| The Hunters |
L to R - Me, Don Harkins, Wes Barnard, Kilby
The number of hunters, and other people for that
matter, varied greatly depending on if it was a week
day or a weekend. Some could only make it up for a
few days during a weekend, some stayed for a
week. Don and Wes spent five weeks in camp. It
must be nice to be able to do that! Some of us have
to work for a living.
Anyway the major players in this debacle were my
brother Don, his buddy Wes Barnard, Julie "Julio"
Morton, and myself. The other hunters in and out of
camp were Jeff Kilby, Darrell Healy, John Schaffer,
John's son Cade, and my brother Jack Harkins.
matter, varied greatly depending on if it was a week
day or a weekend. Some could only make it up for a
few days during a weekend, some stayed for a
week. Don and Wes spent five weeks in camp. It
must be nice to be able to do that! Some of us have
to work for a living.
Anyway the major players in this debacle were my
brother Don, his buddy Wes Barnard, Julie "Julio"
Morton, and myself. The other hunters in and out of
camp were Jeff Kilby, Darrell Healy, John Schaffer,
John's son Cade, and my brother Jack Harkins.
Jack Harkins
L to R - Jeff Kilby, Darrell Healy
Julie "Julio" Morton
We saw a lot of animals while hunting this trip. It seemed
that by the time I got into camp most of the elk had
decided to go somewhere else. While we did see elk
while I was in camp they were fairly few and far
between.
We would normally get up well before sunrise and get a
quick breakfast of cereal or oatmeal and then get our
gear, hop on the 4-wheelers and head up the mountain
to our hunting area for the morning. After parking the
bikes and hiking up the sides of steep mountains we
would set up the decoys and station ourselves in what
we hoped was the most advantageous spots to ambush
an elk. Since Don had already filled his tag he did most
of the calling with Wes and Jack doing additional calling.
We would normally call for 45 minutes to an hour before
moving to a new location. We could usually get in two or
three setups in a morning if we didn't get anything to
come in to the calls.
that by the time I got into camp most of the elk had
decided to go somewhere else. While we did see elk
while I was in camp they were fairly few and far
between.
We would normally get up well before sunrise and get a
quick breakfast of cereal or oatmeal and then get our
gear, hop on the 4-wheelers and head up the mountain
to our hunting area for the morning. After parking the
bikes and hiking up the sides of steep mountains we
would set up the decoys and station ourselves in what
we hoped was the most advantageous spots to ambush
an elk. Since Don had already filled his tag he did most
of the calling with Wes and Jack doing additional calling.
We would normally call for 45 minutes to an hour before
moving to a new location. We could usually get in two or
three setups in a morning if we didn't get anything to
come in to the calls.
During elk camp I think that everyone missed an elk
except Don and Jack. Darrell and Kilby missed several
times, John and myself missed once and I don't think
that Caid or Julie ever got a shot. I guess that really
puts them in the "Didn't Miss" category.
Don shot a cow elk of his own and Wes shot a spike
bull. Don and I helped out on Jack's kill of a cow elk
when she took the World's Most unlucky Escape
Route. If I hadn't participated I wouldn't have believed
that an elk could run that far and pass three people
that were not in a straight line close enough to be shot
by all three with archery equipment!
On the next to last day of my hunt I missed a nice 5X5
bull at 30 yards when my arrow hit a limb halfway there
and sailed over the bulls back and killed a tree. It was
the biggest bull we had called in during my time in
camp. I was pretty bummed out about it. Maybe he will
be 7X7 next time I get a shot at him.
Ha! Wishful thinking!
except Don and Jack. Darrell and Kilby missed several
times, John and myself missed once and I don't think
that Caid or Julie ever got a shot. I guess that really
puts them in the "Didn't Miss" category.
Don shot a cow elk of his own and Wes shot a spike
bull. Don and I helped out on Jack's kill of a cow elk
when she took the World's Most unlucky Escape
Route. If I hadn't participated I wouldn't have believed
that an elk could run that far and pass three people
that were not in a straight line close enough to be shot
by all three with archery equipment!
On the next to last day of my hunt I missed a nice 5X5
bull at 30 yards when my arrow hit a limb halfway there
and sailed over the bulls back and killed a tree. It was
the biggest bull we had called in during my time in
camp. I was pretty bummed out about it. Maybe he will
be 7X7 next time I get a shot at him.
Ha! Wishful thinking!
| L to R - Cade Schaffer, John Schaffer |