to get a good shot. He is a nice bull and not too far away. DRAT! His cow sees us and is startled. I try to get a good shot, but nothing. He is gone before I get on him with the scope. Now, we are really excited. Snackshack is right, today IS BBD. W drive on down further and then decide to park and walk awhile. My legs have not forgotten the 3 miles this morning but I know it is time to bag the big one so I carry on. We find a group of elk 300+ yards away from us. Nimrod glasses the elk and says there are two decent bulls. They are not trophies but nice bulls. I ask him if he would shoot them if this were his hunt and he said no, but he would've been able to kill the bigger one we just saw that I couldn't get dialed on so I need to shoot an elk with a shot I know I can take. These bulls were out in a clearing and were grazing so it made for a relatively easy shot. I am debating on whether I want to "settle" in my mind for one of these elk, Nimrod hears a bugle to the left of us. Sure enough, here comes a satellite bull towards us. Nimrod says we have to move towards the bull I am debating on before this satellite bull sees us and scares all the elk away. Also, the ones we are watching start moving away. I need to make a decision fast. Okay, here goes. We start sneaking towards the other bulls. Just like in the hunting shows, we're arched over and tiptoeing towards the other bulls. As we get closer, the bulls have moved into the tree line and cows are out grazing but we HAVE to cross this clearing they are grazing in to get to the bulls. By now you know, if they see or smell us, we are dead in the water. So, I pray and pray hard. I want to kill my bull and I want to do it tonight. I am praying the whole time we are sneaking across and those cows don't even look up until we are almost to the other side. They never did acknowledge us. We move through the trees and towards this watering hole we can here the bulls at.
As we come over the edge and look down towards the watering hole, we cannot see any bulls but we can hear them bugling, this is awesome. I hadn't heard a big bull bugle until now. You can totally tell the difference between a "BIG" one and all the rest. Even a tone deaf person like me knew the "toad" was down below. There are some cows and calves here and there and we can see antlers moving through the trees so Nimrod has me get setup on the tripod so when we see our monster bull step out, I am ready. My nerves are calm, I go through my mind the kill zone area, I remember to chamber another bullet after I shoot, I remember to breathe. I am primed for action. As a bull steps out, Nimrod tells me not to shoot, that isn't the one. Next thing I know I hear the words I have been waiting 6 days to hear, "There he is." Only, I don't see anything. I am looking across the waterhole at the trees and see nothing. I tell Nimrod I don't see him and He tells me he is right below us, 34 yards. I still don't see him. Nimrod is about to have a heart attack. Finally I see the elk's butt. (Sorry, don't let your kids read this.) Nimrod tells me to shoot just behind the shoulder where the black starts. I see no black I only see his butt. I tell Nimrod this and he is getting a little annoyed with me. Remember, we are whispering because there are elk all around us. He says aim for the shoulder, so I aim where I think the shoulder should be and shoot. (Sidenote, for all of you hunters reading this, I KNOW this was a bad shot and should not have taken it-no lectures please.) It was like fireworks went off. Elk scattered everywhere! I had no idea there were so many around us. I go to chamber another round and the casing jams. I can't get it out to chamber another one. I cut my thumb trying to chamber it. (More like took a chunk of skin out of my thumb, but that is besides the point.) I tell Nimrod I can't get the bullet loaded. He fumbles with it and gets it to slide. I get ready again as the elk are now standing around trying to figure out what happened. They now play the statue game. There are 2 bulls to my left and 2 bulls to my right. Nimrod tells me to shoot him again. I ask, "Which one?" How Nimrod didn't have a heart attack right then, I don't know. So he says, through gritted teeth, "The first one on the left." By now, my nerves are shot, my mind is frazzled and my thumb is throbbing. I shoot and miss. He takes off. I never even really saw how big he was. I was too tunnel-visioned to see beyond his body. The two bulls and some cows on my right are still hanging around. Again, I try to chamber another round and again it jams. This does not bode well for my nerves. Nimrod tells me to shoot one of the other ones, which happen to be the first two we were sneaking in on. I shoot and really miss out in front. I can't chamber the gun again so Nimrod fixes it and I shoot one more time. In case you lost count, that is 4 misses for me. The elk go over the ridge and that is it. Just to put this in perspective, starting with my first shot, it took you longer to read this than all of it actually happening.
