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I’ve thought about doing a recap of the season as a whole.

It’s a combination of, archery hunting, rifle hunting, shot guns and muzzleloaders.

Some guided with excellent friends and some do it yourself hunts.

It’s my season with my boys, ages 22, 15, and 13.

Anyone interested in this write up?

Duh.... Get typing!!

My season began on January 1, 2021. It was my 4th attempt at an Arizona mule deer. I love the desert and I love hunting these animals. I love 60 degree weather in January as well!!!

I had already planned it out in my head for how I was going to obtain the 2 bear tags I needed in southern Utah for my sons Peyton, 15 and Jeffrey, 13.

I knew of 2 auction tags that would become available the day we were to depart for southern Arizona. On our drive, I had to stop off the side of I-15 to complete and win the auction for the first tag.

Later that evening, I had to do the same thing at dinner in Flagstaff, Arizona. Now my plan was complete. We were going to have 4 tags. My oldest son, Kolton, had the points to draw. He’s 22. And I had the points to draw. Kolton was to be getting married at the end of June and I wanted the 4 of us to have an epic bear hunt together……but first….I had to take 3 of my boys to Kansas for turkeys….Peyton, Jeffrey and little Wyatt, he’s 7. Kansas was coming upon us…….

This is a lesson that I am learning as I get older and as my kids get older. I have learned fairly early on that, life indeed does move pretty fast and you need to stop and look around. Or you will miss it.

The bear hunt was coming up quick. I had a lot of things I had to get done before then. Tree stands built, bait locations found and GPS coordinates turned into and approved by our fish and game. Lots to do. Bait collections, running running running. We are always running as a family…

Try it. You won’t know from taking anyone else’s word for it. You need to make up your own mind.

We were coming to the end of our 2nd hunt and I was preparing myself to come back down for the last 2 days of the season after Kolton’s wedding.

Wyatt and Kolton and I took to the tree stand for the final sit of this trip. The date was Saturday, June 19th. The sit at the bait was fairly slow. And then an hour before legal light was over, I looked to my right, and there was a big bear. I had Wyatt sitting a stand behind me but in the same tree and I just thought, Wyatt, please be quiet.

I had about 55 minutes of legal light left at this point.

Taylor lives about 40 minutes from my bear unit. I’d been keeping him updated on our success.

He ran out the only trail I have to walk out. And I’ve got my 7 year old with me. I never heard a moan, but I did hear a crash. I was very confident about my shot, but not so confident that I was gonna take my little boy in there right now.

We we climbed out of the tree, grabbed our stuff and quietly slipped out for the evening. I got back to camp, called my friend Taylor and told him about my bear and he said, I’ll see you in the morning. Which happened to be Father’s Day.

Our Utah archery deer and elk began on August 21st and I was still battling pneumonia until September 6th. I did take the boys hunting for ten days. I left on August 19th to get camp ready and then we gave it hell together. Once again, Kolton, Peyton and Jeffrey…..

Just jealous to say the least. Both that you're kids are fully in and that some of us aren't quite so accomplished at getting it done :)

Cheers, Pete

You are blessed in many ways. The fact that you get to spend this time with your children is at the top of the list.

Congrats on a great season and I can't wait for the rest, even though I have heard the Cliff notes version. :)

We had a lot of work to do to get ready for our bow hunt. I had some new areas I wanted to hang stands in.

Summers are always fun for us. We 4 wheel, camp, glass up animals, hang tree stands.

I knew even though it was the beginning of July, the bow hunt in August wasn’t going to hit us very quickly.

As the years have progressed on this unit, so have the hunters. The vast numbers have increased but unfortunately, their elk hunting skills have not. So we’ve had to adapt over the years and make adjustments. The elk on this mountain get blown up very hard opening day.

Well, history repeated itself only this time, we were in place for it.

I had a lone spike at 10:30 in the morning come up the ridge relatively quickly. He was headed for our opening but he needed to be stopped. I whispered, SPIKE, get your bow and stand up!!

We got ready and I stopped the elk with a single cow chirp. He was only 10 yards away.

Jeffrey steadied his bow and he aimed and fired.

He smacks him square in the shoulder. The arrow penetrated the length of his broad head and then fell out……needless to say, we all know how that finished out. 40 lbs with a 23” draw and a shoulder blade of any animal isn’t going to hurt that critter…..

We all know that hunting in general is a game of persistence. Get up, every day, go hunt, every day. Regardless of how hard or discouraging or flat out terrible the hunting can be, GO HUNT!! And this elk hunt, is one, that is taken down to the end of the very last season of the muzzleloader in November. The marathon of this season will test the perseverance of my young boys….

