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Elk Camp - Kip's First Elk

By Kip DeCastro

Kip's First Elk Hi, my name is Kip DeCastro. I live in Wyoming and I love it here. I love the wide open spaces, the animals and the clear blue skies. Because of school and sports I don't get out much to hunt, but about a month ago, I was able to take my first elk.

Friday night after football practice, my dad and I loaded our gear into the truck and drove 3 & 1/2 hours to my Grandpa’s house West of Cody, Wyoming. The next morning we started our way up Logan Mountain to the Cabin. The last hill before the top of the mountain was extremely steep from the previous night’s rain and snow, and our truck started sliding backwards. Fortunately, my dad came prepared and had chains. Dad chained the front tires of the pickup and we were able to get up the mountain safely.

We scouted and hunted the next morning, seeing one group of four cows, and a raghorn bull. We also saw another group of bulls with a couple of nice ones, but no cows and my tags was good for only cows. We went back to the cabin for lunch and a mid day nap.

At about 5 p.m., my dad decided to take just me out. We drove a mile or two, parked and started hunting the meadows keeping to the edges of the timber. At about six we saw a good bull on a hillside. We snuck in on him to see if there were any cows, and discovered he was part of a herd of eight bulls and no cows. We backed out and tried to sneak around the bulls to continue our hunt and just about made it, when another bull came out in front of us, blocking our path. We were trying to figure out how to sneak around this bull when, out of the corner of his eye, my dad spotted a cow coming our way about 300 yards out. We slowly settled to the ground, and waited for about fifteen minutes.

The cow worked her way up the ridge towards the first group of bulls, and as she passed behind a tree, I got into shooting position. As the cow came out from behind the tree, she started acting nervous and turned to trot away from us, up the opposite ridge. My dad cow called, she turned broadside, and I dropped her with one shot through the shoulders at 200 yards. I had my first elk, a nice yearling. We field dressed her, propped her open to cool and then went back to the cabin for some 1 inch thick New York sirloins.