Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Filled our tags in about ten seconds

Tom and I were hunting (either sex) elk on a ranch near Buena Vista, New Mexico. It was a typical five day hunt and we were on the fifth day with no elk in the bag yet. The clock registered 9:30 AM as we came around a flank of pinions and an anterless elk stood crystal clear at a lazered 350 yards.....just right for my .30-06 and it's 180 grain Accubonds. At the sound of the shot the elk simply dropped in her tracks. It turned out to be a trifle high as the bullet destroyed a section of vertebrae instead of hitting lower in the chest cavity as I wanted.....but it was still a DRT shot and I wasn't complaining at all.

That's when our guide, Ted, saw more elk behind her and they weren't at all concerned by our presence and the sound of the shot. Tom immediately picked out another cow lazered at 375 yards and dropped her with another spinal shot.....this time in the neck.....His .325 WSM with handloaded 200 grain A-Frames was more than a match for the cow as it dropped and didn't move at all after that.

Total elapsed time was about ten seconds and our hunt was over. By 6:00 PM that same day the elk was gutted, skinned, quartered, boned, cut, wrapped and in the freezer. We stayed at the ranch house another day to allow the meat to cool in the freezer and drove home. Needless to say it was a lot happier ride home with two (partially) frozen elk in the box of the pickup truck than if the last day of our hunt had been uneventful.

I'll post photos Monday as I'm not home right now.

Nice !! Hope you got to back the pickup right up to the elk. Glad you had a good time in Colorado, come back next year. Bob

Nice!!

Congrats on bringing home some meat and on a good little story! memtb

better than that.....

Yum, good eating there.

Dang man dems good eats right there what a great time I love it when it all comes together at the last minute like that just feels so right to have the full experience!

I've killed four elk in my life.....three of them on the last day of the hunt and one on the last hour of the last day.

Excellent! Could I get you to post a link to your Outfitter or Ranch Contact? I am planning on a cow hunt in late 2018 myself, thanks Pard!

The ranch and their ranch forman have recently split apart.....The ranch forman did all the guiding and preparation for the hunt but at this juncture it's not at all clear if the ranch owner(s) will continue hunts. I may be looking for a place to hunt again next year as well.....The ranch owners are good friends of mine and the relationship goes back to 1960 so it's possible that since I need no guide, I may be allowed a tag but that too is not clear.....

Sorry but I have no link to offer as I'm not at all sure there will be hunting allowed in the future.

That's OK, I fully understand how that can sometimes happen. I've hunted places in Texas (Exotics) that changed hands, etc. I was impressed by the sheer size of those cows! My goodness!

That's a great way to end a hunt and some mighty fine eating.

Good deal, but you might want to read up on ageing meat un the general big game thread. My Dad fed me a lot of less than tender deer and elk.

Nice shooting

Thanks for the tip....I'll do just that.