I have never shared this with anyone except my family. This is a story I wrote trying to express all of the emotions and feelings that happen to me, and I believe it embodies what most of us feel when we hunt and when we take the life of a big game animal with our archery equipment. I hope you like it and that it is a distraction to the recent tragedy and all of the news and movements following. I would love to hear yalls comments, good or bad.
FYI: This is a fictional story that I pray comes true one day.
MOUNTAIN MONARCH
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*
The scream broke the still silence of the chill morning. *It sounded like a shrill scream of fear. *If you were not familiar with elk country then that is what you would think it was. *I knew better. *I knew where the sound had come from. *It was a lonely song that defied the sands of time, refusing to change, speaking of lost canyons and high mountain peaks. *It was the bugle of a majestic bull elk. *He was sounding his challenge to who ever thought they could take over his domain and his cows. *
I watched him through the timber, his breath coming in great billows of mist. *His hide was thick and full, the color of buckskin. *His antlers looked like great limbs on his head with seven points on each side. *His muscles rippled like water under his skin but were hard as steel from living his years in the mountains, fighting off predators and other bulls that thought they could outdo him in battle for the right to be the monarch of the Rockies. *The sun was just kissing the top of the mountain, clouds were coming in from the north showing signs that we were in for some snow. *There is frost on the ground and a bite in the air that told you that you were in the northwest in mid October.
Over in another canyon I heard another bull answer the challenge. *The seven pointer screamed again, taunting his challenger, daring him to come. *The bulls were both silent for a while until a deafening scream sounded from behind and to the left of me. *The challenger had put a sneak on me and the big bull, getting as close to as he could before sounding his final challenge. *I could just see him through the aspens. *He was a monstrous bull, almost as big as his rival. *He had six points to each side that were long and heavy with ivory tips polished to a fine white. *The seven point still stood in the meadow refusing to move or run. *The six by six walked out to meet him. *They were magnificent, those two bulls , standing out in the open, each trying to stand the other down, neither giving ground to the other. *
I was crouched behind a small spruce tree about fifty yards from the bulls holding my bow, waiting for a shot at either bull. *All of a sudden the six point charged the bigger bull without warning but the big guy was ready for him. *They came together with such force that they were both knocked to the ground. *They came up with a lust for the other’s blood in their eyes. *This was a battle that had been going on since the beginning of time: survival of the fittest, two giants trying to beat the other into submission. *They rushed each other and came together in a battle to the death. *They pushed and shoved each other all around the meadow; their hooves tearing chunks out of the ground so that it looked like a bulldozer had come through. *They fought for ten straight minutes. *Just when I thought they were gonna kill each other, they broke apart. *The fight was over; the seven point was the victor of an age old battle that had been waged for centuries. *While they were fighting I had snuck to the edge of the aspens which put me within twenty yards of the bulls. *I could see their sides rising from the exertion of so much energy. *Their breaths were coming in great clouds in the cold morning air.
They both started walking toward me, closing the gap to fifteen yards. *They were the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. *The big bull was perfectly broadside at about fifteen yards and the six point was angled away at about seventeen or eighteen yards. *They would both be great trophies to take home but I knew which one I wanted to take. *Very slowly, I put an arrow on the string and put some tension on it. *As I pulled back I started to shake so violently that I had to let up on the string. *I had never had the shakes this bad in my life. *My heart started to beat so heavily and loudly in my ears that I thought the bulls would hear it and run off. *I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. *When I finally settled down a bit, I picked a spot behind the bull’s shoulder. *Just when I was about to draw, the big bull moved to the right a few steps. *I concentrated on the spot of hair that I picked as my aiming point and drew back. *As soon as the string touched the corner of my mouth I released. *Some say that there are moments when time seems to stand still. *This was one of those times. *
I can remember seeing the bull’s eyes blink and his ear twitch. *I can remember a mocking bird that was singing in the branches above my head. *The arrow seemed to be suspended in a spiraling arch toward the target. *I saw the arrow sink to the feathers right behind the shoulder after what seemed an eternity. *The bull exploded out of his tracks and ran at breakneck speed across the meadow, he made it to the opposite edge of meadow before he stumbled and fell, never to get up again. *The other bull ran right by me, so close that I could feel the wind from his passing, crashing through the trees with reckless abandon. *As I walked to the elk, I was aware that it had started to snow. *I could feel a gentle breeze blow through my hair. *I felt a snowflake land on my cheek. *As I approached him I was shaking with excitement. *His eyes were unblinking and his breathing was still. *I knelt down beside him and ran by hands over his beautiful coat and antlers. *I said a prayer to God, thanking him for letting me take this beautiful animal and for letting me be fortunate enough to live in this country where I am free to hunt. *The bull was one of the most beautiful animals I had ever seen. *He had six magnificent points with their ivory tips shining in the morning light. *
The big seven point would live another day as the monarch of the mountains. *As I was preparing my bull for cleaning, I heard a bugle from the opposite mountain. *I got my binoculars out and looked for the source. *I could see the bull in all his beauty and glory on the side of the mountain. *I waved goodbye to him as a veil of snow blocked my sight of him but I could still hear him singing his song, the song of old that would never change and a song that would always remind me of that majestic bull elk and the beautiful bull that I took on that October day in the Rockies.
