LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-12 AT 07:13PM (MST)[p]After waiting 11 years, I finally drew this NE Oregon bull tag again. In 2001, none of our group of hunters knew anything about this unit other than ?big bulls?. It's a very intimidating area, big canyons, overgrown trails, a road at the top, a road WAY down in the bottom. Since 2001, friends and friends of friends had hunted the unit numerous times, so we have much more knowledge on elk movements and honey holes today.
I was not in good enough shape for it?.I tried but the pressures of work and family just were too much and I couldn't get the work done I needed to. But, after 11 years, I was going anyway.
We saw very few elk from the couple of vantage points in the unit on Friday before the season started. Snow and fog made it difficult to see, and when we did see, nothing was moving. We talked a lot Friday night about the plan of attack for foggy vs. clear conditions. We came up with a plan, and at 5:15 am we awoke to high clouds and no fog.
My hunting partner for the day, Matt, and I eft the trailhead in the dark, and slogged through a foot of snow headed downhill. We finally got low enough down the ridge to a point where we could see in the dim dawn light, when I realize what that nagging feeling was that I had all the way down the trail??no binoculars!! Just my rangefinder monocular and rifle scope. Fortunately Matt had his Swaro?s so we were OK.
About 2 miles down the ridge got into a bunch of elk. Bugles and cows talking all around us. Had a cow walk up the hill in the long grass within 20 yards. Ended up being 23 total, with 2 spikes and a 4x4 that will be a great bull in the future. Left these elk and moved on down the ridge, staying on plan; headed for a knife back ridge that my wife shot from (and missed) last year, at a big 6x6 on the opposite side of the canyon.
Once we got to the spot, we promptly saw some cows working out of the timber on the other side of the canyon. I stayed set up with my rifle as Matt built a fire. Nothing fed out with them, so I moved back to the fire. We took off our packs and prepared to hunker down for a few hours in the cold rain. I was just opening a Power Bar, when I looked downhill below the cows. There was a grey-white elk standing in the timber. I said, ?big bull? and started gathering up my stuff. My partner looked at it through the binos, and said it looks pretty good. 640 yards or so with the range finder. Once we were organized, headed down the ridge to get closer.
Cut the distance to 528 yards?.I still hadn't looked at the bull through glass yet. We weren't going to get any closer, so I finally popped the bi-pod legs out and laid down. I then saw what I knew in my heart all along, that it was definitely a shooter anywhere in Oregon. I pulled out my smart phone, plugged in the range along with the down angle. No wind, the mist was rising straight up from the bottom. Already had the rest of the settings in there. Came up with a 36 inch drop for the 140 grain Accubond coming out of my 7mm Wby Mag Ultralight at 3300 fps.
Matt stopped me just before I shot, and told me to pull the cartridge and dry fire first. A great idea, glad I did it?whenever I have time in the future I will definitely do so. Got the round back in the tube, lined it up about 24 inches above the back, slightly quartering away. Squeezed it off?.WHAM!??.THWACK!. The bull didn't move. Jacked another one in. WHAM!?he doesn't move again. I'm cussing up a storm at this point??the darn thing doesn't even know I'm there!!! I put another one in. WHAM. Again, he doesn't move!!
Then, Matt says "I think he's hit". I of course didn't see any reaction to the bullet, even at 530 yards the muzzle jump keeps the bull out of the scope for a while. I jack the last cartridge in. Just as I'm squeezing, the bull just slightly stumbles. The muzzle comes back down just in time to see him tip over backwards!! (A big apology here to Matt....the string of cuss words coming out of my mouth when I was thinking I wasn't touching that bull was quite extensive!!)
After a bunch of screaming and hi-fiving, we take off on the hour long hike down the nasty open face to the timbered other side. This is what I see when we finally find him in the brush?about thirty yards downhill from where he was standing:
To make a long story short on the shooting?.the first shot hit almost exactly where I was aiming. It entered just on the back rib and exited immediately behind the opposite shoulder (coulda been 6 inches farther forward, but oh well). I believe I missed the second shot. The third shot slid under the ham, and the fourth shot was in the neck. He was dead on his feet after the first one, just none of us, including him, knew it.
The biggest elk body and rack I've ever been involved with.
It was immediately apparent that where he ended up stopping on his rolling down the hill was in the worst spot possible. Wedged up against two blow downs, there was no easy way to roll him over at all. My partner did a fantastic job of figuring out how to get it down, we spent the next 4 hours getting him quartered up and hanging in a tree.
He was busted up, but I'm not getting the rack fixed! Love the character.
Then a nice 2.5 mile jaunt down the creek bottom on the old neglected FS trail. Crossing the small creek 5 times, and the big creek once. Matt packed the entire head, cape, and antlers himself?.I just had my fat butt, pack, rifle, and a nice little 5 point shed he had picked up. We were out before dark.
The next day, a great young man from another camp volunteered to go in and pack with us. Four of us dropped straight off the top, going about ? of a mile horizontally and 3,000 feet vertically to get to the bull. Got everything out in one trip, thanks to some great strong-backed friends, new and old.
Sunday night, it rained, and rained, and rained. The 12 inches of snow at the trailer on Saturday was all gone Monday morning. The creek we crossed to pack out the meat was at floodstage when we pulled the trailer down the hill?.had we not got it out Sunday, we would?ve drowned trying to get it out that way on Monday.
