2023 OFFICIAL ELK MEAT POLE THREAD

[Roofer1]

From a couple weeks ago. hunting buddy took a pic while I wasn't paying attention of the "well... now we've got some work to do" pose. *edited to throw in a pic of the animal. hate having my face on the internet but the elk was a nice one so I figured I owed it to him

 

[Packer9037]

Saturday - (opener in MT) up at 3:15 for opening day. Pretty much just got dressed because everything was ready the night before. Drive to ****** was about 1 hr, got there a little before 5 and started the 2.5 hr hike to the top. Jeremy and Logan went north, Rob and I hunted the south end of this big meadow at the top, near ******** Mountain. I believe a local called it *********. We also felt a sense of pride knowing we were the first 4 to the top of the mountain that day! As we sat down we played a game of rock paper scissors to see who would get first shot and I won. I never win. At daybreak, we heard a couple shots but sounded like they were off in the distance. Rob and I had a great view of the entire valley below us and soon started spotting animals. At about 7:45 we saw about 8 head of elk down in the bottom that looked like they got spooked by a hunter, we saw a moose, and then saw two bulls feeding across a face of a mountain about our elevation but across the valley to the other side. Rob and I wondered why they liked the grass over there but not the grass where we were haha. Around 8 AM or so Rob caught a flash of some elk moving towards us across a knob roughly a .5 mile away. We had good wind and loved the saddle we were watching figuring elk might pass right by us. We moved down from our starting point to cut some distance. While doing that we spotted a group of about 12 elk on the same knob lazily grazing with a few bulls! Rob ran back to grab packs while I continued to watch where the elk went. Rob was back in a couple minutes and in that time the elk had fed down into the timber below us.

At about 9 AM, watching the meadow in front of us a bull crested the ridge about 300 or so yards away. I didn’t realize his size until Rob excitedly whispered “big bull”! As he appeared, two more smaller bulls appeared with him. These bulls didn’t seem to be concerned and were slowly walking towards us. I asked Rob to range the bigger bull and he whispered 300 yards. I got ready as the bull walked closer and Rob called 290 yards. I was still getting ready and as Rob called 280 yards I told him “the bull is walking right towards us so I’m gonna be patient” boom! I thought I was gonna wait but the shot felt good. He was slightly quartering to us and I shot him inside his right shoulder. He dropped where he stood and I had just shot a nice 5x6 bull! We planned to meet Jeremy and Logan for lunch about 11-11:30 so our plan was to try to get my bull all quartered out. We got about halfway done with our plan before Rob had to go meet Jeremy and Logan and tell them we had an elk down! We finished dressing the quarters and Rob, Logan, and Jeremy packed the meet up about halfway to the top of the ridge we were on while I finished the skull and antlers.

We had a tough hike back up to where the quartered elk and our remaining stuff was. Once there we took a short break and loaded up our packs for the 2.5 mile hike down. And proceeded to do what Jeremy, Rob, and I all think was one of the tougher, if not toughest, physical tests of getting the elk off the mountain. We took multiple breaks on our hike up and down the mountain, laughing and groaning as we went. We all survived but were happy to get our packs off our back!! We took off for camp, quickly broke that down, and ended our day at Cabin with some Zuppa from Jer. Tired and hurting, we called it a day.

 

[6.5x284]

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[Geewhiz]

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Damn son

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Wyoming LO bull

 

[Hank]

My archery bull
My wife’s archery bullMy dad’s rifle bullAll 3 together

 

[Stache Attack]

Halloween gave my wife a treat.
Opening weekend in Montana was warm for rifle, 2nd Saturday was in the negatives and lot of opportunities no comfortable shots for her. 2nd Sunday it warmed up(15 degrees) and the orange army was out in hoards. We jetted out last night around 3pm. Had 18 bulls by 5:45 feeding on a face. This bull and one other were the last to trickle out of the timber. With a great sneak stalk to close some distance and an awesome shot she took home the bull she wanted from Saturday. Photos of her first elk and another last load 1:25am, home by 3am, in meetings by 7:45am.
Tired, Halloween gave me a trick(last photo).

