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It started like every November 11; catch the service in the morning and then try to get out for a quick hunt afterwards. My boy, Brandon, who is six, decided he would go hunting with me once again, although he did not favour the snow and cold weather. Our hunting zone was WMU 214, just west of Didsbury, close to home. We had been out several times, saw lots of animals but never what we were after.
Well, on this day, we headed out at 2:30 pm, did a quick sight-in of the 243 and 7mm rem mag. The 243 was my deer gun and my weapon of choice for the day since we were going to try to rattle in a whitetail buck. The 7mm was for my month’s end elk hunting trip in Grande Prairie.
We quadded in a ways and then walked nearly 800 metres to our rattling spot. We set up along a cutline with a good view north, south and west towards the edge of a large coulee. Because of our remoteness, I decided to set up a Montana buck decoy a ways away from us.
We waited until things calmed down and then began our rattling sequence. Brandon did a few bleats while I grunted and rattled. We did about three sets. After an hour, we were both cold and bored. I snuck towards the cutline and gazed down it and spotted several whitetail does. We bleated, rattled, and grunted but to no avail. I looked again and saw them go west towards the coulee. That was it, I had to go walking, it would warm us up and we may be able to intersect the does.
We walked to the coulee edge and began walking north. Brandon was complaining that he wanted to go home and was cold. I mentioned that he had wanted to go hunting even though he knew it was not that warm. He sucked it up and moved on.
I spotted a nice buck on the quarter line, nose down and puffy neck. He was heading towards the does and had no idea we were there. As soon as he would get behind some brush, we would advance. Brandon was now straggling behind and unhappy, however, I was able to coax him along. At this time we were both tired, but I really wanted to share harvesting an animal with him so we pressed on, fairly reluctantly I might add.
I kept watch on the buck and a keen eye for the does that I knew we would stumble upon soon. I glanced across the coulee and on the west side in the trees, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There, in the trees facing the opposite direction was a legal bull elk bedded down. I told Brandon, who was cold and unimpressed because the elk was a long ways away. Despite sighting the elk and due to Brandon’s condition, we pressed on north to intersect the buck. However, I could not stop spotting the elk that was just bedded down chewing.
When we were directly east of the elk, I made a decision. Screw the buck; let’s go for the elk! I had a pep talk with my son, who once again asked when we were going to go home. I said, “You promised me you would stay until dark. I made it clear before we left home, that was the plan.” He complained about being hungry and cold so I said, “Brandon, you have to man up! This is an opportunity that does not come around very often in this area.” Then I explained my plan to him. We would walk down to the bottom of the coulee together. He would wait in the middle of the coulee valley while I would sneak up and try to get a crack at the elk. I stressed how this was a great opportunity and how proud of a moment it would be if we got the elk. Reluctantly, he agreed and we began our trek.
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| Rod Holliday with his Remembrance Day Bull Elk. |
We got to the bottom of the coulee where I asked him if he was okay waiting. He sheepishly said yes. I told him to yell at me if there was a problem. We did see a lot of coyotes and I know that was his fear, especially when I would be at a distance from him. I told him I was proud of him and began my stalk.
I was down low, the elk was on higher ground and he couldn’t see me coming. I came up the other side of the bank to the forest floor where he had been situated. There he stood, broadside at about 60 yards. No hesitation. Blam! He shuddered. I had hit him, but he started moving away, falling with every second step. I thought about letting him go to bleed out but then I reconsidered. I had shot him with the 243, what if the shot wasn’t perfect.
I hurried towards the animal and gave him another round and down he went. I started screaming, “I got him!” No response from my boy. I hurried back towards him after making sure the elk was expired. He saw me and we reunited.
When we got to the animal together, we both freaked out. He kept telling me, “Dad, you already hugged me.” Hah!
Anyway, after a few pictures, texts and phone calls, my buddy came by with his tractor and we hauled the beast out.
It was a great day. Brandon was no longer cold, heck, nor was I. When we got home, he told Mom how he stood all alone by himself in the cold waiting for Daddy to shoot the elk. It is an adventure my son and I will never forget.
The next day at school when the teacher left his Grade 1 class, he stood up and announced to the whole class how we shot a bull elk. So cute. Enjoy. ■
For previous Reader Stories click here.
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