THE BEST EVER

WOW.

What a ride.
It started with my son drawing a great youth tag for a New Mexico muzzleloader elk hunt.

I've hunted most all western states but I had never been to New Mexico before.
Little was I to know what events were about to unfold.

After hunting our local blacktail deer steadily since early July through the end of September our eyes and legs were finley tuned for the fall hunts ahead.

We drove for about sixteen hours from our home in northern California and arrived a couple of days early to acclimate to the area.
We had a list of about five areas that we had high hopes for and a couple of priorities for Saturday's opener.
On thursday morning I was organizing gear in the back of the pickup when Thomas had the bug to get up the mountain and do some glassing in hopes of finding a good bull.
I told him to go ahead and I'd meet him on the knob in a while.

Well, about 45 minutes go by and I hear rocks rolling in my direction as Thomas comes scrambling down the hill with a panicked look on his face.
"Grab your binoculars and get up here RIGHT NOW!", he says to me.

I knew something BIG was going on due to his tone of voice.
"You're not going to believe this", he says to me...

I get into position behind a cedar, crouch down and take my first look through the spotting scope.

Up on the opposite face there he is.
A bull of several lifetimes.
A super massive 8x6 with inlines, points as long as my arms and incredible whale tails.
I am blown away and we both are nearly trembling with excitement.

Here is a look through the spotter....



We continued looking at the giant and his harem of cows for several hours before sneaking back out.
We would be hot on this bull opening morning.
Simply unbelievable.
We had a day and a half to wait till opening day and the wait was killing us, time drug on so slowly we couldn't stand it.
Friday evening we snuck back to the lookout and found the giant again, bugling, rutting and controlling the smaller satellite bulls, he was the King of the mountain.

Opening morning we rose early with a nervous pit in our stomach's knowing what lay ahead.
I brewed a quick pot of coffee, we slurped it down , donned our packs and off we went.
We raced up the ridge to "our" lookout.
Thomas gets there first, looks back at me as I approach and our hearts just sink.
A guide is sitting on the very rock that Thomas first glassed the bull from.
He has his binoculars in one hand and a radio in the other.
The local guide team have the bull pegged and have spotters and blockers on every vantage point.

We were completely outgunned.

Heartsick, we tell the guide that we will skirt the outside perimeter in case the bull buggers and squirts over the saddle.
Inside I knew we were simply screwed.

We scrambled down the wash and up over the mountain to the saddle.
I thought I heard a muffled shot, but continued on.
We reach the saddle to see cows and several smaller bulls leaving the area.

As we crest the ridge a quick look through my glasses told the story.
I saw a guide and a young hunter standing over the giant bull about six hundred yards away.
UGGGGGGGGgg.







Well, we realized that we were lucky to be here at all, so we congratulated the young hunter and guide.
We shook their hands and left to find another bull with the wind out of our sails.

We found a 310 6x6 in a draw with a herd of cows.
Thomas looked him over, but after looking at the giant this bull seemed really insignificant.
As he tried to get closer for a better look, I watched from across the canyon.
Just as he got to the rocky knob overlooking the bull, the wind shifted and the elk poured over the top of the mountain.

We hiked out of the draw, up over the mountain and took a minute to glass the gut pile of the giant, both still in shock as to "what if?" and the usual coulda, shoulda & woulda's.

We got back to the truck exhausted.

We regrouped, loaded up and left the area.
We talked over another strategy.
We decided to hunt the other side of the mountain range, working on a tip of another big bull.
We lost some time as we had to refuel the truck, and grab a bite to eat.

We headed off and I filled my role as navigator.




We lost that evening's hunt and awoke in the new area early the next day.
I got the coffee on and we struck out for the new canyon with new promise and renewed hope.
At about 7am, I park the truck, we get out and start the new day's hunt.
We don't get twenty yards away from the truck and Thomas yells out....."DAD!"

He's holding up something with a real concern in his voice.
I walk over and in disbelief look at his find.



Wow!
That don't happen every day!
We agreed to take the handgun to the local Sheriff on the way out as it was the right thing to do.

I put the gun in the truck and we continued our hunt.
We hiked up the draw about two miles, all the while in stealth mode listening for distant bugles or glimpses of elk.
We decided to hike the opposite slope but first decided a few calls might be productive.
I make a few pleading cow calls followed by a wimpy bull bugle.
Several minutes pass, then a bull erupts with a raspy sounding bugle.
It seems to be still quite a ways from us.
We hurry up the hill which was quite a hike straight up.




