Been a tough hunt for me this winter finding success. I had all but given up, but yesterday I pulled myself off the couch and made to 1 hour drive to my unit and went after my cow elk.
Typically, I end up hiking for 5-9 miles round trip to get into the elk and get one out. We always wait for the snow on the late season cow tags so that we can use a plastic sled to aid getting this awesome meat off of the mountain.
Around 2 pm, I pulled out of my driveway and picked up my buddy who came along. We decided we would glass the unit from the road a little as we worked our way to the trailhead. Deer were everywhere, but we didn't see any elk. We went to the trailhead and were making plans to begin out late afternoon hike, when we noticed two hunters on one of the distant ridges. Knowing that they were there, we concluded that they would have spooked any elk up there out of the country. So...we drove on and pulled off often to glass. Eventually we turned around and came back down glassing as we went. We were just about out of our unit when we spotted some "funny" looking deer. Turned out that straight up the mountain were two cow elk.
We pulled off the road and made a plan. They were about 730 yards away and feeding on an open slope. If we could skirt past the deer that were low on the ridge, we could likely make it all the way to a knoll to shoot from.
We quickly gathered our things and headed up the steep hillside, watching our wind as we went. We soon realized that one knoll would be about 500 yards, but offered a nice spot to take a rest and shoot from comfortably and likely they would never know we were there. If we continued through the next dip and preceeded to the next ridge, we would have a tough shot (assuming we weren't seen first) from about 400 yards.
I rested my pack over the rock on the knoll and laid my Kimber 325wsm over the pack and got behind it. I was prone and had a great rest. Winds were mostly calm with a slight breeze coming from the right. It was a good rest, and I had calm animals feeding in front of me. I decided I was going to take the shot.
I dialed the Leupold VX3 scope to 10x and adjusted the CDS to the 500 yard mark. I took my rest and my buddy knelt beside me and ranged the cow. I waited for her to turn and soon she presented a good shot. I hit but worried about the shot. She ran toward me about 10 yards and turned to look around and see what happened. I shot again and immediately knew that she was hit well. She packed her leg in, reared back and took off down the hill about 20 yards. There she stopped and looked around. I was about to send the next shot when I saw her begin to stumble and down she went.
I was so relieved and watched her in my scope for another 10 minutes or so hoping that she wouldn't get up. She didn't!
So glad i got my tail end off the couch and went up again. That meat is cherished around our house and we look forward to many great meals to come.
I was impressed with the gun again and continue to be impressed with the 200 grain Nosler AccuBond bullets.
I hope you enjoyed coming along on the hunt with me a little.
FH
Typically, I end up hiking for 5-9 miles round trip to get into the elk and get one out. We always wait for the snow on the late season cow tags so that we can use a plastic sled to aid getting this awesome meat off of the mountain.
Around 2 pm, I pulled out of my driveway and picked up my buddy who came along. We decided we would glass the unit from the road a little as we worked our way to the trailhead. Deer were everywhere, but we didn't see any elk. We went to the trailhead and were making plans to begin out late afternoon hike, when we noticed two hunters on one of the distant ridges. Knowing that they were there, we concluded that they would have spooked any elk up there out of the country. So...we drove on and pulled off often to glass. Eventually we turned around and came back down glassing as we went. We were just about out of our unit when we spotted some "funny" looking deer. Turned out that straight up the mountain were two cow elk.
We pulled off the road and made a plan. They were about 730 yards away and feeding on an open slope. If we could skirt past the deer that were low on the ridge, we could likely make it all the way to a knoll to shoot from.
We quickly gathered our things and headed up the steep hillside, watching our wind as we went. We soon realized that one knoll would be about 500 yards, but offered a nice spot to take a rest and shoot from comfortably and likely they would never know we were there. If we continued through the next dip and preceeded to the next ridge, we would have a tough shot (assuming we weren't seen first) from about 400 yards.
I rested my pack over the rock on the knoll and laid my Kimber 325wsm over the pack and got behind it. I was prone and had a great rest. Winds were mostly calm with a slight breeze coming from the right. It was a good rest, and I had calm animals feeding in front of me. I decided I was going to take the shot.
I dialed the Leupold VX3 scope to 10x and adjusted the CDS to the 500 yard mark. I took my rest and my buddy knelt beside me and ranged the cow. I waited for her to turn and soon she presented a good shot. I hit but worried about the shot. She ran toward me about 10 yards and turned to look around and see what happened. I shot again and immediately knew that she was hit well. She packed her leg in, reared back and took off down the hill about 20 yards. There she stopped and looked around. I was about to send the next shot when I saw her begin to stumble and down she went.
I was so relieved and watched her in my scope for another 10 minutes or so hoping that she wouldn't get up. She didn't!
So glad i got my tail end off the couch and went up again. That meat is cherished around our house and we look forward to many great meals to come.
I was impressed with the gun again and continue to be impressed with the 200 grain Nosler AccuBond bullets.
I hope you enjoyed coming along on the hunt with me a little.
FH
