BackCountryMulies
Lil-Rokslider
With the Wyoming draw out and everyone talking elk I thought Id share last years Wy general bull with you. I doubt I will get much hunting in for myself this year after receiving word from several buddies they all drew bull tags. Im not going to complain I get just as much satisfaction helping buddies punch tags as I do punching my own.
Rifle elk season starts early in one unit around the house and with a general tag in my pocket I like to take advantage of this. The majority of elk are on private land and most farmers and ranchers will not allow hunting so its extremely frustrating at times; but with persistence and patients they do cross small chunks of public and hunt-able private land.
When I was a kid I would look through the old photo albums at my grand parents and see the old hunting pics of simpler times. I love those pictures of the full deer draped across the saddle or across the hood of a Willys jeep. There is one picture that has always just stood out and thats the picture of my great grandpa on his last elk hunt posing over a big 6X6 he killed down in Jackson hes standing there in knee deep snow holding reins and antlers in one hand and a Winchester 94 30-30 in the other. This picture has always stood out and is probably why I have had a goal to kill a nice bull with a lever gun. I’m not sure if it’s me just getting older and finding my passion lies more with the pursuit over the harvest of the hunt or if I’m just finally able to see through the veil of skewed perception social media has casted over the hunting community. Whatever my reasoning I’m glad I stayed persistent with the the lever gun and checked this off my bucket list. It’s surprisingly hard to open up the gun safe, take a quick inventory and reach past all the fine-tuned long range rifles to the far back corner and grab the old Winchester 94 .44 Mag.
Knowing good and well this decision just significantly decreased my odds of taking an elk in an otc unit that already has a very low success rate. It was windy with gusts of 35-40 so I went down into some of the thickest river bottom I knew of and where I had seen a decent bull earlier in the season. I cut some fresh tracks on my way in and it was a bull and a cow with calf. I could tell they were headed up river onto some private that has a large patch of cottonwoods on it uncertain how far in they went I got about 30 yards off the fence line and set up with a good shooting lane up and down the fence line. I let out a few cow calls and nothing but the wind was howling so I hit the bugle and immediately got a bugle back but it was a pathetic bugle and he answered twice so now Im thinking I'm calling in another hunter. I just shut up and sat quietly for a few hours. I had a whitetail come out and start feeding in the little meadow after a few minutes he kept looking back into the thicker timber so I start searching it and bingo I pick up a cow shes walking right at me with calf and bull in tow. she comes out and keeps feeding up to the fence about 40 yards from me turns goes to the corner post and jumps the fence and her boyfriend was right behind her. He jumps and no more gets his feet on the ground when I hit him with the first 305 he staggers and I put a second in him he makes it out and down the fence line another 30 yards and with his nose on the fence and a hard quarter away I send the third and final shot through from the flank to the off side shoulder he did the back peddle and flopped over in a willow.
Rifle elk season starts early in one unit around the house and with a general tag in my pocket I like to take advantage of this. The majority of elk are on private land and most farmers and ranchers will not allow hunting so its extremely frustrating at times; but with persistence and patients they do cross small chunks of public and hunt-able private land.
When I was a kid I would look through the old photo albums at my grand parents and see the old hunting pics of simpler times. I love those pictures of the full deer draped across the saddle or across the hood of a Willys jeep. There is one picture that has always just stood out and thats the picture of my great grandpa on his last elk hunt posing over a big 6X6 he killed down in Jackson hes standing there in knee deep snow holding reins and antlers in one hand and a Winchester 94 30-30 in the other. This picture has always stood out and is probably why I have had a goal to kill a nice bull with a lever gun. I’m not sure if it’s me just getting older and finding my passion lies more with the pursuit over the harvest of the hunt or if I’m just finally able to see through the veil of skewed perception social media has casted over the hunting community. Whatever my reasoning I’m glad I stayed persistent with the the lever gun and checked this off my bucket list. It’s surprisingly hard to open up the gun safe, take a quick inventory and reach past all the fine-tuned long range rifles to the far back corner and grab the old Winchester 94 .44 Mag.
Knowing good and well this decision just significantly decreased my odds of taking an elk in an otc unit that already has a very low success rate. It was windy with gusts of 35-40 so I went down into some of the thickest river bottom I knew of and where I had seen a decent bull earlier in the season. I cut some fresh tracks on my way in and it was a bull and a cow with calf. I could tell they were headed up river onto some private that has a large patch of cottonwoods on it uncertain how far in they went I got about 30 yards off the fence line and set up with a good shooting lane up and down the fence line. I let out a few cow calls and nothing but the wind was howling so I hit the bugle and immediately got a bugle back but it was a pathetic bugle and he answered twice so now Im thinking I'm calling in another hunter. I just shut up and sat quietly for a few hours. I had a whitetail come out and start feeding in the little meadow after a few minutes he kept looking back into the thicker timber so I start searching it and bingo I pick up a cow shes walking right at me with calf and bull in tow. she comes out and keeps feeding up to the fence about 40 yards from me turns goes to the corner post and jumps the fence and her boyfriend was right behind her. He jumps and no more gets his feet on the ground when I hit him with the first 305 he staggers and I put a second in him he makes it out and down the fence line another 30 yards and with his nose on the fence and a hard quarter away I send the third and final shot through from the flank to the off side shoulder he did the back peddle and flopped over in a willow.
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