As we crest the top, we hear him again, this time he is coming straight toward us and we can also hear his harem of cows.

We decide to sit down right there and set up.
Thomas readies his Knight muzzleloader and gets a solid rest as he readies for this eminent encounter.
Suddenly, I see an elk.
I throw up my Swarovski's and there he is.
About 150 yards away I see the bull, he has very good browtines and heavy beams.
I whisper "SHOOT!"
It seems like an eternity, then "BOOM!" followed by a cloud of white smoke.

The bull still stands humped up as the cows crash through the timber.
Thomas frantically reloads his rifle, which is a mad scramble at best.

He gets the thing ready to roll and the woods are silent.

We let the bull sit for a few minutes, then Thomas cautiously sneaks forward.
I see him level his rifle and "BOOM!" he fires again.
I then hear the most Hellacious crash, it sounds like a semi rig crashing through the trees.

Thomas shouts out at the top of his lungs.....
"I JUST SMOKED A TOAD!"
"I LOVE YOU DAD!"

WOW.

I proudly holler back..."I LOVE YOU THOMAS!"


WE topped the hill and look down and can see the path of destruction where the bull crashed, flipped and careened down the mountain to his final resting place.





AS we approach the downed bull we realize that in the crash down the mountain he has broken off his browtines.



After some glory shots it was time for Dad to get to work.



As I skinned & caped the bull I found the perfectly mushroomed bullet.
The .50 cal Barnes TMZ performed to perfection.



We savored every moment of this hunt.





After dismantling the bull, we each took a shoulder back to the truck as we started the two mile hike back to get our packs.

We got back to the truck had a quick sandwich and some of the best ice water we had ever drank in our lives.
I put the meat in the ice chest.
We donned the backpack & headed back up the mountain.
I finished the field butchering and filled the packs.
We would have one big final load in the morning.
Exhausted we got under the packs and left the mountain as darkness fell over my son's glorious day.
This is what it's all about....



We reach the bottom of the canyon as darkness fully engulfs us.
As we march along the faintly visible trail a bull blasts off a bugle in our faces not a hundred yards away.

At last we reached the truck, I tell my young man that he had just done something that not many others could and that something this good shouldn't be easy.
He had earned every ounce of this hunt.
Anyone that has backpacked a bull out of the mountains knows what I mean.
It was the way a youth hunt should be, just him & his dad.
Simply awesome.
We awoke the next morning and had a nice breakfast.
Just before leaving for the final load, a truck rolls into camp.
The driver gets out and asks "you guys seen a pistol lying around here?"
Apparently it had fallen off of his belt in the dark.
It felt really good to help out a fellow hunter, he was gracious and very thankful.

Our long drive home was filled with the gratification that comes through hard work.

It was......the best ever.

FANTASTIC!!!!

Wowsers!

That is a great story. Tremendous bulls in this post. Congrats to everyone.

Awesome.
I archery hunted NM the year I graduated college and It was an experience I'll never forget. Nice work Sal. Hell of a post!

Great story,great pic's,great ethic's and great attitude,

Congratulation's on a succesfull hunt and a lifetime of memory's.

Great story to go along with some fantastic pictures. Nice job guys.

Very cool--you both are lucky to have each other

Awesome elk story! I'm glad you found those brow tine pieces. They should be easy to repair.

I hope your son knows he's the luckiest damn kid I've ever seen. I would have given anything to have gone on such adventures, travel to such places. Nice work, Dad!

Nice work!!!!

And don't worry about those brow tines, easy fix at the taxi.

I'm not even a hunter but that is a beautifully written, touching story. What a great moment to spend with someone you love. Well done, guys. As you said, it was well-earned.

all around

Outstanding!

Best times of my life have been hunting with my son.

Hopefully he can draw one of those tags soon.

Truly special Sal.

For all the right reasons....

Wow, epic.

So glad things worked out for a great hunt for you and Tom. I do have to admit I was expecting it would. Cool to see such great fortune go to two people that did so much to earn it. Hope some day our paths will cross....

Forgot to ask, what *geographic region* of NM were you in? Reason I ask, is a couple years back, I had to take a fire truck down, and was stationed in NM for 28 days, awaiting the lightning storms.

Our patrol area was from the Jicarilla Apache Res., over through the Valles Caldera (former Baca Ranch). UNREAL ELK in those parts...I will likely never see elk like that again. The Valle has limited entry draw hunts, and the manager was giving me the rundown on how the app process works. Bucket list....

