Landry’s son, daughter claim trophy elk in Colorado
Confidence and mental toughness are getting Loreauville native and sugar cane farmer Todd Landry through an extremely difficult sugar cane harvest down the stretch of 2018.
Those two keys to success also happen to be behind two of the proudest moments he has had as the father of five children, all lovers of the outdoors, especially fishing and hunting, with an emphasis on the latter. On a big game hunt each of the last two years to Colorado, three elk with antlers the size of small trees were shot and killed by the Landrys from Iberia Parish.
Confidence and mental toughness indeed.
Landry’s second-youngest daughter, Victoria, 22, exhibited those traits before her five-day elk hunting trip with her father in October 2017 and his second-youngest son, Trent, 23, found them toward the end of his personally challenging five-day elk hunt one year later in October. Both son and daughter were rewarded with trophy elk to bring home.
As for lagniappe, Landry, 56, also killed a trophy elk on the horseback trip a few months ago with Trent.
“We had two incredible trips. They were just unbelievable trips of a lifetime. We’re so blessed, man,” Landry said.
Call of the wild
They all heard bull elk bugle, an unearthly sound that sends chills up and down the spine, as well as the heart-stopping sound of a herd of elk on the move. And they soaked in the majestic landscape of the Rocky Mountains.
“Ah, it was beautiful scenery. A photo doesn’t do it justice. The Rocky Mountains. It was beautiful country,” Trent said.
His sister agreed and said, “Oh, it’s awesome. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Everywhere you look it’s lush and green, even during the winter, and there’s snow on the mountain caps. Oh, it was beautiful. I love Colorado.”
If a big game hunt could top the one she enjoyed with her dad last year, it was the one when Landry returned to the region around Granby, Colorado, with Trent for the October trip with Samuelson Outfitters during the state’s second rifle season of the year.
Trent, who graduated in December 2017 with a degree in industrial technology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and works for Star Measurement in Lafayette, which supplies the petro chemical industry with gas and liquid measurement equipment, said he has been hunting with his dad his whole life, thus working “my way up to this, what we did a couple months ago.”
His father scored first. It was on the second day following a 2 ½-hour horseback ride.
The veteran deer hunter — who has hunted whitetail deer, mostly in Alabama, most of his adult life — called the kill shot, his first-ever at an elk, with his Browning A Bolt .30-06 the best shot of his life. The huge bull elk was running and at a distance of 100 yards when he pulled the trigger and hit the moving target.
Then it was the hunter who was doing the running in an effort to track the animal. He got winded fast in the thin air but kept after it and was rewarded.
“When I saw that big thing laying down … so majestic, these animals, in the wilderness,” he said.
Disheartening misses
Landry’s accuracy wasn’t contagious. In the long run, that was a good development for Trent. Short-term, if anything, the younger outdoorsman’s confidence waned the way events unfolded on the third day.
Twice Trent, who played football his last three years at Loreauville High School, missed a shot at bull elk on the third day. He was in the mountains when he kept hearing footsteps get louder and louder before a herd of elk — calves, cows and males — eventually emerged into view.
“It shakes you up. Your heart comes out of your chest” at that sound, his father said.
Soon, Trent singled out an elk 225 yards away, lifted his Browning A Bolt .30-06 rifle and fired off-target. Then he was unable to load another bullet and the opportunity passed.
Landry felt his son’s angst and said, “Son, it’s all about mental toughness. Things are not always going to go your way.”
Later, they heard another bull elk’s bugle behind them and the animal ambled into sight. Trent took aim and squeezed off a shot, missed, and again couldn’t chamber another round.
The fourth day ended with the promising sight of another herd with one monstrous bull elk. The hunters and guide were spotted, however, and the herd moved safely away.
After that, Trent said, “I didn’t think I was going to get one.”
The guide set them up the next and final morning in an area where he believed that herd might be. They were positioned on the side of a mountain overlooking a valley.
A herd of cows showed itself, then spooked when they saw the younger hunter but was followed by that monstrous bull elk.
