Sabot
Active member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2011
- Messages
- 190
Hunted 2nd rifle in SW Colorado last week. I could go on and on about all I learned, but I'll stick to the kill story.
Our group was only able to hunt for 4 days, and by the end of day 2 we were sure that the elk were siimply too high for us to get to them due to the warm weather. Other than a small group of cows and calves spotted at dark (a mile away and 500 feet above) it was warm and nothing moving.
On the morning of day 3, we were actually able to hunt a saddle that got us high enough to at least have a feasible shot at any elk that might be moving near the top of the mountain. At first light, a large bodied elk slipped in and out of view in a few seconds follwed by a couple of cows and a calf. Since the spot only really hunted one gun, we agreed to let a buddy and his dad hunt there in the evening. I tagged along as backup only.
Just before dark, the large bodied elk was spotted flashing between two spruce trees. By the time I got the scope up there, I could only see the back half of the animal. A few minutes later the elk stepped out, and as my crosshairs settled on it I said to myself "holy crap it's a bull."
Now came the test of character. My buddy and his dad were 35 yards to my front right, and this was their hunt, so I grit my teeth and kept the crosshairs on him but didn't shoot. What was probably about 10 seconds that seemed like minutes passed. My mind was racing and I couldn't comprehend why my buddy wasnt shooting as the bull stopped and started grazing. Light was fading, and the bull was already 350 yards. Even though it had been under a minute since he stepped out, I felt that the window was closing fast, and I couldn't bear the thought of letting the only legal bull of the trip slip away, so I turned one loose...
The bull didn't react like he was hit, but he didn't run either, I racked another round in and just as the crosshairs settled, my buddy broke his shot off. This time, the bull lurched into action and disappeared a few steps later in the brush. I trotted over to my buddy and his dad, and they confirmed that he had gone down.
Flush with adrenaline and desperate to make sure we found him before dark, we headed uphill without a flashlight or radio on a near sprint. It took about 10 minutes to cover the yardage going nearly straight uphill. We had him marked pretty good and were elated to find him piled up in the brush. He was an excellent, symmetrical 5x5 with a textbook exit hole behind the choulder. My shot? Well I could make all kinds of excuses about dstance, angles, and shooting sticks, but I can tell you that I was both disappointed and relieved as we skinned him out and found a low belly shot about 18 inches from the shoulder wound.
The shot location makes sense given that he was slightly quartering away, and I shot my 300 yard dope without accounting for the fact that he was at 350 (another lesson learned). In the end, the bull (and processing and taxidermy costs) clearly belonged to my buddy who put the perfect hit on the bull, but I am thrilled to have at least been a part of the kill. It ended up taking us 6 hours with the help of 5 additional men to get him off the mountain. Totally exhausted from the hunt and the pack out, it still took me 2 hours to fall asleep that night!
Our group was only able to hunt for 4 days, and by the end of day 2 we were sure that the elk were siimply too high for us to get to them due to the warm weather. Other than a small group of cows and calves spotted at dark (a mile away and 500 feet above) it was warm and nothing moving.
On the morning of day 3, we were actually able to hunt a saddle that got us high enough to at least have a feasible shot at any elk that might be moving near the top of the mountain. At first light, a large bodied elk slipped in and out of view in a few seconds follwed by a couple of cows and a calf. Since the spot only really hunted one gun, we agreed to let a buddy and his dad hunt there in the evening. I tagged along as backup only.
Just before dark, the large bodied elk was spotted flashing between two spruce trees. By the time I got the scope up there, I could only see the back half of the animal. A few minutes later the elk stepped out, and as my crosshairs settled on it I said to myself "holy crap it's a bull."
Now came the test of character. My buddy and his dad were 35 yards to my front right, and this was their hunt, so I grit my teeth and kept the crosshairs on him but didn't shoot. What was probably about 10 seconds that seemed like minutes passed. My mind was racing and I couldn't comprehend why my buddy wasnt shooting as the bull stopped and started grazing. Light was fading, and the bull was already 350 yards. Even though it had been under a minute since he stepped out, I felt that the window was closing fast, and I couldn't bear the thought of letting the only legal bull of the trip slip away, so I turned one loose...
The bull didn't react like he was hit, but he didn't run either, I racked another round in and just as the crosshairs settled, my buddy broke his shot off. This time, the bull lurched into action and disappeared a few steps later in the brush. I trotted over to my buddy and his dad, and they confirmed that he had gone down.
Flush with adrenaline and desperate to make sure we found him before dark, we headed uphill without a flashlight or radio on a near sprint. It took about 10 minutes to cover the yardage going nearly straight uphill. We had him marked pretty good and were elated to find him piled up in the brush. He was an excellent, symmetrical 5x5 with a textbook exit hole behind the choulder. My shot? Well I could make all kinds of excuses about dstance, angles, and shooting sticks, but I can tell you that I was both disappointed and relieved as we skinned him out and found a low belly shot about 18 inches from the shoulder wound.
The shot location makes sense given that he was slightly quartering away, and I shot my 300 yard dope without accounting for the fact that he was at 350 (another lesson learned). In the end, the bull (and processing and taxidermy costs) clearly belonged to my buddy who put the perfect hit on the bull, but I am thrilled to have at least been a part of the kill. It ended up taking us 6 hours with the help of 5 additional men to get him off the mountain. Totally exhausted from the hunt and the pack out, it still took me 2 hours to fall asleep that night!
