The Elk Thread

[wytex]

Guided hunts are a good way to learn but someone with a good amount of hunting experience can figure out elk hunting.
In Wyoming you could hunt both seasons, archery and rifle, depending on your license. You need some PP for Wyoming though.
Archery hunting bugling bulls is an awesome experience if you hit the rut right.

[Muddy Bud]

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.

Congrats Larry, good bull and good write up. Glad everything came together for you.

[Tejas Wildlife]

Thanks MB! Hope to come back to NGT2 by Christmas.

[Bill]

Closing day Montana elk. I’ve passed on cows and mulie does all season. I could have shot a doe before with my 10mm bear pistol. Still trying for a bull. I’m sitting over a big draw that many trails in the snow come out of.

I’m on a search and rescue team, I spent Thanksgiving and Friday on a lost hunter search in the middle of nowhere in the Greenhorn mountains. I can’t say any more but we were in so deep we had choppers transporting us so we saved 2 1/2-3 hours of hiking time each way to the last known point.

We knew where to start because he had an InReach. I ping my wife every few hours with my Spot. We like out of state hunters, please carry one.

On my flight out I clicked a bunch of pictures., Here’s some eye candy for those who have hunted here, or are considering it. God’s creation in Montana is beautiful, but unforgiving.

Enjoy.












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[wytex]

Curious if the hunters were ok and did they just get lost or have an issue ? Hard to get lost with a good GPS.

And thanks on behalf of all hunters and recreationists in the backcountry, hoping your services aren't needed very often.

[Bill]

I can’t comment.

You’re welcome. The more I do this in retirement and the more people I meet from other county’s SAR teams, it reaffirms my faith in mankind that there are good people.

A gps is only as good as the batteries. Things go ‘sideways’ fast. Having the SOS on a satellite messenger let’s us know where you are. You can customize your SOS message on them. Put your name, age, physical condition, any health issues, make/model/ license plate #, emergency contacts. Who you are hunting with (edit before leaving home), cell phone #. Level of back country experience. We want to know as much as we can to plan our search as we scramble a volunteer team at 6:00 am on Thanksgiving.

Hunt hard- life’s short


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[Bill]

My elk season ended after having cross hairs on a cow st 150 (plus 5 more and a spike) not shooting hoping there was a legal bull behind them. Which there was not. I shoulda “shot the first one I saw- even if she’s ugly”.


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[Bill]

The Elk Thread

Curious if the hunters were ok and did they just get lost or have an issue ? Hard to get lost with a good GPS.

And thanks on behalf of all hunters and recreationists in the backcountry, hoping your services aren't needed very often.

The mission and details was picked up by NBC here in Montana.

When it says rough country, I did a 1,000 foot climb to a ridge at above 8,000 feet. I live at 5k and I could feel less oxygen molecules per (deep) breath.

RIP

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/hunter-found-deceased-after-extensive-search-effort-in-ruby-valley

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[jaker_cc]

The mission and details was picked up by NBC here in Montana.

When it says rough country, I did a 1,000 foot climb to a ridge at above 8,000 feet. I live at 5k and I could feel less oxygen molecules per (deep) breath.

RIP

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/hunter-found-deceased-after-extensive-search-effort-in-ruby-valley

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Bill, being in the Ruby Mountains I sure hope it wasn’t grizz related. Also hope the S&R stayed safe in there. Those mountains and the bears that live in there are no joke.

[Bill]

Jake- The Upper Ruby which are the northern end of the Gravelies. I could see Black Butte and the Eureka basin where the griz maulings occurred in 2019. The Rubys could have griz but not common.

Heck- one could walk down main street here- hopefully not.


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[westtexducks]

The mission and details was picked up by NBC here in Montana.

When it says rough country, I did a 1,000 foot climb to a ridge at above 8,000 feet. I live at 5k and I could feel less oxygen molecules per (deep) breath.

RIP

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/hunter-found-deceased-after-extensive-search-effort-in-ruby-valley

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Dang that sucks. Was the spot not on his person when he ran into issues? Would think having that yall would have been able to go right to him. Or did he have the tracking turned off on it?

Have any more info you can release? Always try and learn from these instances when I can on what to do or not do and what are essentials in the pack.

[Bill]

Sorry, but I can’t say more.

My earlier post with recommendations is what I’d hope out of state hunters do.


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[Felix40]

Late season NM bull. I’m done hunting for 2020. I had a lot of good luck this year.

[Chad_E]

Wow! Great bull! Congrats.

[MooseontheLoose]

Great bull Felix40! Congrats!