Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Thanks Montana (solo backpack elk) and 2013 season

I walked up a bit to another set of rocks that gave me a better view of the slope I was on and the whole drainage proper, hoping the big guy would come back out, but knew that was unlikely. I started glassing hard and making a mental note of prevailing wind patterns- that wasn't going to get me again.

A few hours later a see some of my former buddies were back-







They were one the ridge where the big herd the first morning was and there was a bigger bull with them that I didn't get a picture of, but here was no chance that I would make it up there. Two days earlier and I would have tried it.

In total there were 36 that I counted before they fed over the ridge.



The day ended with this-





I picked my way down the slope on a small game trail that I found coming in, and walked down to the trail and back out. That knocked off nearly thirty minutes. I planned to come back to the same place the next day as there was quite a bit of sign and it offered a good view for the glass.





The next day I woke late and didn't get settled on the ridge until the sun was well up. I spent the day burning holes in every pocket, snow slide, and ridge that I could see. I moved into several different spots getting different angles on the drainage. I went up to the top and glassed from the backside down into the drainage that the hellhole ran into, and lo and behold spotted big boy moving through a narrow slide. He was non the worse for wear.

I knew that I could kill him. I also knew instantly that there was no way that I could get the meat out before it spoiled. Temperatures had risen into the high 40'd during the day, only into the mid 30's at night, and judged that it would take at least 3 more hours just to get into the drainage that he was in. I could see tracks tearing up the snow through the spotter. Just looking at it, the terrain around it, the wind blew up into the drainage from the main valley, the back was boarded by a 10.5k mountain, it just looked like a perfect place for a dude to hide out and get big. Not sure why he ever came out onto the slope I was on, but it was obvious that was his home area and as he headed further around the point out of view, I knew he wasn't coming out.

I glassed for a bit, but left him before I got an itchy trigger finger. I headed back down the point to the South West, picking apart the deep timber on the backside as I went. I made it down to where the West side of the ridge dropped off and looked up to the opposite ridge-




The one that I was on the first morning where I spotted the big herd from. Just right of center there are 5 or 6 elk. You can see a couple of dots just below the snow line. I took this just before I saw a bull follow them into the meadow from the ridge top. Through the binos I could see that he was legal. I threw the pack down, snatched out the spotter and set it in the shooting sticks. He wasn't nearly as big as the other bull, but he was the biggest that I had seen other than him. He had what I believe to be the spike with brow tines that I had seen two days prior with him as well. I checked my watch, and there was about 30 minutes of legal light left. The ridge down on my side was impassable. Pulling out the map showed that the ridge they were on didn't look makable from below either, and diffidently not in time. It was killing me. He was just on the far side of 900 yards. While the gun is capable of that, it is not the kind of shot I will take solo, without someone good on the glass. And truthfully I just didn't want to take one that far.

No matter how hard that I tried, I could see no way to get to them in time. So I just sat there for a few minutes watching as one by one the cows fed down to the left and then up and over the ridge, slipping out of view. Out of curiosity I pinged the lowest cow and it came back just over 800. Now the wheels started turning in my head. I started looking around. There was no wind where I was. Through the spotter I could see no wind where the elk were. I pointed the spotter to the right looking down the valley between us and the tree tops were dead still. I swung it to the left and the sun was still gleaming off the closest ridge showing the mirage boiling. I knew from earlier in the day that if there were any wind at all it should be coming from right to left down the valley but I could find nothing. There wasn't any micro terrain. It was a straight valley going up to a peak 2+ miles away. I made the decision that if the bull made it to a certain point lower than that cow was, and I had that warm fuzzy, I would kill him.

I laid down to check the position and found that I couldn't get enough angle on the gun as they were slightly above me, so I scooted the pack and rifle over to a group of rocks that were slightly higher and tried again. Now I could get the angle. Ran and grabbed the spotter setting it back up a couple feet away on the bull as he slowly fed down the ridge. I took off my gloves, balling them up and using them as a rear bag. Double checked to make sure the gun was clear, got into position, took a deep breath, let it, out closed my eyes, and opened checking my NPA. The reticle was still good and I dry fired on him. The reticle bounced slightly to the 2 o'clock. I used my toes to shift over a bit, corrected my grip in the gun, and tried again. That one was good. I repeated this a couple of times as he continued to feed down.

Finally he passed my predetermined point. I got the range, dialed it, checked for wind again, chambered a round, rechecked my NPA, he turned exactly the way that I wanted him to, I got the warm fuzzy, took two deep breaths letting the last one out to the natural respiratory pause, and pressed.....





To be cont.......