A couple hour trip to the store

        It's 5:45 AM, it is currently 51 degrees outside.  Over the next two hours, the temperature will actually DROP 4 degrees.  Just East of Yellowstone National Park, my dad and sister are headed out of town.  It's elk hunting time!!  They arrive at their determined vantage point to "glass" the area around 6:20 AM.  Within a few short minutes, the elk are in sight, it's a smaller herd, but they are elk.  There is only one problem with these elk, they are hanging out on private land.  Now our hunters must wait and see where these four legged walking grocery stores are headed.  In the distance, they can hear an elk bugle.  They notice that three little "rag horn bulls" are headed up the river, in the direction of the public land.  They jump back in the truck to head these elk off.  My dad and sister are in luck, these elk walk right through a slice of public land that sits in the middle of private land.  Not only did these unsuspecting beasts walk right into the kill zone, they were only 100 yards away!!  Now to wait and get the perfect shot.

       The elk are now in a position to be taken.  My dad shoulders his 30-06, lining the sights up on the lead bull (the one on the left pictured above).  He gets the right sight picture and squeezes.  The lead bull is now in a pile on the ground, DIRECT HIT!  My sister lines up her shot on the newly appointed lead bull (now about 40 yards further out).  She is using her grandpa's 270win.  This elk only got to lead the herd for a short moment before, he too was piled up.

      The current time 7:15 AM.  In roughly an hour and a half, my sister and father "shopped" for OVER 400 lbs of fresh meat.  

     To some people, this is the best way to fill your freezer for the upcoming winter.  If you were ever a kid going hunting with your dad, the thought probably crossed your mind; "who decided that we should put hunting season in late fall/early winter?"  Well, whoever decided that, knew that the upcoming winter was the best time to have a full supply of fresh meat.