One morning, I was sitting a stand, and I actually missed a tremendous bull at 30 yards. He was a 350 class bull. And this is how it goes in life. A lot of swing and misses. But you can’t connect unless you’re swinging.

A storm had rolled in. A lot of hail, thunder and lightening. I’ve hunted elk a lot and my very favorite times to be out there is after a storm. This storm hit at 2:00 in the afternoon and it lasted until 4. Well, Taylor had an area he wanted to show me. So we jumped in his pickup truck as the rains were pouring down.

By the time we got there, the downpour had turned into a trickle. We walked down to this water hole and decided to just sit on our butts and listen and just see….

Well, Taylor let’s out a cow call, and the response back was immediate. But the bull was pretty far away. I told Taylor, let’s go get him!!

Taylor says, let’s wait and see what he does. He says, that bull is in a tangled up hell hole and it’ll be hard to get a shot. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Taylor over the years, it’s that he’s a hell of a hunter.

So, I listen to my friend as we sit and talk and bull crap with each other.

So we let it simmer for a few minutes and Taylor gives him another single chirp. And just like clockwork, 15 minutes later, he responded. And even closer this time.

So we’re both kinda scratching our heads and saying, well, he’s coming closer. His responses are a bit delayed, but he’s still playing ball so who cares??

And BAM!!!! We get an immediate response. And not only that, but he was CLOSE!!. He had come in from Our side, through a small strip of aspens, silently, and he was only 150 yards away and he was closing the gap and he was closing it fast!

Taylor says, oh shit!!!

So I get my bow, I get to my knees and we just wait as this bull walks past us. He’s headed to the pond and he doesn’t even hesitate to go in and get a drink.

This bull is in trouble. But there again, so was the bull I missed that morning at 30 yards. So, maybe this bull will get lucky and I’ll drop the ball again??

I drew my bow back and settled my pin right where I wanted it and I let it go.

Arrow is on its way and this bulls in trouble…..

Remember how I said Kolton didn’t draw a deer tag?

Remember how I said we run this business as a family?

My wife has been accustomed to date night consisting of running to job sites, meeting with various customers, and then going to dinner. It’s just what we do. We incorporate business and life together.

We had a job coming up for a gentlemen in northern Utah. This home was to sit on 1600 acres of prime hunting. My wife and I drove up there to meet with him and the contractor on a Saturday. We all get talking, and of course the conversation turns to hunting.

Well, the homeowner says, I have a deer tag available for here. It’s a rifle permit and it’s open now. Do you want it? I said, well, I can’t take it because I have a deer tag this year, but if you’d be willing, my son Kolton would take it. He said, get me your address and I’ll send you the voucher. So….I did…..

I said, ok. So, I went down the school and I checked Wyatt out of 1st grade.

We were a bit early in the day so we went and had lunch. Went to an outdoors store. Wyatt had to get a knife and a fishing sticker of course….and I had to buy it for him, because that’s just how it goes….and off to the property we go.

Sheep hunt starting October 16- the 17th. And then I was to depart for Iowa on October 28th for my 2 day drive. And hunt Iowa for archery Whitetail’s.

Anyways, he’d passed away in 2015. I had called that outfitter to let him know because he’d really liked my grandpa.

In talking with him he said, want to come hunt whitetail this year? I said, hell ya. So Kolton and I went out there and that particular hunt rekindled my flame for Whitetail’s.

When I returned home, I began researching additional white tail Opportunities. I came across an outfitter in Iowa and we began talking and he told me Iowa takes points. He said, let’s plan it for 3 years from now. I said, sounds great. Well, every year, he’d remind me to get points.

After 3 years, other stuff kept coming up, I’d gotten lucky every year and was drawing Kansas.

Finally, with 5 points in hand, I decided, stop collecting and go hunting. So I drew this year and I had my tag in hand…but first, desert sheep was up next!

There is actually a rifle range that we frequent as a family that is only an hour from my sheep unit. So the plan was, leave early Friday. Go to the range. Really shoot the rifle, clean it. Shoot it. Clean it. Shoot it and have it ready. I’d been working with this rifle since July specifically for this hunt. I know how this rifle performs. I only wanted to shoot out to 300 yards maximum. In fact, I wanted it to be very close.

I was torn on this hunt on what weapon. I really wanted to use my bow. But more than that, I wanted Kolton and Taylor to witness the shot. That was way more important to me than using a bow. And the truth be told, They aren’t that spooky. Finding them is the hardest part.

Drive about 30 minutes south, parked the truck, unloaded my side by side, drove for about 7 minutes, came around a corner and oh SHIT!!! There’s sheep!!!

