2020 Wyoming Elk Hunt

I wanted to put some pictures up for you all and write a quick one on our hunt. The Old Goat, my little brother (Jake), Joel, Matt and I drew tags for Wyoming's general elk hunt this year. It is a pretty danged coveted tag by me since I love the bull hunt and only get to draw it about once a year. Anyhow, as with all good hunts, we prepared a pile of camp food at home, my brother drove down from NY and him and I departed from Va to get to Wyoming to scout a bit before the opener.



We got into Wyoming first and set up camp which consisted of the old Cabelas tent, little woodstove and some other pieces of essential camp gear.











Anyhow, we scouted around some of the places I'd been in before that have held elk, but the few days before the opener were horrendous with wind. 40 MPH and some larger gusts that were non stop.

Bill showed up with his rig and we all started doing what we usually do, which is try to find some elk. Bill, like a wapiti sniffing bloodhound, found a good bunch of elk fairly close to where we were camping, so that was his first place of attack. Jake and I decided to give it a go up at Bill's Tree. We named the tree this quite a few years ago, since rarely will you sit and glass there and not find elk.

Anyhow, the opener had us in these two places. Jake and I up at Bill's Tree, while Joel and Bill went to the area he'd found elk the day before.

Bill was the first one of us to get on elk and crushed a good cow at 266 yards with his 280 Ackley and a 160 AccuBond. Jake and I had no idea, but Jake mentioned he heard a shot near where they were supposed to be hunting.

OUTSTANDING!

Jake and I saw a real good bull cruising through the meadow around 1030-1100 that morning but he never slowed down, then about 5 minutes behind him another young bull was right on his heels. We were sorta bummed out but figured they may pop out in the evening. It was a nasty day on the mountain, right around 35-40 degrees with the wind just hammering us all day long. No real place to get behind cover to hide, but we stuck it out knowing that anything could happen.

Anyhow, it was getting towards the end of the day, Jake and I taking turns glassing the timber and watching the meadows. Well, Jake said, "Scotty, its your turn, but I don't think anything is coming out".. Well, as soon as I sat down I said "Jake, those 5 elk in the meadow don't count?" LOL! Well, as it happened, 5 came, then a few more, then some more... On and on..



There ended up about 30-35 cows and a handful of spikes in the above meadow. I was glassing and trying to sort out a branched antler bull in the group. It was Jake's turn to shoot first last year, so he was the first up on the gun. The majority of the elk were around 600-700 yards which was well within his range, but the wind was our enemy that day and we both knew we'd need to have to wait for a lull in the winds, which was happening once the sun had set down.

Finally, I found the bull, still pushing cows around and bugling on Oct 15th. I was like magic, he pushed out of the timber on the right of the picture and I immediately had Jake get set up on a rock shelf just above where we were glassing. Once I had the bull I moved up and laid down next to him and we went over Jake's dope which ended up being 3.0 mils on his 300 Win Mag at 675 yards with a 200 grain AccuBond. We figured about a 1/2 mil of wind even when the gusts lulled and I asked him to unload the rifle and start dry firing a few times on the bull. I knew he could make the shot since we'd spent all summer shooting and had shot out to 800 with the gun and a few others. On top of the excitement of keeping track of the bull, making sure he had a solid rest, it was COLDER than a dickens laying on that rock.

Anyhow, the bull turned and went back into the timber. I was a little dismayed, but all of the cows were still bedded and some up and feeding all over the meadow. Then the big fella came back out and stood hammer still, let out a bugle and stood there. I told Jake he could pass the bull, but if he wanted to take him, now was the time. He said he felt good after dry firing previously. He loaded up the rifle, we double checked the dope and I kept my bins trained on the bull. When I felt a lull in the wind, Jake pressed the trigger and the bull locked UP! He was just standing and turned a few steps towards the timber, at this point with an elk on its feet and knowing he had a bullet in him, I said Jake move down ridge 30 yards so you can get a good finisher on him and that's exactly what he did, watching through my bin's, I heard the shot and the bull was laid out flat. I said, reload, get on the gun and be ready with another in case he twitches.

