The good season continues

sbhooper

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 7, 2012
Messages
4,177
Location
North Platte, Nebraska




I have had a very good hunting season so far and was able to top it off a few days ago with a large cow elk. I went into this hunt with mediocre expectations and figured that if all else failed, I would have a great visit with the friends that I was staying with. I was also able to spend a day with Warren "Old Man" Lacour, which was a real treat.

I spent one day cruising around the area just trying to make up my mind where to hunt and gathering intel. Access to this area is very limited, due to being pretty much without roads. I had zeroed in on a specific area that I thought would for sure hold elk.

Friday morning I was greeted with low winds, bright sun and cold temps-perfect! I went to my predetermined spot, gritted my teeth and went into the rough stuff. After hiking a little over a mile and wondering why I keep doing this, I glassed up a herd of elk on a steep slope above me. Their location allowed them to see me for a lot of my stalk, but the sun was right and I crawled slowly up the ridge, through the sage brush. I was able to finally get to the crest of the hill that I was on. All of the elk on the slope were within sight, so I knew that I was at the end of the line.

I took off my pack and laid it across some high sage. It was not a very stable rest, but was my only choice. I ranged a huge cow at 288 yards. Before I could get settled, she walked out of the picture. I then changed my focus to another cow that was bedded. I ranged her at 320 yards and adjusted my Super Sniper scope accordingly. I sent a couple 160 Partitons into her and she rolled about 50 yards down the slope.

I went to her and started to work. I finished the butchering and headed to the truck with back straps and tenderloins, as the sun was starting down. I did not leave the truck until noon, so time was a bit limited.

Saturday, I rounded up a young, tough friend to help me haul her out on a sled. There was just enough snow to make this possible. We returned to the scene and found not only 200 more elk, but a large golden eagle on the cow carcass. It made it worth the trip just for that. We put the remaining elk meat on my cheapo sled and tied it down. The slope was extremely steep, so we just went to the edge and pushed the sled off the edge. It shot down the slope as if it had a jet pack. We thought it was pretty funny when it went airborne after jumping some sage. It came to rest approximately 250 yards down the slope. We had another shot like that, but for less distance. After the next one, it crashed pretty hard into some sage. We could not figure out why it was pulling so hard and then we realized that a big chunk had been broken out of the wimpy sled. It was no problem and we pulled it the rest of the way to the truck.

I timed this hunt perfectly, since it has been a very mild winter so far. Normally, the area that I was in is buried in snow by this time and the elk are totally inaccessible. I'll take luck any day!

I also saw hundreds of antelope and a couple of good mulie bucks on this trip. It is one of several great hunts that I have done, going into a unit completely cold. This is a no bs unit that is NOT for road hunters for sure. Will I do it again? Who knows. Every year I have to talk myself back into chasing elk. I do know, however, that there still is no feeling like a successful elk hunt/pack out in tough country.

There were no antlered animals, or national monuments harmed during this hunt!:cool:
 
Last edited:
Congrats on a successful hunt. Much respect going into that kind of an area and doing it that way. I am starting to look into out of state cow hunts for next year. Love the challenge and love elk meat.
 
Well done! Good to see a fellow older hunter score. I know the pain involved in what used to be easy. You earned that one.
 
Way to go! I hope you made good use of your new knives :cool:

Actually, John, I left the swingblade home! I have done 22 deer with it this year, though. I just bought a SOG fixed-blade from Camofire.com that had an S30V steel blade. I decided that was going to go on the hunt and it performed well. I did the whole cow with it. I also had another one of those damned replaceable blade knives with me, since they are so light. I got it from Eastman's when I renewed again! It just went along for the ride and got no blood on it.

My shooting was not quite as shaky as I thought. The first shot was a bit back from the rib cage, the second shot dropped her in her tracks and she got back up. I hit her across the top of the rear end I later determined. I finally got steady enough and the last shot was through both shoulder blades. I lost zero meat from any of the shots and I did not recover a single Partition.

Thank you all for the kind words. Five deer permits left to fill!:hump:
 
Excellent work going into a unit COLD and finding so many animals that's awesome!

How do you decide based upon maps where to go?

Thanks for sharing those pics that's an incredible sight!
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
113,615
Messages
2,026,764
Members
36,246
Latest member
thomas15
Back
Top