BuzzH
Well-known member
My Dad, Brother, and 2 nephews made the trip to Laramie to hunt cow elk for my oldest nephew.
The first afternoon of hunting we found a nice bunch of elk in a great place. We got up to 115 yards, all lined up on a cow, rifle on a great rest, the perfect set up. For some reason, he just wasn't ready, nervous, etc. and didn't shoot. It happens to young hunters, hell, it happens to old hunters sometimes.
Over the next few days we continued to hunt and found a lot of elk, including some bulls of the extra large variety. Several of the nicer bulls were in that 330-350 range and it was fun for all of us to see them, still rutting a bit, bugling, etc.
Friday morning my Brother and I spotted an elk in a great place to get close, but, unfortunately turned out being a lone spike. We looked around and decided to try another area where I had seen elk in the past many times. About 4:30 or so, bingo, a herd of maybe 40 with 2 six points in it, a 5 point and a bunch of cows. The bigger six point was a 330-340 class bull and we got to watch him bugle and keep the cows bunched up.
We put on a good stalk, but could only get to about 390 yards, too far for a young hunter, not to mention the wind.
We decided to wait them out, and with some "help" from another group of hunters, the herd started moving our direction. I got lucky and had picked about the perfect spot. The entire herd moved up toward us and were all standing 70 yards from us. Aiden was all set, rested on the top of my pack and I told him to pick out one of the cows toward the front of the herd. I told him to put the cross hairs on the shoulder and squeeze the trigger. He did just that and "boom". The cow wheeled and I saw the near shoulder was broke up a ways into the body, a bit low, but I knew instantly it was shot in the heart. The cow went maybe 30 feet, sat back on its rump, and tipped over backwards.
Aiden had his first elk. It was a great moment for sure, after some blown stalks, jitters, and much learning along the way.
His 7-08 loaded with 120 ballistic tips at 2825 fps worked awesome, and continues to impress me with how they perform.
We took photos, broke the elk down, and packed it to the truck via the moon light. A great first elk hunt for sure.
Aiden and I:
Posse photo:
Last night, the two monsters wanted to do some fishing at the local kids pond in Laramie. They about wore the grayling and trout out last night for a couple hours. I'm sure the fish are glad they're on their way back to Missoula...
The first afternoon of hunting we found a nice bunch of elk in a great place. We got up to 115 yards, all lined up on a cow, rifle on a great rest, the perfect set up. For some reason, he just wasn't ready, nervous, etc. and didn't shoot. It happens to young hunters, hell, it happens to old hunters sometimes.
Over the next few days we continued to hunt and found a lot of elk, including some bulls of the extra large variety. Several of the nicer bulls were in that 330-350 range and it was fun for all of us to see them, still rutting a bit, bugling, etc.
Friday morning my Brother and I spotted an elk in a great place to get close, but, unfortunately turned out being a lone spike. We looked around and decided to try another area where I had seen elk in the past many times. About 4:30 or so, bingo, a herd of maybe 40 with 2 six points in it, a 5 point and a bunch of cows. The bigger six point was a 330-340 class bull and we got to watch him bugle and keep the cows bunched up.
We put on a good stalk, but could only get to about 390 yards, too far for a young hunter, not to mention the wind.
We decided to wait them out, and with some "help" from another group of hunters, the herd started moving our direction. I got lucky and had picked about the perfect spot. The entire herd moved up toward us and were all standing 70 yards from us. Aiden was all set, rested on the top of my pack and I told him to pick out one of the cows toward the front of the herd. I told him to put the cross hairs on the shoulder and squeeze the trigger. He did just that and "boom". The cow wheeled and I saw the near shoulder was broke up a ways into the body, a bit low, but I knew instantly it was shot in the heart. The cow went maybe 30 feet, sat back on its rump, and tipped over backwards.
Aiden had his first elk. It was a great moment for sure, after some blown stalks, jitters, and much learning along the way.
His 7-08 loaded with 120 ballistic tips at 2825 fps worked awesome, and continues to impress me with how they perform.
We took photos, broke the elk down, and packed it to the truck via the moon light. A great first elk hunt for sure.
Aiden and I:
Posse photo:
Last night, the two monsters wanted to do some fishing at the local kids pond in Laramie. They about wore the grayling and trout out last night for a couple hours. I'm sure the fish are glad they're on their way back to Missoula...
