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[Looks like I’ll have to break this up into multiple segments to get all the pictures to display.]

Part 1 of 3 =============================

Dave and I met while working together back in 1998. He discovered I hunted elk and wanted to give it a try. In 1999 we went together and he took his first elk, a bull, using my 7mm RM Ruger M77 and a 160g Speer Grand Slam handload, a load I’d been using since the early 1980’s. He took two cows in subsequent years but his health problems (diabetes) made it hard for him. Since 2004 he had gone home sick twice, got sick while dragging out a deer another year, sprained his ankle so badly the doc said a clean break would have been better and went home another, and still another his body chemistry was so messed up he was hallucinating. (I didn’t find that out until the next morning.) A couple other years he simply stayed home because he was too sick to hunt. Needless to say, his health issues have caused me a lot of concern.

This year was no different as Dave had limited range of motion with his arms, even after surgery on one of them. He announced he wouldn’t be able to shoulder a quarter and haul it out and, as it turned out, was unable to go more than about 1-1/2 miles before he had to stop. One morning he announced this would be his last elk hunt as he simply couldn’t do it anymore and he didn’t want to hold the rest of us back. Dave and I held OTC bull tags and cow tags for Unit 12/23/24. One of my sons-in-law, Chris, was with us but didn’t have a tag and had had to return home Tuesday for family reasons. With just Dave and I the hunt became doing what he could rather than what we needed to do.

Time for some photos.

We were staying near Meeker at the River Camp RV Park. Here’s a picture of our camp. The White River is just to the left.


Chris and Dave Opening morning:


We saw some beautiful country. We rested at this beaver pond while watching for elk across the way. There were shots from over the hill on the right but nothing came our direction.


With Chris gone Dave and I ended up driving north to Craig and points beyond to hunt bulls in The BLM land south of the Wyoming border where we had had a lot of success in the past. When we hunt the Craig area the frist thing we always do is check the private land east of Ralph White Reservoir. When the migration is on there will be upwards of 2500 elk in the fields. If you look closely the white streak in the winter wheat field is dust kicked up by a herd of 70-100 elk heading left at full speed. A hunter in orange and another person in camo are below the elk where they had been attempting an open field stalk on the elk. The hunter took down a bull from the rear of the herd as they ran by.

Part 2 of 3 =============================



After checking the Ralph white area we headed north to the BLM land in Unit 4 at mile marker 122. Dave was exhausted from previous days so we spent most of the day in the truck watching for elk coming across from Serviceberry Mountain. We only saw a lone bull and it was taken down by hunters near the creek below. All we could do was watch.



Wednesday we headed back up to Unit 4 and went in to Freeman Reservoir, an area I had hunted in 2009 with Daughter #2 and her hubby and where we had multiple shot opportunities. This was my son-in-law’s first hunt and when we came up on some elk at 25 yards he thought they were deer and let them go. Later he had shot opportunities in two other areas and for some reason didn’t take a shot either time. Dave had never been there so while we had hunted a lot at Bears Ears and the north side of Black Mountain, this area was new to him. Here is Dave as we headed in:



We didn’t get in quite as far as I wanted but we did find a couple of great areas to sit. This one we called the “Trees of Death”. The wind was blowing pretty hard and trees were literally falling left and right. I think we counted about 25 during the time we were there. 25 yards away three went down like dominos, the first taking out the second and the second knocking down a third. Shortly after this picture was taken a 3-foot long Y-shaped branch came down over Dave’s head like an arrow, landing a few feet in front of him. We decided it was time to move.


We got snow Wednesday night and headed out to the spot I where I had taken two elk before, hoping a few elk would be migrating through. We froze our butts in the early morning but no elk came through.



Rather than freeze our butts with limited visibility, we headed to a high spot a mile away where we had much better visibility. If it looks like the truck is sitting at the edge of a cliff that’s because it is. We spent most fo the day here with no elk moving through. Dave slept most of the time as he was still exhausted from the day before.



More snow Thursday night. We headed back to the spot where Dave and I had started out the day before. At 6:15 we left the truck and headed for the knoll about 220 yards away. Dave was cutting some tops off the sage brush for butt insulation when I notices two bulls on the horizon, below the bluff to our left, about 800 yards away. I immediately told him to sit down, which he did after taking a couple steps back to his rifle and pack. The bulls disappeared back over the horizon but a moment later we saw ears, then heads, then entire cows. About 20 of them. I told Dave they would come our way, which they did. Dave struggled with my bipod to get a good shot as they came ever closer. Soon they were tight up against the bottom of our little knoll and virtually out of sight. As the lead cows cornered around the knoll, Dave and I moved a couple yards to our left for a better view over the sage and over the crest of the knoll. Again Dave struggled with the bipod and the lead cows, fully aware of us and about 100 yards away, decided to turn back. Dave and I returned to our original positions. Dave still couldn’t get a good shot over the sage. The bull was fully in my view, heading slowly away about 90 yards ahead of me and 50 feet below me. Much as I wanted Dave to get an elk, they looked like they were ready to bolt and I decided to take a shot. My .338WM was resting in my tripod and I had a dead aim on the bull’s spine, slightly behind the shoulders. There was no doubt in my mind the 225g AccuBond was going to put it down hard.

