2021 Muzzleloader elk/bear hunts

[utah400elk]

He was in the area and all around my stands. On Monday Nov 1 we had a big storm with a. Ton of wind and is was a little quiet. Tuesday we had about a 3 hour window before heavy rain and then another 3-4 hour beak of clear weather before dark. I almost slept in but my son said he thought I was going to get “Willie” in the morning.

I got into my stand quietly and waited. It was a slow morning. Around 9, it started to lightly rain and almost immediately I head a bunch of grunting and deer chasing behind my stand.

I heard him before I saw him…A deer was running up the ridge towards me. I saw him at about 50 yards. Very tall buck and thought it might be “Willie”. He as so fixed on the chase he ran right in. I got ready for the shot and stopped him at 30 yards. It was a quick shot. I hate not knowing how the shot went…that didn’t happen this time.

 

[utah400elk]

It was him and he was down. I sent this picture to Christian

 

[utah400elk]

Field photos…


“Willie” is on the right. My friend does Euro mounts.

So this is the side story of Willie. Keep in mind that this buck was shot less than 15 miles from down town DC and right along the Potomac River. This was a true DIY hunt…albeit east coast style. I still have a lot of whitetail hunting to go. Our season ends in January for bucks. If I shoot another it will have to be really big/giant.

Christian and I leave for NM for the next leg of our 2021 elk hunts two weeks from yesterday.

 

[Crossbowguy]

What a year! I wish I had deer like that around here. Just when I think i'm building a deer herd another round of scumbags come through shooting anything that moves! It gets depressing.

 

[utah400elk]

It really is amazing that I have done more actual hunting in the DC area than anywhere else I have lived. There are deer everywhere and learning to whitetail hunt has been a blast.

 

[utah400elk]

I am simply heart broken this morning. I went out yesterday to shoot my final shots before we leave for our NM hunt. Rifle shot awesome and we were ready to go. Then…as I was finished cleaning and reinstalling the breach plug it seized. I put it in finger tight and it stopped short. I put a little (really little) pressure and it wouldn’t budge. I started to back out the breach plug and about half way out it totally seized. I have tried everything but it won’t budge. I ended up breaking my vice in the garage trying to get the thing to move. Nothing forward or back. I leave in less than a week and don’t have the gun I worked all summer on.

I have another that I can use but it will limit our range by about half. I have a call into the company to see if the can expedite me a new barrel/action but don’t hold out much hope. They took 10 weeks to ship the last. I even volunteered to drive there 16 hours total to pick it up…We will see but I am really sick to my stomach right now.

 

[utah400elk]

I am in much better place now. I went out today and was shooting one inch groups with my .50 cal Disk extreme. So back up rifle is good to go. It will limit me to maybe 225 max range.

On another note, Connie from Knight called and they are going to expedite a fix to me. I should have the parts Friday morning. If it shoots the same load as well as my original rifle I will be all set. It’s a very quick turnaround but think I can swing it. Huge props to Knight Rifles and Connie!

 

[utah400elk]

Not how you would want to see your muzzleloader 5 days before the start of your LE NM muzzleloader elk hunt.
A few hours later…this is 5 inches high but in line. The one on the left was a called flyer.

I still need a little Range time. I didn’t have the right Allen-Key to adjust the CDS dial. I should be all set by tomorrow afternoon.

Again huge thanks to Connie at Knight. Without her stepping up this could not have happened.

 

[utah400elk]

Ok…hunt is over. I had very limited cell service so will post a few pictures and a recap…

 

[utah400elk]

First thing first! We landed in Phoenix and got a well deserved lunch. A few double doubles and two shakes and we were set.

 

[utah400elk]

We were able to rent a Tacoma and found a little cabin on VRBO.

 

[utah400elk]

First day of scouting was awesome. We say well over 100 elk. It had been a long time since I had been in unit 15. It really is a special place. There were literally elk everywhere we looked.

There were even elk tracks every morning n the driveway to our cabin.

 

[utah400elk]

 

[utah400elk]

I am trying to do this from my phone so these should have elk in them.

 

[utah400elk]

The cabin was cool. Christian had never seen Mormon crickets and thought they were cool.

 

[utah400elk]

He had never really spent any time around horses and loved feeding them apples and carrots.

 

[utah400elk]

During two days of scouting we saw over 200 elk and found 4 shooters. The country was rough

 

[utah400elk]

We made plans for opening morning going after the bigger bulls.

This is break of day as we were gaining altitude.



One of the areas we were glassing.

 

[utah400elk]

When we got to the top of the mountain and it was cold and windy as the sun came up. I was moving around trying to find elk and Christian spotted the bulls. He found a great 330 plus bull that was unbroken and about 400 yards away moving up the canyon. We could actually hear the bulls moving through the trees. I blew it by trying to move too fast. We were sure the bulls had gotten out of the canyon and we were moving. I was breathing hard as we were reaching the very top of the canyon and we spooked the elk out. They were about 200 yards out? Had a shot at the bigger bull but couldn’t get a good range. They were in a very small window but I kept getting 50 yards on my range finder. They moved out of the canyon and we followed.

 

[utah400elk]

We lost them but found another group.I am not sure if you can see them but there are seven bulls on the far ridge. Two were huge and over 340. As we moved in the went over the top into a bedding area. We backed out with 11 bulls seen opening morning.