by Jim Beyer

Vic and Sherry Jakovac have hunted “just about for ever.” They started hunting together after getting married 37 years ago. “We backed off for a while when the kids were little. As they got older, we got back into it,” Sherry said. So did the children. “Paul is strictly an outdoorsman,” Vic said. “Brett is our oldest. He is a businessman, but he loves the outdoors and he is a real good photographer also,” Sherry said.

Vic and Sherry harvested two deer on the same hunting trip in the Rattlesnake hills toward Natrona. “We got mine on the 16th and Vic’s on the 20th of in October 2004,” Sherry recounted. “We helped our friend Dan get his deer on the 15th. After he left, we decided to go scout a little bit, because we were hunting on the ‘general side’ that year. We were glassing and I spotted mine. We wondered if we were going to run across anything that was nice. We like the meat so we don’t worry about (the trophy) part much. The trophy is always fun. It’s an added bonus.”

“I spotted this one while I was glassing and so I decided to put a stock on him. I had to go up a couple of ravines and crawled up this hill. I hated to climb that hill with my knees, but he was a nice one and I wanted to try to get him in his bed That was my game plan,” Sherry said.

“He was below a fallen pine tree in this sage draw. The wind was blowing like a hundred miles an hour; it usually is out there. When I shot, I hit below him and missed him. He jumped up and started to take off. I decided to lead him, because I usually forget to do that. I think I led him too far, because I hit him in the horn. I rung his bell a little bit.” Sherry chuckled. “My third shot got him down. We had a fun time dragging him back to the truck. We had to go up and down two hills. For the two of us, that’s a bit of a job, 'cause Vic was 68 at that time and I will just let you guess at my age.”

Vic said, “We know the area and we do a little scouting. We scout something and then go after it. We pattern what they do. It might take two or three days. So far we have been pretty lucky and eventually we get what we have seen.”

That year, the requirement was four points or better, Sherry said. “Where we hunt has a gene-pool of a three-point or three by four, which is legal. Before I could stalk him, we had to see if he had what we needed. I was really fortunate. He was 26 and a-half inches wide.”

“We ran across the one that Vic got the next day, but he was in the wrong area (limited hunt). We just patterned him and watched him. When he got where it was legal to shoot him, then he made the mistake that we wanted him to make. We were surprised that we could come up with two deer that size.” Sherry said.

They don’t mind laying on the ground waiting, although Sherry said, “Well, I don’t lay a lot” and Vic chimed in “We sit for a while and use our spotting scope, our glasses and look around. Mostly in the mornings and evenings, that’s the best time to try to find them.” “The old cliché of getting them first thing in the morning or in the evening,” Sherry said. “That is out the window, because I get mine at about 11 am. We got a late start, [but] decided to go and see what we could see before the evening hunt. Part of the time hunting is luck and sometimes it is skill too.”

Sherry got an elk up in the Rattlesnake Hills in 2005. “Paul drew a deer tag in the limited quota area and I drew an elk tag. The morning of the 15th, we were hoping to come up with a deer for Paul. He spotted one and we watched him for a while. Paul was hoping to run across something bigger so we move up the mountain and did some walking.” Paul ran a long ridge and they were going to meet him at the bottom, Sherry said.

Vic and she heard shots on the other side of the ridge. “We slowed down, got out and waited. Three big bull elk come down through this draw about two draws over from where we were. I moved down the road. They kept stopping and hesitating. Many times an elk will just take off and run and you won’t see them again. As these three came down, they were a little cautious. They’d stop and look around and then move and stop and look around again. They were coming right for us. Then they decided to go over into the next drainage, so I took off and walked around. They came out of the drainage and I got a shot off at this one,” Sherry said.

When they picked up Paul, Sherry added, “I got an elk down.” Paul responded, “Mom! It will take all day.” Sherry chuckled again and said it took quite a while to recover the elk, but a nice fellow helped them too. That evening Paul went back to look for the deer he saw in the morning. He found him on the backside of the mountain just before dark. “He spotted him and glassed. He loves to do that sort of thing. That’s part of the fun, to re-find them and put a stock on him,” Sherry said. “We had to pack it out in the dark,” Vic added.

Sherry hunts with a Winchester .243 and Vic uses a Parker-Hale 30.06. Not many people are familiar with the Parker-Hale. “It is an older rifle, with a Mauser action, but it’s really a good one. It is like new and I use it all the time,” Vic said. He does not believe in big magnums, a 30.06 is good enough if you are close enough to make sure you have a kill, he said. Sherry explained, “I like the .243 because it’s light-weight and not so heavy to pack around.” Vic said, “Sherry is an excellent rifle shot.

“Hunting is a lot of fun and always has been. A lot of people think we are getting too old to do it. It is what helps keep us young,” Sherry said. “As long as you enjoy it,” Vic chimed in, “do it as long as you can. There is going to come a day when you are not going to be able to.” 

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