The Elk Thread

[Bill]

What elevation are you hunting? If you’re living at sea level read up on diamox for altitude sickness. My buddy has a house bear Gunnison and recommends everybody coming from sea level take it. He had one friend get pretty sick and you have to start 2 days before you get to altitude.


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[westtexducks]

The Elk Thread

Killed a 275 6x6 2 days ago on the 16. Teaser pic attached working on getting a buddy one next 3 days then headed home. Will do full write up and pic dump then. Sorry if pics are huge from my phone on a ridge top.








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[Killer]

Nice bull congratulations

[TexasBear]

Leaving for 2nd rifle Unit 76 in Colorado in two weeks. Anyone been to that area recently?

[Killer]

good luck

[TexasBear]

Thanks Killer. I might be going solo. My buddy may have to work.

[03GruntUSMC]

Bringing this to the top. Leaving for Colorado on Wednesday

[BLACKFINTURKEY]

Headed north Thursday hopefully we will get one.

[Chad_E]

My first elk. Brother and I were both successful during the 2nd rifle in Colorado.

[Redraider]

That is great.

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[TexasCanesFan]

My first elk. Brother and I were both successful during the 2nd rifle in Colorado.



[ATTACH]1026471[/ATTACH]

Awesome. Congrats

[MooseontheLoose]

Way to go Chad! Nice bull

[twdjr]

My first elk. Brother and I were both successful during the 2nd rifle in Colorado.

[ATTACH]1026471[/ATTACH]

Congrats on the nice elk!

[Tejas Wildlife]

Thanks to the Good LORD and all the advise I got from here!

I am so blessed. Elk hunting is on my bucket list and I am going this October. I am 65 and my son is 41. We are rifle hunting on Angel Fire Ski Resort property the first week after bow season. I have been going over equipment and packing/repacking/changing since Jan 1st!!! He killed a 7x6 last year. You guys keep describing hunts because I am reading them all!

On Oct 5th, on the LAST HOUR of the LAST DAY, I killed a 6x6 Bull Elk. Basically we hunted hard for all 5 days with our guides on Angel Fire Ski Resort land, approximately 15,000 acres that doesn't have homes on it. We went up on Sept 27th and tried to get used to the 8,500 ft elevation at Angel Fire township by walking 2-3 miles each day till Oct 1st. I guess it helped a little but I was dying when the guides had us walking at the 11,500 ft ski slope tops. The saving grace was they would normally drive us up the mountain and then we would hunt in likely places. I spend at least half the year at about 100 ft above Sea Level on a Drillship in the Gulf of Mexico so climbing in high altitudes isn't my strong suit.

On the last day, my Son's FIL (LE Fite, who owns a beautiful home on the Resort) swapped guides with me and he had me set in a 14 ft tall tree stand on the edge of a Black Diamond ski slope. I am not a skier so they told me the Black Diamond slopes are normally more than 38 degree downward slope. I can verify that it was danged hard to walk up it to the tree stand! I sat there quietly for 7 1/2 hours on the last day, determined to wait for the Bull Elk and cows that the guide was sure had bedded down at the upper section of the slope. LE and my previous guide monitored two other nearby ski slopes in case the Bull went a different direction at dark.

I am 65 (turn 66 on 11-12-20) and drank very little water all day in an effort to NOT have to climb down the stand to "water the grass". With the Good LORD's grace I managed to stay still all day on the stand until about 4PM when I heard a rock rolling down the slope. As I looked uphill I saw a Cow Elk running full speed downhill roughly parallel to my stand. At this time, with only an hour of hunting time left, "If it is brown, it is down" was all I could think of.

I raised my Browning 300 WSM rifle and almost had my head down to the stock when, suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement behind her. Taking my concentration from the Cow, I focused on the rapidly approaching object and "HOLY C%$P - It's a BULL!" I just saw antlers, no time to determine size or anything else. I swung my rifle to match his approach and barely put my head on the stock when I saw the crosshairs holding where his neck and chest met. Swinging the rifle like I was shooting quail, I squeezed the trigger and was totally amazed when he dropped on his chin and slid about 15 ft downhill. He had been running toward me at first but apparently saw me moving in the stand when I started to draw down on the Cow. When I shot him he was only 60 yards from me and about at the 10 o'clock position, heading full speed downhill toward the Cow who was 100 yards past me by then.

I looked down to make sure I cleanly chambered a 2nd shell into the rifle action and when I looked back up at him, he had rolled over onto his back and was weakly moving his legs. He rolled over onto his right side, the side I had shot him on, and laid his head down for a second. Remembering my guides instructions to "shoot till he is dead and not moving" I put the 2nd round thru his spine about 8 inches behind his skull. During the gutting process, we found my 1st shot, just under the skin of his left side, after destroying both lungs. The 180 grain Hornady ELD bullet will be weighed on my powder scales when I get home from working offshore to determine how much weight it retained after expanding.

I had been very methodical and fluid till I realized that he was indeed down. Then a combination off Parkinson's and Tourette's hit me. I was shaking so hard I had to hold the sides of the stand to keep from falling off it. Forgive me LORD, because I was babbling very "colorful" words talking to myself. LE texted me "what happened" and I replied "BULL DOWN"! Literally shooting a Bull Elk was at the very TOP of my Bucket List and I am still overcome with gratitude for all the help. LE had shot a 7x7 in 2019 and said he would not shoot a smaller one so that is why he swapped guides/locations with me. He ended up not shooting anything so I shared the meat with him in appreciation.

The photos are included but I don't know why 2 are sideways. One is of my Bull on the ground. One with me and my guide, Jon Eppler, who heads the ski slope grooming crew, and one with me standing beside my Bull during the skinning. I am 6'2" and over 300 lbs so you can see how large the Bull is. The Elk tags are Private Land tags and Angel Fire Resort homeowners have first purchase rights on them. LE Fite, my son, his best friend, and I made up the hunting party. LE and I hunted the 1st week of Oct and my son with his friend hunted the 2nd week. I shot a 6x6 and my son's friend shot a 3x3. Those were the only shots available during the 2 weeks. Bob Pool "Draco" asked if my rifle and scope were held together with duct tape! It sure looks that way in the photo by I was just trying to hide some of the shiny barrel and stock from reflecting and giving away my location. And YES BOB, that is some of the same tape I have wrapped around my boots in the last photo! 5 days of walking in the loose rocks on the ski slope totally destroyed my boots.

Due to a drought during the spring/summer in that part of New Mexico, very little forage was available on the top of the mountains and most successful hunters shot elk traveling from their bedding sites on the mountain to the feeding sites in the valley. Neighboring ranch managers (some with over 40,000 acres to hunt) said it was one of the most disappointing seasons in their memory.

All I know is I got to hunt with 3 other great guys, made some memories in GOD's great wilderness, and brought home a bunch of delicious Elk meat. THANK YOU LORD! Good Luck to everyone else that is lucky enough to pursue these magnificent creatures.

[SZientek]

Worth the money to get a guide? Also, should I just plan to use a gun on my first elk hunt or try with bow?