Met the local who has several NM state records (as he keeps beating his own record)...showed us his house, ALL his furniture, from couch, end tables, bar stools, light fixtures, ALL was made from elk antlers. The archway going over his driveway, from ground to full arch to ground again, woven elk antlers. He had skulls of 390" bulls laying on top of his firewood shed just getting bleached out... He must be the Stam of NM.

I'll try to dig some pics up...

As always very cool story Sal!!

Unfortunately the pics don't show on my computer but I'm sure they are just as awesome as the story!

And especially well done keeping positive after watching a guide crowd you out of a toad. Not many hunters can rebound from that sort of thing. Plenty of bitching going around regarding this type of situation but you and Thomas did the only thing you could which is "man up" and "carry on." How you carry yourself during times of adversery is probably the best lesson you can give Thomas! And no better way to give that lesson then a Bull Down!!!!!

Very well done and congratulations on a killer hunt!!!

Right on. thanks for the read this morning.

Havent logged in a while but had to for this. Congratulations to Sal and Thomas, what a fantastic hunt!

Congrats on the excellent hunt!

Great story and good pictures.

A practical question Sam, what do you do with an animal down, and you're so far from home? Do you take it to a local locker to be cooled, then butchered. I read that you were a 16 hour drive from home, so I'm curious how you handle the meat to keep it good.

Sg

Great story, Sal...I can't believe how much that little kid has turned into a young man before our eyes, thanks to the pics you post of him as he grows up as an outdoorsman!

Fish on...

Todd

To all, thanks for the kind words, all of you.

As far as the meat question Salmo, I've been a butcher for over 30 years and can take apart an animal very quickly.
The warm afternoons are a challenge, but the evenings cooled down to 29 degrees.
I disassembled the animal quickly to begin the cooling process.
We didn't have quite enough game bags on this trip (my error) so we packed the exposed shoulders first, the hide was left on the hinds and laid face down on a tarp at the kill site until we could return.
I had three big coolers at the truck with ice blocks in the bottom .
We packed the bulk of the meat in two trips.

We were hurtin after four miles of real heavy loads.

Getting to the truck on the final evening load, we both were gagging from extreme exhaustion.
I took a drink of diet Coke and immediately puked it up with a spew of brown foam.
Thomas was laughing hysterically until he started heaving too.

Funny, I get that gaggy feeling when I am at the limit of my physical capabilities.
I packed Thomas' big Wyoming mule deer in one load and barfed at the end too.
The kid gets a good laugh at me and now always stands clear asking ...you aren't gonna puke are you?

Anyway, if you can lay all of the meat on a tarp and let that cool night air cool it off, it will be very well chilled in the morning.
If in bear country, hang sweaty socks & shirts and urinate around the perimeter to lay down heavy human scent, this can most of the time work very well to ward off unwanted intruders.
Wake up early before the flies wake up, put the meat in an ice chest or even inside good sleeping bags to insulate it and rush to the nearest Safeway, which sometimes is many, many miles away.
When I opened my ice chests at Safeway, the meat was still very cool to the touch.
Buy five or six blocks of dry ice (for an elk), wrap it in towels or shirts and top your meat in the ice chests.
Upon returning home the meat will be nearly frozen in most cases with ice crystals forming in it.
This has worked very well for me over the years.

Sorry to rattle on guys but I'm still high from the trip.
I might puke from this much typing......

Best of the season to you guys......
Sal & Son

Excellent story!!

No doubt Thomas is life times ahead of most kids his age with all the successes he's had! Way to go dad!

Keith

Sal,

Interesting details (maybe excluding the puking) that help me understand the story. I haven't hunted since I was in my first year of college, and then I still hunted in back of my home. Just dragged my deer down the hill and up to our barn to skin, cool, and butcher, so I've never known what and how one has to plan and act when a long ways from home. Thanks for the info. It gives a sense of what you guys were up against.

Sg

Sal & Thomas, Great Hunt you two! Thanks a ton for taking the time to do a writeup and share pictures. Awesome stuff for sure!
A good friend and coworker just got back from NM as well and was lucky enough to find a 345 5 point that had 8" of broken main beam, on a guided hunt. I've never seen the guy on such a high and I've known him for years and through many hunts. I can only imagine how you two feel...and further, how proud you must yourselves and each other for the accomplishment.
Good on you two for DIY in a far away land, nothing else like it IMO.

Sal and son thats got a nice ring to it.As allways your adventures are something I look forward to Once agin thanks for sharing .You guys are Quite the team .

Frank