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Camp is set. Did a little late scouting, no elk seen but the antelope and deer kept us entertained
Well Done! Thank you for sharing your story.All right fellas I have a few minutes to get my write up done. I got home in time for the home coming football game and been busy the last couple days
First I would like to thank everyone here for the help it was invaluable.
Dan-06,WYelker,Lukethedog,JohnBud and everyone else who PM’d or posted on the thread thank you!
A little back story this was my 8th elk hunt 5 times to Colorado and 3 to Wyoming. My grandpa used to take me with his friends when I was young but more on that in a bit.
We got camp set up Friday afternoon and went for a Scout,didn’t see anything but learned our way around a little. We spent the next 2 day’s scouting and didn’t see any elk. There were 4 of us hunting and the other 2 guys seen a small bull 3 cows and 2 calves.
I believe the day’s scouting were invaluable BigFin always says he would trade 2 days of scouting for 2 days of hunting and now I agree. While we didn’t see any elk we learned our way around good and had a pretty good feel of the unit.
Opening morning comes and we decide to split up and 2 guys go one way and 2 guys go the other. My buddy and I take off and hike back off the road about 2 miles. We were looking for a place to set up and glass when I spotted the elk probably 3/4 of a mile away on top of a ridge. These were the first elk I had ever seen during hunting season in Wyoming. We watched them feed along and when they disappeared over the top we took off to close the distance. The sun was at our back and the wind in our face everything was perfect. When we got to the top of the ridge there was a little grass field with antelope feeding in it they started to walk towards us as we looked for the elk and I figured we would get busted. We walked toward a a little bowl and I saw the rumps of 2 elk! We had to get flat and crawl 100 yards to the edge. There was a big cow and a bull feeding about 15 yards from them there was another cow feeding and we could see one more cows head sticking up out of the sage. I ranged the elk at 238 yards and settled into the sling to get ready to shoot. My buddy said that I should shoot first since this moment was literally 30 years in the making. My first elk hunt was when I was 14, I double checked the range and let one fly. She took 2 steps and flipped over backwards, I kept waiting for my buddy to shoot but he never did and he said he was just caught up in the moment. This was his second hunting trip and he was just happy for me.
I text my other buddies and the family with Elk down! My wife and kids were all excited for me. My buddy went down to her and I just set for a moment to let it all soak in. I was wearing my old orange hat that I bought on my first elk hunt in Salida Colorado 30 years ago, I was shooting my 7mm rem mag that my grandpa bought when I was 14 he gave me the rifle when I was 20 and I have always hunted with it. It has been on every elk hunt with me I was shooting some TSX loads that a dear friend and I loaded up 18 years ago. He passed away from lung cancer 17 years ago right after my son was born. Honestly I got a little emotional after walking up to my cow. Most people think oh it’s just a cow but to me it was a great trophy. All those old timers I grew up hunting with are gone. My grandpa is the only one left. The guys who let a kid tag along on an out of state hunt where they had so much time and money invested really hits home with me now that I am older.
My friend who passed from cancer was a great mentor to me as well and we did a lot of bird hunting and deer hunting together
My wife and kids surprised me with an early birthday present a new knife from Montana Knife company. It was a sharp tail model and worked fantastic on getting the elk quartered up and ready to pack out. It was hot so I didn’t get too many pics because I wanted to take care of my elk. As luck would have it we wound up about 600 yards from a two track. I was about an 1/8 of a mile from the main road when my other buddies found me and we went back and got my elk and headed to Lander to the processor.
We got on elk everyday and my other 2 buddies connected on Wednesday night on 2 cows. We got them out and went out Thursday morning but couldn’t get it done on the last tag. Rain moved in and they were calling for 6-8” of snow so my buddy who still had a tag said bro let’s head home. We needed to leave Monday anyway so we packed up and headed home.
This will be a hunt I never forget and thank you all for the help and for reading all this. It got kind of long on me.
Turn around time was really quick dropped it off Monday afternoon and he was calling Thursday mid morning that it was done. I haven’t got into any of it yet but it look good.That's awesome! Congrats on getting it done and creating some lasting memories and being able to tie into past ones..
Any bad experiences? Seems everybody always talks about the road hunters in that unit. And the processor in Lander, they have good turnaround times on your elk?
Can’t wait to see the picsI finally scored. 543 yards trotting broadside. Heart shot.
Cool story and congrats on your first elk, she'll taste great. Beautiful desolate country.I don’t think the post made it very clear but this was my first elk ever harvested