kidoggy

this is chapter 1. luckys home

back in the early 90s my brother chris and I decided to try archery for elk.we had hunted archery for deer in the past but elk was a new experiance for us. on this hunt ,it was I who possesed the tag so he was my bugler and with a little (or a lot) of luck , my pack mule.

it was opening day late in august. we left the truck well before daylight and started up the ridge. it took us about an hour and a half to reach the top. when we arived it was just beginning to get light .so we set down to glass the surounding hillsfarther down the ridge we were on to our left I spotted several cow elk ,feeding their way down into the timber. when they disapeared we decided to throw out a bugle and see what happened. chris bugled and instantly we heard a deep throated response from a bull, probably about a half mile across the bowl below us . needless to say , it got our blood pumping. for those who have never heard a bull bugle ,it is something you must experiance.

we decided to try and work our way closer before we tried again. so we quietly worked our way down into the bowl, following a little finger ridge. when we got fairly close to where we figured he was , chris threw out another bugle. again an instant deep throated response. we waited a few minutes and chris tried a couple cow calls. nothing.
we gave it a bit more time and chris ,bugled again. once again instant response, but still quite a ways off and did not seem to be any closer. there was a fairly small hill between us , so we decided to try and slip over the top and setup to try again. it probably took us half an hour to cover a few hundred yards as we were taking it slow and quite, but eventually we got were we wanted to be and chris threw out another bugle. again instant response. we waited and again tried a cow call . nothing.

after a minute or two , chris again, threw out a bugle and once again instant reply. this time chris bugled again before lucky finished his own and cut him off. a few seconds went by and lucky bugled again, chris once again cut him off, hoping to piss him off. it seemed to work. the next time lucky bugled he was coming closer. we waited .chris tried another cow call and this time we heard branches snapping below us. he was inside of a hundred yards but we could see nothing.
lucky bugled , chris cut him off. chris bugled ,lucky cut him off. this went on for maybe close to an hour or so, but he would come no closer. eventually the day began heating up and lucky grew bored with us and headed off through the brush.we tried more bugles and cow calls for awhile but could get no response.we thought about trying to go after him but it was getting hot so we decided to pull out and try again the next weekend. we never did get a glimpse of him ,that day but still it was one of the greatest hunts I have been on.


the next weekend was pretty much a repeat of day on with the exception that we did finally catch a glimpse of him through the trees.but alas ,still no shot.


chapter 2

how lucky was named

o.k . it was my brother chris and I s third day hunting, it is now the final weekend of the archrey season, last weekend in sept.

we ,once again, left the truck well before daylight. by now we had a pretty good idea where lucky would be found, so we hightailed it over the ridge and slipped quitely into the bowl where lucky called home. we got to where we wanted to be about the time it got light enough to see. we set up where I could see fairly well through the brush and had descent shooting lanes, with chris about 40 yards behind me.

chris decided to start with a couple of cow calls and got no reply. after waiting a few minutes he threw out a bugle and the forest trembled with a reply., lucky was close. after waiting a few more minutes, chris , bugled again . and once again lucky answered . and he was coming closer . chris waited and after a few minutes lucky bugled and chris cut him off with a bugle of his own. this seemed to infuriate ,lucky and I heard crashing in the brush below me. he was close. I could see brush moving maybe fifty yards or so away and I could hear him but could not yet see him.

chris bugled again and I could see the brush moving as lucky came closer. next came a series of lucky and chris bugleing back and forth a few times, as lucky slowly came in the last bit.

there was an opening in the trees at about 30 yards out and I determined lucky was going to show himself there, so I drew my bow and waited he steped into the opening but was facing me,. no shot .

chris threw out a cow call and lucky turned , showing me the sweet spot and I let go. and shot low, right under his body. yup ,I blew it. lucky ran down the hill , just out of sight and for the next hour or so he and chris bugled back and forth but he would not come in again. after a while ,he grew bored with us and quit answering our bugles.

chris's wife had drawn one out of ten tags for the early rifle hunt in that unit which started the next weekend, so we quitely slipped out of luckies home with the intention of bringing her back the next weekend.

as we walked back to the truck , chris said, "boy he sure is lucky you can't shoot for chit!"

and there you have it , lucky got his name.





