Beginner's Luck?

Ty went hunting this year for the first time ever.  We have a friend here who has talked Ty into putting in for a variety of hunts every year since we moved here but Ty has never drawn...until this year.  He drew on both an antelope and a cow elk.  I kept teasing him because he didn't even own a rifle.  And I kept thinking...what would we do if he actually got something!?  It was all a little comical but we were also excited for him to go.  
 

Ty's work schedule is so hectic in the fall (with immunization shots and an average of 400-500 Rx/day) that we knew it would be so very nice for him to take a break from it all, get up in the mountains, enjoy nature, etc. However, the way his schedule worked out, he never did find the time to go try for an antelope.  In the long run, this worked out okay because everything we kept hearing was that antelope isn't too good to eat. 

 

But, Ty did get to go on his elk hunt and again, we owe so much to our friend who lent a pack, his gear, camo and even one of his rifles to Ty and then practically acted as a guide and took Ty right in to where the elk could be found.  They had to hike around a lot of course and Ty was shocked at how physically draining that was.  He keeps himself in pretty good shape but he told me afterwards, "if I'm going to keep doing this I'm going to need better hiking shoes and get in better "hiking" shape...oh yeah, and I'll need a gun too." Ha ha ha.  

 

Anyway, Ty left with Brian Adams (our friend whom we teasingly call "Summer of 69" :)  on Friday, November 8th at about 5:30am and by 12:45 that day, he called saying he got his cow elk!  Pretty fast huh?!  Maybe it was beginner's luck or maybe we have a natural born hunter on our hands.  Ha ha ha.  I've never been too partial to deer meat but I don't mind elk meat, especially when you spice it up a bit.  And I have to admit, I am very excited about how full our freezer is and am anxious to see how far it goes/how long it lasts us.  I might make Ty do this for us every year!  :)
 

The way Ty tells the story is this:
 

We left early sat. Morning for Cambridge with my buddy Brian. Brian is pretty much a hunting guide because it is his passion and lives to hunt. He usually spends about 3 months out of the year just to hunt and take others out to hunt. So Brian knew just where to go and find the elk. We stopped at a few places on our four wheelers to look for elk, but didn't see much. So, we headed to a spot where he was sure they would probably be. We started hiking over a couple ridges and would stop occasionally and with our binoculars try to see if a herd of elk was near by. After hiking for about an hour and a half, we spotted a huge herd of elk, approximately 200 elk. The only problem was that the elk were from the direction we had come from. We couldn't initially see them because they were hidden around the mountain side, it was only when we were farther out and at an angle that we could see them. So, as it turns out, we had to hike back the same way we came which was quite tiring. I soon realized how out of shape my legs, lungs and heart were. Brian on the other hand was pretty accustomed to the hiking because he was already a couple months into the hunting season - as this would be I believe his tenth elk of the season (helping with friends and family combined). So, I lagged behind and about an hour and a half later we came into view where we had seen the elk. We had a problem though, the elk had moved and we couldn't see where. We assumed they traveled around a ridge - after a little more hiking to our disappointment and relief, the elk were not there. We wanted to find them, however if we would have found them where we were looking, it would have sucked trying to pack it out of the steep terrain. We backtracked and arrived at the location where we saw them. Within a little time Brian and I were able to follow tracks and droppings to there current location. As it turns out, we were right on top of them. They were down below the ridge we were standing on. And to make matters better, the four-wheelers were not too far off for a much easier pack out. We slowly got into position and we picked a medium sized cow that was lying down (probably a 3-4 year old). I lined it up and with one shot at approximately 100 yards, shot the right spot - she couldn't get up, it was all over. It ended with one more shot to put her out of her misery. After that, there was a little celebration and we went to work to get her off the mountain.