Monday December 8th 2014

Cheyne

Here is the story behind the kill, written by Cheyne…

Elk Hunt, this is from the 3rd day of a 5 day hunt:

Day 3, Sat 2 miles from a mountain range and used binoculars to spot Elk up in Northern Arizona. After 30 minutes we located out first herd. We kept looking for more and found 2 other herds. We decided on a specific herd and came up with an attack plan. Raul stayed behind with the binoculars and kept an eye on the decided herd. At 7am, Jeremy and I took off down wind from the mountain range and proceeded to take on the 2 mile hike to the bottom of the range and then climb up the mountain range to get within 200 yards of the elk. As we ventured up, Raul would update us on their location and direction of travel on a walkie talkie. After our 45 min hike in (we were nearly jogging) we got on a peak to see if the herd was visible on the peak we had originally spotted. Raul noted the change in direction and we had to go down and up a different peak. We reached our new peak and started looking for the herd. It took us 10 min and we spotted the bull elk 200 yards from our location. I set up my stance and took off the safety on my rifle. My arms and breathe were nearly uncontrollable, my adrenaline and nerves were taking over. I tried to take some deep breathes and put the crosshairs on the animal. I couldn’t keep it steady and I was getting nervous the animal would run off. I took my first shot! Miss. Couldn’t believe it. Jeremy just behind my shoulder whispered to re-rack the gun and calm down. I did and rushed another shot. Miss! F!!! What is Raul going to think if I messed this up? I was shaking even more now and the animal was completely confused as to what was happening and kept a leisurely walk and alert stare in our direction. I re-racked twice more and missed again. I was now just upset. I loaded one more as the animal was now going around the ridge and out of sight. I steadied my aim and heard Jeremy again say, calm the f down and get a good shot, you have one last chance. I took the shot… Bam, the elk was hit and visibly stunned. He thought of taking a step and in that moment fell down and passed within 15 seconds.

I turned to Jeremy and we both Top-Gun high fived like we just flew through the Danger Zone and buzzed the tower like bosses.

We walked over to the downed Elk and took some pictures. We then started the hard work of butchering the animal right there. Not to get grotesque, but the process is extremely laborious for an 800lb animal. All said and done we got 150lbs of meat off the head and Jeremy and I packed it out in packs between the two of us. During the bitching process Heather surprised me by taking the hike up to see and congratulate me along with Raul who had called her to bring him some supplies to help with the packing out. We the. Took the head as our last and final step, and Heather packed that out, which was around 50lbs. She was a hunting rock star on that 2 mile hike out.

All in all it was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to share some of the meat with you guys.