king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Hunting Illustrated April/May 2008 - Index

Angela with her 2007
Oregon archery elk.
After being introduced
to hunting two years ago
she is now hooked.
snakes to turkeys to coyotes. About
an hour before dark, we had a herd of
about forty cow and calf elk wander
past the blind. It was so exciting
and incredible to be in the middle of
such a herd. As I gripped my bow
while waiting for a bull to appear,
Dave coached me through the mental
preparations that would be needed if
a shot arose. Control your breathing,
pick a spot, focus on that spot and
nothing else, good trigger squeeze
and follow through. I practiced these
tips on a number of cows (without
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drawing the bow) and found that it calmed
my nerves. Although no bulls appeared,
it was an awesome learning experience
for me. About fi fteen minutes before the
end of shooting light, I asked Dave if we
should go since the elk had already gone
past. He told me that we needed to stay
put for a few minutes more as the last half
hour of shooting light is usually the best.
Just as Dave fi nished telling me this, he
looked out one of the side windows in
the blind and announced that a spike was
walking down the trail. I was thinking,
“Yeah right, quit pulling my leg,” when I
5PREDATORS5
noticed that “serious guide look” that
he gets when guiding other hunters.
Just then I saw the elk for the fi rst
time. Man was he beautiful. Long
velvet-covered horns and a body that
looked much bigger than the average
spikes that we had been seeing.
Holy cow, this was it! I grabbed my
bow and began to draw when Dave
went into guide mode and told me
to wait for the right shot angle. He
calmly walked me through the same
breathing and concentrating drill that
he had given me earlier. I found that
I was actually calming down a bit.
Dave ranged the bull at 27 yards and
told me to aim for the lower third of
the chest just behind the shoulder.
It was the moment of truth. I took
a deep breath, held my thirty-yard
pin on the spot I wanted to hit and
slowly squeezed the trigger. I didn’t
even feel the bow shoot. I just saw
the arrow fl y true and the elk bolt
through the trees. As I gathered my
wits and calmed down, Dave went
and inspected the blood trail. It was
dark red and fl owing like a stream.
Dave said that it looked like a heart
shot. The elk traveled less than 100
yards before piling up on a hillside.
While holding those antlers in my
hands, all I could think about was
the fabulous journey that life has
taken me on. In my wildest dreams
as a child, I wouldn’t have imagined
that my fi rst big game animal would
have been this majestic or taken in
this manner.
4th “First” – During early January
of 2008, Dave was busy running a
trapline in eastern Oregon. He was
rarely home, and I was beginning to
feel like a trapline widow. Well to heck
with that, I was going to learn the art
of trapping. So, off I went on my fi rst
trapping trip. Dave was a very patient
teacher and willingly shared some of
his cat trapping secrets that he made
me swear not to share. After watching
him set traps at a couple of locations,
he told me it was my turn. I scouted
out a beautiful rimrock that had lots of
potential and held some decent sign.
As Dave coached me through things, I