CHAPTER THREE
THE RIFLE HUNT

it is now early october . my sister-in-law( whom I wil call "seester" for sake of story ) has drawn coveted elk tag of which there are only ten for entire unit. my brother and I Are to be her guides on the hunt and with a little luck also her pack mules.

we had told her of our archery hunts and lucky and she was game to go after him.as it is not a very easy place to get into we decided to bring a horse for her to ride while we walked beside her.e once again left camp well before daylight and headed up the ridge. on this day we did not crest the sumit before light as we had a fat nag (the horse not seester ) slowing us down. as it got light ,I noticed something moveing in the draw to my left a couple hundred yards away. so ,I stopped ur lil convoy grabbed my binocs and checked it out. it was a spike bull. a lil 5x5 and a couple of cow elk.they were looking at us but ,I believe , because of the horse had no fear and did not seem terribly concerned as they just continued feeding around.
my brother asked his wife , "do you want to shoot the 5x5/"
she answered , "yes, but I would rasther go shoot lucky!"

YEP, SHE'S A KEEPER!

so we continued on. as we got to the top we decided to leave the horse so we could slip quitely into luckies domainwe glassed the bowl and chris bugled and true to form lucky immediatly replied , screaming back a bugle. on this day he was on the opposite side of the bowl which was heavy timber and brush so we could not pick him out with our binocs. so we decided to circle around above him and follow a lil finger ridge which we though would bring us right to him. when we thought we were getting close there was an opening in the brush so we set up. chris decided to try a couple cow calls to start since we figured lucky probably had a harem by now.llucky bugled . after a moment chris did a couple more cow calls . nothing . we waited . chris bugled and lucky replied . we waited anchris bugled again . again lucky replied but he was gatting farther away.
I began glassing the opposite hillside and there he was with a harem of 15-20 cows he was heading out of the area with no wish to lose his cows to another bull. this was the first real good look I had gotten at his antlers and was finally able to count points. he was a very nice(not monster)7x7.
as he was running up the hill, it was just to far and to brushy for a shot. so we let him go.we decided to let them crest the hill and then follow them over the top in hopes we could get lucky to turn on us.
as we got close to hill top lucky bugled and he was fairly close so we sllipped over the top setup with chris twenty or so yards behind us . viibility was not great but it could be worst and we really just had no other option. not the ideal situation but we figured it is what it is,
again lucky bugled and chris bugled and cut him off. as always this infuriated lucky and he did not like us in his home. we heard crashing in the brush, he was coming. I whispered to seester to get ready he was gonna show himself. chris cow called , lucky answered with a bugle and again chris bugled and cut him off. suddenly I saw movement about 50 yards away and it was lucky , he had his head down looking under a branch right at me. trouble was ,while I could see him and could have shot him had tag been mine ,seester could not. we waited.next came a series of chris and lucky bugling back and forth it probably only went on for 15-20 minutes but it seemed like hours. the whole time lucky and I were looking right at each other but seester could not see him. we could not move for fear of spooking him so we waited , hoping lucky would make a mistake.
He did not. I believe he fially winded us because he suddenly turned and crashed through the brush and would no longer bugle. we waited for maybe an hour and never again heard his screaming bugle. we got to a high point where we could glass the area he disapeared into, but after several hours of this,saw no sign of him. eventually we retreved the horse and headed back to camp.

we hunted all the next day with no more sign of elk. and that was seesters , rifle hunt.

driving home that night, chris asked his wife, "do you wish you had killed the5x5?"

she replied, "NO! THAT WAS THE MOST EXITING HUNT I HAVE EVER BEEN ON!"

yep! she's a keeper!




EPILOGUE

that winter we got early snow and it was a harsh winter , causing ,a major elk die off due to winterkill.so in march chris and I donned our snowshoes and head up into luckies domain. this time we came in fro the opposite direction, from the river below. we followed the draw up a couple of miles , to a point where it split. I went left , chris went right. a few hundred yards after we seperated , I came around a tree, and there was lucky in his final bed. he did not survive the brutal winter.luckies luck had finally run out.


25 years later , I wish I could say,I let him be but being the young man that I was , I wacked his antlers and mounted them on a horns-on-panel.he resides in my home to this very day.never do I gaze upon them that I am not reminded of that hunting season and spending time with family , doing what we love to do.
so goes the church ,so goes the nation