One dark September morning before the sun was awake, my brother Travis and I were heading out to go elk hunting- always racing to beat the morning rush of hunters getting in and out of 7/11 in the early morning.
As we hit the highway making sure to keep our speed up as to not let anyone beat us to our spot (that’s always the thought while racing on the highway) “it’s still quite dark” I mentioned to Travis, “I can barely see very far ahead of my lights!”
I decided to turn on my high beams and just as I do so I see the hind quarters of an elk! “Did you see that” I said, “we just about smoked an elk going 100k.”
Without even skipping a beat or thinking of the danger we just dodged, we started to make a game plan… where there is one, there is more!
There was a road we both knew coming up and hoped if we jumped off the highway we could head off the elk and make a move.
I take the turn, we drive about 200 yards up the road and turn the truck off and wait for the sun to get a little bit higher because we still can’t see a thing.
We planned to walk about 200 yards closer to where we thought the elk would be and try doing some calling.
We have learned it is easier to work your way up in sound starting with a quiet “cow call chirp” and as soon as we let out a few cow calls, we could hear a small herd calling back to us.
We knew if there was a bull with the group we would only have a short period of time before he’d start coming this way.
We made a plan to split up having the shooter go forward 50-100 yards towards the sound, while the other would call sitting further back towards the tree line.
Lucky for me, I got the chance to be the shooter and Travis was my caller.
I moved up to a single solo tree out in the open field and sat in front of it so I wouldn’t stand out like a sore thumb.
Travis continued to do a sequence of cow calls urging the heard to move closer to us, while I sat there quietly as patient as I could be.
The bull sent out one of his cows to take a look and see if the coast was clear and I continued to sit and watch her move closer to where the sounds came from.
At this point Travis and I had to stay quiet because if the elk decided the call was coming from an area that they could see, and they couldn’tsee another elk they would take off.
As the cow elk is stood in the open field just about to figure out our plan, the bull elk came running in behind her heading towards the call.
I saw him moving way too fast for me to get a shot so I used my mouth reed to make a cow call from the open field I was sitting in to see if I could get him to stop to squeeze off a shot.
It worked- the elk stopped dead in his tracks to look my way.
Time seemed to stand still and I slowly brought the rifle scope up to my face, placed the cross hairs on his neck, and slowly squeezed the trigger. Though this happened in a matter of seconds, it sure felt like an eternity.
BOOM the sound of my rifle echoed through the hills and down the valley.
Success. My shot went directly where I had aimed the elk dropped and hit the ground right where he stood.
I said a quick prayer thanking the creator for our successful hunt and walked over to my brother to thank him for his cow calling.
We gave the elk a few minutes to expire and walked over to check him out and to lay some tobacco down as an offering.
A nice 4×5- how lucky! He will be feeding my family for years to come. I couldn’t be more greatful to spend time with family making memories and filling bellies.
It brings me such pride to be able to provide for my elders knowing they enjoy the beautiful meat and to save some money, especially because everything is so expensive nowadays.
Another year doing what I love and sharing my love of hunting with my brother brings me so much joy and pride, providing for our family is the cherry on top.
Now, to wait 11 more months until it’s September again! I haven’t been this excited about anything
since Christmas as a young boy.
Can’t wait to see what next September has in store!
Skyler Peterson
