Burt and I took Makenzee on her first elk hunt to Soldiers Summit and we had a blast! We didn't see any elk the first day, but we did have fun playing on the four wheeler and motorcycle. The first night we sat on a watering hole for four hours! Talk about boring! I mean, really, really boring! I of course, got the giggles and couldn't stop laughing! The more Burt tried to make me be serious and camouflage myself, the more I'd laugh! My legs ached, so I'd stand up and move around and he'd about go into heart failure! "Don't you know all eyes are on you across the hillside", he'd whisper in a harsh tone! "So what, you don't appreciate my new dance moves", I asked, as I began dancing on the hillside. By then Makenzee was in hysterics! After 3 hours I opened granola bars and tossed one to Makenzee. Oh the evil eye we got! "What! Like there are any elk on this mountain! Besides we're not boys! We're bored and we're hungry!" A few minutes later one of the three of us got gas! Makenzee and I don't recall ever laughing so hard! We were threatened many times to knock it off! "Don't you know the wind will carry that! The elk are gonna scent us and take off!" When he realized the gas wasn't going to end, he gave up and let us get back on the four wheelers! Awe, good times! Well, at least for Kenzee and I!
The next day we did a lot of scouting. Some on the four wheeler, but mostly a lot of hiking. It was so fun!
Burt taught us some survival techniques and how to build a hut for shelter out of pine branches. We learned how to reflect light with a mirror and how to start a fire with flint and steel.
We found a tree the elk used. I can't remember what he called it and I can't remember if the elk use it during the rut or if they use it to shed they're horns. Or are they antlers? Anyway, the tree was really cool. Makenzee grabbed some sticks and pretended to be an elk. "Hey Dad, check me out! Ya know, just incase I'm the only elk we see!" Awhahaha!
That evening we sat on a different watering hole. This time I was very, very serious! Mostly because I was very, very scared! We were huddled next to a lone bush 150 yards up the hill across from the watering hole. We were surrounded by pines across from us and on the sides of us, but not above us. Basically, we were out in the open with no protection and there were 1000's of fresh tracks everywhere! I was so afraid we were gonna get trampled! The elk were chirping and we could hear them crashing through the trees! Burt was going nuts! He said a whole herd was coming in. He got out his cow call and started chirping. The elk were seriously going crazy! I thought we were going to die in a stampede like Simba's Dad did in the Lion King! Then Burt started bugling and out of nowhere, a huge bull started bugling back and the elk started chirping even louder. They were coming in from our left and 100's of tree branches were snapping and cracking around us! It really was probably the coolest, most amazing and terrifying experience I've had in the outdoors! All of a sudden a herd of 50 or 60 elk busted through the pines and were standing in the open near the watering hole. Makenzee and I were in awe! It was incredible! Quite intimidating to only be 150 yards away from these large, magnificent animals! We watched as the herd grew bigger and I was kind of nervous that when the gun fired they would get scared and charge up the hill towards us. Burt said they wouldn't do that. He said they go out the same way they come in because they know it's safe! That's exactly what they did! When the gun kaboomed the elk stood very still, watched and waited for about 10 seconds and then took off the exact same way they came in! It was just as cool watching them leave! They were in a full run and the trees and branches were busting and cracking and snapping all around them! The bull never came in but he was bugling like crazy and the elk were chirping and barking at him! It would have been cool if we could have translated it to understand what they were saying to each other! We waited until we knew the elk were out of the area before we walked down to look at the big, fat four year old cow we shot. It was very sad to watch her go down but it did make me feel better to know that Burt was donating the elk to a struggling family with six children. They'll have meat in their freezer all winter and that made me feel happy! Burt is an avid hunter, but he doesn't just shoot to kill. If the meat won't be eaten, he won't kill it!
I'll spare the gross and disgusting details of gutting and skinning the elk but by the time we were done, it was very dark and I was sure a bear was going to come in and attack us! We were in the bottom of the canyon and it was very rocky getting down there on the four wheeler. The three of us came in on one four wheeler, which meant we all had to go out on the four wheeler. So we tree'd the elk and left in the canyon over night and Burt brought it out the next morning! Such a fun hunting trip! I doubt I'll ever see anything as cool as the whole herd coming in again. Burt guessed there were 80 to 100 elk! Amazing! Oh, and sadly I don't have a single picture because Burt made me leave my camera at camp since the trail was so rocky and steep! Boo!
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