The Story of a Family Who Shot an Elk

By Lucy

Day One

The sleeping bag was hot at 7:00 a.m. Moose Lake Copper Creek campground. I dig to the bottom of my sleeping bag to find the warmest gear, as Mom slowly wakes up. Then Mom decides to get the fire started, I go out to get the hot chocolate and the warmth. An hour later we are driving to the K- gate packed and ready for a good hunt. We park and walk down the K-gates Road. Eventually we follow a game trail off the road and into the forest. Papa stops and whispers to us, “There’s a grouse.” I know Papa can’t shoot it because he has the wrong gun. Dottie and I chase the grouse up the mountain. I get a foot from the grouse and it flies away to a different tree. Now the whole family is trying to hit the grouse with rocks and sticks. We didn’t get it but it was a lot of fun trying. A while later we were walking over logs and fallen branches. Papa stops and so do I, Mom says “grouse” then Papa takes out his gun. I tell Mom, “He can’t shoot a grouse.’’ Then Dottie puts her hand over her head and realizes we can’t understand her and then says, “Elk! Big bull elk!” We jump and run over logs and branches and then we get to where Papa is then he says, “The elk ran away.” I felt sad because I really thought we were going to shoot an elk. We hike to Kaiser Lake then head to the main road. A stranger picks Papa up and drives him to our truck.Then Papa picks us up and we head to camp. After that my legs felt like noodles because we hiked four miles. And I went to bed super fast.

Day Two

I wake up to the crackling campfire. I get out of my sleeping bag, find my warmest clothes and hop into my crocs. Mom has already made hot chocolate. I give Dottie half the marshmallows while I swallow down mine. Then we hear a BANG, BANG! Five minutes later we hear another BANG! Mom and I both think it is Papa shooting an elk. Dottie wasn’t so sure. A while later we see Papa’s orange and his camo gear. He has blood on his hands and is wearing a huge grin. We run up to him and asked him if he made the shots… and he said, “They were mine! I shot a young cow elk.” After celebrating we head to where Papa shot his elk. We climb the mountain which looked like giant steps. One step had a maze of sage. Eventually we get to where the elk is. I think she is giant but I have never seen an elk. Papa says she is small so I wonder how big a cow elk can get. We start cutting and skinning the quarters (the quarters are the arms and legs.) l think it smells good but some people don’t think so. I look behind myself and see Dottie hanging a piece of fat in a tree for the gray jays. One gray jay got close and snatched a piece then flew away. Dottie asked for a phone to video tape this amazing scene. I heard the gray jays squawking and felt the life of the elk becoming a part of us. Dottie and I carry the elk ribs while Mom and Papa carry the quarters, the heart and other meat. That morning I appreciate that we can go on these fun adventures in these cool places to do amazing things.