My 2018 Elk Season's

This was both a great and tough year for me. I started in Wyoming with a cow tag in October, physically I was not ready for this hunt as I had stabbed my self on a piece of rebar (38 stitches) in August and it had still not fully healed. So while I did hunt, I was limited in the daily distances. I did see elk and had a great shot on a 5 point bull (remember cow tag) that I had to pass up. In early November, I traveled to NE Oregon for a spike only hunt. Even though I have hunted there on and off for many years I arrived three days early in order to give me adequate time to scout. The leg was now fully healed and I was ready to go. On opening morning I worked myself into an area before daylight, and shadowed a large group of elk until it was light enough to shoot. I was able to find a nice fat spike and made the shot. My son in law arrived later in the day to help my pack it out. It was 2.5 miles in and 700 feet up, an easy pack on a great trail. In late November i traveled to Arizona for a bull hunt. I again arrived three days early. This was a great hunt, as we had snow on the ground for 5 days and were in close to elk every day. This is different country for me, it was relatively flat, and timbered primarily with pine and juniper. I am used to finding high points and glassing, here we found tracks and trailed the animals until we ran out of snow or it got dark. My great friend and buddy SBJ358, was doing the tracking, and acted as cheerleader and strategist throughout the hunt. Scotty reads sign really well and could tell when we were getting close every time. We covered over 40 miles on foot during the hunt with the longest day being over 9 miles. I really needed a cheerleader. I missed a shot opportunity on the second day when he walked right up to a nice young bull in a very open area at 40 yards, while I was trying to ease around a small group of trees. I was to far away, realized it but did not get closer to him until it was to late. The next day in the sideways snow, he again got us into a bunch with another young bull. I was in a very solid near sitting position, wedged between two trees when I took the shot. The bull was standing amongst 3 or 4 cows between 4 trees quartering away from me, at 170 or so yards away. I could see from his butt to his shoulders on one side of the tree, and his horns on the other. I felt really confident that I could make the shot but failed to hold low enough. My rifle shoots 5 inches hight at that distance and I did not allow enough. I know better. Once again I am looking forward to making it through winter, staying healthy and drawing a tag or two for next fall.

I will throw some pictures in here when I get a chance. Awesome elk season for me. Got to hunt with my old partner and my little brother. I never took an elk this year but it may have been one of my best years to date while elk hunting.

Bill I was just fixin to call and check on you. Tough luck in Arizona, dang. I'll give you a call soon, thinking about hopping across the highway into your A/O. Haven't hunted in there since college days.


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Sounds as if the season was generally good, Bill. Missed shots are disappointing. They seem to become more frequent as I age, or at least missed opportunities are more common. Missed seasons are more disappointing still. Great report, though.

Sounds like a good season to me. Congratulations on your Oregon spike and sorry to hear of your miss in Arizona, but yeah it does happen. My son and I have hunted that area over the last few years and it is definitely different, but I enjoy hunting there.

Can't wait to see the pictures, Scotty.

Damn.
There more time I spend here the surer I get that I have to cross the pond for some open country hunting.
It will be all your fault if my boys don't get food and new clothes because I have to safe the money for the trip.

You can't imagine how lucky you are until you hunt in crowded Germany!

Fight for those rights and I'll see that I can make it while still in good physical condition...
Cheers,

Frank

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Mike
Every season is good and I am sure that my years of climbing around in the mountains are coming to an end. I don’t know when, but I am not going to be granted 60 more. When I look back at my decades in the woods I feel blessed. I have had the opportunity to hunt with family and some of the best young men on the planet, in some of the most spectacular country in the world. So when one looks at the larger picture, missing the bull is insignificant, the other things are what counts. Next season will be here soon.

Great report!

Sounds like some great adventures!

5" high at 170 yards...
What cartridge/load combination are you using?
What is your point on distance?

Always interesting to see what distances people zero their rifles for.

Personally, I have always zeroed my rifles for 200 yards. (the exceptions have been, or are, my Marlins in 375 Win and 41 Rem Mag rifles, zeroed for 100 yards witha fixed 2.5 power Leupold with heavy duplex)
Gives me about 1" to 2 1/2" high at 100 yards and 5 1/2" to 10" low at 300 yards, depending on rifle and cartridge I am hunting with. Since I do not often shoot at unwounded game more than 300 yards (only a handful over the past 40 years, and only two of those over 400 yards), this works for me just fine.
My flattest shooting rifle is the 7MM STW, and the rifle used on those above mentioned longer shots.
(Federal Premium 160 gr AccuBond ammo prints a hair over 1" high at 100, on at 200, 5 1/2" low at 300 and a hair under 15" low at 400)...I'll start another thread for this topic.

Thanks for sharing with us!

David

If I had to guess Bill zero's his rifle at 300yds shooting 180 Partition in his 300wm.

Congrats on some animal success Bill and a wealth of success being in the woods with friends. That killer rebar is no joke I guess. You might be better spending more time in the woods. This year was rather poor for me elk hunting too, only 1 spike. We do still have 3 cow tags left for Jan. and Feb. I have to keep my yearly production high to get to your numbers by the time I'm your age. :mrgreen: :lol: If I could only draw some more tags.

blkrem
5" high at 170 yards...
What cartridge/load combination are you using?
What is your point on distance?

Click to expand...

Nathan is right, it was my 300 WM, with 180 partitions. My average shot for quite a few years has been 300 yards or longer. Typically I hunt in much more open country, where the shots are long. I really should have lowered it a few clicks, OR adequately adjusted downward.

IdahoCTD":13rmwgxs said:

If I had to guess Bill zero's his rifle at 300yds shooting 180 Partition in his 300wm.

Congrats on some animal success Bill and a wealth of success being in the woods with friends. That killer rebar is no joke I guess. You might be better spending more time in the woods. This year was rather poor for me elk hunting too, only 1 spike. We do still have 3 cow tags left for Jan. and Feb. I have to keep my yearly production high to get to your numbers by the time I'm your age. :mrgreen: :lol: If I could only draw some more tags.

Click to expand...

I hear you Nathan, trying to get the numbers of elk Bill has been on is a heckuva goal for me to even hit 1/2 of!

And zero is one thing, but it wasn’t a chip shot fellas. We tracked these elk into the timber after 2-3 hours of pussy footing and finally caught up to them in their beds. As a guy standing next to Bill on a set of binos looking at the works going down, it could’ve happened to any of us. In the blowing snow, in the dark timber with elk starting to mill around and us trying to get into a spot to make sure we were on the right elk along with Bill working into a solid position. I’d love to say it was easy but it was anything but that.

Granted experience doesn’t eat well, but I learned a Masters Degree worth about elk during our time together tracking elk everyday. One of the most rewarding hunts I’ve had.

Congratulations on the spike. At least you weren't skunked. Sorry to hear about your injury. I am glad to hear that it has healed. Hopefully, it won't cause any issues in the future. Even though you only got one animal at least you had some great hunting experiences.

Dan

No experience doesn't eat well but it's what you do with that experience that can potentially make a person a great elk hunter.

It's cool you finally drew AZ Bill. It's a bummer about not filling your tag though. I should start building points down there for coues, mulies, and elk. AK every year kind of puts a dampener on available hunting time down here but it's fun chasing moose too. I put in for moose, muskox, elk, bison, and caribou up there this year and I'm trying to figure out a way to pay for a sheep hunt. I think my wife might object to me moving there. :lol: