Father/Son Elk Hunt

wapiti11

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Joined
Aug 28, 2012
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114
Location
Billings, MT
My 13 year old son and I had a fantastic elk hunt over Thanksgiving. He shot his first elk (cow) on Friday around 3 p.m. in her bed at 200 yards with his 7-08, one shot. Seems to be a popular caliber lately. We took care of his cow and carried quarters on top of the ridge for tomorrows haul with the sleds. We enjoyed a fun walk out together and half way back to the truck my sons Grandpa was halfway up the Mtn. towards us with the sleds. We left the sleds halfway up the Mtn. which was going to be a big help for tomorrows chore.
Tomorrow came quick and I decided to glass the Mtn. before driving up the road to the parking area just in case more elk were moving across. Two minutes into spotting I spotted two bulls moving across the Mtn. The race was on as we needed to drive up the road and hope they stayed on course, I got to the parking lot and put on the pack grabbed the rifle and took off. The bulls just hit the Aspens as I was getting ready to shoot. Dang it.. I was hoping they would stay at the same elevation as they moved through the aspen grove/pine tree patch that was maybe 300 yards wide. I got up and ran through the trees as there was a big sage flat on the other side and was hoping the bulls would move through and keep moving across the sage flat as the migration was on. I got to the sage flat and my thinking was right for once. The bulls came out above me at 400 yards. I was able to find a spot to shoot prone off the pack. The lead bull was the largest, as I looked through the scope and for some reason he happened to stop broadside, boom-hit still up, boom-hit still up, boom-hit still up. What is going on as I grabbed for more shells, as I loading one more in and started to aim he dropped. I was using bergers in my .300 wsm. I could not find any entry or exit holes while field dressing him. I will not be using bergers in the future...Anyway my son was watching everything happen in the spotter and we both did some fist pumps in the air as I got up to the bull. Grandpa was just heading up the road as the bull went down. What a way to end the season....we were loaded up by 1 pm thanks to the perfect snow conditions for using the sleds.
 

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Might have to resize the picture.

Good for you guys, great picture of your son.
 
Your son looks like a mighty happy young man, and rightfully so. Great looking bull too, I hope you get some more photos up. Congrats to both of you!
 
Great hunt together guys. Regarding the bergers, a lot depends on the location you are hitting animals, and if you couldn't find any exit / entry holes then i guess it makes it hard to pass judgement on a bullets performance.
 
Thanks everyone. We had a blast. Yea, bergers are to fragile for me. I know theres a lot of success with that bullet for some and a lot of bad results for some. I did not like the performance.
But anyway that's not what the thread is about, way to go son...and thanks for the help, grandpa...
 
Congrats to all!!
Sounds like great family memories with a meaty ending!
 
Congratulations to you and your son and grandpa.
These berger bullets that are kinda popular right now are not designed for penetration, they pretty much explode on contact. They were originally designed as target bullets and they are accurate, thats why those long range idiots used them when the long range craze began.
 
Thanks everyone. We had a blast. Yea, bergers are to fragile for me. I know theres a lot of success with that bullet for some and a lot of bad results for some. I did not like the performance.
But anyway that's not what the thread is about, way to go son...and thanks for the help, grandpa...


Were they VLD Hunting?
 
Stud of a bull and way to get your son started! Sounds like a pretty loaded 24 hours!
 
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