I got to James camp site at 6:30 am. It was perfect timing, they were pretty well ready to go. So we grabbed our bows and started walking. It was raining, and had been raining all night so everything was already saturated. We had to wait a little bit for daylight to come but once it did we were able to glass the fields down below. It didn't take long to spot a small herd of about 8 elk, 6 cows and 2 calves. Luckily the area was open for cow. They were at the opposite end in the farthest field from us so we started to walk when movement caught my eye below us- 2 elk had come onto the field below us. It was a cow and a spike bull. The guys gave me the go ahead on first elk so once they had gone behind some trees a scooted down the large steep hill and across the field. I had kept an eye on them until i lost sight at the bottom, I noticed the cow had made the tree line on the other end of the field when I reached the bottom. I hoped that the spike was still in the field, lagging behind her like he did before. I got to the edge of the field and could hear him making his way up the big hill in the trees. James and Chris caught up to me and we decided to try for the larger group of elk at the opposite end of the area. We made our way through soaked waist high grass and down to the river. Unfortunately we ended up jumping the cows and they took off so we made our way back to their camp. The rain never let up the whole time, I was really happy with my Onca Gear. Under my softshell jacket I was completely dry, even my phone in my pocket was dry, and my pants and jacket both were dry by the time I made it back to town in with the heat on in my truck. My boots on the other hand felt like they had enough water in them for fish to live in. As I made my way out of the bush I called to see how Kyle was doing with the kids. He was successful! Apparently he got a cow elk right at daybreak and by the time I phoned it was already dropped off at the butcher. So we met up and left one vehicle behind and tried to find me an elk. We found a grizzly and lots of whitetails, little bucks and does with fawns- but no elk. So I finally had enough of my wet feet and we made our way home.
I changed my boots and we headed out again. The rain was still coming down but it was getting the animals moving so we didn't want to waste it. We went to a different area and it didn't take long for us to start seeing game. Right away we started seeing deer and a black bear! Then another black bear and another. We ended up seeing 6 black bears total, 3 young bears and a sow with little itty bitty cubs. I made attempts at stalking several deer but the one wasn't going to stick around for anything and the other I came close to but a truck pulled up and was making a bunch of noise and scared the buck away. After that it was all does and little bucks. We did manage to kill a couple grouse for the freezer afterwards tho, the kids were pretty excited. As we were running out of light we happened upon a couple deer. Kyle takes one look and says Nice Buck, Go! So I got my arrow nocked and started to pull a stalk, I only seen the one buck because he was a red color and he had a nice 4x4 rack that was tinged slightly red. He seen me and he spooked into a large patch of xmas trees, but when he spooked the other one slowly jogged behind him into the tree patch. So I didn't get a good look at him, just noticed movement and a grey body. So I made my way quietly around the xmas trees until i found a slight opening through them. I tucked in a little so I had cover and decided to wait to see if they would come through it. As I was tucking in the red buck spotted me. All i could see was a face and antlers watching me from the trees. So I froze. It took him a minute to decide what he wanted to do but he eventually scooted across the opening without giving me the chance to draw back. So i knelled down hoping the other one was coming. It didn't take long and I seen antlers coming through the trees. Knowing I had a small window of opportunity I pulled back right away and waited at full draw. He didn't even know I was sitting only 20 yards away, he started to walk into the opening and as soon as I had a clear shot i took it. The arrow hit him hard. So I waited for a minute or 2 before running back to get Kyle, just making note of where i was and where he was when i hit him. I knew it was going to be a hard search for him, the xmas tree patch was HUGE and extremely thick. Kyle came in with me and the kids waited quietly in the truck. We found my arrow and started to do a bit of a grid through the trees, it didn't take long and I could here truck doors banging back at the road and the kids making a bunch of noise. So Kyle kept looking and I ran back down to the truck to give them poop for being so noisy. As soon as I opened the door to give them trouble Pheonix cuts me off saying she found my buck. I looked at her dumbfounded. She pointed out the window into the trees a little ways, she says hes right there I watched him and the other buck run over there and then yours fell down and the other one ran. So I put my binos up and sure enough there he was, 30 yards from the damn dirt road! So I bailed the kids out so they could come and see it with me.
I was so excited to see him. I never realized how big he was until I walked up to him and was able to put my hands on him. He is definitely my biggest deer to date.
