Interesting cow hunt

So having had heart surgery in August I wasn't sure I would be able to elk hunt this year but I managed to get lucky and draw a refuge hunt for the Colorado 4th rifle season. The refuge is 5 minutes from the house so it worked out nicely.

I started opening morning following a herd of about 500 elk down to the river and onto some really flat ground. I then crawled about 600 yards in a ditch to try to get within range. The mirage was so bad that at 800 yards all I could see of the elk was a tan blur. Even turning the scope down to say 12x didn't help. So the only alternative was to crawl within about 500 yards. I got within range and set up for the shot and sent a round at the last cow in line. Boom and nothing happened. Not knowing if I hit or not I didn't shoot again and the herd walked past at about 250 yards. After I went out and checked for blood I decided I didn't hit one. So I snuck up on them again and shot again. Once again nothing happened. I was pretty disgusted with things at this point. I've been shooting out to 800 yards regularly and I had the rifle shooting 3" groups at 500 yards. So not knowing what was going on I headed straight to the range. I suddenly couldn't hit paper. Then I realized the scope didn't seem to adjust. I'm shooting a Remington 700 5r .300 WM with a 6-24x vortex viper pst gen 1. Not having another option And sure not trusting that scope I ran home grabbed my old reliable ruger M77 Hawkeye in .300WM with a Nikon prostaff 3-9x40 BDC. I'm pretty good with this rifle out to 500 yards. So I drove back to the refuge and snuck up on a couple cows grazing just off the county road. 309 yards and one 180 accubond through the lungs did the job just fine.

Kind of a hectic hunt, but you persevered. Congrats!

Congrads to you for not giving up !
Hard work pays off !
I too had open heart sugery on June 28 th . I still have some muscle pain but managed to take my draw tag muley doe at 587 yards with my 338 edge . I back packed the hole deer boned out, (one trip ) and my edge in a eberlestock pack 1 3/4 mile . It took me two days to recover .

Great story. Good for you not giving up. Congrats. Have a great one and hope you are recovering to 100 percent.

Both inspiring stories. Congratulations

Way to go and very inspiring. As a 57 year old guy that starts thinking about my own mortality, it is just our way to keep going forward and make the tweeks we need to make throughout our lives. My hunt S of Meeker CO this year, was an *** buster so I had to tone it down a bit. Like you, I got a big cow and feel blessed.

Congrats! Perseverance and dedication to the task at hand.....has it's rewards! memtb

Nice going and nice looking cow! Congrats!

Thanks everyone. It was certainly a day of highs and lows.

Nikon saves the day! Lol! Good story, I guess it's time to try out the legendary vortex warranty.

Heart surgery and still in your 20's?! Most folks seem to look for a reason to give up. They have heart problems too...THS (Tiny Heart Syndrome). Good story and great attitude, very inspirational.

Wow! Congrats. Glad you had the good ol' Ruger available as a backup rifle!

And very glad you are healthy enough after surgery to get out there and hunt, and apparently hunt hard! Good job.

Congrats on those wonderful elk steaks! I'd hunt cow elk every year if I could draw the tag regularly.

Guy

Congrats on the elk and speedy recovery. Another vortex scope bites the dust!! Pretty common occurrence with vortex.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm doing pretty well at this point. Even ran uphill for 2.5 miles today and did ok. Still working back to where I was but all things considered I'm doing alright. I'm pretty thankful for how well I'm doing. Can't wait to get back at it next year.

I've already got hunts planned for deer, antelope, bear, elk, and aoudad sheep.