Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Last day miracle, and a first(Pic Heavy)

Hey guys,

Wanted to share a little of our hunt this year. Last year I got the chance to take a 6x6 bull on opening day. What I consider a once in a life time bull. Going into this year I was content and happy to help a buddy on his first elk hunt and see if I couldn't get my dad a bull. As luck would have it, it was a tough hunt and on the last morning, right at first light, we finally got into the elk. My buddy had a cow tag and unfortunately the cows stayed bunched up and he could not warrant a shot. I really commend him for having the resolve not to shoot. Many would have shot first and dealt with multiple animals later. Seen it happen too many times. Meanwhile, I was able to drop the 5x5 herd bull that had 20 cows with him. My father and I each got one shot in him, and I put a 3rd in him to finish the deal. 1 lung shot apiece and my final shot was in the heart. Range was 350 yards, Rem. 700 BDL, .300WM, topped with a Leopold 3x9-40mm.I was using plain ol Winchester 180 gr. Power Points.Performance was perfect. Will try and post a pic of my recovered bullet. My dad shot with a Browning BLR in .308 topped with a 2x7 Leopold. I am not much of a writer, but I think pictures speak volumes. So with that being said, here is our 2008 elk hunt in pictures. Even if we had not got an animal down, I would have called this trip a success. Weather was brutal with high winds and rain the first 3 days. After that it snowed at night and that helped alot. Hopefully all of you that have yet to go have good luck also.

CO 1st Rifle season bull.


My buddy and I with the bull. I'm the young one.





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Nice Elk and Great Photos

Thanks Bea. To me, any elk is a good elk.

It is so beautiful there! It looks like you had a great time, I am happy to see smiles, success or not-that is what it's all about! Congrats!
-Brandon

Congrats on a great hunt, must be fun to share them with yer Pa, Camp looks great also, nice touch the Eze-up for a porch, and the coffee thermos says it all, we got work to do, way to go

Nice bull and a really tight pitch on that tent, well done.

Great pics and a nice bool. What's the tent?

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Congratulations. Nice bull.
I like the BLR.
I recall you were asking about SW Colorado units. Looks like you found one.

The tent is a 14x16 Davis with traditional pole set up. Very nice for the nasty winds that plagued the first part of the season. Wind, snow, rain, sleet, etc, etc. Was miserable if you found yourself on the wrong side of the ridge.

Thanks. My dad has had that rifle longer than I've been alive. Pre 81 made in Belgium. I carried it for 9 years and took several deer with it. First time he's used it for elk in 40+ years hunting. I think his smile says it all.

As for this Unit, we've been hunting here for 20+ years. Just the last 2 years we have been going during the first rifle season instead of the 3rd or 4th. We used to hunt the southern portion but are now 40 miles to the north. Seems to have been the ticket.

I was looking into the southern units for future reference. So much of this state I haven't seen yet even though I live here. Plus, tags are easy to get and we could combo hunt elk and mulies. Our unit requires a minimum of 5 PP's to draw a buck tag in the 3rd rifle. After what I saw this year in our favorite mulie spots, I'm not so sure the winter kill was as advertised. Saw some 30 carcasses within sight of the access road. How many did we not see? Dunno. Looks bleak for the future. Probably look into some other units for deer now, all things considered. Good luck on your hunts if you haven't gone already.

Kelly

Thanks for sharing those pictures & congrats on a nice bull.

Nice Job. Nice Elk. Nice Pics.
All round fantastic Job.
I will be up in that area hunting a lower (you know the spot)
Hopefully there is horny feller left waiting for me.

Congrats job well done.

congrats!!! and thank for sharing

congrats!

Great pictures and beautiful scenery! Oh Yea, nnice bull. Makes me ennvious.

I have some great photos of scenery too but none of a bull
congratulations! Nice hunt.

Thanks guys. Was a good year and a hard hunt. Up until the last morning we had been hiking into some tough terrain everyday and not seeing much. After looking at my GPS since I got back, my tracks showed 67.33 miles put on the boot soles in 4 days.....

The best part was sharing our camp with my buddy from WI. It was his first elk hunt, and his first trip back to the west in 15 years. Sure glad he enjoyed it enough to come back next year.