Off to Colorado, wish us luck!

[AJ Peacock]

Well we got most everything packed in the trailer last night and will be off as soon as the boss turns his head ;-).

Our elk season starts on Wed. 11/14 and we (Dennis, Brian and I) each have either sex tags. We will be meeting up with my brother and dad who also have tags. My brother and I also have bear tags (just in case).

Everything was going great until my brother called last night and told me he saw a good bunch of elk while scouting. He stopped counting when he got to 75 head. He said there were 5 shootable bulls and one dandy! BUT, knowing how elk are, they could be in Utah by now!

We'll try to keep you all updated, maybe my new 338AM will start earning its keep?

We plan on starting tonight and getting as far as Denver, then staying there Saturday night so we can drive through the mountains in the daylight. Brian (Dennis' son) has never been out west, so we want him to get the full effect. Mapquest says, 22hours and 36minutes (1540+miles). With the price of diesel, I may be selling equipment on the way back ;-)

Later,
AJ

 

[Guy M]

Best of luck to ya AJ!

Try not to sell everything on the way home...

 

[NYLES]

WOW! You gonna have fun break that 338 in right! with a BIG ELK! You all got more tags than that desiel can haul! May the Elk gods be with ya! And dont forget the camra! We want Pics!!

 

[Slopeshunter]

Have a good hunt AJ. Look forward to seeing the results.

 

[AJ Peacock]

We are gone!!!

We are on our way, and thanks to Broadband we are online and rollin down the highway. Its kinda funny all the technology. We have a GPS on the dash, an IPOD with a countdown of the top 500 rock and roll songs (we are currently on 486 Dancin to the music, Sly and the Family stone). Brian is doing homework, social studies, he's currently trying to decide if Paul Revere or Samuel Adams setup the first committee of correspondence?

Here are a couple pics I took just before we left.


Here is Dennis and Brian, buckling up the trailer to keep everything dry. The entire thing is sealed with Visqueen and weatherstripping!

And here we go!

Talk to you all later,

AJ

 

[philny1]

You fellas look squared away, we just packed everything in the back of my pickup. 1961mi for us from western NY. Spent the first nite in Lincoln, second in Grand Junction. We hunted area 70, closest town was Naturita.
Best of luck to ya.

 

[AJ Peacock]

Thanks Phil, I hope we do as well as you did!

We're about 160 miles from Chicago, we're on 461 Bob Seger Turn the page on the radio. It got too dark for Brian to finish his Social Studies but he did find out that Sam Adams was the one that setup the first committee of correspondence before it got dark (and with a little help from Google on some real doozies)

143 miles down, 1400 to go.

Are we there yet dad?


Later,
AJ

 

[Boman]

Have fun and hope you get into them. Weather has been warm but looks like a front will come in on Sunday night. What part of the state will you be hunting? I may be doing some guiding outside of Ft. Collins. Best of luck to you

 

[AJ Peacock]

Have fun and hope you get into them. Weather has been warm but looks like a front will come in on Sunday night. What part of the state will you be hunting? I may be doing some guiding outside of Ft. Collins. Best of luck to you

Thanks,

Western Slope NW of Grand Junction.

908 miles down, 630 to go.


Later,
AJ

 

[royinidaho]

Good luck AJ et al. Remember it ain't the ELk its the distance.

Ya gotta pass up a 125 yd 6X6 for a 1145yd Spike.

Yep technology is encroaching. Way up on the Salmon River (North Fork) at our main shooting spot, I racked up over 2 hours of roaming charges.

I guess there just ain't such a thing as remote any more.

 

[AJ Peacock]

Roy, thanks.

Dennis and Brian don't think your math adds up. A 6x6 at 125yds better be awful careful around these guys.

We are almost to Denver, Brian just got his first look at the mountains. Needless to say, he was duly impressed.

AJ

 

[AJ Peacock]

Sighting in the 338AM

All,

We made it out to Colorado and shot all the guns today to verify drops etc.

I started at 230 just to verify the scope, then moved to 500 (still dead on from the Palm pilot)

Then we decided to really stretch it and I shot at a clump of weeds about 10" across at 1204yds (ranged with the Swaro LRF). With a 4mph crosswind (Kestral reading), punched the numbers into the palm (exbal), dialed in the windage, held 11.75 minutes below the crosshairs and hit 3" to the right AT 1204YARDS!

We did it twice more and hit in **** near the same spot. Probablya 4-5" group (its tough to tell, but we had a 60x spotting scope and it appeared that they hit in the same hole!)

We were just about to put the rifle away and my brother spotted a coyote moving along the ridge and it was 515yds, unfortunately I heard Dennis say 550 not 515, we shot just over his back (exactly where it should have hit, given the incorrect data) (**** near hit him anyway!)

We saw him again at 992, but couldn't get the dope fast enough to make a shot, (or he would have been dead!)

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, Kirby did a fantastic job on this rifle!

I brought a 5/8" steel gong 12" diameter circle. We hung it at 515yds and I wanted to see for myself that the 338AM would pop a hole through it.

First thing, Dennis shot it with his 338RUM (first shot using the Palm/exbal drop hit). The 338Rum went about 1/2 through the plate and pushed a small dent on the off side. We had the gong hanging on a steel T-post pounded in at a 45 degree angle. The 338AM went through the 5/8" steel, AS WELL AS THE T-post. We knocked a hole in the gong and hit so close to the center line that it knocked a hole in the T-post behind it.

We made an adjustment to the drop table, and taped a 2" piece of white tape to the center of the gong. The next shot went through the tape, the gong and the T-Post again! exactly where it was aimed at 510yds!

Absolutely amazing, now we have 2 days of scouting ahead of us. On Wednesday the fun begins!

AJ

 

[royinidaho]

AJ,

A coupla things.

Your comment regarding not getting the dope quick enough on the long yote shot has me interested. I just finished my first LRH w/BB and it was quite a learning experience for me. One has no idea of what one is talking about until you actually get in the game. Only then does this LRH thing become real!

Back on subject: What's your process for preping for the shot from the time you "see" that big or small animal way out there until you actually make the shot? Things like how is equipment stashed to be readily available so that no time is lost and the animal strolls over the ridge just before you can make the shot.

Thanks

Roy

Good luck on the hunt. Again, its the distance that's important. Not the horns.

 

[mikenc]

Good Luck AJ, I hope you all return with plenty of meat for the freezer and memories for the future.