SW Montana 2014 Elk Hunt

[GearJunky]

Headed out tomorrow, for one last chance at an elk. I am going back to my favorite spot with my Dad and some friends... so regardless of the outcome, it will be a great trip. I figure I might as well start the thread now, and hope to fill it up with pictures on my return! So far my season has been nothing but missed opportunities, so it's time for that to change.

Here is the score card so far -
- Two different bulls in the breaks at under 30 yds, full draw and no shots (face palm!!)
- Friend shoots a nice 6x6 bull with his rifle, the elk runs up over a ridge and is blasted by two more hunters!
- Find four bulls in a secluded drainage, put the stalk on them, and the whole thing goes south when two other hunters on horses sneak in and take the shots. Both guys missed and the elk ran into Idaho!

Then today I received this email from my buddy with a hunt update, and I am suddenly more excited and starting to think my luck will change!!

"Talked to Mark, govt trapper shot two wolves yesterday south of the highway, sounds like right in where I got my cow last year. Bring your wolf tag!!

he said elk are bunched up in herds, moving around on flats, low hills."

To be continued....

 

[LCH]

Go get 'em!

 

[buckykm1]

Good Luck.

Kevin

 

[Gr8bawana]

Good luck on elk and wolves.

 

[GearJunky]

I just got back from my hunt, and we had a great time! The elk were down low in large numbers, but no big bulls to be found. I have hunted this area for several years now and I usually have to hunt back up in the steep country to find any good bulls, but this year deep snow and wind must have kept them hunkered down. I never saw any bulls in my favorite spots up high. My first morning found me looking over a large alfafa field full of elk. I knew I needed to be out in front of them, heading to their bedding area. Well I ended up picking out exactly where they would walk! I had a new hunter with me, and before we knew it we had 200+ head of elk walking right past us (maybe 20 yards). I had spotted a 6-point bull out in the field, but once we were surrounded, it was a real goat show. I finally got a glimpse of the bull cutting down below us. My only option was to jump up and take a quick off-hand shot... I missed and the elk took off for the timber. I spent the next two days looking at more large herds of elk, and not a single legal bull with any of them. My buddies were able to harvest two cows on our second day, so we had some meat in the freezer. At the end of our second day I was pretty frustrated we weren't finding any bulls, but a whitetail buck decided to feed out in front of us. He was 350 yards from us, and so my Dad suggest I try a long shot. I will say, I am not a good rifleman but I have been spending at lot of time at the range working on 300 yard shots, so I wanted to see if I could do it in the field. I pulled the trigger on the whitetail and he piled up instantly. Probably the coolest shot I have ever made! We got the deer and were back on the hunt for a bull. On our third and last day, we found a herd of elk, back in a familiar field. I had a pretty good idea what they might do, from my first morning and so I set off again before light trying to cut them off. This time I set back further in the hills, so they would be single filing in front of me. I watched each elk jump the fence and finally saw a smaller 5x5 and a 6x5 bull coming in the middle of the pack. Everything finally worked out like clock work. The bigger bull walked up the ridge behind me and stood broadside at 307 yards. I pulled the trigger and he hunched up. I knew he was hit. I put two more rounds in him and he went running down hill and piled up. I had a lot of missed opportunities this season, so I was really excited to see it all come together.

The best part, my Dad watched the whole thing through my spotting scope and later came up and joined me for pictures with the bull!

I also found a dead wolf on the trip, so I got a cool picture with that. Probably part of the reason the elk weren't in the timber this year.

 

[LCH]

Good job!

 

[----]

That's a heck of a good trip right there, two great animals! Glad to see that all your hard work all season finally paid off.

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats!

 

[Duck-Slayer]

awesome job,
Matt

 

[elk_hunter]

Way to go on both of those!