Nimrod starts to look for the casings I discharged and then we went to see where the bull was when I missed the first time. We couldn't find what I hit instead of the elk, but we assume it was the tree he was near. We follow the trail the elk left but there is not one drop of blood. I definitely missed him. I am sick to my stomach and beyond frustrated. Nimrod is frustrated but tries to be positive and handles it very well. Not one negative thing comes out of his mouth. The only thing he says is, "If you didn't have a good shot, you should have told me." I reminded him I did. I guess he had tunnel hearing. Not only that, but he was already field-dressing the bull before I ever pulled the trigger so he was focused as a veteran hunter forgetting I am a greenie. We start talking and realize we saw two different things. He is nine inches taller than me and was standing to the left of where I was and had a great view of the elk. This is a life lesson of how 2 people in the same situation can have 2 different perspectives.
We get a hold of Snackshack on the walkie talkie and he thinks I killed one. Who wouldn't after hearing 4 shots? He hid his disappointment well. He predicted BBD and he was partially right, but human error plays a role. But, on the upside, he found another big bull where he was sitting. We tell him we'll meet back at camp. It is a slow ride home. Both of us are lost in our thoughts of "should've, could've, would'ves." We get back to camp and tell the story to Snackshack. He laughs and takes a positive spin on it. He also lets us know he saw a big elk where he was sitting. It was enough to get him excited, despite my miss.
8:45pm-after a long, hot shower and a warm dinner, I am ready for bed. I was really hoping to be in my own bed. Now, I am seriously mad and sad. I had my chance I and I blew it. I feel like maybe I got greedy and should have killed one of the smaller ones we had seen. Shoulda, coulda...Time for bed. I really want to kill my elk. Did I miss my chance?
Elk: 6 Me:0
Day 6
3:00am-up again and REALLY ready to kill an elk
3:30am-Snackshack is back, hopefully for the last morning. Well, we only have today and tomorrow left so I can at least say I won't be getting up early on Thursday. Nimrod and Snackshack are trying to decide where to go, back to where I missed last night or where Snackshack saw his big one. I think we should go back to the area we were last night. This is the first time I have had an opinion so Nimrod decided to go with my choice. Snackshack decided to go back to where he was and will call us on the radio if he sees anything. We head out again, hopefully for the last time. I pray and pray the whole quad ride. I really want one more chance and believe that God has an elk for me.
Nimrod and I park the quad and as soon as he turns if off, we hear the bugling. They are everywhere. I am so thankful and excited. Nimrod even thinks we hear the one I missed last night. Trust me, you start to learn the different bugles, and this one is unique. We start to move towards the bugling. Remember, it is pitch black. We have our little lights on our head to see but it only shines 3-4 feet in front of you. We get a read on what direction they are heading, which is away from the water and back into the trees. We decide we're going to go ahead of them and cut them off. We take off and guess where we're at? Back in the cactus land mines, of course! So, I am carrying the gun, trying not to run into the back of Nimrod AND avoid the cactus. Oh, and I have a blister on my toe--but I have to keep up my mantra-"No Complaining". After we walk awhile, we can't tell where they are going. It sounds like the elk are splitting up. We are standing at the edge of a clearing thinking they are going to step into the clearing at first light, but now it sounds like they are moving farther down from us. We have to make a decision, which way do we go or do we stay? The wrong choice could get us busted by the elk. We decide to go across the clearing and get more ahead of the elk. The wind is NOT in our favor and if they smell us, we're done for. What happened to my optimum hunting conditions from the first five days? They left with the elk we never saw.