And a huge ram. With his ewes. They didn’t panic. They just shuffled around and kept feeding. I looked at Doug and said, I don’t know Jack about sheep but isn’t he a big ram?

And he said, yes he is. I said, well, don’t we want to kill him? He said, well…..you told me you didn’t want to kill the first several days. Do you really want it to end like this?

I said, no I really don’t. But, I also know when the lord is putting something in your lap, you take it. I said, is he what we came for? He said yes. I said, then let’s do this.

Well, Doug says to Kolton and me, we have a local kid that works for me that hasn’t been able to turn up a sheep in 3 weeks. Not even a ewe. He said, you guys didn’t even get to see the unit or anything. Would you like to go help us tomorrow? We said, hell yes we would.

We get up the next day, meet everyone involved. Head out to the desert. Go up to a glassing Point and we start finding sheep. This kid killed one at 10:30 that morning. So just as easily as my hunt was, it could’ve been just as hard and I truly do recognize and understand that. It isn’t my sheep to post, so I’ll keep that picture off the website.

We had arranged with the fish and game to check my ram and plug the horn Saturday afternoon. As we were headed to their office, Kolton says, well…now what? I said, I don’t know. He said, I still have my elk tag and you brought 2 rifles and the rifle spike is still going and our unit is only an hour south….

I said….yeah, you’re right. And he said, and your multi season deer tag closes tomorrow for the rifle. I said….yeah, it does. He says, we were planning to be gone for ten days….at this point, I was just messing with Kolton. I said, yeah, yeah we were. He said…LETS GO!!!

I didn’t have Jeffrey these days. He was at his moms and that’s just how life happens sometimes.

My wife said, yep I’ll see you tomorrow.

We get the elk out, I drop my wife a pin for where to meet me with the boys and LUNCH because we were starving at this point.

Well, Wyatt is ready to go hunt. And kolton and I were tired. But Wyatt said, let’s go kill a deer dad!!!

I said, let’s do it.

2 smaller bucks and the rest does.

I tell Wyatt, we need to crawl now. I want a good close shot. He said ok Let’s go!!

So we finished the stalk. Got settled and let her rip….

So we go back to the area Kolton killed his. I locate the same herd but…..there’s a few cows and a bull and 2 spikes splitting off and they’re headed down hill.

And they’re gonna be heading to a spot that will make them very vulnerable. And it’s go time now. It’s, get your shit, and let’s go!! Kolton, stay here with Wyatt we gotta go!!! So we take off. We have a lot of country to cover and a short time to do it.

The elk beat us. Like they almost always do!! Damn!! But what’s that? Up on the hill?? I throw my glasses up and there’s a lone spike that had fallen behind and he was coming…..

Well….I’d left my cow call at the side by side of course. So I let out a soft whistle and he stopped and I told Peyton, hammer him!

He had his rifle up, free handing it and he lets it go…..

I am home for a few days. Get some things settled and head out the door towards Iowa. As I am headed out my cousin calls and says, my dad isn’t doing well. I had to take him to the hospital and it doesn’t look good. I said, keep me posted please.

This comes into play, nothing major, but still involves the story.

I kill a doe on day 2. I love all things whitetail.

The rest of the hunt is very active, a lot of close calls, but, nothing quite coming together until day 5.

My weather was superb as well. Highs in the very low 50’s. Lows in the mid 20’s. Everything seemed perfect.

I decided to switch stands to another location I’d wanted hunt but the wind hadn’t been right for. And finally, it was. I was settled in that stand for only an hour and I look to my right and I about crap myself. A small game of cat and mouse ensues and then he makes the mistake of giving me the shot.

So…what is a man to do when his son Jeffrey still has an elk tag….the muzzleloader season is open and you don’t have a muzzleloader and you don’t know anything about muzzleloaders???

Well, call Taylor, of course!!!

He gives me a solid crash course in them. Tells me my same elk are in the same place, because nobody will go up there for a spike except us!!

So….I buy us a muzzleloader. And I go and shoot this muzzleloader. We get it dialed in and off Jeffrey and I go.

Well, we talk with each other and make a plan. We all pretty much decide, lots of elk, lots of spikes, let’s work together and get both of them elk.

We begin to plan and 6 more side by sides show up.

So, I figure, be upfront with your plans. Let them know that you’re going in and that they need to decide what they’re doing but we are in fact headed up there. I told them how I was going to do it, just so we all knew where everyone would be.

