December 15th, 2020 began like any hunting morning for Donnie-long before the sunrise. Choosing to get up between 2-3 am to go hunting requires a lot of determination and dedication. That’s Donnie’s passion though, hunting in the great outdoors. It began with deer hunting in Missouri along with turkey and duck hunting. I don’t think Donnie ever thought he would be elk hunting in Colorado. Donnie takes pride in learning everything he can about the animals he hunts and the land that they live on. Right now, elk hunting has been his favorite and what is most important to him. To Donnie, Elk are one of Colorado’s most majestic animals.
Since living in Colorado, Donnie’s been on a few elk hunting camping trips where he stays in the wilderness for several days. He’s also had several day trips out hunting. In September 2020, he did his big elk hunting camping trip and even was full-draw with his bow on two cow elk at different times. However, for bow hunting to be successful Donnie says “all the stars have to be aligned”. He planned to return to the same area for a 4th season cow tag in November, but unfortunately a wildfire had burned up the area. It is not like Donnie to give up hunting, so he and his friend turned in those tags to pursue a C tag for the plains. If you didn’t know, the plains are elk’s original habitat in Colorado. I didn’t know that!
On December 15th, Donnie and his friend weren’t necessarily expecting to find elk. This day was meant to be more of a scouting day. They arrived at 6 am and proceeded to hike 6 miles. Doesn’t sound easy right? I’ve learned from Donnie how taxing hunting can be, it isn’t for the faint of heart. It has been so much more challenging compared to what he has done previously in Missouri-but I think that is why he loves it even more.
Once hiking 6 miles, they spotted elk! So, they came up with a game plan and Donnie did a 1.5 mile loop to get where the elk would not be able to smell him due to the wind direction. He got within 200 yards, and crawled to 60 yards. It was nearly 1 pm, and Donnie was almost ready to take his shot. There were about 20 cow elk, a spike bull, 3×3 bull, and a herd bull. Donnie was going for the herd bull, the biggest one and wanted to get really close. When he was at 60 yards, the herd bull was laying down. With his Browning X-Bolt .300 Winchester Magnum, and the most ethical shot he could have ever took, the herd bull took his last few breaths.
Having the opportunity to harvest a big bull elk, doesn’t happen every hunting season and Donnie is just so grateful for this unexpected blessing on December 15th. Perseverance and persistence, always going beyond the extra mile-I couldn’t possibly think he deserves it more. Did you know that full grown bull elk probably weigh between 700-800 pounds? That means there was probably 400 pounds worth of the elk to carry out-6 miles. Donnie says, “carrying the elk out was the most humbling experience of his life”.
It is very important to Donnie to process the elk meat himself, it is his belief that if it is your animal that you harvested-you need to process it. I didn’t grow up hunting or eating much wild game, but through Donnie I’ve learned to appreciate it. We love creating wild game recipes (coming to the blog soon!) and it doesn’t get any more free-range, organic, or healthy in our opinion. So far, we’ve made at least a few meals of elk steaks with a delicious marinade recipe of Donnie’s, carne asada with again a marinade recipe of Donnie’s, chili, and homemade summer sausage.
Even though I don’t see myself as ever being a hunter, Donnie’s adventures inspire me to always be going further. I can guarantee that with everything he does in the great outdoors-he is always going further. I hope this inspires you too!
In the Spirit of Adventure,
Demie