Nevada cow elk. New hunt success!

In the same general area as my bull elk hunt last year NDOW created a new hunt for this season to reduce elk numbers in two of the units in the group. Due to private property giving refuge the elk numbers are higher than desired. Lucky for myself and others who drew these tags, we have a chance to rifle hunt a spike or cow during the rut. A first for me, experiencing elk during the rut was about the coolest thing I’ve experienced in the outdoors and I work outdoors all over the country. One of my very good work buddies and I hit the road after work Tuesday and drove the six hours that night. Having collaborated with MM’s BGNight last year and DanielI816 this year, we had an idea where I’d have room to set up a wall tent, so we headed that way. This was only my second elk hunt and my first during the rut so we were excited and expecting to arrive and hear bugling elk as soon as we stepped out of the truck but when we arrived at 1am it was quiet. We had two full days of scouting before the season opened and heard nothing. It was forecasted to cool down and rain the first two days of the opener which was promising but the rain showed up early, at times making it difficult to glass. We located a few rag horns and spikes, even successfully calling a couple but no cows and the bulls came in silent. The day of the opener it all changed like a light switch. First light we heard gunshots that sounded like WW3 had started and my buddy looked at me disappointed at other’s success at finding cows and the fact that we had seen only one the day before. I threw out a locator bugle and got an answer; At one point we honestly didn’t believe it wasn’t just another hunter we were bugling back and forth with. Then realizing that either this other hunter was damn good at calling or it was an elk. Over the ridge comes this big boy screaming his head off and chuckling all pissed off at me for as I matched his bugles and interrupting him occasionally. From that point on we were constantly surrounded by elk, bulls of all ages and cows; It was the coolest thing ever! On the third day of the season our plan was pretty rock solid, we knew where to be first light and set up glassing. We watched multiple herds on this north facing slope with ski run like shoots all across the slope. They hang at around 600 yards, then came down to 500. We decided that if we found a big cow and had an opportunity to shoot close we’d take it only being day 3. Patiently we just watched them do elk stuff and slowly feed down and across. Then all at once every herd on the mountain got up and left the county. We could see all the way on the west side of the slope a tiny orange dot of a hunter had shot something and he was standing near it. We didn’t hear the shot, but there was definitely a dead elk and now we’re looking at a ghost town of a mountainside. We packed up and headed around to the other side of the ridge to find them again. Here the wind was tough, there was no right move but we kept our distance and flanked wide. Shy of 3 miles in from where we started we spotted bugling bull and a couple cows in a small opening in the juniper. I went back and forth whether to take the shot; it would end the hunt early but we’d bring home and elk. They were in the open but a very small opening, so I was concerned about having to track after the shot. Looking to see it was only 2pm I decided I’d take the biggest one, definitely a fat mature cow at 360 yards. I set up with my back against my pack, sitting and my rifle on my tripod. I knew I’d want to do a follow up shot so she wouldn’t go far. Got comfortable, ranged and dialed, breathed and squeezed off the first double lunger. She turned, legs wobbling but fairly still gave me another broadside shot for another double lunger. We watched her go down about 10 feet away. My buddy and I got to work right away and had the pack out of our dreams or nightmares depending on how you look at it, definitely could have been worse. 2.5 miles and only 700ft gain but we packed the entire thing in one go. Spaghetti for legs and sore shoulders we are already home today. What an experience!! Besides BGNight and Daniel816 I’d mentioned I also talked to 916Dave and at my camp ran into OutdoorDan. The collaboration and comradery of folks on this forum are second to none. Thanks to Founder for creating this space for us. Good luck to the rest of you with a tag.

Jeremy

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.
Enjoy the good eating.

Glad you were able to connect. That unit group is tougher to hunt than it seems it should be. I've had two muzzle loader cow tags, both unfilled. You did well.

Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

mevertsen said:

Glad you were able to connect. That unit group is tougher to hunt than it seems it should be. I've had two muzzle loader cow tags, both unfilled. You did well.

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A bit of redemption after coming home empty handed last year on the bull elk hunt there for sure

Hey Jeremy, great write up, and thanks for the conversation! Got it done Saturday, although it turned into quite a rodeo. Friday, on the way to hunt some chutes, I had a big bobcat run across in front of me. In the first chute, I ended up finding a dead spike bull. Thinking it was fishy, I called it into the NV F & G. After speaking with Natalie, whom was passing it on to Jason, the Warden, I headed up above into the timber. 150 yards from the elk, I ran into a Mountain Lion at 30 yards. No tag, bummer. Called and spoke to Jason, and told him the spike may have been a cougar kill, he said he'd come anyway. He had about a 2 hour drive from Elko and up into the canyon I was in. I met him at the elk after me looking for a cow for a couple of hours. It turned out it was shot and left, probably by a guy with a cow license. We sat and talked for about 2 hours, very cool guy. Saturday, I found some elk as I was driving, took an exit and unloaded the side by side. After a short stalk, I shot and hit a cow low in the shoulder. Last year I told myself I'd never use the Barnes TSX, after very poor performance from them. However, they shoot lights out in my gun, so I thought I'd give them another shot (pun intended). The cow was hurt, and when I hiked up to her, she was just standing there with her ass towards me. I didn't want to ruin the meat with the ole "texas heart shot", so I worked my way to the right, and to the left trying to get a better angle. This went on for at least a half hour as she just stood there, looking back my way from time to time as I scrambled around trying to find the angle. Finally, I just walked around her side, well that was a mistake as she started moving off through the brush. I only got one more fleeting shot as she went over a saddle in the mountain. Missed. Headed up the saddle and caught up to her about 100 yards into the very thick cedar/mahogany hillside. It was too thick and I just pushed her more. Decided not to keep pushing her, and waited 7 hours before pursuing her again. Hiked in from the direction she was headed towards, and found her bedded under a tree, ass towards me again. This time I took the "texas heart shot", she couldn't get up. One more in the neck and she was finally finished. A long day, and into the night packing meat. It didn't end there though as Sunday I ran over a rock in my truck and punctured my transmission pan. Truck is now getting fixed, and my buddy had to drive 3 hours to come pick me and the side x side up.

Dang that’s a rough hunt! Congratulations on the cow though and try the ttsx bullets they shoot and perform much better than the tsx.

Outdoordan said:

Hey Jeremy

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Wow! Sorry to hear about your truck, but man that sounds like it turned into a real adventure. You’ll have plenty to look back and laugh about later on that one and some tasty meat to soften the blow.