Although not quite as beautiful as others' bulls, still looked pretty darn good to me!
It was an absolutely wonderful hunt: I arrived at the parking lot at 4:45, hiked out at 5 am. By 7 am I was on the ridge, hiking along quietly. I heard a few gunshots far away and felt a bit envious, but heck - the morning was so wonderful, I figured its worth it even if I see nothing.
At about 7:45 am I got over a small knob on the ridge and sat down to glass. I sat quietly for some 15-20 min and blew a cow call a couple of times, glassing. It was a good thing I leaned the rifle to a tree closeby when I was making myself comfy for glassing: I caught the movement with a corner of my eye and saw this bull walking towards me some 100 yards away, he just came out of the trees in the gulch on the other side of the ridge. I slowly picked up the gun and the binocs to glass him making sure he's at least a 4-pointer, and he was. I had to shoot quarter-turn to the right and it was awfully uncomfortable, but fortunately he stepped behind a pine tree and stopped, giving me a chance to move into a bit better position. I fired as soon as he stepped from behind the tree, and he dropped on spot as if hit by lightning.
180 gr Failsafe passed through with virtually zero bloodshot meat on either side. The distance was 90 yards. I was done hunting at 8:15 am. I finished de-boning at 1 pm, called home and had my wife and 15-yr. old son come out to the parking lot to meet me. We met there at 3:30 pm (took me 2.5 hrs to get there, 3.5 miles downhill). My son and I went on the second trip at 4 pm and were at the kill site at 6. The sun sat at 6:30, and we were at the car at 9 pm, hiking 2.5 hours in the dark. Anton, my son, was a bit nervous about all the noises in the darkness; I have to say I could care less if something caught me and ate at that moment. I carried a .45 just for comfort, for its lightness. The kid was great help: he carried my 65 lbs pack some 300 yards, and carried his 35 lbs all the way. He was BEAT by the end! I don't even want to think of what I looked like - 14 miles of mid-elevation country, half of it with 90 and 65 lbs of meat, were very noticeable.
Next day we cut and wrapped, cooked some meat, had a few drinks and told a few stories. It was great! Would not trade it for anything in the world.
Still got black toenails from the downhill hike with 90 lbs of meat, the rack and the rifle... Brings up memories <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
-P

That's "real" elk hunting partner, and it doesn't get any better. You did everything right and should feel good... guy's dream about a hunt like yours but you put feet to the dream. Great photo's and story that's for sure!

Congrat's!

Nice elk. Great hunt and good story. Tell us about the rifle you used.

Congrats on a great Hunt.

HBB

Thank you! I enjoyed the hunt a lot, despite that it felt like torture most of the day <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
The rifle is a Schmidt-Rubin K31 in 7.5x55 Swiss. Ammo was handloaded 180 gr Failsafes in Norma brass. There is not much available in the way of factory hunting loads for it, and I like to handload anyway. Hornady load data places the 7.5x55 just before .308 - it is some 100 fps slower than the .308 and can be loaded the same as .308 with some loads.
The rifle has no scope, just the iron sights. It is a superb shooter: I am no great marksman but even I can shoot 1.5" 3-shot groups at 100 yards with its iron sights.
This is proof that one does not have to have a $1k+ super magnum to hunt: the K31 cost me $80 on my C&R license, among a few other military rifles I own. It weighs a tad under 9 lbs. It has a neat straight bolt pull, which drives a worm gear sleeve, which in turn rotates a silky smooth 2-lug fully enclosing bolt. I have to say that no modern bolt gun feels as wobble free as this Swiss carbine. Of course - the bolt is fully sleeved, so there's no play.
A 5 round detachable magasine is stamped steel. Safety is such that I feel very good having a round in the chamber: to engage, you pull out the striking mechanism and decock it at 90 degrees, out of engagement with the sear. To cock, it is a silent pull and turn and it is ready to fire.
The trigger is superb two stage, crisp as a good target trigger, I love it. Remember that it is a military rifle, not a multi $k target gun. It is well worth its $80 if you ask me.
The rifle has the original Swiss owner tag under the buttplate, the owner's year of birth is 1916. Any time I pick up this gun it makes me slow down and reflect for a moment about how much more than I have, has this old rifle seen...
I could post a photo of it in the Hunting Rifles forum, if you guys think its worth it. Anyone on a budget would be well served with one of these, and I don't feel handycapped in the field with it. Actually, I get more curious looks from hunters than any ultramag owner when I choose to take it hunting.
-P

That's a fantastic bull and a great choice of rifles. Next year I plan to take a M95 Steyr for deer.

