Wyoming 2022

SJB358

Ballistician
Dec 24, 2006
32,091
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This year we had a slightly different camp. The Old Goat I usually hunt and camp with didn’t draw a tag for our normal unit so I had to go it without the old man. As luck would have it my old Detachment One buddy was able to come out and hunt with me. Huge thank you to Hunts for Heroes and Fotis for lining up the tags for us. They do a helluva job for Vets. Anyhow, as luck would have it, my son was able to take two weeks of leave and my little brother also roger’ed up to go with us, even though neither drew a tag.

The boys and I left from the east coast to get camp set up and get some elk scouted.







The boys doing some amphib Ops to get into the hunt area.



We got up on the mountain as soon as we could and started trying to get some elk spotted up. The Colonel has never been elk hunting so I wanted to show him those awesome Rocky’s and what it looks like to do it yourself.







The evening my buddy was coming in we got onto a small herd Im pretty sure we could've put a stalk on, but we were nice guys and decided to put them to bed till Craig (the Colonel) was in camp.



The next morning found us all up on the mountain, with elk everywhere. It was awesome. Even a bit of bugling too. We waited till the elk were in the timber by 0900, then moved over to get within rifle range of them.

We set up with our backs against some old pines and started to glass. Well, I might have taken a snooze till 1500 or so..






The Colonel and I talked a bit to pass the time. We were Marines who served together a few times throughout our careers and know a lot of the same folks so it was great to catch up and tell fishing sorta war stories to the young lads. Who knows, they mighta slept through most of them!

Anyhow around 1600, the Colonel glassed up a bull coming outta the timber. I held him for a second to make sure we couldn’t get a two’fer then said fire when ready. The bull was at 325 yards by our RFs and he pounded him a few times before he gave up.

On the rifle side, one of our mutual friends found him a P64 30-06, topped it with a Trijicon with the Mildot reticle. Once he had the rifle in hand the only ammo he could get ahold of was 180 Remington CLRN’s.. He spent a few hours with Todd Hodnett zeroing and shooting dope out to 600.

Anyhow, back to the bull. Once he was down we ran/walked up to the beast.







To say I was walking on air was an understatement!

First bull, 325 yards, P64 M70, hunting with some of my favorite people on planet earth and some old Round Nosed Green Boxed Remingtons brought it all together.

Did a quick class on skinning and quartering.







Then started to load some packs.
 
We got the MR packs out and started dividing up our loads. Didn’t take much with 4 strong back, hard footed fellas.







We got the meat back to camp at dark, probably 2000-2100 and had a few drinks! It was cool enough that night we unbundled them from the packs and let them chill in the night air.

Next day we arranged them on a nice log over the creek, tarped them and let them start aging.



My old buddy hunted a few more days with us. Had a couple more close encounters with small bulls but like a dummy I resisted since I’d seen a dinger on the mountain.

Anyhow he headed out back to home and the boys and I hunted a few more days but the heat was keeping them in the timber till late, almost till legal shooting light so they were pretty tough to make a play on. Didn’t matter, we’d had a goal of getting Craig on an elk and got him an excellent public land bull.



We did muck around a bit and found some sheep herder carvings.





Picture of the ol Roundnoses that could!



Anyhow, it was a great hunt. Wished it was a little cooler but you just never know what you’ll run into in the mountains.





A couple pictures of him and I 6 years younger. I retired on Friday and he retired the following Monday. It was a helluva party that weekend.

And my boy who was just about to go into the service.



Anyhow, anytime you old vets get a chance to hunt with one another, go do it. If you aren’t a vet, take one with you. It’s almost comical to hear all the bones cracking and insane snoring at night in camp 😁
 
Always enjoy the account of your hunts, Scotty. And to have your son and your brother with you. That is just great. Then, to join up with one you served with. Good stuff all around. Sounds great.
 
Always enjoy the account of your hunts, Scotty. And to have your son and your brother with you. That is just great. Then, to join up with one you served with. Good stuff all around. Sounds great.
Thanks buddy. I missed Bill alot in this camp, I am pretty sure with all of us in camp it would've been over the top!
 
Full life Scotty, full life. What an excellent experience of so many of the good things in life all bundled up in one. Happy for you.

You can't get any more old school than round nosed core lokts. When I was reading 180 grain core lokts, that was one thing, when I realized they were round nose, I thought holy cow, and at 325 yards to boot. Very cool.
 
Excellent Scotty, I enjoyed the read and congratulations on you putting your Colonel on a fine elk. Good stuff.
Nice pictures.
 
Scotty that is an excellent account of your fine hunt and fellowship. Thanks for taking us along and for the service you guys have and are providing. Dan.
 
Thanks fellas.

Fotis deserves a kudos as well for getting us some tags.

I’ll throw a shameless plug in here for Hunts for Heroes and the Combat Veterans Hunting programs Our tags were donated by housewives, non hunters, and other family that aren’t hunters. The resident tags can either be donated to the organization for whomever the vet that wants to hunt or in a vets name for transfer. Just something to think about if you or your family ever want to donate.

As a guy that did 13 deployments in a little over 20 years in the MC there isn’t many places in the world that make me happier than being with other Vets and like minded folks and hunting and guns, while not very cool to our dipshit society today is what a lot of us really enjoy while not able to hunt [bleep] who threatened our nation.

I think programs like this are more helpful than Wounded Warriors and other groups where your dollar donated barely puts a quarter towards helping a veteran.

Off my box.. carry on.
 
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Inspiring story on so many levels. Thank you for your service and congrats on a successful hunt. CL
 
Wow Scotty, what a great hunt, thanks for taking us along. Congratulations to all of you and thank you all for your service.
 
Great hunt and a great story to go with it. It’s funny how we keep in touch with a few people who only crossed paths a short time in our lives. I stay in contact with some fellow Marines even though I’ve been out for over 30 years now. Ironically Guy and I were on the same ship together for a little time in The early 90’s. Nothing like hunting with an old friend. Nicely done…
 
Scotty!
Great account of your hunt and thanks for taking all of us along! That was awesome of you to get the Colonel on that bull and provide him with a field dressing tutorial. That pic of him with the hero load is perfect! You manage to hang with an amazing group of guys and that the Col is a pre-64 aficionado is purely icing on the cake. Congrats to you all on a great hunt and harvest!
V/R,
Joe
 
Wow. What a great story! Just goes to show that hunting isn't all about shooting things. It is also about spending time and adventures with people you care about. How wonderful that your friend was able to tag a great bull. Kudos to all involved in getting tags, organizing the hunt, and participating. And special congratulations to you and your buddy. Dan
 
Great hunt and a great story to go with it. It’s funny how we keep in touch with a few people who only crossed paths a short time in our lives. I stay in contact with some fellow Marines even though I’ve been out for over 30 years now. Ironically Guy and I were on the same ship together for a little time in The early 90’s. Nothing like hunting with an old friend. Nicely done…
That's pretty awesome! Silly ships!

It was a great time. Wished I could have stayed another week.
 
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