We safely cross the clearing and can hear them coming. It is starting to get light enough to see. Nimrod gets us positioned to see the elk walk through a small clearing. They are getting closer, so I get ready on the tripod. But, there is a big cactus under the tripod. I tell Nimrod I can't shoot off the tripod because of the cactus. He just looks at me with a look of "You have got to be kidding me!" He "politely" tells me, "Get over it. You can stand in the cactus." "FINE!" But I really can't because my legs don't spread far enough to go around the cactus and I am NOT standing in the cactus. But, I digress... A few cows come through and we're back to playing the statue game. A small bull walks through with the cows. We hear the bulls bugle but they are not with the cows. We know he is not the one we want, we can hear bigger ones. We have to move ahead through the trees and not spook this group of elk. Here we go, sneaking through the tress and cactus again; at least it is light enough I can see to avoid the cactus. We get to the next clearing and wait. We finally see a few bulls coming through but Nimrod says we're not really close enough for me to get a shot. There is a big tree about 50 yards away that we have to sneak up to. We get to the tree and Nimrod starts glassing the bulls to decide which one I should shoot. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. Nimrod notices it too, there is a cow grazing out into the clearing just enjoying her sweet breakfast. Now, we're in a pickle. We have to play the freeze game so that we don't scare the cow but I need to find my bull to shoot. I start praying again that she doesn't see us. She starts to move on and I see antlers in the trees. I get excited. Nimrod only sees legs so he doesn't know if it is really a bull or not. We are definitely closer to this elk than the ones Nimrod is glassing but I don't know if he is going to come out. Nimrod tells me to get ready. As I am a greenie, I am not going to get a better shot than this one. A few cows and calves start to come out. I am calm, I know I can do this. Here he comes. Out steps a bull 115 yards from us. He is a nice 5 point and I think I should shoot him but am waiting for Nimrod to give me the go ahead. Unbeknownst to me because I am so dialed in on him, he lets out a bugle right before I drill him, just like on the hunting shows. I know, a made-for-tv original. I hear Nimrod say, "Shoot him" so I shoot him and chamber another round, all by myself, yeah! I am ready for anything which is good because he starts walking right toward us. The cows and calves take off, but he doesn't. I am not sure what to do. Then he turns and starts to walk away. Nimrod tells me to shoot him in the butt. I am not going to shoot him in the butt. Just as I am standing there trying to figure out what to do and if I really hit him (based on my track record, that would be a no) he turns and gives me enough me of a body shot to take. I shoot him again and this time he takes off. I turn to Nimrod and say, "Please tell me I hit him." Nimrod smiles, "Oh yeah, you hit him!" I start to shake a little. I can't believe it. My adrenaline is going. And, in the midst of all this, the other bulls are still in the clearing. Nimrod looks over at them. I tell him not to even tell me how big they are. I don't want to know if the big one is over there. Well, at this point it really doesn't matter because I have killed my first elk; but still, I didn't want to know if he was over there. Nimrod assures me they are not bigger than mine. At this point, I am shaking and a little out of breath.
We get the walkie talkie out to call Snackshack. He answers us and immediately begins telling us what he has seen over where he is at. He won't stop talking long enough to tell him I shot a bull. Finally, Snackshack takes a breath and Nimrod loudly whispers, "Snackshack, we have a bull down!" That got his attention. He wanted to know all the details but Nimrod told him he needed to get here with the quad so we can haul the elk out. I let Snackshack know I will tell him everything once he gets here.
Now the nerves and adrenaline kick in. I am shaky and unsure what to do. Nimrod keeps smiling and tells me to watch the bull to make sure he doesn't get up because if he does, I am going to have to shoot him again. I don't know if I can do that. I can barely hold the gun still. I start crying and Nimrod stares at me. He laughingly says, "I thought you weren't going to cry." I always make fun of the people on the hunting shows when they cry. I look at him and reply, "I get to see my babies today." He just smiles knowingly. I think he gets it. As we are watching the bull, he is rolling around and deciding whether he is really going to die or not. I realize that I killed the bull that I saw, not one that Nimrod or Snackshack found for me. This makes me a little proud. :0) Bulls are still bugling around us. We have to start moving in on my bull but try not to startle the other elk. I sneak ahead with the gun on my bull. Nimrod hangs back as a move ahead. I can hear this bull bugling closer and closer. Suddenly Nimrod whistles at me. I turn around and there is this bull less than 50 yards behind me and he is staring at me. I panic a little, I don't know if he is going to charge me like a Brahma bull or not. I swing my gun towards him but know I can't really shoot him. Nimrod starts to laugh. He whispers that I need to watch my bull and he will take of this one. Then this bull starts barking at me. No news flash here. I am getting used to elk barking at me. But, the great thing is I don't have to be a statue this time. I turn back around and continue to sneak up on my bull. As I am moving towards him, he finally rolls over and does the death kick. It is about 7:15am. We have had a busy morning!!!
Nimrod and I make our way to the bull. As we get to him, we realize he has died in a cactus patch. This is going to make skinning him quite difficult. I look at his antlers at the same time as Nimrod. He says, "Oh yeah, this is a monster." I am still remembering only seeing 5 points when I shot him. As I start counting he left side, he has 7 points. Wait, that doesn't seem right. Nimrod rolls him over and says, "Oh no." What do you mean oh no? There is no oh no now, he is dead. I think Nimrod might cry. He only saw the 7 point side when I was getting ready to shoot so he thought this bull was a MONSTER-a 6x7 or 7x7! Funny how we looked at the same elk and saw two totally different things. We seem to have this problem.
