North Easterly's

Adventure is where you find it, we entered the Oregon Wilderness under the premise of hunting for the magnificent beast we call Rocky Mountain Elk.  And our days were filled with plenty of elk hunting.  But along the way we found plenty of diversions, stump shooting, mushroom hunting, grouse hunting, and finding springs with crystal clear mountain water to quench our thirst and our burning desire to find something wild.

There were 3 in our elk camp, I was the greenest of the group and I was all ears when they shared their yarns.  I called in a spike early morning and closed to within 20 yards with some new tactics.  Nocked an arrow and came to full draw.  As I focused on a point behind the elks shoulder I could not help but notice that there was a big bushy branch in the path of my arrow.  Ironically I could see the spot on the elk clear as day.  But as an old teacher taught me years ago, it's the arrows path that one must see to the target.

I let down the arrow, the elk knew it wasn't his time and took a step forward and then around the nob of the ridge to safety.  I knew it wasn't his time either.