Took my 13 year old hunting, using a 7mm weatherby mag handloaded loaded with 160 accubonds... After 3 days of not seeing a lot, Lee spotted an elk about 500 yards away that had not seen us yet. We were both wearing asat camo, but it was getting dark fast. We started stalking, and i let Lee lead the way, but daylight was fading fast. Since Lee did not have that much experience, I wanted to get as close as possible. We stopped about 175 yards out, and waited in a prone position. The elk made us, but was not spooked yet. However, the shot was head on, and I was concerned about the neck shot. We held off, and i told lee that quite possibly, it would get too dark before the elk gave him a good shot. As luck would have it, the elk turned into a quartering toward us position... again, not the best shot, but i was fairly confident that lee could make it. His breathing slowed, and both of us jumped as the gun went off. The elk started, but I could not tell if or how hard he was hit. After waiting about 30 minutes, and in the dark, we approached the place where the elk was when Lee shot. I had my light out and head down. We had marketd the place where we last saw the elk, as it walked over a small hill. I was very busy looking for blood, and not finding any. I pulled out my handgun, and Lee and I walked to the point where we last saw the elk. I noticed blood at that point, and was fairly confident that a killing shot was made, when Lee shouted that he could see the elk. It is not only down, but dead. Still, we approached carefully, and I tossed a pebble into the eye of the elk. Once we were convinced that the elk was dead, we took some pictures. It took a long time to clean and skin the elk, but we made it back to our base happy and tired (cold as well!). The shot had broken the elks shoulder, taken out the heart, broken a rib, and lodged in the hide on the far side. Great performance!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?a ... =720586193
Hardpan
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?a ... =720586193
Hardpan
