Elkslayer
Active Member
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- 362
Well I can finally sit down and try to post some pic's along with a story. Left with good friends ( Clint, Gary, and Zack ) on Wends 10/12 for the 12 hour drive to the Gila. Both myself and Clint had early season rifle elk tags. Driving late night through the Gila was an experience....had to slow down to 30 mph so as not to hit the elk on the road. We were seeing elk every 1/4 mile right on the road. Arrived at camp around 2:30 am , set up a quick tent and went to bed! Scouted all day thursday only to see 8 bulls ( all 260 to 300" ). Set up camp on mid-afternoon...see pic. below. Army tents are missing in this pic. but they worked great with the wood burning stoves.
Steve and Toby arrived from Albq. on thursday night to also help us on this hunt. This made a total of 6 ( 2 hunters and 4 mules...smile! ) I cannot thank those friends enough for taking their own time to join us on this hunt. I owe them BIG TIME.
Friday was spent scounting allot of ground and in different area's. The elk we were finding were all up high and not down low. No bugling was going on at all...morning or night. The terrain was mostly junipers and was very hard to be able to shoot over 100 yards. It was also very tought to even try to glass from the tops of the hills due to the junipers. But, up high on the mountain, we found aspens, clear cuts, burns, grass and yes...elk.
Clint shot this bull opening morning at about 325 yards across a canyon. 300 Weatherbee magnum shooting 180 grain Nosler Flat Base Boattails. Clint is one of the better shot's in our group of friends and he put three shots where it counts. Clint's bull will gross in the mod 290's.
And here is the crew with Steve taking the picture. I was off looking for a large bull that I missed a shot at with Clint's group of elk. My scope was completely fogged up and could never get a great sight picture....moral of the story ( do not take off the scope covers until just before you are ready to shoot in bad weather ). Left to right..Toby, Zack, Clint and Gary.
The rest of the morning was spent hauling Clint's bull back to the truck, going back to camp and CELEBRATING.
Later in the afternoon I was getting "antsi-pants" and was looking to head back out about 4:30 p.m. I went to the fire where everyone was stitting around telling stories and asked who wanted to go out with me. They all looked around at each other thinking someone would accept my offer. I looked at them all and said.....heck, what are you going to do, draw straws? They were all tired from packing Clint's bull out and we never did see "any" elk on our night scouting trips. Toby then offered to go with me, but found out his truck tire was getting low, so Toby and Steve took the truck to town to get it fixed. Well then Zack offered to go with me.....Thank You Zack!!!
I felt that with the friday night rain, the elk would start to come out earlier. I wanted to start down low in the canyons and hunt up-wind toward the burn area's where I could shoot farther. We hiked 3 miles up and Zack spotted a large bodied elk 1 1/2 miles up and across the canyon. We could tell it was a 6 point, but left the spotting scopes back at camp to save on weight. Looked to us like the bull was about the size as Clint's. We choose to keep going up and see if we could get a shot across the canyon at the bull. It was a good thing that I brought my range finder as with-out it I would have taken shots well out of my range. Zack ranged the bull at 809 yards ( no way for me ) then after hiking some more..650 yards ( no way for me again ). We then got straight across from the bull and still could not get close enough for a good shot. I needed at least 550 yards max ....300 WSM shooting 180 grain Barnes Triple Shock's hitting 30" low at 550 yards.
We then decided to cross the canyon and try to sneak up on the bull as he was still in the same general place. The hike was killing me and it was fast. Up the hill we went. The winds were swirling badly and I felt the bull would wind us. Zack then spotted the bull at 175 yards and said to take an off-hand shot. I could only see behind his lungs and towards his rear quarters....I told Zack that I would not take the shot. The bull was starting to point his nose in the air and starting to wind us, but could not tell where we were at. We then ran another 50 yards up hill and in front of where the bull was headed. Zack again picked ou the bull in his Swaro Binos ( the elk blended in with the burn area and wa very hard to see ) at 100 yards and got me in position to shoot. I could see the front shoulder of the bull and put the Zeiss Conquest 3 1/2 to 10 right on and pulled the trigger. The bull ran forward and we could not see him....Zack said " you missed him", I said " no way withthis scope and that yardage". We crested the hill while I kept my eye on the hill top for the bull to go over. We could not see the bull. Looked left, right,where did he go? Finally we spotted him not 20 yards from where I shot him tucked up against a log and blending right in. So, here is a pic.
