SC Living Outdoors
Well-known member
Hey guys,
I thought I would take a minute to tell all of you about how my elk hunt went. I decided this year I was going to go elk hunting no matter what. Being a guy from SC this is a pretty big hunt for me. I knew I wanted to do it solo so I started doing a ton of research. I decided I was going to apply in NM and I had a backup OTC plan if I didn't draw. Well the draw results came out and I drew my 3rd choice. So the fun began. I love to plan trips and building up the anticipation for a hunt. I do ungodly amounts of research for all my trips to do everything possible to be prepared physically and mentally before I arrive.
The time for my trip finally arrived and I set out for my first solo elk hunt and began the 24hr drive to SW NM. I arrived on a Monday afternoon. My season didn't open until Saturday (Oct 13). This early arrival was by design to give me time to learn the area and hopefully find elk. I hiked back into the area I found while escouting. My first morning on the mountain I briefly saw a legal bull 5 minutes into glassing. The bull was on the move and was gone before I could get a real idea of how big he was, but I think he was a 3x3 or 4x4 raghorn. A few minutes later I found a spike bedded. This gave me a lot of confidence and began to explore the area. Over the next 2 days I covered a lot of ground and saw bulls every day, but they were all spikes and no cows. I made the decision to move to a new area on Thursday. I figured most of the bigger bulls would still be with the cows and I wasn't seeing any cows.
I arrived at my new area early afternoon and immediately started covering ground the learn the area. There was a good bit of elk sign, but I didn't see any elk that first evening while glassing my new area. The next morning I woke up and started glassing. Shortly after starting to glass I heard a few bugles behind a mountain that was hidden from view. I hiked along the ridgeline I had camped on the night before and I hit the jackpot. A heard of 30ish elk spread out along the side of the mountain. There were 2 very big bulls and a few spikes, but all of them were on private land. This was exciting, but also kind of discouraging. There were 2 bulls that were giants, front of magazine big, and bigger then anything I thought I would see and I couldn't go after them because they were on private.
I made the long hike back to my truck that night and did some serious thinking and praying that God would lead me to make the right decision for the opener the next morning. The valley between my mountain and the mountain the elk were on was partly public land. I decided I would hunt the valley the next morning skirting the private in hopes that the elk were pushed down or decided to feed down in the valley that night. Saturday morning I made the long hike back into the valley and arrived right after daylight and holy smokes I don't know if God really likes me or what, but I made the right choice. The bulls were on fire. Being a guy from the right coast hearing bulls screaming at each other is like stuff of legends. Its not real life. The bulls and their smaller individual groups of cows had fed down into the valley during the night. I began to slowly work my way towards the excitement keeping the wind in my favor. The first bull I saw a massive 6x6 that had already gotten himself and his cows back onto private land, but man was he awesome to see. Immediately after seeing that bull I heard a bull rip a bugle from on public land. I could tell he was working back toward private because I heard him again 5 minutes later and he was significantly closer to me. So I made a move to cut him off and that's when I made my first rookie mistake. I moved in too tight. I had the wind set up perfect for the 80 yard shooting lane in front of me, but the bull pushed is cows on a slightly different path then I thought they would take. They came in behind me, down wind, 20 yards. All I heard was the rocks behind me as elk ran back onto public land. I was distraught. Years of dreaming, months of planning, miles of hiking and I blew it. I knew that was going to be my one opportunity for a big bull. I'm an incredibly positive guy. I cant stand negative people. It took everything I had not to just be broken at that point.
I decided I would gain a little elevation and try to circle around the elk I just spooked because I knew they were on public land. I slowly began working my way around keeping the wind in my favor. About 10 minutes later I while working my way around I looked up and saw an elk feeding under a juniper tree. I couldn't see his head, but his body was massive. I said to myself "that has to be a big bull". I watched him with my binos, but he wouldn't lift his head. As I continued to watch the elk moved and when he did I saw the branches 3' above his head shake as he repositioned his antlers. I was starting to get really excited! The bull lifted his head and I could see good fronts and a whale tail. I said "that's big enough for me"! I ranged him and he was 416. I had practiced out to 425, but I wanted to get closer. I worked my way up to 376. I was doing everything I could to calm my heart rate, but my crosshairs were jumping like a 10yr staring down a whitetail spike. I fired. Immediately after shooting i heard hooves and the group of elk that winded my earlier took off from below me about 300yards. I saw 6 cows followed by a big 6x6. I hadn't even seen them. In all the craziness I didn't see my bull and I thought the 6x6 trailing the cows was the bull I shot at. I checked my onX and the 6x6 and cows were crossing over onto private. I looked back to the juniper where my bull was standing and he was still there...and he was laying down as I watched him. I put a juniper bush between myself and him and ran up to 116 yards I made a finishing shot because I could tell he wasn't done. My bull ended up being a 5x5 with matching extra points coming off both brow tines making him a 6x6. He has a couple broken tines from fighting, but I don't care. My bull isn't a giant, but he is a darn nice one. The pack out took me 3 trips. Round trip from the truck to meat to truck took 5 hours per trip going over peaks, saddles, and a lot of side hills. The hunt was awesome everything I wanted it to be. I hiked 55 miles over 6 days and drove over 3300. I'll be back out west next year chasing something, but I will never forget this one. I told everyone before I left if I wasn't successful it wouldn't be from lack of effort. I gave it my all and I brought one home.
