A week ago, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation received an email from Jeremy Nauta. He told us about his brother, Joshua, who doctors said only had 4-6 months to live due to an ongoing battle with brain cancer. Joshua’s wish was to take his six-year-old son, Jaden, on an elk hunt before he is gone. We just received a follow-up email from Jeremy below. Congrats and Godspeed from the RMEF!
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| Joshua and son Jaden |
The trip was more than I could ever imagine. For five days my brother seemed to forget what he is facing. And because of the generosity of others, he fulfilled his wish to have Jaden take part in this most awesome experience!
Josh filled his tag on Friday, the third day of the season. This particular bull was found on Thursday wounded. We weren’t sure how or why. At that time Josh decided to pass.
The next day we decided to glass another canyon and Josh made the comment that he hadn’t been able to get that bull out of his thoughts. He determined if we saw that bull again, his heart said he should take it for he knew it probably wouldn’t survive the winter the way it was acting.
Deep down in a very steep canyon we found the bull, the same bull from the previous day! We made our way down toward him and got set up at 255 yards. With the .270 short mag, Josh made two shots, both hitting the lungs. The bull died and rolled deeper into the canyon. It turned out to be a 6 x 6, measuring approximately 315-inches. The bull’s injury was a large, deep gash along its spine, obviously from another bull during the rut. Josh would like to thank Jon VanderZanden, the guide from the Pocket Ranch, the owner of the Pocket Ranch, Bruce Hampton and Robert Butterfield for contacting the landowner/guide and making this happen, He also wants to thank Jeff Dunn from Faith in the Field for capturing these moments on film and his family for being there this past week making the most awesome memories for him and Jaden!
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| Joshua and Jeremy |