You Were Right Son

I enjoy taking my kids hunting with me. I mean, some of the very best times I've had in the field have been with a youngin' in tow. They aren't always as quiet as I'd like, and sometimes they can slow the whole process down a bit, but if I had to choose, I'd choose missing an opportunity to bag an animal if it means I get to spend some precious time with one of my kids.

Of course this brings me to a little tale about how sometimes it just won't kill ya to listen and take junior's ideas to heart. I had drawn a Spike Bull tag in a unit pretty close to home, and it allowed me to hunt from the house and be able to take along my 10 yr old son. So off we go in the wee hours of the morning to see if we can find the elusive Wapiti Spiker. I figure Junior isn't gonna be able to take too much of a hike, so I decide to drive to a couple of spots we might be able to get to and find a good place to take a short hike and sit and watch a game trail or meadow. Well, we're drivin' down this road and Junior sees a spur road and says "Dad, lets go up there". So anyway, I've got a place in mind, so I tell him, "nah, I don't think that's such a good spot". We get to where I'm certain is a better place and we bail out of the rig and head down a loggin' skiff. We aren't seein' much sign, and what we are seein' isn't fresh. At any rate, I find a spot where we can sit and watch and wait and listen and well, that's all we do, cause there isn't a thing to watch, wait for or listen to.

Back down the trail we go to the truck, and back down the road we drive. Along the way to another "sure fire" hunting spot, we pass the same spur road that Junior had mentioned before. "Hey Dad" he says, "you sure we shouldn't try up there". "Yeah, I'm sure" I tell him and keep on drivin'. We come to this "sure fire" area, and off we go again. This time we don't even see old Elk sign. Along with that, we certainly don't see any Elk. Junior is beginning to lose interest and I'm runnin' out of hunting spots. But I have one more thought in the area, and it's up past the first place we went. So off we go, drivin' past Junior's spur road again. He just looks at me this time, I shake my head and continue down the road.

Of course, we have just about the same experience at this "perfect spot" as we did the first two. Now, not only is Junior losing interest, I'm beginning to myself. "Not any Elk around here" I spew forth, and what does Junior say? "Dad, what about that one road we keep driving past, we haven't tried there yet". "OK, lets give it a try, can't be any worse that what we've done so far."

I pull off on this spur road and it only goes about a hundred yards or so and is blocked off. We hop on out and head down the trail. Good criminy, there are Elk tracks right in the middle of the track and they were put there earlier that day. Well, I'm tellin' Junior that I shoulda listened to him and he's givin me the ole ' I told ya so'. We haven't seen any animals yet, so we sit on down on this log up above the main trail and wait, and not for very long either. Along comes this young Cow and she doesn't have a clue that we are there. In fact she never does and we sit there for over 30 minutes. She gets within about 20 yards of us and we never move, she never winds us and Juniors eyes are as big as saucers for the entire time. This Cow grazes and poops and just meanders around and doesn't have a care in the world. Well, she's the only critter we see. We don't get to shoot her cause I'm carryin' a Spike tag, and the rifle never leaves my knees. Junior is all smiles and can't stop talkin' about this here Cow that gets so close to us, and who knows, if I had listened to him earlier, we might just have seen the critters that made the fresh tracks.

The darn kid had a feelin' about that spur road all day long and dad just 'knew better'. Well I learned a lesson there, cause sometimes you just have a feelin' about where to hunt. There isn't an explanation as to why, but you just know it's the right place to go. At least Junior did...........