Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Little Girl's First Elk

Posted this in the Kids' section...figured I would bring it up here too for a little more exposure...

My 11 year old daughter had her first cow elk hunt this past weekend on the Mogollon Rim of Arizona. She and I spent some time getting to know the unit a little better this summer. We even put out her first trail camera and got a few pics of some elk and a nice black bear. Two weeks before the hunt I spent an evening driving around with krp looking at some areas where he had some past success.

I went into week of the hunt with what I thought was a solid Plan A and Plan B, but a couple days before the opener a buddy called to tell me that he had seen quite a few elk in another part of the unit during his fall turkey hunt the weekend before. His intel was enticing enough to make me change my mind, and we decided to spend the opening day on that side of the unit.

My father in law and I had her on a herd of elk within minutes of shooting light. She had a broadside cow in her scope at about 100 yards for about 30 seconds, but it kept a brushy tree over its vitals the whole time. It didn't move until it decided to run and take the rest of the herd with it. Throughout that morning we encountered several small herds, but nothing held still long enough for a 70 pound kid to get comfortable for a shot. If a competent adult had the tag, the hunt would have been over 5 or 6 times that morning.

By late afternoon she was really tired. She is 10 months removed from cancer treatment, and the doctor's primary warning has been to not let her get too fatigued, so I decided that we would try some spot and stalk from a two tracker for the last hour or so of light. We headed over to near where she nearly got a shot that morning, and as I got our gear situated and talked to her a little bit my father in law slowly raised his hand and pointed out into the trees. "I think that's an elk right there?" Sure enough, a lone cow was standing there staring at us. 90 yards away. We had been there for several minutes without making any attempt to be particularly stealthy, yet there she was.

I quickly got my girl's rifle ready and mounted on the tripod at a height where she could take a standing shot. She slipped in behind the stock and settled in for the shot. After what felt like an eternity she still hadn't pulled the trigger and the cow turned quarting towards us a bit hard. She was just about to pull the trigger when that happened, and in frustration she turned to me to ask what to do now. I told her to imagine where the opposite lung would be and shoot along that line. She put the bullet just in front of the near shoulder and it passed through and destroyed the off-side lung. The cow reared up and came down hard. She never took another step.



This was her third big game animal in the past year. The first was a doe mule deer, and it was on our way home from that hunt that she got really sick for the first time. That was also a 90 yard shot with no tracking. The second was a javelina that she tagged two weeks after getting out of the hospital. That was another shot opportunity that she was blessed have within a very short and level walk of a good road. It was also a one shot DRT harvest. She's very calm and collected when it comes time to pull the trigger.

She really enjoys being out there with me and gets excited about the hunt when we are there. Unfortunately, there are kids at school who have found out about her hunting and give her a really hard time. It has made her very self-conscious, to the point where she has questioned how long she will continue to go. My wife and I have let her know that we will support her in whatever she decides to do, but we also work pretty hard to counter the negative peer pressure she's been getting. She knows the kids are wrong, and that regulated hunting is a net positive for the environment and for our family, she just needs the self-confidence to stand up for herself.

One thing that I have found helps her get into the hunt is working on the handloads with me. This was the first time she was going to be hunting with anything other than her 223, so I wanted to make sure she had a load that would not beat her up too much. After looking for information on reduced 7mm08 loads I found some information posted by Seafire and sent him a private message. He gave me some ideas on a starting point, and I ended up loading a 139gr Interlock with a MV of 2440 fps. My girl helped me prep the brass and then seated all of the rounds. I had one piece of nickle plated brass, so she decided that would be her lucky bullet...and it was. I was able to recover the bullet. This is what it looked like. I estimate the impact velocity was about 2300 fps, and according to my scale it retained 119gr of weight.




The next morning I let my girl and father in law sleep in and went out with my buddy who had been hunting near us the first day with his two daughters, but who had not had any shot opportunities. The forecast called for heavy rain, but the morning started with great conditions, so we struck out to try my original plans A and B. All was going according to plan in the first spot, until we came upon a gut pile from the night before. No matter, I figured that since the elk move through the area both morning and night that perhaps we would find a morning herd that hadn't been buggered up yet. 250 yards further down the ridge we hit another gut pile from the morning before. We decided to try for plan B before the morning got completely away from us.

Plan B didn't turn out any better. There were camps where I had not anticipated anyone would be camping, and evidence that there had been a lot of people who had the same ideas as me. As the storm clouds started to appear on the horizon we decided to head back to camp and get it all put away before it got wet. All three girls have deer and javelina tags after Thanksgiving, so we are hopeful to get the other two some opportunities.

On the whole, I was really pleased with how it worked out for my girl. A big thanks to Seafire for his guidance, and to krp for the logistical support. He let us share his camp and, most importantly, provided a real toilet for the girls to use. Kent was there when I killed my first elk...and nearly my second...and then again when I actually did get my second. He also taught me how reload. His mentorship has been invaluable, and I am really blessed to know him.

Very nice ! Congratulations to her and you ! My wife loves her 7mm08.

Congrats to the young lady! Looks like beautiful country there.

Congatulations to you sir and your beautiful young daughter. You are truly making America great again.

Outstanding! She is on her way to being a tough and accomplished girl. Sounds like a good shot to boot.

Very glad you shared.

Nicely done, congratulations to you both!

Congrats to both you and your daughter!

Sounds like she's had a rough road for a while, hope the cancer treatments are 100% effective.

Hoping to help Daughter #1 get her first cow next week. Two elk hunts for her so far, neither full season in length, not even a shot opportunity for her.

Big Congrats to that pretty girl... love this post.

Man, this story put a smile on my face. I could not be happier for your little girl, or you for that matter. Thanks for taking the time to post the great story and pics. May God continue to heal your daughter. Congrats to you both.

This deserves an "ATTA GIRL"

congrats to you both!

that is a great pic

Awesome! Congratulations to the young lady and to you for helping to make it happen! Thanks for sharing the picture and story and best wishes for many more memorable hunts together.

Most excellent, a great image, and do keep her at it.

Does sound like she has had some tough rows to hoe, but she's done it and endured experiences most of us can not relate too

As to criticism from "friends"; if such, are they really friends? Don't ever let anything like that bother you, and instead seek out some like minded company.

Again, way to go lady, and we hope to see your adventures for years to come. You are elite, as you've accomplished something most sports people in our country will only dream or read about.

Super indeed,

This is awesome congratulations to you all...

Very nice story, love the pics and the recovered bullet! Congratulations to you and your daughter. I hope the other young ladies have some success later this season!

David

Very cool. What a great story for the campfire.

Well hell ya!!! She’ll look good in a pot of macaroni!!! Grats

Best thread on this forum! Congrats to the young hunter! Great job.

super nice!! wish my baby girl had it in her, too much mother in her, the wife will shoot but the killing is for me

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