My Muzzleloader Buck & First Elk

LAST EDITED ON Oct-04-15 AT 11:15PM (MST)[p]After 14 days and many miles of walking the rugged Ruby Mountains I was able to finally connect on this muley. My friend and I were hiking to the top of a ridge trying to get there before the sun came up. Sure enough my friend beat me by about thirty seconds. As I was looking up before I reached the ridge I could tell he saw something as he was waving me up. Once I reached the ridge and was nearly out of breath he said "shooter shooter right below us." I grabbed my binos and saw four points so I knew it was time to make something happen. I handed him the rangefinder as I was getting into position. He whispered 100 yards as I was making about 3 foot circles around the deers vitals. I knew the deer had not seen us as he was just browsing around so I took about 30 seconds to cool down to where I could hold on him. Finally I slowly pulled on my about 10 pound trigger and saw a cloud of smoke. It was a hit! The deer went down and the rest was a celebration of success. The next weekend was my cow elk hunt. My dad and I hiked into the wilderness and were able to spot a group of 5 cows and a bull. After hiking to them it looked as though they were about to go over the ridge into the next basin. My dad said get down right here and I will range them. As I thought he was crazy I laid down put the elk in my scope. He said "620 yards." We dialed in the scope, I clicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger. The elk was down making this my longest shot. It was a great season. Next year can't come soon enough.

Very nice. Looks like a great hunt.

Heading to Nevada in a week. Nevada is a great state to hunt.

Nice one for the wall and a full freezer. Congrats !

Congrats on a great buck!

Way to go and congratulation's on a great season. When you were born I hoped and prayed you would have the same passion for the hunt that I had. It turns out the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Thanks for sharing all that time with me over the last 15 years, especially when the old man made stalk after stalk trying to get his act together. There's nothing more rewarding to a father than sharing in a great hunt and looking at your smiling face in pictures. Congratulation's again on a successful season. I wasn't sure the deer would come your way, but through shear perseverance it worked out.

Congratulations. Very awesome buck as always. Love reading your stories. fatrooster