In 2000 I had a sheep tag and my son Keaton(5) wanted to go. I told him he was to small to go, he was not a happy camper. So I asked if going elk hunting instead would be OK. Can I call he asked, my responce you bet. Now Keaton lives in Denver with his Mom and I get him every other weekend down in Colorado Springs. Opening weekend he was with his Mom, so I went out and played around with some raghorns and cows. Never did see a lot, weather was warmer than I would like. But I knew where some elk were for the following weekend. Well Labor Day was our weekend, so we had 3 days to have fun in the woods. Picked Keaton up Friday afternoon and we were off. We got up to Buffalo peaks about 6pm and set up camp. I was making dinner and Keaton was shooting his bow. He is very good for a 5 year old. Keaton yelled over, "Dad do I get to paint my face?" "Yes", I told him. So he puts down his bow and grabs my pack and pulls out the face paint and starts painting." What are you doing" I asked him? "I am getting ready", he tells me. But keaton we aren't going til morning. Yeah Dad but if I do it now I can sleep a little longer. I just started laughing and said "However you want to do it." So we had our dinner and played some cards. Keaton and I went to bed about 8pm. The alarm went off at 4, but I was already awake. I got the coffee and hot water for hot chocolate and oatmeal going. I woke Keaton at 4:30 and had him eat and get dressed. At 5 we put on packs and headed out. I had great hopes of having Keaton call in his first elk. But the morning was a bust, we never saw an elk. By the time we got back to camp at 11 Keaton was beat. I had him eat and he went right to sleep. I let him sleep until 3pm and woke him. "Keaton are you Ok, do you want to go out this afternoon?", I asked him. "Yes, I want to go.", he replied. And then he added, "Daddy, it's not your fault the elk didn't come to us this morning I didn't call good. I will do better this afternoon." God what do you say to your kid after a statement like that. I said, "Come on boy lets go find us an elk." We walked about a mile or so and got to the first water hole. "Keaton, give a bugle.", I said "No Daddy you do it.", Keaton said. So I made a little squeal, no reply. Keaton said to me, "Daddy I can do better than that." So the boy rips one and low and behold a bull answered back. Keaton was hot now! We moved up to some cover that was workable and had Keaton call again. The bull answered again and was on his way in. Then we had cows talking behind us. I don't know who was having more fun Keaton or I. He called one more time and a spike came into the opening. That spike walked right in to about 10yds. I told Keaton, "I am going to shoot the first bull you called in for me. Now don't move or you will spook him." Well, Keaton couldn't see the bull and wasn't going to miss his dad shooting the first bull he ever called in. So he stood up. I don't know who was more surprised, the bull or me. Keaton knew better, he just couldn't help himself. He was very upset, thinking I was mad at him. So I told him, "Great job boy, he was too little anyway. Lets go get another one." So up the valley we went. Keaton got the cows all worked up and another bull bugled. That bull worked up the ridge we were on, bugling his head off at Keaton, but we never saw him. We did have a calf walk in to about 4yds from us. Keaton said, "Shoot her!" "No she is too little." I said. It was getting late and we had a pretty good piece of groung to cover to get back to camp. So I said, "Come on Keaton lets head back and have some dinner. We will get them tomorrow." So we headed back down the ridge toward the valley floor. Stump shootin and talking about how much fun we had. And I looked out into the valley and there were 2 elk in the bottom. "Keaton look." He saw them and asked are they boys or girls. I pulled up the binocks and looked. "They are girls." I said. "Are you going to shoot one?" Keaton asked. "Do you want me to?" I asked him. "YES!" He answered. We didn't have a lot of time. I picked him up and headed down the hill as fast as I could go. I don't know why the cows didn't spot us but they didn't. The bottom of the valley was a set of beaver ponds. The dams are all broken and it looks like a bunch of moon craters. I would jump down into a crater, then bring Keaton down. Then move to the other side and put him up then get me up. After about 10 craters we were in range. I told Keaton, "When I put you up stay down behind the bushes so the elk don't see you." "OK Daddy." he was behind the bush and said, "I can see the elk." I crawled out on my belly. Got to my knees and put an arrow on the string. Looked at Keaton and said, "Stand up real slow, I want you to see where my arrow hits." So up we went. I drew and shot and Keaton said, "You got her, good shot. We sat down for a while and I went down and found the trail. Well it was getting dark now and Keaton isn't comfortable with that. So we went back to camp, ate and went to sleep. Got up early, went back up the hill and Keaton spotted the trail markers. We found the old girl quick, she didn't go 100yds. Keaton ran up to the cow and jumped up on her and said, "Daddy this is my elk." Indeed it was. Gselkhunter
I'm kinda glad you didn't uncomfortable by staying out past dark. Sounds like a great start to a super heritage and hunting relationship with your son. I hope you got some pictures. Not too often you see a 5 year old in the field with a harvest elk. That said....
Ay Caramba! Get that boy a headlamp and a mini-mag and start a fire right there next to the carcass! The "price" must have came in the meat! Bowseason, warmish weather, elk with their great insulating coats.... laying overnight with the guts in.... yikes!
EKM
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The night was cool and I was on the elk by 6:30am. Had her boned out by 8, back to the truck by 10am. I am pretty fair with a knife. And I do have pics, but I can't get them to a size I can post here. HELP! I can elk hunt, but I can't run one of these infernal boxes.
Gselkhunter
I'll have to side with gselkhunter on this one, not that he needs any help mind you!
But on more than one occassion we've had to leave elk overnight for various reasons during archery season. All elk that were quickly found, we had no problems with the at all.-- On one occasion I hit a bull at 9:00 in the morning and didn't find it till 10:00 the following morning, bad shot, hit high!!! I was able to salvage both backstraps, tenderloins, and one hindquarter, the rest was very questionable and I didn't take a chance with it. ElkNut1
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Awesome story I am going to have to admit to ignorance here but you said your son is 5 and I had no idea you could teach a kid at the age five to bugle. That is awesome my sone is only 1 and a half and mimics my sounds with his mouth I thought that was pretty amazing but heck what kid. I hope to have a cool story like this one day.
Elknewbie
An elk story
