Elk Hunt

  The air was brisk and the snow left tracks of the Elk that Jack was hunting. For three miles along the high Colorado mountain range, he tracked the animal. He first saw him from atop the mountain through his scope, but was too far. Jack’s range finder said he was more than a thousand yards away. The Elk, had to be eleven-hundred pounds and a rack of record proportion, he wanted this trophy.

  Walking along the high altitude and thin brisk air Jack walked slowly. Always crouching down, staying low to avoid detection. The animal was smart Jack had to be smarter. Staying upwind also played a key role. The winds could change at any minute making Jack’s scent detectable, allowing the animal to take off with not chance of Jack ever taking the animal’s life. As Jack’s breath became more aggressive walking up and down the undulating terrain, Jack lost sight of the Elk from time to time. Walking through snowfields and partial grassy meadows a mixture or elements creating the challenge that all hunters endure.

  Dressed in camouflage clothing and fitted with his Remington 30.06 rifle he had all the right gear to make this hunt a success. He had the right survival gear as well to stay out here all night if needed. It was shortly after noon, but had to take him soon to ensure he got back to camp and got the others to help bring the Elk back.

  Jack was part of a six men hunting trip, friends for a long time. This was their yearly trip to Colorado.

  Walking up a small hill, he lay down and slowly crawled on his hands and knees so he could just peek over the top to see the Elk. Jack was hoping he had stopped. The tracks Jack checked down below showed they were fresh and he went east. As Jack peered over the crest of the hill he saw the animal stopped with his head down drinking from a make shift watering hole. By now they both were well below the snow capped elevation, but still snow was evident from every direction you looked. It was mid October and soon these lands will become harsher as the season will change to winter.

  As Jack peered over the hillside, he noticed the Elk was closer but at a bad stance. He was limited to where he could shoot the animal. The Elk was standing back to Jack, not the ideal target for many who hunt. Jack had to wait again; watching him from afar. Jack began to grow impatient; he wanted to take this animal. The wind had changed direction and now was blowing behind Jack and towards the Elk. The Elk raised it head smelling the scent of Jack and darted off away from Jack and beyond firing range.

  “God, dammit it,” he said with an aggravated tone.

  Jack had to reposition himself again and continue tracking the Elk further. Jack turned south and went further down hoping to cut off the animal. He also noticed that while hunting him they had come around the north side of the mountain, basically, circling and were closer to camp than before, maybe this will turn out to be a good thing if he could just bag this beast.

  While calculating that the Elk would run down to the nearby meadow, that’s if the Elk did what Jack, had hoped he would do. Walking through the vast groupings of pine trees Jack could see the meadow up ahead. Jack shortened his steps and took notice of everything he could see and tried to be as quiet as possible not to disturb and scare off the Elk again. As he walked to the opening of the meadow resting against a tree he seen the Elk reappear. The Elk was coming up from a neighboring pasture. The Elk went another way only to come back thinking it tricked the potential hunter, the smell of a human, but Jack was smarter this time.

  Jack’s heart raced as he began to focus on the task. He needed to wait a little more until the Elk came a bit closer and turned to give Jack the right angle and to target the Elk’s chest and heart. Now all one could see was from the shoulder up, not a good target at all. Jack watched the Elk walk away from him, waiting to see the Elk turn to its right and up over the hill in plain sight.

  Jack raised his rifle and flipped the scope covers up. He positioned his arm against the tree to make it more stable. He quietly bolted a round in the chamber and as he peered through the scope to take advantage of the Elk’s location and imminent demise, he waited. Jack followed the animal through his scope seeing the Elk walk and suddenly he turned and walked uphill and in plain sight. Jack’s heart rate began to quicken and sweat dripped off his brow. This was the moment he longed for the moment he would bag his trophy Elk. He placed his finger on the trigger and began to count off, slowly listening to his heartbeat and breathing. He needed to calm down or he would miss. His range finder in his scope said, “Two hundred and sixty yards,” the Elk was so close. Jack released the safety on his rifle and refocused his field of vision. You could clearly see the eyes, nostrils and fur of the animal as it stooped and raised its head. The Elk bellowed out a mating call. A beautiful sound that echoed through the valley as you could hear others respond. The Elk turned to face Jack. This was it, the one shot to take him.
Jack lowered his scope targeting his chest and the crosshairs were dead center of the Elk’s heart. Jack pulled the trigger as he slowly exhaled his last breath; and watched as the animal staggered back and fall the ground, dead. Jack waited for a few minutes for the animal to bleed out. With a rack and size of the animal, sometimes they will jump a hunter and try defending themselves with their horns to fight off an enemy.

  Jack radioed his friends and said that, “He had bagged one, a big one,” while smiling he gave then his location by GPS and waited for them to collect everyone and drive up as close as they could, the distance from base was only a good mile and due south, an easy path home. Jack walked over to view his kill. A beautiful animal well worth the bragging rights and pure pleasure of a hunt like the one he had.

  Later that night after cleaning and dressing the animal, they all gathered around to toast the man who had brought thus far the largest of Elk to camp. Tomorrow was another day, though Jack’s hunt was over until next year.


Written by E. Roman aka Boston-Fiction 4/30/07