Anyway, Nimrod is still excited but is mentally taking our names out the record books. We look him over and I still can't believe it. He really is dead and I really get to go home today. And, he REALLY stinks. I did not know this about elk. Nimrod whips out the camera and takes a few pictures of me and the elk. We are waiting for Snackshack to come, he should be with us in about an hour. Nimrod decides he better go get our quad which has our gear. He tells me he'll be back in about an hour, leaves me with the walkie talkie and starts walking back to the quad. What am I going to do for an hour with dead elk. I try my phone, no service. I check the backpack and find some food, yeah! I have a little snack and play with my phone. I learned how to do a few more things on it. Suddenly, I realize how hot it is getting. I walk to find some shade and my toe starts hurting from my blister. Man, this hunting is starting to become a challenge.
An hour passes and I can faintly hear a quad. Nimrod calls me from the walkie talkie and I guide him to where I am. We take more pictures, eat our celebratory Snickers bars and wait for Snackshack. It has been almost 2 hours. He needs to get here soon so we can start skinning the elk and boning the meat. Snackshack finally arrives and starts complaining about the cactus and how it is going to flatten the tires on his quad, again. This might be true, but there is not much we can do about it now. Too bad the elk couldn't have picked a shady, non-cactus place to die. Again, not the ideal elements I was anticipating for my hunt. A few more pictures with Snackshack and it is really hot. Now, the work begins.
I had no idea what work was involved once the elk is killed. I hadn't really thought about what happens to get from killing the elk to getting the hamburger we eat. Nimrod and Snackshack start gutting him and skinning off the hide. This is gross, stinky work. I am hot and my toe hurts. I start complaining while standing there. Nimrod looks at me like "You have got to be kidding me!" He nicely says, "I thought you weren't going to complain on the hunt. I said, "Well, the hunt is over and now I can complain." Rather than annoy them, I crawl under a tree in the shade and lay down. I know why the elk lay under these trees. It was nice and cool and the ground was soft. So, as they are in the sun, up to their elbows in blood, smelling the nasty smell and avoiding the cactus, I took a rest.
Around 12:30pm they have the elk quartered, the meat wrapped up and strapped on and are ready to ride the quads back to camp. They checked the air in the tires to make sure we could make it and we were off.
1:30pm: Back at camp, in the shade, they cut the meat from the bone. The two of them were a riot to listen to. Both of them thought their idea was the better one but neither one of them wanted to take the lead and tell the other what to do. How they ever got it done, I don't know. I went inside the trailer and made some lunch for the boys. After lunch I took a long, hot shower and got ready. When I was done, Nimrod was ready to load up the quad in the trailer, get the trailer road ready and take off. We had to get the cape to the taxidermist, 2 hours away, before 5:00pm.
4:30pm:We got the cape dropped off, stopped at Starbucks, and were finally on our way home, another 2 hours. I called the kids to let them know we would be home before bed time. They were very excited. The whole way home, Nimrod and I rehashed all the details of the hunt. I asekd him if he enjoyed it. His response was, "Next to the birth of our kids, this is the best experience of my life!" Well, that makes a statement.
7:00pm-We are finally home! My father-in-law met us at the house with the kids. They were so excited to see the elk and find out what happened. I took them inside while Nimrod and his dad unloaded the necessities. As I told them the entire story of the hunt, they were rivoted. I don't think either one of them blinked the whole time I was telling the story. Their faces followed my every move as I acted it out. I have never seen them so captivated by anything. It was the greatest feeling. I still get teary-eyed as I think about it.
10:00pm-Nimrod has taken the meat to the butcher, taken a shower, kissed the kids good night and we are FINALLY back in our own bed. Home Sweet Home.
Elk: 6 Me:1
Posts
See that tongue hanging out? It is a family trait. When he or Nimrod are doing something important, that tongue is hanging out.
He is a hunting fanatic just like my husband and knows the area pretty well so he has offered his help. We head out on the quad for an hour ride to the place we want to hunt. It is COLD and pitch black. Once we get to the spot, we have to load up with all the gear and head out into the trees and get set up before light so the elk don’t see us. We are walking in the dark through trees, stumbling over rocks and twigs. I am not as quiet as I should be, I guess I need to learn to be sneaky. The three of us follow the elk bugles and I am sure we are going to kill one on opening morning. I will be home by tomorrow with a nice elk. As daylight approaches we are in good position. The elk are bugling toward to us and I am ready for one to step from behind a tree. As the elk are approaching, we here a dog bark in the distance. What in the world? All of us are puzzled by this odd noise in the thick of trees. Next thing we hear is this diesel truck flying through the clearing just beyond us. There 
