[remmy300]

I will start off by saying this season did not go near as planned. I was a P 14 and had the option of drawing pretty much any zone I wanted. With my dad being in his 70's I decided to apply for the one place he loves to hunt so we could spend some time on the horses. I originally had my mind made up 3-4 years ago to apply outside the Suffield base. I wanted to shoot 1 true giant bull. With all the huge bulls being taken down there I was excited to get drawn. That all changed 2-3 years ago when a buddy was drawn. With witnessing our friends from across the border to the east loading up their trucks with giant bulls and posting them in the campground for all to see i was quickly changing my mind. A lot of the huge bulls we scouted prior to season were already dead. Some of you may recall the double drop tine bull posted on this forum. Anyways my friend managed to take a really nice bull that year with lots miles on the boots, tires and river. I decided that is not the type of hunt i want to blow a high priority on.

I am primarily a bowhunter and grew up hunting the foothills and mountains west of my hometown. The decision was made to put in and hopefully draw a tag with my dad. Knowing the zone is no where what is was like 20 years ago, with elk numbers drastically lower i put in and was I was drawn.

With the anticipation growing for this years hunt I was riding quite a bit throughout the summer hopefully limber up my knees and backside for the anticipated long rides. As the season grew near my dad had hip problems bad enough to enable him not to ride. He had a few shots during the summer but nothing seemed to help. As the season grew close I realized that i would be on my own. I had my bow sighted in and rifle dialed in case i came up empty handed in bow season.

I was able to make it out opening weekend with my 7 year old daughter in tow. We started out the first evening with a good walk putting around 7 km on the boots. A long ways for her little legs. I decided to get into an area where someone had seen elk earlier that day and sit and wait. As the shawdows grew long and her patience growing a little thin a bugle cut the air. We quickly packed up our gear and slid west to cut the distance. I let out a few cow calls and nothing. I decided to bugle and instantly i had a reply. My daughters eyes had an excited look. We called that bull into about 80 yards and he wouldn't cross the creek. Pretty cool way to start the 2017 hunting season. The next morning came early and off we went prior to legal light. We walked up into the same area and were able to get the bull fired up again. He was a small 6 but we couldn't close the gap and make it happen. I told myself if she was with me and the opportunity presented itself i was not going to hold back and pass a legal bull. The weekend went on with a few more encounters and back to reality we went.

The weekdays passed and with the heat and extreme dusty conditions I passed on taking the horses out again. Friday rolled around and my lil partner was set so off we went. The first morning we called in a nice bull. We watched him come into the my calls from about a mile away. At first glance i was excited as he looked like from a side profile he was a decent 6. He crested the rise and i noticed he only had single brows. Crap..he proceeded to come in and stand broadside at 40 yards. He hung around raking trees and bugling for 15 minutes. Pretty cool morning. That evening brought in some light showers and not much for elk close by. We did see a herd of around 20 close to 4 miles north from where we standing. The next morning we headed north. Just at light broke we heard a gun shot. We had walked around a mile but decided to continue on. This happened to be an epic morning of elk hunting. With close to 12 bulls crossing our path. I believe my daughter is hooked in elk hunting. The dew was heavy and her hiking boots and pants were soaked half way up her legs. As the sun began to rise that morning the elk kept climbing into the timber. The bugles continued up the ridge. We had walked a long was already,. I told her lets go back to camp and dry out. She just grabbed my hand and said lets just walk up to that big tree and see if they are close. So we continued on another 1100 yards, as i ranged it before we started on again. Well from there on we came close to putting in a arrow into 2 different 6 pt bulls with a few 5 points coming into 15 yards and trying to show us who was boss. Things began to quite down as the sun climbed that AM. We had a long walk back to camp. I gather we walked 12-13 km that AM. The sore wet feet was worth it she said. When we got back to camp we were told it was an indigenous fellow that shot a bull elk that morning with his rifle. He just happen to do so from the middle of a wildlife corridor and there just happened to be an off duty fish and wildlife officer in camp. Sounds like the fellow never looked for the bull. The off duty officer happened to grab his info and had a brief chat before the fella high tailed it out of there. I watched for ravens the next day and didn't happen to see any so i hope the bull lived. The officer confirmed there was blood but the trail ran dry a short time after. that was a little depressing as it is a 6 point zone. There are only so many legal bulls in the area. That said i do not know the size other than one guy in camp seen it the night before there and said it had a decent frame.

The weekend rolls by and again back to reality. With the rut getting deeper and the temperature supposedly dropping i was excited for the next weekend to roll around


to be continued.