558 N. Main St., Prineville, OR 97754 | (541) 447-6205
Kayla Pieren poses with the 6x6 Bull she shot with a bow and arrow last fall. The bull scored out at 301-5/8, which makes it one of the largest bulls ever taken by a youth archer in Oregon.
“Dad thought he had a nice bull,” say Kayla. “Until he figured out that his set of elk antlers could fit inside mine.”
Now 14, Kayla Pieren is an old pro at shooting the bow. The last two years she was one of five youths to make the Oregon junior team and go the international Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC), which is recognized as the most comprehensive youth hunting program anywhere in North America. The NRA program provides young hunters with various outdoor skills as well as safety training.
Kayla finished eighth last year at the competition out of 118 juniors. In 2010 she finished 21st overall out of 126 juniors. However, last fall was the first time she took her skills to the field in search of big game.
“It was my first year hunting anything bigger than myself. I’m short so it doesn’t take much,” she joked.
Just when she thought everything was going perfectly, the release on her bow started to tear apart. She started worrying because she knew that her form and equipment needed to be the same every time when shooting to make consistent shots. She showed the problem to her grandmother.
“I’m very glad for her excellent sewing skills because when she was done, the release felt just like it had before and held up well too.”
Practice done. Time for the hunt. She and her dad hunted in eastern Oregon in the Chesnimnus Unit during the second week of the archery season.
“We camped out for a week and walked a lot of miles,” Kayla recalled, “and Dad dragged me into a lot of holes and canyons.”
On the first morning of their hunt she tagged along with her dad. They saw a few squirrels and some old elk sign, not what they had hoped, so they decided to head back to camp. Kayla said the knot in her stomach began untying because they were done for the morning. They were walking through some nice-looking elk bedding areas when all of a sudden her dad froze.
“I’ve been along with Dad long enough to know that when he freezes I better freeze too or I might scare something away,” said Kayla. “He was hunkered down so I could see over his shoulders and I saw an antler move through the trees.”
Her father had been walking in front of Kayla and the bull didn’t give them time to switch places for her to shoot. The bull approached and turned broadside at 18 yards. As soon as its left front leg came forward, her dad let fly an arrow, making a perfect shot. The bull went about 50 yards and they heard him crash. They arrived shortly after to a nice 7 X 6 bull.
“While Dad was butchering it, he kept saying over and over, ‘Man, I wish you were in front. This could have been your bull. Man, I wish we would have seen him sooner.’ And I kept saying, ‘Dad, it’s really okay. There’s nothing we can do about it now.’ But he was still kicking himself for the next four days.”
By Day 5, after miles of walking, Kayla started to think that maybe she wouldn’t be as lucky as her dad. She slept in that morning since she wasn’t feeling too well but went out for the afternoon hunt. She started the hunt perched in a tree stand. Two hours later, just as her back began to ache, she and her dad heard a bull bugle down the canyon a ways. They determined that the elk was in the next draw over and headed up and over a ridge to get there.
Once on the ridge, Kayla and her dad moved stealthily along until they saw movement ahead. It turned out to be two “moo” cows and not elk cows. However, about ten yards farther they spotted the bull 30 yards behind the cows. Kayla recalled that he was so muddy that he looked like he’d just taken a bath in used motor oil. He then started raking a little willow tree and every time he put his head down they “hot-footed it” another ten steps closer.
“It was a good thing those cows were there because I think they covered up a lot of our noise,” Kayla said. “Finally we got within 45 yards of the elk.”
Kayla nocked an arrow and they waited – for exactly eight minutes (“the longest of Dad’s life,” Kayla recalled). She said her dad was very nervous, almost to the point of hyperventilating, but she remained completely unruffled. Through whispers, they had plenty of time to talk about the size of the bull. Kayla knew it was a good bull but her dad didn’t want her to know just how big, thinking she might get nervous.
“I told Dad that it’s okay if I don’t get this bull,” she said. “It’s cool just watching him. He didn’t answer but said later that he was thinking, ‘Yeah, just cool watching a 300 class bull!’”
The bull finally stopped raking the willow, turned and started walking in front of them until he was directly broadside. Kayla doesn’t remember drawing or shooting but thought that she was taking too long, and the bull would take off any minute. Her dad recalled that it was only three seconds after the bull stopped that she let the arrow fly.
The bull whirled, acting completely unhurt, and trotted up the hill, leaving Kayla thinking she had missed him. However, her dad was sure she hit him where she aimed. After 50 yards the bull stumbled, regained its feet then ran over the crest of the hill.
“We proceeded to spend the next longest 20 minutes of Dad’s life,” Kayla laughed. “He spent the entire time second-guessing himself and my shot. When he couldn’t stand waiting any longer, we started up the hill.”
As they crested the hill they found the bull lying there dead. Kayla could finally take a deep breath and know that she got a nice elk. A nice elk indeed – the 6 X 6 bull scored out at 301-5/8. It could be the new youth Oregon state archery record for bull elk but Kayla and her dad are still checking on that. There’s a good chance it’s at least in the top three.
“All my YHEC training had finally paid off in more than competition medals,” said Kayla. “Now that I look back on it, I’m very thankful that Dad pushed me so many times.”
For those young hunters out there, and even those with more experience, she
