After appplying for elk in Oregon for 10 years and not drawing a bull tag, my wife decided that she wanted to burn her points and try to get a bull. She has been shooting a 284 Winchester that I built for her for a couple of years now and has gotten quite good with it.
We hunted the first weekend and saw lots of elk. She and her dad passed on three spikes in hopes of getting something bigger. We were in a new area that we had never hunted before and only been in once before. We learned a lot about the area and hope to be more successfull next time someone draws up there.
The second weekend we were able to get on a group of cows that had a nice spike in it. She decided that she didn't want to pass on a spike on the last weekend. The country we were hunting was very open rolling hills (think Dances With Wolves type country). Getting close depended on the terrane and on this particular hunt, 680 yards was about as close as we could get without being completely exposed. She had a sollid rest on a large rock and said she felt comfertable with the shot. She was shooting up a draw that forked with the elk on the point between the two forks. The wind was getting with it that day. I took my time in figureing out the wind. Near as I could tell the first 350 yards of her shot the wind was blowing down right at us. There was a bit of a transition in the wind for a little ways then at the bull it was a full on 20 mph cross wind. I wanted a shoulder shot, so I did some quick math and had her hold a foot back back from the center of the shoulder. At the shot he dropped in his tracks. She punched him right in the front half of the shoulders, half way up. The cool part was her dad was standing right there watching. He was pretty impressed. He had a tag also, but after that we neve saw another elk.
We found the bullet when we were skinning him out, it was lodged under the skin on the far side. She is shooting the 168 ABLR @ 2780 fps. It did a fantasic job. I'm pretty dang proud of her. She also took a nice buck this fall on the farm with that same rifle @ 120 yards. Also a 1 shot kill. Now that the kids are getting older, I can have my hunting partner back!
We hunted the first weekend and saw lots of elk. She and her dad passed on three spikes in hopes of getting something bigger. We were in a new area that we had never hunted before and only been in once before. We learned a lot about the area and hope to be more successfull next time someone draws up there.
The second weekend we were able to get on a group of cows that had a nice spike in it. She decided that she didn't want to pass on a spike on the last weekend. The country we were hunting was very open rolling hills (think Dances With Wolves type country). Getting close depended on the terrane and on this particular hunt, 680 yards was about as close as we could get without being completely exposed. She had a sollid rest on a large rock and said she felt comfertable with the shot. She was shooting up a draw that forked with the elk on the point between the two forks. The wind was getting with it that day. I took my time in figureing out the wind. Near as I could tell the first 350 yards of her shot the wind was blowing down right at us. There was a bit of a transition in the wind for a little ways then at the bull it was a full on 20 mph cross wind. I wanted a shoulder shot, so I did some quick math and had her hold a foot back back from the center of the shoulder. At the shot he dropped in his tracks. She punched him right in the front half of the shoulders, half way up. The cool part was her dad was standing right there watching. He was pretty impressed. He had a tag also, but after that we neve saw another elk.
We found the bullet when we were skinning him out, it was lodged under the skin on the far side. She is shooting the 168 ABLR @ 2780 fps. It did a fantasic job. I'm pretty dang proud of her. She also took a nice buck this fall on the farm with that same rifle @ 120 yards. Also a 1 shot kill. Now that the kids are getting older, I can have my hunting partner back!