You all know what a bear it can be if an elk makes it into the timber, so I was trying to make sure we kept the big fella in the meadow.

Anyhow, after a minute or so, with no movement, I jumped up and I swear I lifted Jake off the ground. You have no idea how happy I was my little brother had just took his first bull.



I'll try to edit the picture, but if you look at the V of the meadow, along the right hand side, you can just see the bull, laid out.



At that point we skiddaddled down the face we were on and tried to figure out how to get up the otherside. We broke out of the timber with headlamps on our heads.

We climbed up the meadow a bit and started scanning as we went.



Then we found the big guy near the edge of the meadow. I was happy to see he was a great public land bull. I never had a chance to get the spotter set up on him, but he is just a great public land Wyoming 6x6.







We took a bunch of pictures as best we could in the dark, then started skinning, caping and quartering the big devil.



Once we got elk deep in skinning, me, being the lunatic I am wanted to trace the bullet and see what happened and how the 200 grain AccuBond did, as if it weren't already obvious... HAHAHAHAHA

Well, we found the first shot.







The bullet had hit tight behind the front leg and was in the hide, mid rib cage on the far side. Great performance. The second shot whistled through his neck. I am pretty sure he never held for any wind when he shot the follow up shot and it traveled the 10" or so forward and pounded right on thru his neck.

Anyhow, by now it was getting late, we hustled, got the hide off, quartered, head/shoulder caped and meat hung in the timber. We both took a pair of fronts and backstraps off the mountain with us that night.

I was right there with you on that hunt. Good show all the way round! Congratulations to your brother. He did the deed!

So anyhow, we got back to camp around 0030 that night/morning, found out the Old Goat hammered an elk as well. We stayed up for about an hour or so, retelling the stories and getting a little food in us and turned in around 0200 that morning.

The next mornin/late morning (HAHAHAHA) Jake and I rode to the highway to get service, let folks know Jake took a bull and Bill hammered his elk as well and turned around and headed back to the trail head to go pack some elk. Well, we got up into our hunting area and then recon'ed a better way to get up on the hillside. We slowly hunted back up in there thinking we didn't spook the elk out of there when we shot and they were long gone before we got there the night before that maybe they'd be back out. We took a little stand about 100 yards away from Jake's carcass under a big tree and settled in for awhile. Our plan was to sit till last shooting was about on us, then move over to the where the meat was, load up our packs and move off the mountain.

Well, we sat for awhile, glassing, watching, etc. Well, I said lets hunt across the meadow and glass some of the spots we can't see. Well, about 30 steps towards Jakes elk, I thought I see an elk, nope, just my brain. I take another 3 steps looking up a big long finger off the meadow and sure as can be, it's an elk. I immediately drop my pack and get my rifle over it. Jake said it's a bull, CHECK, it's 390 yards, CHECK.... I dial my scope for the drop........ CHECK and now I can't see the elk cause some pre historic danged tree limb is all over him. I was worried about the distance of my bullet schwacking the limb.



You can see the meadow and the darned tree blocking my view. We keep sneaking closer to where Jakes elk is...

Finally I get far enough out of the tree blocking me. He ranges again, still 390. I plaster the reticle on the shoulder and press the shot. I was using my old P64 30-06 with the 212 ELD and the SS 3x9... Anyhow, Jake says he reared up at the shot and started running for the timber. Then I saw him run outta the timber and start somesaulting and flopped right in the middle of the meadow.

We moved on up once he was still and checked him out.









We took some pictures, took a drink of water, and started taking care of him.



Again, I am nutty about wanting to see what the bullet did so as we skinned up we started looking for the bullet path. That 212 hammered him on the near side leg, made soup out of the chest, broke the far side leg and was in the hide/meat.



I found the core and the jacket right next to one another. I was pretty happy from all directions. I love when stuff happens without drama, two bulls and two recovered bullets.

