15 yr old boy shoots Elk at just under 1,000 yards

kellyzier

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Joined
Dec 21, 2009
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My 15 yr old boy's first bull elk at 940 yards.....After taking Shawn Carlock's long range class, I spent most of last summer getting my boy confident at 1,000 yards in varing wind conditions. With me spotting and doping the wind for him, he got pretty good at it, in fact he may even have a better eye than dear old dad.

Anyhow, my brother and I had already dropped our elk at 800 and 830 yards the week before.....(fotos of the meat below)...now it was time for my son Hunter to get his elk.

The night before was one of the worst wind storms I had ever been in with our wall tent. Many times that night, I was up trying to keep the smoke from back drafting in the tent, by about 3 am, I just put out the fire in the stove and went to bed.

By 5 am it was still blowing, and at about 9 am it all stopped. At that point we all said, crap, we got to go. We got to our ambush point way tooo late, because the elk were on the move.

When we got there, a rag horn was walking at about 850 yards in an opening and there just was not enough time to get on him. So I said heck with it, lets just get this gun dialed in. So I got out the kestrel and xbal and started working up the numbers.
A bit later, we started to glass more and we spot several elk bedded and a spike by a tree at 940 yards, but my boy was not comfortable with the shot. A bit later, the bull bedded just behind a tree.

I told my boy to stay in the scope and watch for the bull to get up and be ready on the left side of the tree. My boy said, how do you know he's gonna walk left?? I said, look at the body, you see the dark brown head and chest, it's pointed left and ten bucks says he's gonna walk left when he gets up, so hold your cross hairs left of the tree and watch.

About 30 minutes later the bull stands up and kind of streatches. My boy is on the gun and the wind is light and variable and I dope it left, then dope it right, then finally go back to zero and say just hold for the wind to settle. Finally the wind settles and I say..."you on it",,,he says yea im on it...I say..."send it" and wham!!

The bull staggers like he's drunk....and I said put another in and tell me when you're on it...He said im on it...I see the wind is just about nill at this point and say..."send it" and wham,,,he drops like a ton of bricks.

When we recovered the bull, we see the first shot was dead center heart and lung and the second shot was a bit higher and broke his shoulder and neck. Had we of waited another minute and not shot the second shot, the bull would have dropped in his tracks from the first shot.

Needless to say, my boy is now addicted to long range shooting and hunting. Foto below......Special thanks to Shawn Carlock and his dad Bob for their training and expertise.

zman

My gun……was Shawn Carlock's shop rifle....

338 edge
14.75 pounds
30 inch barrel, 1--10 twist
5.5 by 22 night force w/ cosign & bubble
harris bipod w/ swivel
Huge..DE break,,,check piece
Bat action, 20 moa rail

Load....shoots 1/4 moa
90 grains H1000
CCI 250's
300 smk
2800 fps
3.860 OAL

2009elk7.jpg

2009elkndothers004.jpg

2009elk9.jpg
 
very nice. I can only hope that one day I can experience a hunt like that with my sons. Keep up the good work!
 
That's outstanding! I too would like to experience that with my son when he is old enough. On another note, I think I shot Shawn's shop rifle with the BAT action. That was on amazing rifle. His LR class is second to none and is one of the best I have had the pleasure of attending. I plan on going to his Adv LR class when I have the time. Thanks for the write up and photo's
 
That's outstanding! I too would like to experience that with my son when he is old enough. On another note, I think I shot Shawn's shop rifle with the BAT action. That was on amazing rifle. His LR class is second to none and is one of the best I have had the pleasure of attending. I plan on going to his Adv LR class when I have the time. Thanks for the write up and photo's


I will tell you that Long Range hunting with your kids really adds a unique twist that brush hunting doesn't have. When I was growing up, my step father taught us how to hunt. We never long range hunted. We brush hunted or stalk hunted. Most of our shots were under 100 yards and once in awhile you might see a 250 yards shot.

The point is this....My step dad would take us up the hill and say to me and my brothers, you take that ridge, and I will take this ridge and we will hunt down this mountain to the bottom and we will see each other in 3 hours.

We really didn't share the hunt or chase with each other cause we were always split up. After the hunt, we all collected together at the dinner table and told stories of the one we got or the one that got away. I have fond memories of this growing up, but never really shared the thrill of the chase with anyone next to me.

Today, with long range hunting. We are all together, my 10 year and 13 yr olds were there right next to my 15 yr old when he shot. We all are glassing together, spotting and one guy runs the camera. When an animal is shot, we use one guy with a radio to bird dog the animal and the others all put on packs and help pack out the animal.

This style of hunting is a great teaching tool for the young ones. It also gives the real young ones (10 year old) a chance to learn the ways of the woods and basic survival techniques. How to get around in the dark dark woods and how not to fear being in the middle of nowwhere. We are typically miles from any usable road and this type of exposure for the youth is invaluable.

Aside from being an absolute rush when shooting up to 1,000 yards, the idea of being all together all day with the kids is probably one of the biggest reasons I long range hunt. The young ones still need to be close to the adults in the deep woods and this style of hunting is really conducive for this.

cheers,
zman
 
kellyzier, Hope your boy favors his mom. Wouldn't want him to look like that mug. Just kidding great shot and he does look just like you, but better. :D

joseph
 
Tell your son Hunter I said congratulations, that one heck of a long shot, excellent work. Thanks for posting the pics and sharing your story.
 
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