Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I got lucky! two years-two bulls!

Congratulations! Glad you scored. Looks kinda cold up there.

Unit 39??

L.W.

We did things a bit differently this year, to save the horses a bit. Last year We rode about four hours each morning to the top of the mountain, and then rode back to camp each night. This year we packed in and set up a tent.

Last year we had daytime highs of fifty degrees and bright clear sunshine each day. To say the least, the weather was a bit different this year.





The snow was deep enough to seriously impede our movement. But my buddy spotted an elk on the ridge across the creek from camp on the afternoon of opening day. He was carrying my 12x50 Nikon action extreme binoculars which showed antlers plainly. The bull was about 400 yards and 20 degrees uphill from us. My buddy tried a shot from kneeling and missed, I tried a shot from standing (yeah...right...HA) and missed. My buddy missed twice more with his 7mm BAR with open sights while I was looking for a rest. The bull just stood and watched us.

I moved laterally to the sapling on the right side of this photo and took another shot with my Ruger #1 in 7STW.


The bull looked like I hit him hard, but when he moved it became obvious that he was hit in the rear. Butchering would reveal that the Hornady 162 gr btsp had entered the meatiest part of the right ham and traversed the kidney area, then came to rest under the hide over the midpoint of the left back strap. The right ham and left back strap were cut in half, but no bones had been broken.

With the bull hit hard, but still not moving away from us, I felt confident enough to advance toward the bull to find a better rest. This rock was about forty yards in front of me.

and afforded the support I needed. Except the bull had turned straight away from me. All I could see through the Burris FFII 4-12x42 was his yellow butt.

I reloaded and shot four times in an attempt to break the bull's pelvis. At the fourth shot he staggered and fell down and began thrashing his head back and forth. For the first time, in the scope, I could finally see the mass of his antlers as he tossed his head back and forth.

The bull struggled back to his feet and finally turned to give me the side view I had been wishing for. At my next shot, my seventh, the bull finally collapsed.

Here is my buddy admiring the carcass.


This pic more plainly shows the shot which must have knocked him down temporarily. Note the chunk of antler missing on the left side. and also the deformity of the right antler.



I am certainly not bragging on my marksmanship this year. Of the four shots I took, trying to hit the pelvis, one caused the crease high on the right side, one hit the left antler, one hit the left ham, and one glanced off of the back bone just over the root of the tail.

But here he is all packaged up and ready to pack down to the rig. We put a little over three hundred pounds of the leanest elk meat I ever saw into the freezer, and about twenty five pounds of bloodshot or trim in for the dog's treats.
[img]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/Idaho_Shooter/DSCF0911.jpg[/img]


Honorable mention goes to my Coleman Holofill II mummy bag for keeping me warm at nights which did not miss zero by much. A new Century single mantle propane lantern inside the tent, lessened the chill, SLIGHTLY, during the night. A new Minox 8x40 monocular (from Doug)was light and handy to carry. But the built in compass froze solid and was inoperable for the duration of the trip.