“I said, ‘Man, a good one is coming. Take your time,’ ” his father said.
Trent fired, Landry said, remembering the momentous occasion and his son’s words, oozing confidence, “I know I shot good.”
When the bull elk, which was approximately 100 yards away, didn’t rejoin the cows, it was apparent it had been hit. They found it about 50 yards from where it was shot. It was a kill.
When Trent saw the size of the beast, he was even more impressed.
Beauty of the beast
“It’s so majestic. When you see it, you wonder how this animal walking around the woods like this,” quietly, like a ghost, it’s amazing, he said.
“What me and my dad did, the size elk we each got, you don’t see too often. They’re both 6x6s. Mine’s a little bigger,” he said, noting their guide had never seen father-son trophies like that on one five-day trip.
Trent’s first elk of his hunting career was monstrous, his father agreed.
“To see the smile on that guy’s face …,” he said, his voice trailing off. “That has changed his outlook on life.”
The broad smile was similar to the one on Victoria’s face as she stood over a big bull elk she shot during the second rifle season in October 2017. That beaming smile replaced tears that were streaming down her face earlier because she feared she had missed the approximately 75-yard shot while hunting with Monarch Outfitters & Guide Service LLC near Rocky Mountain National Park.
Hers was a personal double triumph. She was the first in the family to go on a big game hunt after accepting and winning a challenge from her father, who four years ago decided to emphasize a healthier lifestyle himself and also started a Juice Plus+ franchise with another local resident. Landry trimmed down from 280 pounds to 225 pounds.
Realizing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, Landry told his daughter if she lost a certain amount of weight, he’d buy her her first rifle. If she lost 10 pounds more than that, he’d take her on an elk hunting trip to Colorado.
Accepts weight-loss challenge
Victoria, a senior majoring in dietetics at ULL, accepted. She began losing weight following Christmas 2016.
“It was a motivational thing for me,” she said.
She weighed 220 pounds at the time. When she went elk hunting with her new Browning White Gold .308 X Bolt, she weighed 150 pounds.
“She said, ‘Pop, it’s time to book that trip,’ ” Landry said.
Like her brother did a year later, she flew out of Lafayette to Denver, where her father, who drove each time, picked her up and traveled to Granby.
Victoria, who played catcher and third base before graduating from Loreauville High School, was ill-prepared for the out-of-state trip, she admitted. She packed too many pairs of shorts for the Colorado temperature, which dipped as low as 10 degrees.
So she wore her warmer hunting clothes more often, even when she wasn’t hunting, she said with a chuckle, and went out to get some jeans.
She’ll never forget the day she killed the bull elk, a first for the Landrys. Neither will her father.
It happened on the third day of the trip, she said, noting their guide set them up near a “funnel” the elk used after grazing during the night on a golf course and returning to the safety of the national wildlife refuge long before the sun rose high in the sky. Elk are smart, she said, explaining they know they can’t be shot on the refuge.
A herd of elk moved past them at a good clip while they were positioned behind a large stump. The elk split ranks to go around the stump.
“I had my pick. Hearing them bugle was amazing, and seeing the light come through the trees is an experience, it really is,” she said.
She was able to single out one of the biggest elk. It was approximately 75 yards away.
“I had my pick. I picked one that looked the best to me. I got it, actually, between the lungs, not ruining anything, a straight double lung shot. It was awesome,” she said. “It ran about 25, 30 yards away from us.”
The young hunter didn’t know that right away, however. She had a sinking feeling. Did the .308-caliber slug miss its mark?
Tears to cheers
“She walked back to me, tears coming out of her eyes,” Landry said.
Victoria joined the guide and her father looking for a blood trail. She walked across the area and after a long while, stopped and called out to the men.
“She said, ‘Is this blood?’ ” her father said.
It was and it wasn’t long before they found the elk.
“I said, ‘Oh my God, I got it,” she said, remembering the moment.
Landry remembers marveling at her accuracy.
“I don’t know what it is with girls. Those girls shoot lights out. Victoria shoots better than me,” he said.