chambero
New member
It took me more than a few tries, but I finally killed my first bull elk.
We were hunting in a drop camp up around Meeker. We went in just under six miles on horses, but were probably right around 2 miles from the closest 4x4 road. Friday night before season, bulls were bugling everywhere. We thought we had the place to ourselves.
We came out of the tent around 5 am to head to our spots and were met by the darndest army of headlamps marching up both sides of the valley and the bottom. Apparently the locals knew the valley held lots of elk.
At daylight the shooting started. It was actually pretty pitiful. One group of about 20 cows broke out on an open ridge. From where I sat, I counted five that made it to cover. I could count 40 hunters in "our" valley.
I missed a small bull about 9 am. Shot was probably too long (around 450 yds), but he was standing still and I had a good rest. He just walked off in the trees. We trailed him for a while and finally stopped in a small clearing and had lunch. We decided our best approach was to just sit. I stayed put and my buddy went a couple of draws over.
Two different groups of hunters came right up by me hauling out elk on their backs over the top of the south ridge. About an hour later the wind got up in my face and I stood up to get some blood circulating. I guess I heard something, and turned around to see my bull running straight downhill directly at me at full speed - maybe 40 to 50 yds away. He passed within probably 10 yards to my left as he thundered by. Needless to say I'm lucky I didn't have to change pants.
I had forgot to turn my scope power down after the miss earlier. On the first shot I think I just pretty much pointed the gun at him and shot. On the second I guess my finger touched the trigger right as I jacked another shell in because I fired into the ground in front of me. Somehow I got a third shot chambered right before he made it to cover and found him in the scope, maybe a 100 yds away. I fired right as he went over a rise. I didn't hear anything or see anything, but I really figured I had missed again.
When I went to look, he had dropped just over the edge of the rise from a "perfectly" executed "Texas heart show". He must have died instantly because he crashed headlong into a 6-8" aspen tree. His left brow tine stuck into the tree like a railroad spike, actually coming out the back side before breaking off. He broke his whole bottom jaw in half.
I was truly shaking. I had just harvested a very nice 6x5 (for the area). Not exactly how I pictured my first elk kill. I imagine I'll still be able to see him rolling toward me till my dying day. We didn't have a saw and didn't feel like trying to cut the tree down with a hatchet, so that brow tine is still there.
The area we hunted.
We had a cold ride back to the trailhead at the end of season.
We were hunting in a drop camp up around Meeker. We went in just under six miles on horses, but were probably right around 2 miles from the closest 4x4 road. Friday night before season, bulls were bugling everywhere. We thought we had the place to ourselves.
We came out of the tent around 5 am to head to our spots and were met by the darndest army of headlamps marching up both sides of the valley and the bottom. Apparently the locals knew the valley held lots of elk.
At daylight the shooting started. It was actually pretty pitiful. One group of about 20 cows broke out on an open ridge. From where I sat, I counted five that made it to cover. I could count 40 hunters in "our" valley.
I missed a small bull about 9 am. Shot was probably too long (around 450 yds), but he was standing still and I had a good rest. He just walked off in the trees. We trailed him for a while and finally stopped in a small clearing and had lunch. We decided our best approach was to just sit. I stayed put and my buddy went a couple of draws over.
Two different groups of hunters came right up by me hauling out elk on their backs over the top of the south ridge. About an hour later the wind got up in my face and I stood up to get some blood circulating. I guess I heard something, and turned around to see my bull running straight downhill directly at me at full speed - maybe 40 to 50 yds away. He passed within probably 10 yards to my left as he thundered by. Needless to say I'm lucky I didn't have to change pants.
I had forgot to turn my scope power down after the miss earlier. On the first shot I think I just pretty much pointed the gun at him and shot. On the second I guess my finger touched the trigger right as I jacked another shell in because I fired into the ground in front of me. Somehow I got a third shot chambered right before he made it to cover and found him in the scope, maybe a 100 yds away. I fired right as he went over a rise. I didn't hear anything or see anything, but I really figured I had missed again.
When I went to look, he had dropped just over the edge of the rise from a "perfectly" executed "Texas heart show". He must have died instantly because he crashed headlong into a 6-8" aspen tree. His left brow tine stuck into the tree like a railroad spike, actually coming out the back side before breaking off. He broke his whole bottom jaw in half.
I was truly shaking. I had just harvested a very nice 6x5 (for the area). Not exactly how I pictured my first elk kill. I imagine I'll still be able to see him rolling toward me till my dying day. We didn't have a saw and didn't feel like trying to cut the tree down with a hatchet, so that brow tine is still there.
The area we hunted.
We had a cold ride back to the trailhead at the end of season.
