September 22, 2016 by Shawn Chittim
We operate on a 5,000 acre family owned and operated ranch located in Shasta County, California. This premium elk ranch is located in the huge Northeastern California Elk Zone. The zone has a total of 4 differnt hunts for elk annually, the hunt codes 304, 305, 409 and 411. All hunts combined have a total of 37 elk tags through the general draw, 27 of which can be used for bulls. If we get one hunter annually through these draw tags it's a great season, in 2016, we managed to get 2.
Logan has been waiting his turn to draw a junior tag and he was lucky enough to get 1 of the 2 Junior or (Apprentice Hunt) tags. We would be doing back flips on any other year, but we had just booked Rob for a trophy bull hunt which we were committed to the whole season if necessary. Looked like Logan was once again waiting his turn. His dad, Steve had been researching other options but being he was my nephew, this aunt and uncle wanted to be part of his hunt.
We have great landowners whom graciously worked with us on providing us the ability to take Logan on the ranch for his elk hunt. We are working towards providing quality hunts for trophy animals and this includes limiting the take on the old bulls that call this ranch home. I had informed Rob about Logan's draw fortune early in our conversations, he was not opposed to allowing Logan to shoot a bull durning his hunt. I appreciated the offer but hoped that it would not come to that, Rob was our first and primary commitment. As luck would have it, we finished our hunt with Rob on Saturday morning. It was late afternoon before we got all him in the locker and caped. Rob treated the family to a dinner at Nello's Place, it was a great close to an epic day. Logan, your up tomorrow morning kid.
When it takes so long to draw a tag and the fact that it very well could be the only elk tag you'll ever draw in California, it can draw a crowd, especially when you come from a hunting family. The morning darkness found all of us listening for bugles, it was Logan, Kristy, Steve, Shelley, Michael and even Rob, stayed over to be part of the hunt. Once we located the elk, Logan, Kristy, Michael and I moved down the ridge, while Shelley, Steve & Rob stayed back up to the northeast to watch from the concealment of the oaks.
It was intense, bulls bugling and raking all while we moved closer to see if there was a bull for Logan. It didn't take long before we had located us one that fit the criteria. Michael filmed and Logan's mom Kristy, sat closely behind us and watched the action. Logan & I set up the shooting sticks and talked our way through what was about to take place. Once our 5 point seperated himself from the herd Logan put a great shot on him. It seemed as quickly as it started it was over. It was the perfect bull for our management plans and the first elk for a great kid, who couldn't be happier. It was awesome, the smile says it all.
Things could not have worked out better. Logan is an allstar of a kid, yes he's my nephew and we've had some pretty spectacular hunting and fishing trips together. I was there for his first turkey, his first blacktail, his first mule deer and now his first elk. He's a senior at West Valley High School, with impressive acheivements in acedemics. I know he'll go far in life and accomplish great things. His parents and his Grandma B have provided a solid family foundation, which is so important in life and he's embraced it instead of been embarassed by it. While I'm sure we have done our share of embarassing him. We are very proud of him and I hope that he'll always look back with a smile on his face when he remembers the family times afield.
Posted in: California Rocky Mountain Elk Hunting, News
