Elk hunting made easy

[RYEWSKY25284]

After last years 2 mile treck to the retrieve my bull this years plan was simple= Shoot one close to the road down on the prairie!
Opening rifle season had too many hunters coming in from the bottoms and pushing the elk up to the high country, they are safe from me up there so I pulled the plug eaarly and went home to winterize the campers to get ready for the first snowfall.
Last Saterday we saw one satalite bull right at dusk and would have been a ruff haul out after dark.... another safe elk!
This morning, with only two days left to fill the tag with a bull we head out before dawn. We get just about to where we were going to unload the side x side down on the flat and there they where right in the middle of the road Problem was we where too close to the ranch and 15 minuts too early to shoot. So we pull up by the gate and unload the side x side. By this time the herd is nowhere to be found but we got a good idea where they are going? We take off but when we top the first hill the elk are 450 yards on the hillside Get set up for a shot but the are milling and the largest bull in the herd is protected in the middle= no shot and off they go over the next hill. I bail out when we topped the next hill to get a shot when they crossed the creek. The largest of the seven bulls in the herd is open so I send a hurried round. Hit him but not very good....and off they go again. We take off in a hurry to get ahead of them before they hit the safty of the mountain. It works and I'm on the ground steady on the bypods as the herd starts to file out of the creek bottom. Was waiting for the bull I hit to finish him off when my sidekick says to stand up the bull is on our side of the hill 100 yards out. Another shot has him hurting but still on his feet but now I have time to get on the ground with the bipods. The angle aint good for a shot but I realize he aint big enough to put on the wall so a bullet is sent into his neck= WOPPP and its lights out!
View attachment 307673
You can see him 7 yards off the road in the bottom and the rest of the herd heading for safty up the mountain.
Not the wallhanger I was hoping for this year but a 6x6 none the less and bigger than last year.
View attachment 307674

fun story. Congrats on the bull

 

[257WTBY]

After last years 2 mile treck to the retrieve my bull this years plan was simple= Shoot one close to the road down on the prairie!
Opening rifle season had too many hunters coming in from the bottoms and pushing the elk up to the high country, they are safe from me up there so I pulled the plug eaarly and went home to winterize the campers to get ready for the first snowfall.
Last Saterday we saw one satalite bull right at dusk and would have been a ruff haul out after dark.... another safe elk!
This morning, with only two days left to fill the tag with a bull we head out before dawn. We get just about to where we were going to unload the side x side down on the flat and there they where right in the middle of the road Problem was we where too close to the ranch and 15 minuts too early to shoot. So we pull up by the gate and unload the side x side. By this time the herd is nowhere to be found but we got a good idea where they are going? We take off but when we top the first hill the elk are 450 yards on the hillside Get set up for a shot but the are milling and the largest bull in the herd is protected in the middle= no shot and off they go over the next hill. I bail out when we topped the next hill to get a shot when they crossed the creek. The largest of the seven bulls in the herd is open so I send a hurried round. Hit him but not very good....and off they go again. We take off in a hurry to get ahead of them before they hit the safty of the mountain. It works and I'm on the ground steady on the bypods as the herd starts to file out of the creek bottom. Was waiting for the bull I hit to finish him off when my sidekick says to stand up the bull is on our side of the hill 100 yards out. Another shot has him hurting but still on his feet but now I have time to get on the ground with the bipods. The angle aint good for a shot but I realize he aint big enough to put on the wall so a bullet is sent into his neck= WOPPP and its lights out!
View attachment 307673
You can see him 7 yards off the road in the bottom and the rest of the herd heading for safty up the mountain.
Not the wallhanger I was hoping for this year but a 6x6 none the less and bigger than last year.
View attachment 307674

the closer to the road the better anymore I love hunting but my packing them miles out over crappy terrain is over. I let several bucks walk this year during deer season for various reasons but I know i could have killed them pretty easy.

CONGRATS on the bull and the very short pack to the pick up

 

[skipglo]

After last years 2 mile treck to the retrieve my bull this years plan was simple= Shoot one close to the road down on the prairie!
Opening rifle season had too many hunters coming in from the bottoms and pushing the elk up to the high country, they are safe from me up there so I pulled the plug eaarly and went home to winterize the campers to get ready for the first snowfall.
Last Saterday we saw one satalite bull right at dusk and would have been a ruff haul out after dark.... another safe elk!
This morning, with only two days left to fill the tag with a bull we head out before dawn. We get just about to where we were going to unload the side x side down on the flat and there they where right in the middle of the road Problem was we where too close to the ranch and 15 minuts too early to shoot. So we pull up by the gate and unload the side x side. By this time the herd is nowhere to be found but we got a good idea where they are going? We take off but when we top the first hill the elk are 450 yards on the hillside Get set up for a shot but the are milling and the largest bull in the herd is protected in the middle= no shot and off they go over the next hill. I bail out when we topped the next hill to get a shot when they crossed the creek. The largest of the seven bulls in the herd is open so I send a hurried round. Hit him but not very good....and off they go again. We take off in a hurry to get ahead of them before they hit the safty of the mountain. It works and I'm on the ground steady on the bypods as the herd starts to file out of the creek bottom. Was waiting for the bull I hit to finish him off when my sidekick says to stand up the bull is on our side of the hill 100 yards out. Another shot has him hurting but still on his feet but now I have time to get on the ground with the bipods. The angle aint good for a shot but I realize he aint big enough to put on the wall so a bullet is sent into his neck= WOPPP and its lights out!
View attachment 307673
You can see him 7 yards off the road in the bottom and the rest of the herd heading for safty up the mountain.
Not the wallhanger I was hoping for this year but a 6x6 none the less and bigger than last year.
View attachment 307674

Success is always sweet! Congrats...and bigger horns don't make em taste any better! And think of the money you just saved not having to mount him....next years trip is already paid for!