We skinned him and carried the meat to the woods again. Both of carrying two front's off the mountain along with the backstraps. I am not sure if we weren't skipping off the hill that night.

I think we made it back to camp around 2230 that night and had some chow and a beer, along with some more story time. Around midnight, we stoked the stove and crawled into the bags.

I have a few more pictures from packing, but it was too cool to shoot my bull within spitting distance of my brothers bull out of basically the same meadow the following day!

That is way cool, Scotty. Excellent account of a successful hunt. Again, congratulations all the way round!

Wow. Great story, great photos, great shooting, great bullet performance. Congratulations to all of you guys. You did very well.

Did the one antler grow towards the front?

Dan

Thank you fellas. . It was a great hunt. I’ve got some more pictures.

I think he broke his skull cap when he tumbled. At least as far as I can tell.

Some packing pictures.















So a funny story. We were packing elk and he was going to make one trip with just a head. I said “Jake, you might as well grab two rears as well”.

Well, he put two bull rears, probably 60 pounds a piece AND his cape and head on his pack for I’d guess about 160+ pounds of stuff. He only goes about 155 wet. Well, he made it about 100 yards with me roaring laughing each step, flipped me the bird and fell back onto the dirt.

It’s a brother thing. But it was funny. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get him off the ground at first.

Waiting for elk. Hiding from the wind.



The NF sign



We camped out near the highway the last night. Didn’t wanna pull out in snow and mud.



Hope you guys enjoyed all the pictures.

PS, don’t be spreading it around I used a 30-06. I kinda wanted to pay a hunters tribute to my great uncle that passed this year. He used a 20 gauge for turkeys and a 30-06 for everything else. I got the turkey and decided to carry this good shooting 06 with a couple modern touches. It’s been great so far.

Onto buck hunting!

Excellent. And we all enjoy a good joke, even when we are on the receiving end.

DrMike":2yjknkla said:

Excellent. And we all enjoy a good joke, even when we are on the receiving end.

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He was a good sport about it :mrgreen:

He’s 20, I’m 42..... I need to stash rocks in his pack anyhow!

Great Story and pictures Scotty. Very Happy you and your brother scored.
As for using a 30-06 what's there to say, they have been whacking Elk long before the Magnums showed up and besides that was a a fantastic tribute to your great uncle.

Your hunt just got better and better!

Congrats to all.

Guy

Guy Miner":1n42p0a4 said:

Your hunt just got better and better!

Congrats to all.

Guy

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It was a good hunt. I was cackling about the 06. I was hoping you wouldn’t rub me too hard.

truck driver":1n42p0a4 said:

Great Story and pictures Scotty. Very Happy you and your brother scored.
As for using a 30-06 what's there to say, they have been whacking Elk long before the Magnums showed up and besides that was a a fantastic tribute to your great uncle.

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Oh for sure TD. It works excellent. It was quite enlightening comparing my brothers 300 Win with the 200 AB and mine with the 212 ELD at 600 yards. Not a 22 RF worth of energy.

Wonderful story and experiences for you all! Some pretty cool elk there, good shooting good companionship, and beautiful country. Stories to tell for years to come! CL

Scotty,
Congratulations to you and your group on a successful elk hunt. Thanks for the story and pictures.
The 30-06 is truly a great round as you proved.
Nicely done.

JD338

Nice write up Scotty and great pictures, certainly one of our best hunts.

Congrats to all of you on an amazing hunt. That's cool your brother got such a nice bull for his first one. Both those recovered bullets did the job well, that 200 gr AB looks really good in particular, good expansion and weight retention. I was surprised to see you took your 30-06 over one of your big boomers but it of course makes a lot of sense as a tribute to your late uncle. With that newer 212 gr Hornady is sure did the job in style.

you couldn't ask for a better hunt . congrats to all you guys .

Scottie, you really are not just a great rifleman/reloader, but a great story teller too. Congratulations on a great trip. Im sure your uncle appreciated you dusting off the naught six...


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