Day 1
Early Saturday morning, My dad, Skylar, his buddies Jade and Chad, and Me all headed out for a long day of hiking and hunting. We weren't gettin too serious yet because it was the first day and we had all week to hunt. So We started off at the top of Pickle Keg and within the first twenty minutes we spotted some elk. A bunch of cows and a nice bull. They were so far off though, there's no way I could've gotten a shot. We sat and watched them for a bit then decided to go hike. About five miles later we made our way back to the truck. Joss and Amie were comin up so we went back to have lunch with them and my mom and Kaybri. For the rest of the afternoon we just hung around camp then when it got a little cooler Joss, Amie, Jade, Chad, and Me headed out again. We went back lookin for the bull we had seen earlier that day. Joss and Chad got me as close as they could but it was gettin dark and he wasn't comin out of the pines so headed back for the night. We sat around the campfire for a bit then headed home for Church Sunday and also for Amie's Birthday.
Day 2
Monday was our day two. So early that morning Skylar, My Dad, and me got up for another long day of huntin. I was outside waitin on the boys when I heard an elk bugle just up the hill from camp. I hurried and got Sky to come out and he and my dad had heard it too. So maybe a hundred yards up from camp was a five point bull elk. Skylar's tellin me to shoot and my first response is "Can we get closer?" Why I asked, I have no idea because he was probably fifty yards away lol, a perfect shot. Well we tried to get closer and he snuck back in the tree's. We chased him for a bit but he got away. Yeah, that was the start of a horrible day lol. Well for one thing, later that day while out hiking we got caught in a thunderstorm and got soaking wet while trying to find cover under some trees. After it had calmed enough we made a run for the pick up. All three of us hopped in and let a sigh of relief because we were out of the rain, well things changed in a hurry. We hadn't moved a truck an inch when the side of the tire hit a sharp stick on the side of the road and blew the tire. Ugh, what a pain. Skylar had to run all the way back to camp to get a star Wrench from my dad's pick up. Poor kid, it's pouring down rain and he ran over a mile back. Well he made it back, and we got the tire fixed (When I say we I really mean them lol, I just watched and took pics). Well, I was feelin kinda bad because if I had just shot that elk that morning none of that would've even happened, but we just laughed and learned from it.
Day 3
Tuesday, another early morning. We started off packing a lunch for the day planning on bein out all day. The skies looked clear and we were hopeful it was going to be a good day. We started off following the fenceline down passed rogers ridge and was planning on comin out at Salina Creek. Oh boy, that didn't happen. We hiked and hiked for what felt like forever. It was fun though we saw some really neat stuff. There was a creek with this really pretty red moss, it was so neat I wish I would have taken a pic of it. Then we saw this huge beaver dam, It kinda reminded me of the reflection pool at temple square because it was huge and round and the water just poured over in kind of the same way. Another pic, I wish I had taken. Well I was starin to get hot and tired and was ready to get back to camp but we still had probably six miles to go and had not seen one elk. Then finally we passed a huge herd with a nice six point, we tried to get a shot but they were outta there. They didn't want anything to do with us. We would've chased em but the skies were startin to look bad and we wanted to get back to camp before the rain came in. So we hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more. We were probably two and a half miles from camp when it started hailing like crazy. I was so tired as it was and were goin up hill, it just was not lookin good. The hail kept gettin bigger and bigger, and it hurts when it hits your bare skin. So once again, we found ourselves freezing cold, and soaking wet beneath some quakie trees. Then made a run the rest of the way up hill to the road. We made it to the road and we didn't come out at salina creek like we planned, no we came out at Pickle Keg. And still had a mile and half back to camp. All three of us, were soaking wet from head to toe walking through the mud and slush back. What a miserable hike. This one felt like a hundred miles, but was really like eleven or twelve miles. By this point, I was really feeling bad I didn't shoot that elk the morning before.
Day 4
Wednesday, I was starting to get frustrated, we heard elk bugling all morning but never saw one. We hiked down in Salina Creek, and didn't see a thing. So we went back to camp for a bit then tried a different area. We found a road, well it was more like a fourwheeler trail, but we took it anyways and found ourselves riding along thinkin of what we wanted to do. Well the road got rough so turned around and started head back out, While Skylar slowed down to put it in four wheel drive, we heard an elk bugle and immediatly stopped. We quietly got out of the truck and glassed up the hill. A huge heard of elk took of running. There was a way nice bull in the heard and probably twenty cows, if not more. We decided we were gonna try and follow them. We were quiet as could be through the thick trees, and made our way to the fenceline where we had seen them cross. Once again, we lost em. We decided we were gonna follow the fence up the mountain just to see and be sure. Maybe a half mile up the mountain we decided they were gone. We started talkin and Skylar was plannin on goin home that night for some elk bugles thinkin hopefully we could call em in. My dad suggested we finish hiking up the rest of the way just for the heck of it, and me and Sky looked at each other like whatever but went along with it anyways. We were being so noisy and my dad's like maybe you two should be quiet in case we some elk. Not even five minutes later we saw some cows laying on a hill probably three hundred yards away. We ducked down and sat for a bit just waiting to see if maybe there was a bull. Probably fifteen minutes later another elk came out from the trees. My dad's like I think it's a cow, Skylar's like no its not shoot Tandi shoot. So I got in huntin mode and just started pullin the trigger. Them things are so hard to take down. The cows took off and he wasn't moving much, he just slowly walked back towards the trees. I just kept shooting, then I saw him go down, but he quickly got back up and we couldn't see where he ended up from there. So we just sat waiting making sure he was really dead before we went up there not wanting to chase him any further than we had to. Finally after about twenty minutes we decided it was safe to go up there. I had my gun ready just in case, but sure enough I had got him. I was so excited. What a thrill, and especially because I got to share that with my dad and brother. It was such a fun hunt. Thanks everyone who helped out, you guys are so awesome and I appreciate it. After all the hard work and all the the rainstorms, and hailstorms, and everything else we went through and put into the hunt. It was all worth it. Even though that was just the beginning of more hard work.
