December 14, 201510 yr Came up on a herd of 14 elk about 25 minutes before the official end of the hunting day. (Hunters can take animals from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset during season.) They were about 400 yards across the flat, not too terribly far from the timber where they tend to spend a fair amount of their nights bedded down. It was pretty dark and the guides (had two this afternoon) asked me about how I felt about shooting. I told them that particularly with the light situation, I was pretty uncomfortable with the shot - my rifle is zeroed in at 100 yards, so I would have to do some significant compensation for bullet drop with a shot of that distance. So, one of the guides and I crawled out army style across the flat until we got a reading of 306 yards on the rangefinder. It took us about 10 minutes to get that far, and I'm sure I looked like a fat slug doing it, but I was kind of amused with the fact that I'd actually successfully army-crawled the length of a football field with a 30-06 balanced on my forearms. Anyway, I took about 2 minutes to get myself calmed down, and I took the first shot, which landed low. The guide was glassing with his binocs while I shot, and he said he was pretty sure my shot went clear under the elk between his front and hind legs. I took a few more deep breaths and shot again, and then we heard the "thud". It was awesome. Only problem is, seeing as beefy as those damn things are, the elks turned and made a b-line for the timberline as I was hurrying to chamber another round. (Elk are infamous for regularly taking 2 and 3 solid shots to drop.) The guide told me he was pretty positive from his vantage point through a $1200 pair of binocs the I hit it square in the front shoulder. With the bullet energy from a 30-06 at 300 yard range, that is a pretty effective shot. We searched and saw circling blood in the timber, but called off the search until morning once it got to about 8:00. The guide said he fully expects to see a dead elk in the timber within 1/4 mile or less of where I shot come tomorrow at 6:00am - he only question remaining is whether or not we will find it before the coyotes do. I need to hit the rack because I've got another early and long day in front of me, but overall: Excited, super excited still. Disappointed I left a wounded animal for the night. Hopeful for the morning. I'll elaborate more on everything tomorrow once I'm back in front of a computer.
December 15, 201510 yr Sorry sorry...I got in late last night and was cashed out in bed within 15 minutes, and I've spent the morning today paying for being off yesterday. Well, as much as I hate to have to say it, I came home empty handed. We got out yesterday morning and we were on the blood trail by 6:45 am. It was a nice solid trail. We tracked for a few hours, but then around 10/10:30 we had a good blowing rain come in and hang around until almost 2:30. We got back out at it then, and we hiked until almost 9:00pm finding occasional spots of blood here and there where it hadn't washed off, but we ended up in to many circles to find any effective trail leading to anything. Sooooo...when all's said and done, I had a positively amazing weekend, but ended up really giving the coyotes a hell of a treat.
December 16, 201510 yr Thank you for sharing your cool journey with us, insights, and info! What, if anything, would you do differently?
December 16, 201510 yr C_W_B, thanks for including us. I put many, many hours in ever year deer hunting, and rarely ever take an animal. I enjoy the hunt and adventure. I can't imagine the adventure you had. I'm glad you enjoyed yours.......
December 16, 201510 yr Sorry sorry...I got in late last night and was cashed out in bed within 15 minutes, and I've spent the morning today paying for being off yesterday. Well, as much as I hate to have to say it, I came home empty handed. We got out yesterday morning and we were on the blood trail by 6:45 am. It was a nice solid trail. We tracked for a few hours, but then around 10/10:30 we had a good blowing rain come in and hang around until almost 2:30. We got back out at it then, and we hiked until almost 9:00pm finding occasional spots of blood here and there where it hadn't washed off, but we ended up in to many circles to find any effective trail leading to anything. Sooooo...when all's said and done, I had a positively amazing weekend, but ended up really giving the coyotes a hell of a treat. Biggest thing I ever hunted were squirrels and rabbits, got lost doing it too. Enjoyed reading about your adventure. Hope you're lucky enough to get another elk hunt.
December 17, 201510 yr Are you going to go back this weekend? Well, I drew a tag for Week 1 of elk cow season...which runs from last Saturday to this Friday, so I have tomorrow and Friday to head back. Tomorrow is definitely out, unfortunately, but there is still a bit of a chance I can make it back Friday.
December 17, 201510 yr Thank you for sharing your cool journey with us, insights, and info! What, if anything, would you do differently? You know, I've been thinking about that off and on. I felt like I had a really good guide, good gear, a good gun...I'm nor sure what I could have done better, apart from maybe working on my climbing skills and army-crawling skills while packing a rifle. I'll have to keep thinking on this one for you.
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