Labor Day

We went camping/hunting with my family to their property (which is right by Rittter, Oregon 40 miles north of John Day). Parker had a bull tag to fill and a cow tag. My father had a bear, coyote, and cougar tag (later this year he will also have bull and cow tags). So we know what we had a to get. Now there were 2 areas they were hunting. One was for the bear and the other was for the elk. Both areas have trail cameras, so we knew they were coming through. Paker's bull tag was an archery tag, everything else was rifle. But the boys wanted to try first with the bows, and than have the guns for back ups.

The first day out scouting and sitting in the tree blinds, Jon got a coyote with his bow at 40 yards away. You can see from the picture that it is not very big. Sage is bigger than the coyote. But non the less we got one, and with his bow.



The next morning Steve and Parker went to the elk stand to try and get something while Jon went and sat in the blind that was set up in the general area of the bear. They got there about 5:20 (still a little dark). After Jon got settled he heard some huffing. Yes 30 yards away is a black bear walking around. All he had was his bow, and it was just a little to dark to see through the peep sight to get a good shot at it. So he let it got. When the boys met up again, Steve got really excited that the bear was still coming around. See he really wanted to get this bear. So that night Steve and Jon decided they were going to sleep out in the blind, in case that bear came back. And wouldn't you know that morning just as the sun is coming I heard a gun shot at camp. Well than 40 minutes later they came back to camp empty handed. They saw where it went down, but than it ran away. They could not find tracks or a blood trail ( and since Jon is red/ green color "confused" he was no good at finding blood in the grass). So we all ate breakfast Sunday morning and ran over there. After about 2 hours walking around Megan found some blood. We followed it in the wrong direction for about an hour and a half. It lead back to where it was shot. So Steve called a local rancher who is our friend, Kelly, he has about 30 dogs who hunt with him.(since Sage is just running around not knowing what to look for). He came out with 2 dogs and with in 20 minutes they found the bear under some bushes. All in all it took 4 hours to find that bear, but we did. He was a black bear about 6 feet. Once we got back to camp Steve and the boys skinned it. We tried the back strap for dinner, it was actually really good, you could not tell it was bear.



(Steve and the Bear)



(Group photo)



(Cutting up the bear at camp. You just have to love Jackson's face)

Now that excitement was over it was time to focus on what we really came to shoot, some elk. The boys went out Sunday night and Monday morning, no luck. Monday afternoon Parker and Jon decided they would walk a different area to see if they would have any luck. They left camp, Steve decided he would go sit in the tree stand. Well I did not want him there by himself so I told him I would go with him. We were getting a few things together from camp, got in the truck, drove like 70 yards away. All of a sudden Parker comes running after the truck. They had heard elk bugling above camp. The boys are running off trying to find them. See our property is very hilly so sometimes the echos can throw you off. 2 hours later at camp we hear a gun shot, and than another, and one more. That makes 3. We were getting very nervous. We had a 20 minute rule at camp, that if you heard a gun shot you would get things ready and drive over there and be there in 20 minutes. So we start getting the kids ready and Parker comes running up. They got a bull, and hit a cow but were trying to find her. We drive over. Parker had hit the bull with his bow, and Steve hit the cow, but the cow did not go down. So the next 3 shots were trying to get her down. Steve and Jon could not find her, so we got the elk back to camp and took care of what needed to be done. The next morning Parker, Jon and I went out to try and find the cow, but we just could not. We think he gut shot her, which means she could have run for a long time. We could not find any blood or any trail.



(The 6 point buck)



( I am sorry I did not get a picture before they cut it up. Or a picture with Parker and the elk)

So by noon on Tuesday we were all packed up and ready to go. Parker and his family went to my parents house, because my dad cuts up all his meat. Lucky them they get to spend today cutting up a 1100 pound bull. Jon and I had fun and were very glad that we had some success. Lucky Jon and Steve have 2 trips planned to go back in October, when Steve gets his elk tags.