Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting The Older You Get The Easier You Have To Make It

Same device, different truck...

Those " Slow Elk" taste REALLY good! And they're everywhere!

I gotta start shooting more of those!

Z and I must not be old enough.



But this is how we prefer it.

Difficult




Easy




Difficult

What is the reason for asking about no bulls in the bunch?

Is it just not cool to shoot cows? Just trying to stir the pot? Let's have it.

I take it that you shoot elk when you see them...

Great Bull!!!!

I haven't always had the luxury to pick and choose.

That first one was shot elsewhere, ran a little bit, and chose that location herself.
Nice place to depart this world for her. For me not so much.

Nice setup Shrapnel, I had the same in my old truck with the addition of a plywood ramp to make it a bit easier. Haven't put one in the new truck yet but this has got me fired up to do it again. I can't drive to many of the places I hunt but there are some where I can, and it sure would be nice to have this option if you can use it. Even a big deer or bear would be a lot easier to load this way if your on your own, which I usually am. Looks like your having a pretty good year there.

Nice work Shrapnel!!! Glad you are having a great season..

I thought about suggesting some plywood, but pretty sure the great Shrapnel had thought of it and just didn't happen to have it in the pictures. No smartssiness intended.

I did see a cool thing in S Africa? It looked like a heavy duty tarp with reinforced handholds so an animal could be slid on it and up to 6 guys carry it. Worked surprisingly well for short distances, where the winch was then engaged ( no pun intended).

I went elk hunting for the first time last year in Colorado. We used a quad to pull the cows we shot to the road. Then they had a 10' skate conveyor and a small winch. Had the elk into the truck no muss or fuss with my spine intact.

I don't see why you wouldn't use technology IF you are lucky enough to.

You guys have some nice trucks. Pretty new looking.

No doubt about it. The hills seem steeper and the game trails longer!

I've done this exact thing, only with a trailer. Back the ATV on, then winch the elk up the ramps. The old back just won't do what it used to.

Wish I had your rig here.. Mostly I have hunted alone or with my wife.. Now an elk is just more than I care to deal with on my own.. Been out a couple times, but my heart just isn't in it.. Have a hunt coming on later with an old college friend.. That should be fun..

Hunted with my long-time (since 1998) hunting buddy. He is diabetic and announced this year would be his last due to physical impairment related to his diabetes. (His shoulders are so bad he has a hard tome dressing, let alone packing out elk.)

This year the hunt became more about doing what he could do rather than what we needed to do. While we covered some new ground, mostly we revisited old haunts. Dave never got more than 1.5 miles from the truck and we both knew that if we got an elk down that far away we would have to hire a horse to get it out.

Hunting smarter did the trick. Friday, our last day, we hunted right where I had been telling him we would have our best chance of getting an elk. We set up just over 200 yards from the truck. We left the truck at shooting light (about 6:15) and were in position shortly thereafter, atop a small knoll, hiding behind some sage.

By 7:00 I had a 6x5 bull down, a hair over 400 yards away. We were able to get the game cart to the bull by following a two-track along a fence line and then an older track that was still clear of sage right up to the bull. By 11:00 we had the bull in the truck, had driven to Craig where we dropped the head off for CWD testing, stopped for lunch at Wendy's in Craig and were headed back to Meeker where we were camped.

Here is were we set up:


And here is Dave with the bull, less tha 45 minutes later. I used his Ruger MKII 7mm RM and a 160g Grand Slam to take it. Ironically, he used my Ruger M77 7mm RM and a 160g Grand Slam to take his first elk in 1999.

A little crusty snow and it's in the bag.