Wow.....mentally, a tough hunt. The bulls had pulled off the cows two weeks ago after a super intense rut. The bulls had all gone underground, disappearing into the deepest, darkest places nasty places to recuperate. Had this been what I call a "trickle" rut, we might have had a little action here and there but that was not the case. There was literally no bugling and zero response to bugles or cow calls. But that was the cards we were dealt so we had to stick with the mindset to keep chopping wood and do your best not to become discouraged. The first two days of the hunt were mixed with light rain and pouring rain. I've killed bulls in the rain before and it appeared this would be one of those type hunts. Days later it cleared and I got a glimpse that morning of a nice bull 350 or so yards up a steep hillside. I eyeballed him through the binocs and got awfully excited but he turned tail and was out of Dodge before quick. Nice whale tails, good swords....he was pretty and all I could do was hope for a rematch. Keep chopping wood.....

I hunted that general area that afternoon and didn't see a single elk until last light. I called it a day and turned around to look one last glance around. To my astonishment that morning's bull stepped out of the timber, 50 yards from the Colorado state line! 310 yards away. I had about ten minutes of legal shooting light left. I got a good rest and took my shot. I was shooting my 1968 Sako338 with 225 grain North Forks. It had killed seven bulls prior with this rifle and load and not a single bull moved out of his tracks. The first shot hit home and he hunched up like it was a gut shot (I was wrong).....just stood there. Round two hit him with the same effect....took it and just stood there. Shoot again! The third shot hit solid and he finally fell, but was thrashing around. It turned out my first three shots had landed dead on his lungs, all shots within 5-6" of each other. He was still breathing when I got to him and round 4 through his heart did the job. I was astounded. I've always known elk to be tough but this one had another degree of toughness I hadn't personally experienced. Glad I had a 338!That last pic shows three shots just above the "elbow", Unreal...but that's hunting I suppose.

Thanks for looking.

Good job!

Nice bull!

Nice bull. Hard work paid off.

Beautiful bull, congrats and thanks for the story.

Nice bull, Hank! Congrats!

congrats , you stuck with it I see

Would love a bull like that one day. Very nice. And great shooting.

Great bull! Congrats on the success.

Congrats Godogs57!

Great bull. I had one broadside at 320 yards take three in the boiler room, 2.5 inches apart and still ran into the adjacent timber. He had a new (that season) arrow shaft just underneath his spine. Tough bull.

Anyway, congrats. I'll be tickled if I ever get one that size in the ground!

Nice bull and put another notch on that Sako.

Congrats, great bull... and thank you for the description of the hunt!

Nice Bull and excellent shooting, congratulations.

Heckuva bull, and a hearty congrats!

EXCELLENT!

Dandy bull, congrats and thanks for sharing.

Excellent!

Good looking Bull, Hank !

Congratulations 🍾

🦫

solid bull. congrats

Nice, congrats.

Nice work! Congratulations. Thanks for sharing.

Good bull, rifle, cartridge, bullet, and hunter.

These deep snow drifts are getting hard on morale.

Perhaps I should purchase a better camp axe.

Nice bull! Love those whale tails.
They are definitely tough animals and can take a lot of punishment.

Outphuquingstanding!

Congrats! Sounds like he was hyped up on some adrenaline!

Nice!

Congrats! Beautiful bull.

Good job on connecting with your bull. It was a weird year for our archery elk hunt too. Too damn hot.....

Glad you're going home happy.

Nice job - I’ve had that happen with a 300 Weatherby & seen with multiple calibers they are very tough.

Agree!
And yet many folks only seem interested the smallest caliber they can shoot one with. I completely understand (and agree) that shot placement is job one. I am, by nature, a very risk averse person however. Murphy’s Law has accompanied me on a few elk hunts. I love my 338 for that reason.

Congrats!

It's a classic case of an animal going into shock. The 1st shot hit a major artery and his blood pressure plummeted. He was dead on his feet. His brain had shut down from lack of blood flow and you could have shot several more times with not much more affect. He went down when he ran out of blood. I've seen this a number of times.

Thanks! You might be right. Like others, on elk I keep shooting until he’s down

Great bull, and to think ppl hunt them with a cute lil creedmoor.

Very nice! Hope he eats good. You know if you shot him with a 6.5 Manbun he would have just keeled over on the first shot.

Heck of a bull. Congrats! Can't believe all the wood chopping didn't scare him away....grin

I didn’t want to tear him up too bad. Needed to take home as much edible meat as possible.

Great bull, congratulations!!

Nice bull, congratulations.

Godogs 57: Congratulations on a very nice bull ! Nice photos and write up. Happy for your success Godogs 57 ! HH

Nice bull, I'll bet you had a decent knife with you to work on him with.

One of my favorites I made years ago….