Well, this hunt was absolutely AWESOME! Was up for nearly 20 hours straight, and loved every minute of it!
First off, a little history...
My Dad has never really been a big game hunter. That is until I passed my hunter safety course! My Dad has never killed a deer or an elk with a rifle (got a few with the truck though!) and has been great on making "our" hunting trips happen.
Well, this year I planned different. We ended drawing Cow Tags for GMU 154 and got to hunt "Klicker Mountain" (my Dad's boss is a Klicker) where I killed a bear opening weekend of deer season two weeks ago.
Opening morning found us roaming the hills chasing elk. There was about 15 guys all hunting but only 5 of us had cow tags. We found a herd of elk about 8 AM and decided to do a push through the timber to an open ridge (there were about 4 or 5 of these clearings throughout the canyon).
I was paired up with a guy named Chad Redfield. We went down the hill and sat to wait out the drive.
The brush busters start moving and three cows pull out on the open hillside. We had guessed the range to be around 375 yards (VERY decieving). Well I had 12 shells and thought I would only need maybe two. I held my cross hairs at her back and BOOM! Nothing, BOOM! Nothing every shot I kept raising the cross hairs a little at a time. 7 shots later I still had hit nothing. A guy later said that my shots were very quite from where he was brush busting (why the cows just stood there). Then I aimed three feet above her back and BOOM! My 8th shot was true and she hunched up and rolled down the canyon. A bullet through her heart (See picture). The 180 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw entered right behind the front shoulder, through the chest cavity, broke the offside shoulder and out the other side. A complete passthrough at a VERIFIED 550 yard shot (we ranged it later after the drives we through)
a couple hours later and the 2nd drive my Dad had his cow down (GREAT shot at 280 yards, but he only used 2 bullets), and 1 minute later John lunged his cow at 390 yards with his 270 WSM.
(from left to right: Dad, John, and Me)
Hope you enjoyed it and I think my Dad has finally caught the "Bug".
We drug them to the bottom of the canyon, and used a truck to winch them to the top (VERY HANDY).
This was a first for both of us and we both had a great time.
Michael~All Gods creatures welcome... right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.
First off, a little history...
My Dad has never really been a big game hunter. That is until I passed my hunter safety course! My Dad has never killed a deer or an elk with a rifle (got a few with the truck though!) and has been great on making "our" hunting trips happen.
Well, this year I planned different. We ended drawing Cow Tags for GMU 154 and got to hunt "Klicker Mountain" (my Dad's boss is a Klicker) where I killed a bear opening weekend of deer season two weeks ago.
Opening morning found us roaming the hills chasing elk. There was about 15 guys all hunting but only 5 of us had cow tags. We found a herd of elk about 8 AM and decided to do a push through the timber to an open ridge (there were about 4 or 5 of these clearings throughout the canyon).
I was paired up with a guy named Chad Redfield. We went down the hill and sat to wait out the drive.
The brush busters start moving and three cows pull out on the open hillside. We had guessed the range to be around 375 yards (VERY decieving). Well I had 12 shells and thought I would only need maybe two. I held my cross hairs at her back and BOOM! Nothing, BOOM! Nothing every shot I kept raising the cross hairs a little at a time. 7 shots later I still had hit nothing. A guy later said that my shots were very quite from where he was brush busting (why the cows just stood there). Then I aimed three feet above her back and BOOM! My 8th shot was true and she hunched up and rolled down the canyon. A bullet through her heart (See picture). The 180 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw entered right behind the front shoulder, through the chest cavity, broke the offside shoulder and out the other side. A complete passthrough at a VERIFIED 550 yard shot (we ranged it later after the drives we through)
a couple hours later and the 2nd drive my Dad had his cow down (GREAT shot at 280 yards, but he only used 2 bullets), and 1 minute later John lunged his cow at 390 yards with his 270 WSM.
(from left to right: Dad, John, and Me)
Hope you enjoyed it and I think my Dad has finally caught the "Bug".
We drug them to the bottom of the canyon, and used a truck to winch them to the top (VERY HANDY).
This was a first for both of us and we both had a great time.
Michael~All Gods creatures welcome... right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.