'The best hunt ever'

Kaden Nelson wanted to get his first elk with his grandfather by his side.

His wish came true.

“It was a perfect scenario,” the 22-year-old from Coeur d’Alene said recently. “It was awesome.”

Nelson and Michael Anson set out Friday, Oct. 9. They drove about 15 to 20 miles up the Coeur d’Alene River Road and camped overnight. Saturday, it dumped rain, “miserable,” Nelson said, so after splitting up, neither man stayed in the field too long. Sunday, though, they awoke to sunshine, a beautiful day, “just perfect,” and hiked up the mountain into a valley.

About an hour and half in, Nelson stopped. He heard a snap.

“Did you hear something?” he said to his grandfather.

No, Anson answered.

But a few moments later, an elk emerged through the thicket, some 65 yards away.

“Sure enough, we see this monster elk,” Nelson said.

He couldn’t get a clear shot with his 30.06. The elk began walking down a ridge, but for some reason, it turned around.

About then, Anson told Nelson to “scoot up the trail a little bit and you might see a clear spot.”

There was.

“I found a 2-foot window with no trees,” Nelson said.

Anson watched.

“I remember him breathing so hard, I almost thought the elk would hear him,” he said.

Nelson looked through the scope, and the elk walked into it. Nelson pulled the trigger.

One shot through the shoulder.

The 5x5 elk went down.

“The excitement was just unreal,” Anson said. “We both looked at each other, yahooing each other, high-fiving.”

They ran to the elk, where Nelson finished it.

Next came the real work.

“He’s the young guy, so I let him pack out the hind quarters,” Anson said with a laugh.

Nelson, after a search, found the spent casing for a keepsake, and retrieved the bullet, as well.

They got back to their truck about 6 that night.

“As soon as we shut the doors, it started pouring down rain,” Nelson said.

He said he had considered heading to southern Idaho to hunt with another relative, but wanted to get his first elk with his grandfather.

From him, he learned about relationships. Repairing cars. Fixing stuff around the house. About life. About God.

“He's one of the most important people in my life,” said Nelson, who will graduate soon with a degree in marketing from Washington State University.

Anson, of Post Falls, said having his grandson get his first elk with him, that he was there start to finish, was a blessing.

“That’s better than me getting anything by far,” he said. “To be able to share that experience with him, that’s going to last a lifetime. It’s priceless. I can’t really put it to words. It’s just the best hunt ever.”

“I’m fulfilled for a lifetime now,” he added.

Before the hunt, Anson gave Nelson a necklace that held the ivories and bullet from his first elk that he shot in 1979.

“It’s pretty special to me,” he said. “But I’m at the age you start handing things off.”

While it was Anson’s advice that made the difference in his grandson getting a clear shot, he brushed off any credit.

“It just worked out,” Anson said. “He’s the one that heard it to begin with. He heard it, he saw it, he shot it. Now, it’s in the freezer.”