Idaho Late Elk

IdahoBugler

Active Member
Messages
829
Well I was lucky enough to draw a 2nd chance late elk tag here in Idaho. I had never hunted this herd in November so I wasn't sure what to expect. A buddy and I went up 3 days early to scout and hunt deer but the weather had other plans. The first 3 days we were in white out conditions waiting for breaks in the clouds to glass and find something to shoot. We had seen a total of about 50 deer, the biggest buck was a 3X3 that was 22" wide, and 4 cow elk. Not a great start to my elk scouting.

On the evening before the opener I headed to a burn I like to hunt. I cow called and got a response from a bull a ways off but atleast we knew there was a bull in the area. We never saw him but figured it might be a place to start until we saw a huge pack string of horses that setup camp right on top of them. Plan B was another burn I like to hunt so opening day we headed in 2 hours before light to got to my pre-determined spot. Just as it was getting light enough to see I heard a bugle, then another, then about 100 cow calls. We sat and picked the hills apart and found the heard 1/2 mile away. There was probably 100 head total with about 20 or so bulls. We put a stalk on what we thought was the biggest bull and I put a 200 yard heart shot on the quartering away bull. I was hoping to beat my biggest archery bull but this one falls just shy of that. But with the way the hunt had been going I thought I better get what I can get. He's a good bull and I'm happy with him.

P1030207.jpg


P1030210.jpg


The fun part. We were in 3 miles and it took us a total of 9 hours to get him off the hill.
P1030238.jpg


I was lucky enough to have a good buddy with me on this trip to help with the spotting and packing.
P1030196.jpg


P1030243.jpg
 
very good bull!!!

It looks like a Remington, but what caliber and model is that good looking gun you got there!
 
Bryce,

Nice bull, congrats on the late season success. Didnt you arrow a really nice Ida. goat last year also?

Mike
at235.gif
 
Congratulations, Nice bull and thanks for sharing the pictures. I'm hoping to do something like that this weekend in Unit 39.


MO
 
Way to go dude! You've taken some pretty good critters the last coupla' years. Congrats on another great bull.
 
Great job !! He looks to be a real good bull to me , love the story . Yeah I was noticeing your rifle too , good looking gun . Thanks for sharing .....NMHUNTNUTT
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-04-05 AT 11:03AM (MST)[p]Great Bull!!! Nice looking gun, too! Thank goodness for buddies for packin'..........

Edit: Is it a Tikka???? Or a Rem with a custom stock?
 
Congrats! Nice elk, the type I only get to dream about. Sounds like it was a great hunt.

Mike
 
Thanks for all the nice comments fellas. This gun is my new toy, its the Remington XCR in the 7mm caliber. I topped it off with a Leupold VXIII with the B&C reticle. This gun is a shooter and I'm very happy with it. I've put about 200 rounds through it and everytime I take it out it shoots better and better. I'm getting around 5-6" groups at 500 yards with no wind, shooting prone. My next step is a trigger job.

Dakota - I shot the P&Y lope this year and I'm still on cloud 9. I guess I'm having one of those years that come every 20 years or so.

Good luck to everyone else that is lucky enough to still be hunting.

IB
 
Bryce,

My mistake, some reason I thought that was last year on the good goat. Double congrats to you then, youve worked hard and earned both of those animals. Good on ya!!!!!

Mike
at235.gif
 
Dakota - Thanks for the kudo's man.

ElkSlayer - I started out loading 150 gr. Sirraccos but I was getting speratic groups. I ended up shooting Remington Core-Loc 150gr. factories and deveoped the above groups. It suprised the heck out of me. When I get more time this spring I'll work on more loads for the gun but for now the rems are doing pretty dang good. I shot the bull at 200 yards it hit a rib going in and never exited. I found half of the slug lodged in his heart. I guess I really didn't like that but it did the job. I also won't be aiming for the shoulder on an elk size animal with these rounds.

IdahoMuley - No Idaho muley yet!!!! I'll spend some time on the late archery hunts that are coming up. I did end up with a real nice Oregon buck though...

Thanks again for the nice comments. I hope it continues through to New Mexico.
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom