May 18th- Carolyn's Elk Hunt

Carolyn’s Elk Hunt –

 Carolyn, about to begin her stalk on an Elk.

A few years back my teenage daughter, (now a college student in the Oregon) won a coveted youth cow Elk Tag in California.

That was cool of course, but what was really cool was that Tule Elk live in hilly ranges of San Luis Obispo.  I was shocked when I found this out, figuring that Elk would live in the high sierras and getting to them was going to be a chore.

As it turns out quite a few of them every year migrate off of the National Forest and onto the Eng Ranch, a working cattle ranch and a strong supporter of our local SCI Chapter.  Each year the ranch takes advantage of this migration and guides hunters in filling their tags.

So…a week long trip into the back country turned into a long weekend in San Luis Obispo.  I talked to the ranch manager and he suggested we keep all of our weekends open during the fall hunt.  He didn’t control the game, and when they showed up on the ranch he would give us a call. 

Well…like clockwork he called us the week before the season opener.  The Elk had arrived and we could come any time we wanted.

I picked Carolyn up after her high school classes let out and we headed up to the Ranch.  Traffic was light and we ended up arriving before sunset. 

The first thing I noticed about the ranch was the topography.  The ranch was a treeless bowl lined on either side by two hundred foot high hills.  It was pasture land, which makes sense for a cattle ranch,…but Elk?  Don’t Elk like trees?

Our guided suggested we drop off our stuff and he would take us on a quick drive so we could “see” the Elk….I really had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but politely agreed.  We drove the back trails of the ranch and popped up onto the top of the western hill.  There, down in the valley was a friggen scene from Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.  Elk,…Cows and Bulls…by the hundreds!  With no trees to obscure our vision we were treated to a massive show of nature’s grandeur.  The Elks bugled, fought, moved about, and generally gave us a show until the sun finally went down.  We headed back to the ranch house psyched about tomorrow mornings hunt.

The next day we were back out at the same place at first light.  Sure enough, the Elk were still there.  It was then that I asked the question that had been nagging me since the previous evening….with no cover to hide behind…how would we get close enough to the Elk for Carolyn to take one?

“We crawl on our stomachs….from over there.”  Our guide said casually pointing to a spot about a mile away.

Ok…this should be fun.

Well…it turned out to be a whole lot more interesting than I thought.  Carolyn and her guide worked their way through the grasses about ten feet ahead of me, and I stayed back occasionally video taping the progress.  Since, we were on a youth hunt I was not even allowed to touch the .270 that Carolyn lugged on her shoulder. 

Taking advantage of every small furrow and ditch on the ground, we inched our way as close to a resting herd as we could.  Finally, after pushing some bushes aside we realized there was a sub herd of Elk about 75 yards ahead of us. 

Carolyn slowly rotated her body around so she could take a seated shot, using her bent knees as a rest as I tried in vain to get a good video of her taking the shot.  She singled out an older cow Elk and squeezed the trigger.

The herd scattered, as her elk fell to the ground.  After a couple of hundred yards the rest of the herd just sort of stopped and went back to grazing. 

 Carolyn and her Cow Elk

The Elk was beautiful, and would end up feeding us for almost two years.  The skull rests on our mantel as a trophy, and Carolyn used the tanned elk hide to make a variety of gifts…among them my desk blotter and pen holder….pretty cool when you can show them off and tell your friends…”Yeah…my daughter shot an Elk, skinned it and made me this for Father’s Day…what did your kid get you?”

 The desk blotter Carolyn made for me for Father's Day out of the tanned Elk hide.