Fifty yards. That’s all that separated me and the first Elk I’ve ever seen in the wild. Last year was my first ever Elk hunt and Chris and I were able to share that experience together. It truly was an amazing experience. Of course, though we did not make it easy on ourselves in choosing to head out to Oregon for an over-the-counter archery hunt in early September. Chris is an Oregon resident, we are able to maintain our home residency when we join the military, and grew up Elk hunting. It is because of this we had a place on the map to start with so that made part of our decision-making process much easier. So, with that we made the plan to head out to Oregon, a place he was familiar with, to try and score our first ever Elk.
Of course, getting to where we were going was not going to be easy. Chris is stationed in Southern California and I am in Northern Virginia at the Pentagon. In order to have a little bit more of the comforts of home I flew in San Diego and Chris and I drove his truck the 16 hours to Oregon. It is a long drive and it does mean you lose 3 days’ worth of hunting but there is a lot of adventure along the way. Over the last several years Chris and I have had the opportunity to do some traveling for our hunts and the journey has been quite the experience. That is a story for another time though.
As seems to be the case with our adventures we do not waste any time getting right to it. At least Chris never does and drags me right along. Sometimes almost literally dragging me down the trail. I mean he is the bionic man! So, it was not surprising when out first couple of days ended up really being a gut punch and reality set in. The area we had chosen as our primary area ended up being a bust and we were force to relocate. It was pretty stressful having to admit we needed to make the change. At least it was for me. Being new to this whole experience can really leave you with some anxiety about being willing to change the plan. In the end we made the right call.
We did not make a huge change but moved completely across the drainage we were in. After getting up on the other side we quickly began to find some sign. Talk about a relief! We were beginning to think we were not going to find anything after how the first few days went. Finally, we were getting closer to the Elk. It was the following day that we were walking a trail in the evening trying to see if we might catch Elk moving down off the mountain to their feeding areas. I was up and Chris was on the camera for this hike. Not far from camp we heard hoof falls coming down the mountain. Looked like just maybe we might be in luck finally!
Out of the trees into the trail in front of us came a cow Elk. I could not believe my eyes. The first Elk I had ever seen in the wild was standing right there looking at me. Chris got up behind me as I drew and ranged her at 50 yards. Unfortunately, she had her vitals behind a tree on the edge of the trail. I just needed her to take a couple more steps and I would have a shot at my first Elk. This seemed to be taking forever and I felt like I was at full draw forever. Why couldn’t she just take those last couple of steps? We were having ourselves a good old fashioned staring contest. She really did not even know what we were as we had some cover and good wind. Eventually she had enough and turned and took off taking the rest of the Elk that were with her just out of sight back up the mountain. I was pretty bummed about not getting a chance to get a shot but it was an incredible experience.
Afterwards I was really amped up from the adrenaline. Anyone who has ever been hunting knows that feeling and I have had it many times with Whitetail Deer. This was a completely different experience. Maybe it was because it was my first encounter with an Elk, but I was so amped afterwards. We tried to see if we could relocate the Elk but they were miles away at that point most likely. After I finally calmed down, I was telling Chris how I couldn’t believe how big it was. He kind of laughed and said it was probably a two-year-old. I was blown away. it was bigger than I thought it would be and here it was a small one! Regardless I was so excited to have had my first experience with an Elk.
That experience set into motion the deep desire to get out in the Elk woods every year. This year Chris and I were back out there again chasing Elk in September. I will save that story for another time as well. I share this experience to tell you that you just have to get out there and make it happen. If I had not put the fears of the unknown aside to get out there and try, I would still be wondering what having this experience would be like. Get out there and make your dreams happen and experience what this world has to offer.