 

[memtb]

Congratulations on your elk hunt and some fine vittles!

Information required on components, shot angles and bullet performance! Inquiring minds! memtb

 

[Old Rooster]

Congratulations on a good hunt.
Like Skipglo I can't find a good recipe for antlers so I love the younger bulls!

 

[Pittsspecial]

I have yet to hunt elk. Someday perhaps...the clocks ticking away! I wish I knew some one that lived out west that would say, hey ya "come on out and hunt with us sometime". I dont even know where to start hunting elk. A life adventure at 65 now.

 

[Treeslug]

After last years 2 mile treck to the retrieve my bull this years plan was simple= Shoot one close to the road down on the prairie!
Opening rifle season had too many hunters coming in from the bottoms and pushing the elk up to the high country, they are safe from me up there so I pulled the plug eaarly and went home to winterize the campers to get ready for the first snowfall.
Last Saterday we saw one satalite bull right at dusk and would have been a ruff haul out after dark.... another safe elk!
This morning, with only two days left to fill the tag with a bull we head out before dawn. We get just about to where we were going to unload the side x side down on the flat and there they where right in the middle of the road Problem was we where too close to the ranch and 15 minuts too early to shoot. So we pull up by the gate and unload the side x side. By this time the herd is nowhere to be found but we got a good idea where they are going? We take off but when we top the first hill the elk are 450 yards on the hillside Get set up for a shot but the are milling and the largest bull in the herd is protected in the middle= no shot and off they go over the next hill. I bail out when we topped the next hill to get a shot when they crossed the creek. The largest of the seven bulls in the herd is open so I send a hurried round. Hit him but not very good....and off they go again. We take off in a hurry to get ahead of them before they hit the safty of the mountain. It works and I'm on the ground steady on the bypods as the herd starts to file out of the creek bottom. Was waiting for the bull I hit to finish him off when my sidekick says to stand up the bull is on our side of the hill 100 yards out. Another shot has him hurting but still on his feet but now I have time to get on the ground with the bipods. The angle aint good for a shot but I realize he aint big enough to put on the wall so a bullet is sent into his neck= WOPPP and its lights out!
View attachment 307673
You can see him 7 yards off the road in the bottom and the rest of the herd heading for safty up the mountain.
Not the wallhanger I was hoping for this year but a 6x6 none the less and bigger than last year.
View attachment 307674

Hey, I can't be sure, but it looks like you missed a spot while you were shaving this morning! Cute little 6X6. I'll bet he is great table fare.

 

[Treeslug]

Congratulations on a good hunt.
Like Skipglo I can't find a good recipe for antlers so I love the younger bulls!

You don't eat the horns, silly goose! You hang meat off the tips and grill it over the fire. They come with a built-in knife handle for holding the antlers while you are cooking some of that tasty tenderloin. Just sayin'.

 

[MachV]

I had the Tikka 338Fed along, its a light carry in the moutains rifle but a poor choice for the wide open prairie. So I was useing Tysons Sako in 300wm shooting 178 Amaxes with Vortex scope and altra 7 can. Was going to give the all bulls in the herd a pass but this guy stopped in the middle of the herd right smack dabb in the middle of the two track at 350 yards. When the cows cleared him I must have hurried the shot and the shot hit him low ham. Welll that put us in getterdone mode in a hurry. We cought up with them a couple more times but didnt get a shot till we went for broke and cut them off at the bottom of the mountain. I was on the bipods watching them file out of the bottom when Tyson yelled stand up your bull is 100 yards below us. I stood up and double lunged him, it slowed him down some more but he was walking straight away from us twards the road. Back on the ground and bipods waiting for a shot I realized he was not going to get mounted so when he turned his head to look at the herd a 178Amax to the base of the scull flattened him right then and there!
In total discloser I fired 7 rounds and hit him with five Some of the worst shooting I've ever done, I could blame the unfamiliar gun? But in reality trying to stay on one critter without hitting an innocent bystander in the herd aint fun!
I usually bone a critter out where it lands but in this case we gutted him and used the winch over the rollbar to get him in the back of the Commander(way overloaded) put it on the trailer and unloaded it again to back it into the garage to hang for skinning and butchering......easy way to get them from drop spot to butchering spot

 

[Lenny Foffa]

Great story , Just read it over coffee this morning. Love the Pics. Thanks Buddy

 

[wyodeer]

Love that area!
Some remote country. I had the tag a few years ago. Seen maybe 3 people in a weeks worth of hunting

 

[sierracharlie338]

That's awesome congrats!!

 

[HRM Johnny]

Congratulations. Thanks for the excellent story. Thanks for the pictures.