Ellis McAfee and his Dad, Matt, both of Missoula, had their first big hunt together last year–which was Ellis’s first big one–and the warm weather may have not helped them much, but they definitely did not go home empty-handed or without meat! Here’s Ellis’ dad’s summary. Parenting done right!
Here’s a video of last year’s elk hunt. This was Ellis’ first big hunt. We both had cow tags so, of course, we saw lots of bulls. If memory serves, we counted 63 bulls that first day.
Mid-week, we spotted a herd of cows. They were a few ridges over, in another district, but they were moving our way. We hurried to get in front of them and set up. We thought we were in the perfect spot. A couple bulls came out and then a nice Muley buck. We were both looking up the mountain when we heard something behind us. Ellis looked back and said “Dad, there’s an elk!”. She was right behind us but before we could re-position she eased off into the trees.
We helped a guy drag a bull out and Ellis found a great shed. The next day we went back to the same spot and found the match.
Ellis had a great time–we both did. The warm weather probably hurt our chances, but it was great for shed hunting. We brought home a whitetail doe, 5 elk antlers, and 2 deer antlers.
