One Happy PAPA!!!

Well, it's only been 2 whole days into the rifle hunting season here in Montana, my daughter Darian and I put the hammer on 2 bull elk!!

The day started out as I put her on a huge 160-170" whitetail buck early in the AM, and she couldn't get him in the scope fast enough, so he got away unscathed... We tried again to locate him, but to no avail...  So, in our driving around afterward, we noticed about 200 head of elk milling around on a distant hillside.





So, I looked on my GPS and noticed that they're on State Lands, where we can hunt them as long as there's legal access... As luck would have it, we found a spot where the State Land butted right up to the road we were on...   So we get our gear and head out to see what we could make happen.

As you can see in these pics, my daughter and I put the hammer on a freezer full of elk meat... I wanted her to shoot the bull I shot, but she said she couldn't see him, so I told her I was gonna take him... She took hers with her 7mm Rem Mag loaded with a stoutly charged combo topped off with 162gr Hornady A-Max bullets... I took mine with my 300 Rem Ultra Mag loaded with 208gr Hornady A-Max bullets...  As you can see from the above pics of the 2 big herds, these elk were a long ways off 640 yds to be exact, plus they were on private land by the time we got up to where we took the pics ...  So, after about 2-1/2 hours of waiting for them to come back up where we could shoot them, I decided to try and "cheat the system" so to speak, and took out my diaphragm elk call and started putting out a calf elk in distress call... We'll after about 10 min or so, the lead cow stood and stared up our direction and just couldn't take it anymore... She came up that hill like she was on a lead rope, and when the lead cow comes, others follow... We'll after another 5-6 min. we had probably 1/3 of the herd up on the State Land, and we shot both of our elk at 70 yds!!! I must say, I am one proud papa... My daughter scores on her very first elk, and I took a nice 6x6 on the second day of the season... It's always nice to get the elk out of the way early...

Now I still have to help my son try and get an elk in between his school, and football, and we still have our buck tags to fill... I can't wait!! Hopefully, we'll have more pics from the season soon...

Thanks fellas,

Suuweet  
Congrats Doug and Daughter Darian

A Dad/Daughter bond is a very special thing... You should be very proud !

X2 on the great bonding. A unforgettable moment indeed  .

Good job Doug,times you both will never forget. 

Good job and great times Doug. It's obvious that your influence and values have taken root. You're going to have a great lifelong relationship with your daughter.

Thanks guys... I find that no matter how our relationships are throughout any given year, when hunting season rolls around, the bonds I share with my children during these times are priceless! And I wouldn't trade them for anything... Truly cherished moments ...