Local Ends Busy Season With Successful Elk Hunt

By STEPHANIE BUNKER

Moapa Valley Progress

Logandale resident Mica Leatham drew a Rocky Mountain Bull Elk tag with only 1 bonus point. His luck didn’t end there with the tag draws, Leatham also drew an area 24 deer tag and an antelope tag all in 2018.

“It was fun to shoot all 3 animals in one year, but looking back I would have turned in 2 of the tags and focused on one hunt,” Leatham said. “I spent all my time trying to find a nice deer and I wish I spent more time focusing on the elk hunt. Instead I got a little antelope, a little deer, and little elk.”
But Leatham emphasized that it isn’t all about the size of the horns, his family eats all of the meat he kills.

The Elk hunt took place mid November and it was a cold time of year. Leatham and some friends went to his area a few days before the hunt opened to get some eyes on something he would like to shoot.
Leatham’s friend Tyler Nelson also had a bull elk tag so they hunted together for the first day and Nelson ended up shooting his elk. During that day Leatham saw a nice elk and he wanted to get in on a shot at it but it wasn’t possible that day.

Lon Dalley went up and hunted with him and they found the bull he had seen the next day but they had a hard time getting a shot; it went right into the trees and was never found again. Leatham hunted a few more days with friends and family but had no success before he decided to head south and defrost at home.

The next week Leatham went back to his area with his friend Levi Spencer.
“When your hunting with Levi, there is no question about whether you’re going to get a bull, it’s just a question of how big,” said Leatham.

The two men found a bull and sized him up through the spotting scope. It wasn’t the bull Leatham was hoping to shoot. But he considered his options. There were only a few more days of the hunt left, and his help was running thin.

Ultimately Leatham decided to go ahead and harvest this bull that was about 300 yards away.
Except it began to not cooperate. “The bull did the same thing as the first one,” Leatham said. “It went back into the tree line and we were trying to figure out whether it was going up the canyon or down the canyon.”

Levi went about 20 feet away from Leatham to see if he could see it.
“I recalled this scene happening before with some elk that busted out of the trees so I decided to get my gun set up and ready in case he came out” Leatham said. “Sure enough he came out the bottom of the trees alone and he ran down the bottom of the canyon and about half way up before he stopped and I took my shot. I hit him and he stepped forward. I shot again but hit in front of him. My next shot dropped him.”

The hunt was over by 9:00 that Saturday morning. But then the work began. Leatham and Spencer dressed the animal and hung the meat in the shade, by the time they finished and hiked out it was almost dark.

Leatham had helped Nelson pack out his elk the week before and decided he would use horses to pack his own out. Leatham drove home to Logandale that night and recruited a friends’ help and horses. They went back out early the next morning to retrieve the meat.

The elk was a 5 point that had a history of fighting, his second point was broken completely off and the first point was half broken.
“I had it European mounted and the taxidermist called me and asked if I’d shot it in the head, which I hadn’t. The taxidermist found a hole in its skull below its eye and the only thing we could think was it was an old wound from fighting,” said Leatham.

“I had a lot of good help on my hunts,” Leatham added. “I had a lot of friends and family and it makes a guy feel good he has that many friends to help him.”

Leatham said that is what hunting is all about, making good memories and spending time with friends in the great outdoors. “We all enjoy doing it and I look forward to when they have tags and I can help them too,” he said.

Leatham was also appreciative of his wife, Shelbie for being so patient during all of his hunts and putting up with him being gone a lot.