Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting My First Bull

I have hunted elk five times now. I had a cow tag the first year and while I did see elk my then hunting partner wasn't up to going down in the canyon after them. The second year I had a cow tag and the first thing I saw was a five point bull. I got my new partner and we managed to get on him after another hunter spooked him down the canyon. He was near the bottom in dead fall city and it took two more days to get him out. I had one day left to get a cow, found some cows, and another hunter spooked them just as I was getting ready to shoot. I didn't get anything.

Three years ago my partner and I both had either sex tags. We got on a herd at 400 yards on the last day. We only saw cows at first but then I spotted a bull up higher. I use a 300 Weatherby which was 10" low at 400 yards with that load. I held a little high since he was over 400 yards but we were shooting steeply down hill and I shot over him. My partner killed him and I killed a cow so at least I had my first elk.

Last year we went on a high dollar guided hunt in Montana and never saw a legal bull.

I was frustrated and this year I was determined to get my bull. I am 62 years old and not getting any stronger so I figured it was now or maybe never. My partner couldn't go this year so my wife went with me. We drove to Grand Junction and I bought a second season OTC bull tag. We then went back to the steep little canyon where my partner and I had taken our last three elk. It is right next to the road and you can drive all around the top. It is a haul getting up but it is easy once you reach the top. It is steep though so it gets very little hunting pressure and it has elk. We got there Thursday and set up camp and then went looking in the evening.

Saturday morning they were gone. Later I spotted the big five point down in the next little side canyon. He was feeding in a strip of deadfalls running down hill. We drove around the top and went down the ridge across from him. By the time we got down about level with him he had laid down in the timber. We were at 500 yards. I could see a patch of hair through the pine boughs with the spotting scope. I got my sticks set, consulted my drop card, dry fired a few times and settled in to wait for him to get up. While we were waiting I took a closer look at how we would get him out. He was in the dead falls which was bad enough but there was also a rim rock above him. There was a shallow draw up through the rim rock that maybe we could get up but it is probably near vertical. Above the rim rock the slope eased some but it was still full of dead falls. There weren't any good routes. I finally decided to leave him be and we climbed back to the top. He was back up feeding, broadside, when we reached the top.

We didn't see another bull that we could reach until Tuesday. He was a raghorn with a broken tine on one side. His brow tines were well over five inches so he was legal but with the broken tine he was a 3 X 2. I couldn't get motivated to go down in the canyon to kill him so we just watched him until he disappeared. No bulls Wednesday but it snowed about four inches. Thursday started out dead but I spotted my bull at 11:00 AM. He was feeding. It was the small five point we saw Friday morning.

I decided he would do so we angled down through the timber across the canyon from him. Meanwhile the bull bedded. Then something above him spooked him and he got up and moved. I lost sight of him in the timber but we kept going. We left the timber and got into the oak brush. The bull was bedded again. He was laying on his side with his head down on the ground in the open. We kept going and it was exhausting, slipping and sliding through the snow down that steep hillside. I fell through some dead limbs and the bull heard me so he started watching us. I ranged him at 560 yards and it started snowing. He didn't look spooked yet so I decided to keep going. Trouble was the snowfall was getting heavier and it was getting hard to see. I went down a little more and decided it was now or never. I was not climbing out of that hell hole empty handed!

I found an opening in the oak brush, sat down, got my elbows on my knees, and got my sticks adjusted perfectly. The range finder wouldn't read through the snow but I figured we were at 550 yards. My drop card got wet the day before and I took it out of my pocket to dry. I forgot it and all I could remember was that the drop at 550 is 25 or 30 inches. I was still shooting downhill so, based on the last elk I killed there, I reduced the drop 5 to 10 inches which left me with 20" of drop. I decided to hold about 6" over his back. I had time. He was watching me but wasn't spooked so I dry fired twice. The first time the cross hairs made a little circle. The second time the crosshairs barely quivered. Ready! I dropped one in the chamber and squeezed it off. The bull started jerking his head up trying to get up. Nothing else was following. I thought I had under estimated the drop and broke his legs so I held a hair higher the second shot and he rolled. It was 2-1/2 hours after we first saw him. I just had time to get some landmarks and pick a route to him before it whited out.

An hour and a half later we were across the canyon and found him.


My wife had a ball! I will never be able to go elk hunting again without her.


We got him skinned and taken apart by sundown. There was a nearly full moon and with the snow we were able to see well enough that we never needed a light. One and a half hours to the top and a 45 minute walk back to the truck. Two more trips down and we had about 220 pounds of boned elk in the coolers.

The Weatherby and the antlers.


First hit with a 168 TTSX launched at 3300 FPS from the 300 Weatherby from 550 yards. Because he was laying on his side the bullet broke his spine. The second shot broke his neck.



So I finally got my bull!

Very cool.

Congrats!

Good deal!!!!! Congrats! You did great...

Great writeup! Congratulations!

Good job and nice elk. Any elk is a trophy, but when you have to work that hard, it just seems even more valuable, IMHO.

Wish my wife was enthused about elk hunting! Congrats on having such a great mate!

For times like that, I got a Simpson chain saw capstan winch and lots of good rope. I've used it a couple times in situations like yours and it was worth every penny.

Bob

Way to go

Good deal!

Great report and enjoyed the conclusion as you did. Congrats to you and your new hunting partner.

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your picture and story. Sounds like you earned that one. Great that you have a new hunting partner, too!

Very cool! Congrats!

Nice bull and sounds like it was a long time coming

Marc,Congratulations!

Marc, yours is a story that gets me excited... absolutely fantastic, and thanks for sharing as well as a BIG congrats to you and your wonderful bride!

Great story and hunt.

Well done, Marc! Both you and your Mrs.

L.W.

Congrat's on a neat story, a good bull and a great hunting partner !

Congrats! You worked very hard for him.

Contrats from here, too. I also spent a long time getting bull #1. I got a few cows in the meantime, but that 1st rack took a while.

Congrats on the bull!