StormTheMountain
Member
- Messages
- 45
I was able to take a nice cow elk in unit 201 earlier this week. It was one of the easiest hunts I have ever been on. We got really lucky! The hunt opened on Saturday (Nov. 2nd), but we were not able to get up to the unit until Monday afternoon. We only had two hours of light left Monday afternoon after arriving and we did not see any elk that first night. We did see lots of rutting buck and tons of does (lost count)! Tuesday morning we were up before the sun and on the road to a spot that I wanted to start the hunt. We made it down the road about 2 miles and came up over a rise in the road and instantly spotted about 10-15 elk ahead crossing the dirt road we were on right in front of another truck that was stopped in the road. I said to my two boys "why the heck are they not shooting"! As soon as I said that I realized that there is also a 3rd season buck hunt in the unit as well. The elk were not spooked at all and I drove up right behind the parked truck. I grabbed my gun and approached the drivers side door of the truck and the guy said "Are you a cow hunter?" I said "yes I am", he said "be my guest, we have deer tags". That was music to my ears! His next word were even better. He said "would you like a range on them?" Of course I agreed and he said "they are exactly 250 yards". By this time the elk were getting a little skittish and some of them had begun to trot off. I stepped off the road several paces and took a knee. By the time I got settled in for the shot there were only two cows standing broadside and both looked about the same size. I took aim on one of them and sent the shot. It felt like a really good shot, but I momentarily lost sight of the cow after the shot. I quickly picked her up and knew that she was hurting bad. She only went about 20 yards and plopped over dead. My hunt was over before it really ever started! I shoot a .270 with 150 grain Nosler Partition bullet and it performed flawlessly. I hit her a tad lower than I had intended, but it was perfect. It entered her rib cage right behind her front leg and went through the vitals (heart) and completely fractured the upper bone in the off side front leg. It was lights out quick for her. Even though it was over quickly (we were in the unit less than 24 hours), it was really fun to have two of my boys along side to witness it all!