Also, I'd like to say thank you to the guys on this forum that gave me some pointers. The knowledge, info, and helpfulness on this forum is unlike any other forum I have been on. THANK YOU!!! If you'd like to see this hunt I film all my adventures. You can look me up on YouTube. My channel is SCliving Outdoors
I thought I would take a minute to tell all of you about how my elk hunt went. I decided this year I was going to go elk hunting no matter what. Being a guy from SC this is a pretty big hunt for me. I knew I wanted to do it solo so I started doing a ton of research. I decided I was going to apply in NM and I had a backup OTC plan if I didn't draw. Well the draw results came out and I drew my 3rd choice. So the fun began. I love to plan trips and building up the anticipation for a hunt. I do ungodly amounts of research for all my trips to do everything possible to be prepared physically and mentally before I arrive.
The time for my trip finally arrived and I set out for my first solo elk hunt and began the 24hr drive to SW NM. I arrived on a Monday afternoon. My season didn't open until Saturday (Oct 13). This early arrival was by design to give me time to learn the area and hopefully find elk. I hiked back into the area I found while escouting. My first morning on the mountain I briefly saw a legal bull 5 minutes into glassing. The bull was on the move and was gone before I could get a real idea of how big he was, but I think he was a 3x3 or 4x4 raghorn. A few minutes later I found a spike bedded. This gave me a lot of confidence and began to explore the area. Over the next 2 days I covered a lot of ground and saw bulls every day, but they were all spikes and no cows. I made the decision to move to a new area on Thursday. I figured most of the bigger bulls would still be with the cows and I wasn't seeing any cows.
I arrived at my new area early afternoon and immediately started covering ground the learn the area. There was a good bit of elk sign, but I didn't see any elk that first evening while glassing my new area. The next morning I woke up and started glassing. Shortly after starting to glass I heard a few bugles behind a mountain that was hidden from view. I hiked along the ridgeline I had camped on the night before and I hit the jackpot. A heard of 30ish elk spread out along the side of the mountain. There were 2 very big bulls and a few spikes, but all of them were on private land. This was exciting, but also kind of discouraging. There were 2 bulls that were giants, front of magazine big, and bigger then anything I thought I would see and I couldn't go after them because they were on private.
I made the long hike back to my truck that night and did some serious thinking and praying that God would lead me to make the right decision for the opener the next morning. The valley between my mountain and the mountain the elk were on was partly public land. I decided I would hunt the valley the next morning skirting the private in hopes that the elk were pushed down or decided to feed down in the valley that night. Saturday morning I made the long hike back into the valley and arrived right after daylight and holy smokes I don't know if God really likes me or what, but I made the right choice. The bulls were on fire. Being a guy from the right coast hearing bulls screaming at each other is like stuff of legends. Its not real life. The bulls and their smaller individual groups of cows had fed down into the valley during the night. I began to slowly work my way towards the excitement keeping the wind in my favor. The first bull I saw a massive 6x6 that had already gotten himself and his cows back onto private land, but man was he awesome to see. Immediately after seeing that bull I heard a bull rip a bugle from on public land. I could tell he was working back toward private because I heard him again 5 minutes later and he was significantly closer to me. So I made a move to cut him off and that's when I made my first rookie mistake. I moved in too tight. I had the wind set up perfect for the 80 yard shooting lane in front of me, but the bull pushed is cows on a slightly different path then I thought they would take. They came in behind me, down wind, 20 yards. All I heard was the rocks behind me as elk ran back onto public land. I was distraught. Years of dreaming, months of planning, miles of hiking and I blew it. I knew that was going to be my one opportunity for a big bull. I'm an incredibly positive guy. I cant stand negative people. It took everything I had not to just be broken at that point.
I decided I would gain a little elevation and try to circle around the elk I just spooked because I knew they were on public land. I slowly began working my way around keeping the wind in my favor. About 10 minutes later I while working my way around I looked up and saw an elk feeding under a juniper tree. I couldn't see his head, but his body was massive. I said to myself "that has to be a big bull". I watched him with my binos, but he wouldn't lift his head. As I continued to watch the elk moved and when he did I saw the branches 3' above his head shake as he repositioned his antlers. I was starting to get really excited! The bull lifted his head and I could see good fronts and a whale tail. I said "that's big enough for me"! I ranged him and he was 416. I had practiced out to 425, but I wanted to get closer. I worked my way up to 376. I was doing everything I could to calm my heart rate, but my crosshairs were jumping like a 10yr staring down a whitetail spike. I fired. Immediately after shooting i heard hooves and the group of elk that winded my earlier took off from below me about 300yards. I saw 6 cows followed by a big 6x6. I hadn't even seen them. In all the craziness I didn't see my bull and I thought the 6x6 trailing the cows was the bull I shot at. I checked my onX and the 6x6 and cows were crossing over onto private. I looked back to the juniper where my bull was standing and he was still there...and he was laying down as I watched him. I put a juniper bush between myself and him and ran up to 116 yards I made a finishing shot because I could tell he wasn't done. My bull ended up being a 5x5 with matching extra points coming off both brow tines making him a 6x6. He has a couple broken tines from fighting, but I don't care. My bull isn't a giant, but he is a darn nice one. The pack out took me 3 trips. Round trip from the truck to meat to truck took 5 hours per trip going over peaks, saddles, and a lot of side hills. The hunt was awesome everything I wanted it to be. I hiked 55 miles over 6 days and drove over 3300. I'll be back out west next year chasing something, but I will never forget this one. I told everyone before I left if I wasn't successful it wouldn't be from lack of effort. I gave it my all and I brought one home.
Also, I'd like to say thank you to the guys on this forum that gave me some pointers. The knowledge, info, and helpfulness on this forum is unlike any other forum I have been on. THANK YOU!!! If you'd like to see this hunt I film all my adventures. You can look me up on YouTube. My channel is SCliving Outdoors