Nice bull. It sounds like it went the way we all hope our hunts will be.

Yeah what Brad said, public land bull done on your own. me thinks it just doesn't get any better than that!

"DWD"==darn well done

Mark D

Great story paul. Thanks for posting it. Sure shows it is the man behind the gun, not the gun itself, that gets its done. Congrats.

Somebody call Child Services!

(Congrats)

Great job!!

Macrabbit, you are BAD!.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
By the way, that meat cutting was fun, too! I need to give credit to a friend of mine, Leo, and I wish everyone had a friend like this. He is a little older than 60, and he does not know what "tired" or "lazy" means. My wife called him in the evening while I was still out in the woods and left a message. He showed up at 9 am on the next day, rolled up his sleeves, put on an apron and cut meat till 4 pm with me. Of course he got to pick any cuts he wanted from the assortment! It was him we had a few drinks with, by the way <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
I don't think I'd give up that much fun and comradery - and hard work! - by having my meat processed. And I heard some meat processors don't even necesserily give you the meat from your own animal. I wouldn't want that.
-P

Paul - thanks for sharing your story and congratulations on your bull!

Great job!

Guy

I do all of my own animals, to save money, to get every last scrap, to get out all of the fat & gristle & ...
I go boneless all the way, package the cuts I want and take the rest to the local sausage maker. I enjoy the job until I finally get down to just the front shoulders- by then I'm tired, and the meat is so little (on our blacktails and antelope) and the muscle groups so complicated, that the job degenerates into a chore. (But I get over it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />)
Then I relax and toss back a few drinks with my toddlers and their teenage baby-sitter.

My friends and I get together and do all of our animals or we work as a group on each others animals if we hunt different times. A couple of years ago we did 4 cow elk over two days and a bull in 5 hours. We were tired puppies! But we do a better job than the processor, even Steve's Meatmarket, and it's a heck of alot cheaper.

Paul,

Congrat's on your bull and congrat's on the hunt too. I enjoyed reading about the rifle (and the bit about the orginal owners tag under the buttplate). -Nice write up.

Paul, I think your cow calls must sound better than mine! This was a great story. I always gander at those rifles, but have never bought one. I used to live in Illinois and I remember a lot of midwest hunters buying the latest ultra mags for their elk hunts. Seems like that rifle of yours did just fine thank you very much. I started cutting my animals for the freezer about 6 years ago and now I wonder why I ever took one to a processor. Anyhow, very well done on all counts. Congrats.

By the way, did you get that rifle at Dick's?

I don't think that Dicks sells milsurp rifles do they? I know that Big 5 does. I'm awaiting a Steyr M95 which is the same straight pull bolt action as the K31 that I plan to use for deer next year.

Dan, 30338 - thanks!
No, I got this rifle from Aim Surplus - take a look here. They were $80 when I bought it. I like it so much I begin to think I need another <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Another place that has them is Military Gun Supply. I bought from both of these companies and was pleased with the transactions.
One can buy Swiss factory ammo for the K31, too, for some $20 per 60 rounds. In my experience that ammo is very accurate, sub MOA but FMJ (very thin jackets, btw) so no big game hunting with it. I think I saw some factory hunting ammo for once upon a time, it but I handloaded mine. Norma brass is available for it.
-P

Paul,
Nice Job. I intend to hunt with My K-31 this season. I will be hunting Deer and Hogs in Texas. I reloaded 168 gr ballistic silvertips ahead of 46.8 gr of IMR 4350. I would love to hunt elk with it.
Sincerely,
Chief

Paul,
Nice Job I will be Hunting with my k-31 next weekend. I will be hunting for deer and feral hogs. I reloaded 50 rounds of 168gr ballistic silvertips ahead of 46.8 gr of IMR 4350. I am thinking that it should do the trick.
Chief

Chief,
Good luck! I am sure your load is just fine. How did your K31 perform with it at the range? Original Swiss loads were 174 gr FMJ loaded to about 2750 fps, and they clocked just as advertised, I checked.
Let us know how the hunt goes!
-P

Paul,
The first shot cut the bullseye at 100 yards. The next 4 stayed in the 9 & 10 ring. The spread was acceptable it was hard shooting through that big smile from the first shot. This rifle is amazingly accurate the spread was certanly my error. I will let you know how my hunt goes. I plan to hunt elk next year or the year after.

Chief