Hunting!

Hugh took me out on a Cow Elk hunt this last month. I was hoping we could get it all over with in one day because it was a very busy week for me. He took me to what he and his fellow hunter men call "The Arena". It is shaped like a stadium. You start out at the very top steps (hill) and it has a range of hill circling a very beautiful canyon full of trees, bushes, and Elk. We hear the Elk bugling first thing in the morning! It is so loud because of the shape of the mountains, it echos off of them. We are able to somehow sneak down through the trees to give us some cover from all the watchful cow eyes. As we get closer to a specific bugle sound we have to belly crawl through the tall grass. Looking down I see a monster Elk and his cows are every where. Hugh is whispering; Janess, that one right there, wait, no, that one over there....... Suddenly I see a really big cow. She steps right in front of me. I scope her out, while Hugh tells me her range (about 140yards). I put my cross hairs on her close to the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. BANG! Looking up from the blast, all I see is the elk running everywhere. We wait a while and then head down to find her. No blood trail. I was positive I hit her. Still no blood! An hour later we founder her at the bottom of this canyon dead. Still, no blood. I thought she died of a heart attack. While we are cutting into her our curiosity is growing..how did she die? We finally find a tiny hole right on her shoulder. It turns out that the bullet hit the bone, and went into the heart (She was standing at an angel) and fragmented into her lungs. The bone broke up and caused the hole to be sealed, not letting any blood out. So, she bled internally. Then we hiked (it took about four hours) to get out of that canyon with all that meat. I think next time I will hit the smallest one. It was great because it all happened just as I had planned! Enjoy the pics.