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MT Elk Opener

First congratulations on a hunt well done.

Thank you for sharing, especially the recovered AB data.
At well over 400 yards it would appear that the bullet is fairly soft, since it shed weight all the way down to 63%. It might justify some in looking for something with better weight retention. We learn from every hunt.
 
Nice elk congratulations and to try and help with reloading Forester makes great presses and dies youl need calipers scale. And the list goes on try checking in the reloading forum
 
Great bull, I really enjoyed the story also! My dad guided in extremely steep wilderness in Idaho. He taught me to always carry rope or a bundle of para-chord for working up the elk. First thing we do on steep ground is tie the base of the antlers, and or a leg up to brush, or a tree, or a whittled ground stake. Just a thought to help you with the next one. I'm sure happy for you to get such a beautiful bull! Nice work!
 
Thanks for the great in-depth story and congratulations on a fine elk. At 71 and in what I consider good shape, I think I would have been hard pressed to get that elk out in 2 days of lugging. My back, legs and lungs were hurting just reading your story, especially since I live at sea level and your hunting altitude would have been a lot to get acclimatized to enduring. Sure wish I was young and could do things like that now. Thanks for the great story.
 
rbTanzan said:
First congratulations on a hunt well done.

Thank you for sharing, especially the recovered AB data.
At well over 400 yards it would appear that the bullet is fairly soft, since it shed weight all the way down to 63%. It might justify some in looking for something with better weight retention. We learn from every hunt.
Click to expand...

Definitely opens up a little bit of debate doesn't it? I have shot a couple deer, an antelope and now this elk with the ABLR 168. Every one of them fell like a sack of potatoes. I do somewhat wonder what will happen with that bullet if I shoot something at 50 yds or less but I am going to stick with it so I'll probably answer that question some day.
 
Troutslayer2 said:
Wow yesterday was a long one. We left at 3:30AM for a brutal uphill climb. We had scouted some elk a few weeks ago and we have had success here before and we were really liking our prospects. It was cold, and raining, lightning was flashing in the distance which is really strange for how cold it is. We arrived at our spot that affords both the potential to shoot an elk and some great views of distant open hillsides- and it was early, and we were soaking wet and the temperature was dropping hard. It got light and we didn't see anything for a while. At around 10AM my buddy said he heard a cow behind us, which would put it on the downslope of the ridge we were sitting close to the top of. Since I was freezing I thought it was a good idea to climb up there and look over the other side. I just took my rifle and took about 30 steps up from our perch when my view changed and I saw 3 elk right where we expect them to be but in a pocket that is just out of view from where we were sitting. I hit the dirt and started trying to get ready, I could only see that one was a cow and could not identify the other two. The hill was so steep that I had on leg of my bipod all the way out and the other all the way in and I could still not get my gun level. Ranged them- 464 YDS. I crammed the short leg of my bipod into the dirt far enough to get level, but I couldn't get behind my gun very well. I dialed up the March. By this time I had realized that there were 2 good bulls with that cow but I had to wait for them to clear some vegetation that was on a ridge between them and I. I took my binoculars off in an attempt to get behind my weapon but I still couldn't shoulder it proper. When he cleared the tree and was standing broadside I let one fly for a perfect high shoulder shot. He didn't move an inch other than the 100 or so yards he tumbled because the terrain is so steep.

It took us a while just to get over to him and from there we really had our work cut out for us. We got three quarters off but in trying to get the fourth we had to roll him and he rolled a lot farther than we would have liked. So we climbed down and got the fourth. Then it happened again as we were trying to get at the back-straps and other meat. Just getting all the meat up to the ridge was quite an ordeal and it had started snowing really hard, like 2" fell while we were cleaning and getting ready for transport. We finally got him to the ridge and decided it was best to get him off the mountain but not all the way to the truck. We took the hinds and as much personal stuff as we could carry. Then we went back for the rest of the meat, the head, and all of the rest of our gear which was a lot because we had planned to spike out so we had tents, sleeping bags, food all that stuff.


My best bull, and a very good one for this area. Doing it the hard way on public land.
View attachment 155228

Getting it all in one place in deteriorating conditions.
View attachment 155226



The 168 Grain 7MM ABLR launched from my 280AI at 2900FPS, 464 YDS, 62.5% weight retention.
View attachment 155227
Click to expand...

That's a great hunt! Big congrats. So many of the discussions on the forum are centered around bullets and calibers etc. to the point it kind of ends up as a reloaders forum. It's natural because long range hunting does require a lot of attention to detail in regards to making those kind of shots, and I'm as guilty as any. Just saying it's great to hear a story about the hunting part of it. Kudos to you on a great bull and a great hunt. Color me jealous!
 
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