It was an elevation gain of 1700’ and it was 2.25 miles in. We got to where I wanted to go, got settled in and waited. As the herd was feeding out, a spike was working his way towards us and was dangerously close to giving us a shot. And then…..BOOM. One of the guys we’d been talking with was up there as well. He’d taken a hail mary shot and missed but also pushed the elk out and then the inevitable pursuit began and the elk ran like hell.

These are the lessons of perseverance. Keep going. No matter what. Jeffrey said, what are we going to do now dad? I said, we’re gonna go have us lunch at the side by side. And we’re gonna go find fresh elk.

So off the mountain we go. We have fun, eat lunch, make a few calls. He wants to shoot the gun, because he just loves all that stuff.

We eat, get loaded up, and go to another spot….and there they are. Elk again. And one spike.

But their position is a bit more difficult to get on. They’re close to us and not a ton of good cover.

Next thing I know, I hear a bugle up above us. So I said, let’s go walk to that opening and check it out. We get up there, nothing. But I throw my glasses up and about 500 yards away, and just on the other side of a little rise, I can see the head and the back of a cow elk walking. I said, there’s elk let’s go. So we get up there and I start to slowly go up the rise. I get to where I can start to see and there’s elk. And a lot of them. Feeding at various distances. 50 yards, 60 yards, 100 yards, 130 yards. All feeding through. There’s 30 I can see, and more in the trees filtering out. But not a single spike.

The bull is in the trees, he’s singing his September chorus in November. It’s just surreal moment together. I am watching and watching. Picking every elk apart to find a spike. The wind was about 30 miles an hour out of the north and it was perfect but it was COLD!!! Here is Jeffrey waiting. I took this photo moments before we had the change we needed…..

I said, just wait, keep the crosshairs on him as as soon as he steps out, I’ll tell you when. Well, the elk followed the script and he took 2 steps forward and it was wide open now. I told Jeffrey, shoot!

He lets it go and the elk take off but the spike kind of just stands there. I reload the gun as quick as I can and I said, get him again, so he shoots again.

The elk takes a few steps into the trees and they’re fairly thick. You can see but you can’t shoot.

So I load his gun again, and I said, let’s try for another one in him. We sneak up there, get another shot at him at about 50 yards. And again, very little reaction. So at this point I’m going, he’s either hit very hard, or not at all.

So we go up to where he was last standing and there’s blood on the ground. And actually pretty good blood too.

And there, 50 yards way, he stood. In the thick little aspens. And I’m Going, alright….now what? Shoot him. So we get a clear shot, he shoots again. And again, very little reaction. By this time, it’s almost over. Legal light is coming to an end, we were about 400 yards from private ground and I truly didn’t know what the hell to do.

We back out for the night. Because I never could tell where the shots were, I made the choice to come back in the morning. And I’ll never know if that was the right choice.

We get back up in there. I go to where he was last standing and there’s blood in the snow. I begin to take up the trail, he’s headed toward the private.

I follow blood and I’m on blood the whole time. I get to an area in the aspens where I lose blood but I can tell there’s been one hell of a battle. There’s coyote tracks all over. Elk tracks with them, this area is tore up!

I go back to last blood to reconnect and I find blood again and follow another 20 yards and came upon this…..

I called the conservation officer in the area, he explained to do the best I can, but to be very liberal in the trimming for safety reasons. The pictures of this elk turned out horrible so I did the best I could, and I focused on the pack out pictures.

Well….3 of us didn’t draw Kansas. So, what’s a guy to do??? Stay home because you won’t gun hunt?? Cry?? Be upset? Hell no. When your outfitter says, come hunt rifle with me in Nebraska , you smile and say, thank you!!

So the trip was still a go and this hunt was next….departure date, November 16th.

2 in Kansas hunting archery. 3 of us in Nebraska with a rifle.

That night, the outfitter says, wanna go hunt geese and ducks in the morning? I’ll see if my father in law wants to go, his name is Leo.

Leo turned out to be 87 years old. He came up and hunted fowl for the next 3 days with us. It was a riot.

So he came and picked me up at 1:00. And we switched to a different stand. Same place I was the first day. And then with an hour of light left….here he comes.

I’ll close this out with a few thoughts and pics for everyone.

I like to believe my season really began with my boys in Kansas. It was in the gravel parking lot of the lodge in Kansas where it began this year hunting birds……

My friends in Kansas did not get deer.

But my season has left an impression on all of us.

If you’re waiting to do something, don’t. Go do it.

We do not get to repeat seasons. We do not get to have a do over raising our kids. Take them young and take them often.

Business and customers can wait.

Cheers, Pete

Call me Pete!!!

Congratulations to you and the boys!

I appreciate it.

CONGRATULATIONS to all. Indeed "one hell of a season".