During the first week of Oct. I dropped off my wheelchair and some blind material where I decided to build my ground blind. Jim was with me and helped move some of the bigger rocks out of the way so I could get my wheelchair into my stand.
On opening morning I rode (ATV), with a wheelchair rack built on the back, with Ernie out to my blind at 05:30. Somebody decided to try to close off the trail by piling logs and boulders in the two-tracker that was the road. So Ernie piled off to pick our way around some trees.
All the while I could hear bulls bulging and cows chirping but couldn't see anything. Then around 09:30 I heard me some rustling in the brush in front of me. I clicked off my safety and a little Mule deer forkie jumped the fence in front of me and came down to the stock tank to get a drink of water. He milled around for about 20 minutes then ambled off.
Curiosity got to me so I dug out my range finder and while I was digging decided to grab my camera too. That little forkie was 32 yards away. A few minutes after he left I heard some more rattling around but it sounded like it was a bigger animal. Again I clicked the safety off and a 3 pointer jumped the fence but stared back the way he came. Here came a nice 4 point Mulie buck and he went down to the tank and took a drink but the 3 pointer was still on guard. Finally he moved down to the water and here comes another forkie. And of course I had to drop a reticule on all them deer. After they left here comes a Mulie doe and had a fawn right behind her. Then a couple minutes behind the doe here comes a spike.
After all the deer cleared out it started to get hot and here came the flies and robber jays. At about 16:30 I heard something big moving behind me and I couldn�t turn in my chair far enough to see behind me. So I took the chance a sifted around in my seat to get a better look and out from the brush popped a cow (beef). The sun went down and the light was waning when here comes a big cow elk. She jumped the fence and went behind a small juniper. While she was behind the juniper I started to shoulder my rifle but I didn�t get my rifle all the way up before she came out from the juniper. I knew not to move with her head up and looking at me because she could spook and ruin my shot.
She went down to the tank and took a drink. When her head was lowered I brought the gun up the rest of the way. She offered me only a head shot but I didn't want to risk it, I have always had bad luck with a head shot. Another cow elk showed up and jumped the fence and as she landed some rocks were tumbled. The noise startled the big cow and she jerked her head up and took a half step back and offered me a quartering broadside. So I took the shot it went in just behind the left shoulder past though the heart, punctured the lungs and exited between the ribs. She turned and ran about 20 yards. Stumbled up the hill and ran around behind some trees and went down. I could hear her gasping and gurgling for breath and knew she was drowning on her own blood. I could see her lieing there between the trees.
I then got on the radio and told Ernie that "I got one down". It took Ernie about a half hour to get back to me and start pulling her out from behind the trees. I got on my cell phone and called Jim to ask him to come help Ernie seeing how she was around 1000 lb.
Me and Ernie then had to go about a 1/2 mile back down the two-tracker to pick up his ATV while we waited for Jim. It took Jim about a hour to get back to us but he brough along some more help and had a 4x4 waiting for us about a mile away.
After we got her all field dressed and skinned they put the front legs in the rib cage on the back of my ATV and the hind legs on the front. In a rack built on the back of the ATV I had a wheelchair rack with the chair on it. I looked like something from the old movie "Grapes of Wrath".