Check out my elk tooth necklas....BAD ASS
Alan and Steve
Steve and Toby arrived from Albq. on thursday night to also help us on this hunt. This made a total of 6 ( 2 hunters and 4 mules...smile! ) I cannot thank those friends enough for taking their own time to join us on this hunt. I owe them BIG TIME.
Friday was spent scounting allot of ground and in different area's. The elk we were finding were all up high and not down low. No bugling was going on at all...morning or night. The terrain was mostly junipers and was very hard to be able to shoot over 100 yards. It was also very tought to even try to glass from the tops of the hills due to the junipers. But, up high on the mountain, we found aspens, clear cuts, burns, grass and yes...elk.
Clint shot this bull opening morning at about 325 yards across a canyon. 300 Weatherbee magnum shooting 180 grain Nosler Flat Base Boattails. Clint is one of the better shot's in our group of friends and he put three shots where it counts. Clint's bull will gross in the mod 290's.
And here is the crew with Steve taking the picture. I was off looking for a large bull that I missed a shot at with Clint's group of elk. My scope was completely fogged up and could never get a great sight picture....moral of the story ( do not take off the scope covers until just before you are ready to shoot in bad weather ). Left to right..Toby, Zack, Clint and Gary.
The rest of the morning was spent hauling Clint's bull back to the truck, going back to camp and CELEBRATING.
Later in the afternoon I was getting "antsi-pants" and was looking to head back out about 4:30 p.m. I went to the fire where everyone was stitting around telling stories and asked who wanted to go out with me. They all looked around at each other thinking someone would accept my offer. I looked at them all and said.....heck, what are you going to do, draw straws? They were all tired from packing Clint's bull out and we never did see "any" elk on our night scouting trips. Toby then offered to go with me, but found out his truck tire was getting low, so Toby and Steve took the truck to town to get it fixed. Well then Zack offered to go with me.....Thank You Zack!!!
I felt that with the friday night rain, the elk would start to come out earlier. I wanted to start down low in the canyons and hunt up-wind toward the burn area's where I could shoot farther. We hiked 3 miles up and Zack spotted a large bodied elk 1 1/2 miles up and across the canyon. We could tell it was a 6 point, but left the spotting scopes back at camp to save on weight. Looked to us like the bull was about the size as Clint's. We choose to keep going up and see if we could get a shot across the canyon at the bull. It was a good thing that I brought my range finder as with-out it I would have taken shots well out of my range. Zack ranged the bull at 809 yards ( no way for me ) then after hiking some more..650 yards ( no way for me again ). We then got straight across from the bull and still could not get close enough for a good shot. I needed at least 550 yards max ....300 WSM shooting 180 grain Barnes Triple Shock's hitting 30" low at 550 yards.
We then decided to cross the canyon and try to sneak up on the bull as he was still in the same general place. The hike was killing me and it was fast. Up the hill we went. The winds were swirling badly and I felt the bull would wind us. Zack then spotted the bull at 175 yards and said to take an off-hand shot. I could only see behind his lungs and towards his rear quarters....I told Zack that I would not take the shot. The bull was starting to point his nose in the air and starting to wind us, but could not tell where we were at. We then ran another 50 yards up hill and in front of where the bull was headed. Zack again picked ou the bull in his Swaro Binos ( the elk blended in with the burn area and wa very hard to see ) at 100 yards and got me in position to shoot. I could see the front shoulder of the bull and put the Zeiss Conquest 3 1/2 to 10 right on and pulled the trigger. The bull ran forward and we could not see him....Zack said " you missed him", I said " no way withthis scope and that yardage". We crested the hill while I kept my eye on the hill top for the bull to go over. We could not see the bull. Looked left, right,where did he go? Finally we spotted him not 20 yards from where I shot him tucked up against a log and blending right in. So, here is a pic.
Check out my elk tooth necklas....BAD ASS
Alan and Steve
