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Ridgway resident has successful hunt |
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Saturday, 08 November 2008 |
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By Greg Reedy
Record Sports Editor This was seven years in the making for Glenn "Herb" Olay.
Olay won a cow license at the Elk Expo in September for the 2008 Elk Hunt and recently harvested the coveted creature.
Olay went with Ken Johnson, Ken Wilson, Scott Olay and Bob Decker in the hunt. He was one of only two county residents to win a license at the Elk Expo.
"I had been putting in for seven years for tags," Olay said. "There was only two people in Elk County that got a tag. Everyone else is from out of county or out of state."
Olay said it took a long time to learn the lay of the land and scout before the hunt.
"We did a lot of scouting, about two weeks," Olay said. "The fellas in the picture with me spent a lot of time in the woods looking. We walked in at five in the morning and the bulls were bugeling and the cows were calling. Somebody had shot in front of us and we thought we were in trouble. But they spooked everything out and we saw the cow with a spike and a 5X5 bull. We got in as far as we could and we were 127 yards. I shot it once and that's all it took."
Excitement overcame the group after Olay had accomplished the feat.
"After that, it's a pretty darn good feeling," Olay said. "Everybody's happy as heck and acting like a bunch of 2-year–olds because we finally did it."
The happiness turned to determined work for Olay and the group as they dragged the cow out of the woods.
"After that, it was a lot of work," Olay said. "It was five to seven in the morning and we didn't get out to the road until 10. By the time we got the hide off it and got it to the butcher shop, it was 5:30. It was a long day, it was an exciting day, but I was tired."
Olay was surprised at the amount of questions asked at the check station.
"The check station, they ask you a lot of questions, you got to have GPS coordinates," Olay said. "There's a lot of raw data, you have to give them liver samples and blood samples and lungs. It's a lot of work."
Olay credited the Game Commission for all their help and for saving the group a large amount of work.
"In the end, you almost end up doing an autopsy for the Game Commission," Olay said. "But, the Game Commission, we called them and they unlocked the gate which saved us about two miles of walking. They were great about it. People assume you're just going to go out in the woods and get one. You have to put a lot of work into it."
Olay said the cow was estimated at 500 pounds live and 397 pounds dressed. It was estimated at four years old.
"The processor is gonna butcher it just like a cow," Olay said. "Steaks and hamburgers and roast. He recommended the hamburger rather than making a sausage out of it. We're getting the hide tanned to make a rug. The fellas that helped me out, we're gonna have an elk dinner. My neighbor lent me his camp in Benezette and saved a lot of travel time."
Olay has also been in communication with Tyler Rieder, the other county resident who won a license. He harvested an 7x7 bull elk on Thursday.
Olay and Reider know each other from the past. Olay said he and Rieder went to school together at Penn State-DuBois.
"Tyler and I went to school together," Olay said. "I worked at Motion Control and then I went to Penn State-DuBois. He was just out of high school. I was in my 40s, he was 18. We went down for Wildlife Tech together. So I'm rooting for Tyler because, he's been putting a lot of time in."
Overall, Olay said he knows he couldn't have done it on his own.
"A lot of guys were involved in it and I appreciate all their help," Olay said. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 30 July 2009 )
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