Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Fresh Meat! Horns, too....

Punched my elk tag Sunday, which was actually a darn near novel experience for me! The last two years, the kid has shot us meat bulls, which freed me up to trophy hunt. Saved me a bundle on ammo <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />, but my caloric expenditures in relation to antlers collected was grossly imbalanced. Was getting kind of tired of it, as was my wife. Cemented my opinion that a trophy bull elk is right up there with any trophy worldwide. If you go after 'em in the steep nasties, it is anyway.
So anyway, I saw this bull the evening before, hanging with a spike. He was across the canyon, but I got a pretty good look at him & decided to pass. And BTW, that compact 25X Leupold spotter is the shizzat! Can use a rifle as a slightly wobbly support, and just stick it in a front pocket when both hands are required to, say, shoot.
Passed on four more raghorns that evening, which helped to mitigate the lingering effects of a Godawful hike a buddy and I took the weekend prior. Hiked/climbed into the Heart of the Inner Sanctum, and found it wholly lacking in elk whatsoever. I hate it when that happens.
Anyway, the next morning I promptly ran into that spike again, & soon saw his buddy slipping off through the timber. He had two openings to go through, and on the first one I kind of momentarily weighed the factors that he wasn't really too bad at all, was only a later gps'd .3 miles from camp (horse accessible without undue difficulty), and that given the mild conditions we have giant elk aren't exactly everywhere you look. On the second clearing he met a speeding bullet, & that was that.


Well, actually, there's a bit more, that you gun cranks might find of some interest. It was steep downhill, and you know, I never really thought about the yardage until just now. Two hundred yards or so. Nah, maybe three <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. Anyway, one shot from the 300 Dakota w/ 180 Barnes XXX and he went down and stayed down. Turned out I hit him about mid-spine, & he needed finishing when I got down there. Oddly enough, I recovered that bullet shot at point-blank range from his neck. Further proof that terminal ballistics is an inexact science. So here's what a 180 grain Triple Shock can look like after impact at some 3250 fps.

<disclaimer; I really like X bullets, and think I'm really going to like these XXX's, and this one obviously defies several laws of physics and is some sort of fluke.>

Oh boy Rimrock, It looks like you had a great time, thats not a bad elk at all.
Ivory year for you, way to go.

Very nice bull. Congratulations.

Dandy bull! Nice going!!!

Bill you son-of-a-gun... way to go! Nice bull!



If you don't mind an elk story on your thread, my hunt this year was a "Comedy of Error's."



On Nov 2nd after that lovely five inch snow we got I was in a favored meadow at day break. I immediately cut a bull track... good! I followed for 1/2 hour or so and finally caught a look at him sneaking through a timbered finger on the steep meadow... he was about 300 yards ahead of me. Quickly judging by his 5th's and 6th's I guessed he was a 320ish bull... cool! I kept on the track though I'd lost sight of him. Five more minutes I'd closed the distance a bit when I kicked up some Mulies bedded below me... bummer. At that very moment I saw a tawny body ahead of me at about 225 yards. I threw up my bino's and there he was... ass pointed my way and neck swiveled all the way round staring at me... eek! I yanked off my day pack to use as a rest, dropped to the ground and got sighted on him. It was either a bung-hole shot or the junction of the neck and shoulder... I chose the latter. At the shot he dropped in his tracks... good! Coming up on him I realized something was amuck... what the heck?!?! Instead of a 320 class bull I had a B&C Candidate (Betty & Crocker)! A nice but small six point... dang! Apparently I'd been on two bulls and didn't know it... sheesh. As he was staring at me all I could see was the silouette of his rack and made the wrong split-second decision! Wanting to get him to more level ground for quartering I slid him down the hill about seventy yards where, 100 yards below me standing broadside and staring intently at me was the bigger bull!



To add insult to injury, last Sunday I was Muley hunting. While sitting glassing I "felt" something behind me. Turning to look, there, broadside at about 80 yards was a beautiful 6pt in the 300ish class staring at me... I could have shot him five times... sheesh. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Great pics and stories. The bullet pic is amazing, the elk is great. Good for you!

Why did you shoot such a dink? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Great bull. We all need an easy one once in a while. Barnes bullets lose their petals up close and fast, but you knew that <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Flinch

Thanks, & yeah, it's a near-certainty that Cody will kill a 350 this weekend and be just insufferable for, well, ever.
Sounds like elk hunting weather this coming weekend. Snow & cold.
With any luck he'll get an elk, and I have unofficial clearance to be gone on Thanksgiving Day, which would certainly facilitate a more extensive muley expedition. If it comes down to it, we'll probably keep elk hunting, though. I know I haven't had my fill yet. Here's hoping I never do.

Congrads to both you and Brad! Any elk is a good elk, that one is a dandy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

MtnHtr

Very nice bull Bill. Great story as well. I think you were about due for a nice bull and it looks like the hunting god's delivered.

Watchoo talking 'bout, Homes?
I'm still due for a nice bull <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Spiking out tomorrow night. Sounds like it could be ten or fifteen below, so I hope we find a nice dead snag to camp next to. With a nice selection of firewood that's not toooo big, and not tooooo small. Yes, bring me a shrubbery!

I wish I could do that! Congratulations on a nice bull.

Elk on horseback. My dream hunt. Congrats!