It was not to be. The bull continued to walk way. Mystified, I tried to chamber another round, only to find I couldn’t. On inspection, I discovered a case stuck in the rifle’s chamber. It was then I realized neither the recoil nor report were normal. Squib load, thought I. As I continued to fiddle with my rifle, trying to get the stuck case out, the elk moved off and stopped 400 yards out. Dave finally settled in to take a standing shot off my bipod, only to miss. He then told me he couldn’t get a steady aim and wouldn’t take another shot. I told him to give me his rifle, a Ruger MKII 7mm RM loaded with 160g Speer Grand Slams. Nestling it into my tripod, I got a steady aim on the bull, quartering away to the left at 411 yards. One shot, 4 steps and it was down. I Gave Dave his rifle back and left him with the tripod, telling him if the bull gets up to shoot it again. I took my .338WM back to the truck, swapped it with my .280 Rem and started to change ammo before going after the bull. It was then I discovered the ‘squib load’ was caused by the .338’s magazine being full of .280 Rem ammo. Argh.

Here’s a pic of me with the 6x5 and Dave’s Ruger MKII 7mm RM. The time stamp on this photo is 7:28AM.

Part 3 of 3 =============================



My son-in-law was driving back to camp to help us pack out any animals we got. Dave and I quartered the bull, got it on my cart and back to the truck, dropped the head off at the Parks and Wildlife station in Craig for CWD testing, then stopped by Wendy’s for lunch. We then stopped by Wal-Mart where I bought a cleaning rod and used it to poke the .280 Rem case out of the .338’s chamber. By 11:00 we were back on the road to Meeker and gave my son-in-law a call. He was 3 minutes out from Meeker and too late to help us.

Back at home I photographed the stuck case. Left to right:
.338 WM / 225g AccuBond
.280 Rem fired in a .338WM chamber
.280 Rem /140g AccuBond
.375 Win fired in a .45-70 (a mistake I made years ago)



160g Speer Grand Slam recovered from bull. Retained weight 145.5g or 77.8%:


And yes, I do label my ammo. (Just need to read the labels or look at the head stamps…):


Given that Dave had taken his first elk on his first hunt using my Ruger M77 in 7mm RM with a 160g Grand Slam it seemed fitting that I took this bull using his Ruger Hawkeye 7mm RM and the same load, using bullets I had given him when I stopped loading them about 12-13 years ago. In fact, Dave called it a ‘storybook hunt’ because of the irony of my using his rifle and because things had turned out as I had predicted – from the mid-week weather getting a few animals moving to where we would get one and the path they would take through the area. (I’ve taken two elk out of this area before so I had some experience with their movements through it.)

All in all it was a great hunt and, although Dave’s health has been a concern for years, I’m saddened that this will be his last elk hunt. His bird hunting days are probably over too, as he can’t get his arms above – or even up to – his shoulders. Hopefully we can do some antelope hunts together in the future.

One last picture – son-in-law and myself goofing off while watching the then undefeated Broncos beat then undefeated Packers on Monday Night football:

WOW... well congrats on the elk and the fine shot. But man please pay attention to those ammo details, that's scary to me.

Thanks for taking the time share your story, especially the parts your not to proud of, hopefully that will help the rest of us.

I sure hope Dave gets to go again, and again.

Fortunately, it wouldn't be possible to jam a .338WM round into my .280 Rem chamber without a much bigger hammer than I had with me.

If you look closely at the burst .280 Rem cartridge you will see what can only be an unburnt powder granule stuck in the bottom of the crack. The mistake wasn't all that dangerous as it resulted in a pretty low pressure situation, but it isn't one I recommend or wish to encounter again.

With the .375Win round fired in my .45-70, there was no recoil and no report. All I heard as the 'clack' of the hammer dropping. Thinking it was a misfire, I cocked and fired again. When nothing happened and no case ejected when I worked the lever, I decided maybe I had forgotten to load the chamber. IT was only when another round wouldn't chamber that I discovered the stuck case and the incorrect ammo problem.

At any rate, a good lesson relearned - positively check the ammo and rifle for compatibility rather than relying on memory. (I was thinking the .338WM ammo was the nickel-plated ammo. Next time I'm reading the headstamp.)

I know exactly where that beaver pond is in the 3rd photo.I ride past it twice every day in Muzzle Loader season.Going in and going out

Great story. Too bad about you pal.. Just a note, last fall a friend of mine was sight in his .300 WSM and his boys .308..
He figured he would shoot one last shot through the .300.. He fired .308 in the rifle instead. I thought it would act ass you described a squib.. But it generally wrecked the rifle..

I use different color ammo boxes for most of my rifles. But they only make so many colors so lots of tape and lots of big numbers with a sharpie makes it a little easier to keep them seperate. Nice bull and good hunt.

Cool pictures, and I enjoyed the story. Best wishes to your pal, hope his health improves and you guys are able to get back at it.

The last picture, is that in the Mexican restaurant just down the street from the Blue Spruce Inn? I've been there a couple times, good food.

That is the one. Their 'House Burrito' will fill a big hole and tastes great, too.

Nice bull, congrats.

Sticking with it almost always pays off

Nice bull and good pics. I have hunted up river
from that campground several times mainly Oak Ridge
and Lost Creek. Had to miss this year due to my wife
being ill. Cant wait to get back there next fall.
Will be taking my son for his graduation gift as
he graduates high school this spring.

Dick Chaney on the left? Lol

Congrats, nice pics

Quite the adventure, thanks for sharing!

I don't get all this talk about wrong ammo. I hear the 22-250 makes a fine elk cartridge in a 7mm-08.

Dave's Ruger was a southpaw? No wonder you made a great shot.

Great, well-written recount....except for the Bronco's puttin' the hurt on the Packers.

Yup, his is a lefty.

Pretty ironic - he took his first, a 5x4, with ***my*** RH Ruger M77 7mm RM on his first hunt. Sixteen years later on his last hunt I took mine, a 6x5, with ***his*** LH Ruger MKII 7mm RM. And we both used the same load, 160g Grand Slam over IMR 4831.