A huge thank you to Matt E...I'd still be in the hole trying to figure out what to do with that thing if it wasn't for him!! And JB148 for the rifle help and load development, those bullets went exactly where they were supposed to!
A fantastic experience?.I'll never go back to that unit again, but I have no regrets.
I was not in good enough shape for it?.I tried but the pressures of work and family just were too much and I couldn't get the work done I needed to. But, after 11 years, I was going anyway.
We saw very few elk from the couple of vantage points in the unit on Friday before the season started. Snow and fog made it difficult to see, and when we did see, nothing was moving. We talked a lot Friday night about the plan of attack for foggy vs. clear conditions. We came up with a plan, and at 5:15 am we awoke to high clouds and no fog.
My hunting partner for the day, Matt, and I eft the trailhead in the dark, and slogged through a foot of snow headed downhill. We finally got low enough down the ridge to a point where we could see in the dim dawn light, when I realize what that nagging feeling was that I had all the way down the trail??no binoculars!! Just my rangefinder monocular and rifle scope. Fortunately Matt had his Swaro?s so we were OK.
About 2 miles down the ridge got into a bunch of elk. Bugles and cows talking all around us. Had a cow walk up the hill in the long grass within 20 yards. Ended up being 23 total, with 2 spikes and a 4x4 that will be a great bull in the future. Left these elk and moved on down the ridge, staying on plan; headed for a knife back ridge that my wife shot from (and missed) last year, at a big 6x6 on the opposite side of the canyon.
Once we got to the spot, we promptly saw some cows working out of the timber on the other side of the canyon. I stayed set up with my rifle as Matt built a fire. Nothing fed out with them, so I moved back to the fire. We took off our packs and prepared to hunker down for a few hours in the cold rain. I was just opening a Power Bar, when I looked downhill below the cows. There was a grey-white elk standing in the timber. I said, ?big bull? and started gathering up my stuff. My partner looked at it through the binos, and said it looks pretty good. 640 yards or so with the range finder. Once we were organized, headed down the ridge to get closer.
Cut the distance to 528 yards?.I still hadn't looked at the bull through glass yet. We weren't going to get any closer, so I finally popped the bi-pod legs out and laid down. I then saw what I knew in my heart all along, that it was definitely a shooter anywhere in Oregon. I pulled out my smart phone, plugged in the range along with the down angle. No wind, the mist was rising straight up from the bottom. Already had the rest of the settings in there. Came up with a 36 inch drop for the 140 grain Accubond coming out of my 7mm Wby Mag Ultralight at 3300 fps.
Matt stopped me just before I shot, and told me to pull the cartridge and dry fire first. A great idea, glad I did it?whenever I have time in the future I will definitely do so. Got the round back in the tube, lined it up about 24 inches above the back, slightly quartering away. Squeezed it off?.WHAM!??.THWACK!. The bull didn't move. Jacked another one in. WHAM!?he doesn't move again. I'm cussing up a storm at this point??the darn thing doesn't even know I'm there!!! I put another one in. WHAM. Again, he doesn't move!!
Then, Matt says "I think he's hit". I of course didn't see any reaction to the bullet, even at 530 yards the muzzle jump keeps the bull out of the scope for a while. I jack the last cartridge in. Just as I'm squeezing, the bull just slightly stumbles. The muzzle comes back down just in time to see him tip over backwards!! (A big apology here to Matt....the string of cuss words coming out of my mouth when I was thinking I wasn't touching that bull was quite extensive!!)
After a bunch of screaming and hi-fiving, we take off on the hour long hike down the nasty open face to the timbered other side. This is what I see when we finally find him in the brush?about thirty yards downhill from where he was standing:
To make a long story short on the shooting?.the first shot hit almost exactly where I was aiming. It entered just on the back rib and exited immediately behind the opposite shoulder (coulda been 6 inches farther forward, but oh well). I believe I missed the second shot. The third shot slid under the ham, and the fourth shot was in the neck. He was dead on his feet after the first one, just none of us, including him, knew it.
The biggest elk body and rack I've ever been involved with.
It was immediately apparent that where he ended up stopping on his rolling down the hill was in the worst spot possible. Wedged up against two blow downs, there was no easy way to roll him over at all. My partner did a fantastic job of figuring out how to get it down, we spent the next 4 hours getting him quartered up and hanging in a tree.
He was busted up, but I'm not getting the rack fixed! Love the character.
Then a nice 2.5 mile jaunt down the creek bottom on the old neglected FS trail. Crossing the small creek 5 times, and the big creek once. Matt packed the entire head, cape, and antlers himself?.I just had my fat butt, pack, rifle, and a nice little 5 point shed he had picked up. We were out before dark.
The next day, a great young man from another camp volunteered to go in and pack with us. Four of us dropped straight off the top, going about ? of a mile horizontally and 3,000 feet vertically to get to the bull. Got everything out in one trip, thanks to some great strong-backed friends, new and old.
Sunday night, it rained, and rained, and rained. The 12 inches of snow at the trailer on Saturday was all gone Monday morning. The creek we crossed to pack out the meat was at floodstage when we pulled the trailer down the hill?.had we not got it out Sunday, we would?ve drowned trying to get it out that way on Monday.
A huge thank you to Matt E...I'd still be in the hole trying to figure out what to do with that thing if it wasn't for him!! And JB148 for the rifle help and load development, those bullets went exactly where they were supposed to!
A fantastic experience?.I'll never go back to that unit again, but I have no regrets.