FYI: This is a fictional story that I pray comes true one day.
MOUNTAIN MONARCH
*
*
The scream broke the still silence of the chill morning. *It sounded like a shrill scream of fear. *If you were not familiar with elk country then that is what you would think it was. *I knew better. *I knew where the sound had come from. *It was a lonely song that defied the sands of time, refusing to change, speaking of lost canyons and high mountain peaks. *It was the bugle of a majestic bull elk. *He was sounding his challenge to who ever thought they could take over his domain and his cows. *
I watched him through the timber, his breath coming in great billows of mist. *His hide was thick and full, the color of buckskin. *His antlers looked like great limbs on his head with seven points on each side. *His muscles rippled like water under his skin but were hard as steel from living his years in the mountains, fighting off predators and other bulls that thought they could outdo him in battle for the right to be the monarch of the Rockies. *The sun was just kissing the top of the mountain, clouds were coming in from the north showing signs that we were in for some snow. *There is frost on the ground and a bite in the air that told you that you were in the northwest in mid October.
Over in another canyon I heard another bull answer the challenge. *The seven pointer screamed again, taunting his challenger, daring him to come. *The bulls were both silent for a while until a deafening scream sounded from behind and to the left of me. *The challenger had put a sneak on me and the big bull, getting as close to as he could before sounding his final challenge. *I could just see him through the aspens. *He was a monstrous bull, almost as big as his rival. *He had six points to each side that were long and heavy with ivory tips polished to a fine white. *The seven point still stood in the meadow refusing to move or run. *The six by six walked out to meet him. *They were magnificent, those two bulls , standing out in the open, each trying to stand the other down, neither giving ground to the other. *
I was crouched behind a small spruce tree about fifty yards from the bulls holding my bow, waiting for a shot at either bull. *All of a sudden the six point charged the bigger bull without warning but the big guy was ready for him. *They came together with such force that they were both knocked to the ground. *They came up with a lust for the other’s blood in their eyes. *This was a battle that had been going on since the beginning of time: survival of the fittest, two giants trying to beat the other into submission. *They rushed each other and came together in a battle to the death. *They pushed and shoved each other all around the meadow; their hooves tearing chunks out of the ground so that it looked like a bulldozer had come through. *They fought for ten straight minutes. *Just when I thought they were gonna kill each other, they broke apart. *The fight was over; the seven point was the victor of an age old battle that had been waged for centuries. *While they were fighting I had snuck to the edge of the aspens which put me within twenty yards of the bulls. *I could see their sides rising from the exertion of so much energy. *Their breaths were coming in great clouds in the cold morning air.
They both started walking toward me, closing the gap to fifteen yards. *They were the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen. *The big bull was perfectly broadside at about fifteen yards and the six point was angled away at about seventeen or eighteen yards. *They would both be great trophies to take home but I knew which one I wanted to take. *Very slowly, I put an arrow on the string and put some tension on it. *As I pulled back I started to shake so violently that I had to let up on the string. *I had never had the shakes this bad in my life. *My heart started to beat so heavily and loudly in my ears that I thought the bulls would hear it and run off. *I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. *When I finally settled down a bit, I picked a spot behind the bull’s shoulder. *Just when I was about to draw, the big bull moved to the right a few steps. *I concentrated on the spot of hair that I picked as my aiming point and drew back. *As soon as the string touched the corner of my mouth I released. *Some say that there are moments when time seems to stand still. *This was one of those times. *
I can remember seeing the bull’s eyes blink and his ear twitch. *I can remember a mocking bird that was singing in the branches above my head. *The arrow seemed to be suspended in a spiraling arch toward the target. *I saw the arrow sink to the feathers right behind the shoulder after what seemed an eternity. *The bull exploded out of his tracks and ran at breakneck speed across the meadow, he made it to the opposite edge of meadow before he stumbled and fell, never to get up again. *The other bull ran right by me, so close that I could feel the wind from his passing, crashing through the trees with reckless abandon. *As I walked to the elk, I was aware that it had started to snow. *I could feel a gentle breeze blow through my hair. *I felt a snowflake land on my cheek. *As I approached him I was shaking with excitement. *His eyes were unblinking and his breathing was still. *I knelt down beside him and ran by hands over his beautiful coat and antlers. *I said a prayer to God, thanking him for letting me take this beautiful animal and for letting me be fortunate enough to live in this country where I am free to hunt. *The bull was one of the most beautiful animals I had ever seen. *He had six magnificent points with their ivory tips shining in the morning light. *
The big seven point would live another day as the monarch of the mountains. *As I was preparing my bull for cleaning, I heard a bugle from the opposite mountain. *I got my binoculars out and looked for the source. *I could see the bull in all his beauty and glory on the side of the mountain. *I waved goodbye to him as a veil of snow blocked my sight of him but I could still hear him singing his song, the song of old that would never change and a song that would always remind me of that majestic bull elk and the beautiful bull that I took on that October day in the Rockies.
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