 

[Jaker_cc]

Halloween gave my wife a treat.
Opening weekend in Montana was warm for rifle, 2nd Saturday was in the negatives and lot of opportunities no comfortable shots for her. 2nd Sunday it warmed up(15 degrees) and the orange army was out in hoards. We jetted out last night around 3pm. Had 18 bulls by 5:45 feeding on a face. This bull and one other were the last to trickle out of the timber. With a great sneak stalk to close some distance and an awesome shot she took home the bull she wanted from Saturday. Photos of her first elk and another last load 1:25am, home by 3am, in meetings by 7:45am. Tired.

Bubba, I don’t know you but you look whipped in that last photo. That’s the work you get to do before you go back to the work you have to do. Congrats to your wife

 

[MarkOrtiz]

My first Bull, and first hunt with a Muzzleloader. This was a fun, hard, and rewarding hunt. Day 1 we found lots of elk, finally found a big bull, and made a stalk. He had 30 cows bedded around him and 2 other bulls on the side of the mountain. We made it to 250 yards before the wind shifted and those cows got up and blew out of there.
Day 2 we found another nice bull, we saw where he went into the trees, but he just disappeared we never saw him again.
Day 3 we didn’t see a single Elk all morning. For the afternoon, we went and sat up on the hill above where the elk disappeared into the trees from the day before. At just about sunset there was a bugle and we started watching cows start filing out of the forest into the flats. At the end of the line of cows was this guy. He wasn’t as big as the guy from the morning before, but I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity.
I made my way down through the forest into the edge of the flats. There just happened to be a perfect little rise between me and the elk. I slowly made my way up until I could see the elk. The bull was at 190 yards. After waiting for what seemed like forever I finally had a shot. I sent a 290 grain Barnes TMZ into him as he was quartering towards me. He ran another 40 yards and stopped and started to stumble. I had reloaded and sent a second round at 230 yards that hit him through both shoulders and he went down.
My Nevada bull hunt was a success.

 

[adbowhunter]

DIY OTC CO bull I shot Sunday night solo 6.5 miles back. Set up camp 15 min before dark in a saddle near a peak I figured elk were bedding on the north side of during the day. After not hearing a bugle since 8:30 am, heard a light bugle decently close (within 300), decided to rip one back a minute later and he fired back within 200 yards. Put my gear back on, walked 20 yards from my tarp, threw out a growly bugle and a cow goes nuts mewing and he bugles. I cut him off with one more and they come running in, I took 10 quick steps behind some cover and knock an arrow. Cow comes to 10 yards on the left of the cover and looks at me, bull ends up coming in to the right and sees me finish drawing but stops at 13 yards. Sent one through the ticker and he went 90 yards and piled up. Entire situation happened in less than 4 minutes from the first time I bugled to when I shot. Prof it only takes one.
20 miles of packing yesterday and a good friend who was dumb enough to hike in and take a heavy load, got it out in 14 hours. Now I’ll spend the rest of my week of vacation recovering from the pack out and debating if I’m dumb enough to go back in after a bear.

Great job man! Thats awesome!

 

[Stache Attack]

Bubba, I don’t know you but you look whipped in that last photo. That’s the work you get to do before you go back to the work you have to do. Congrats to your wife

Yep type 2 fun, eat an elephant one bite at a time. Three trips. Wife took a tumble in a snow drift on way out. Got it out in three trips only 4.5 miles loaded. 9 total out by 1:25am. She’s a very happy camper!

 

[Jaker_cc]

Yep type 2 fun, eat an elephant one bite at a time. Three trips. Wife took a tumble in a snow drift on way out. Got it out in three trips only 4.5 miles loaded. 9 total out by 1:25am. She’s a very happy camper!

Yes sir I bet so!! And at the end of the day that’s what matters

 

[MT_Fin]

MT opening day raghorn. Far too warm for my taste. These threads are showing me I need to learn to take better pics.

 

[csatt90]

Went for the rifle opener and had a fun hunt but left empty handed. Was able to sneak back for the last couple days of the season and we were lucky enough to find this bull!

 

[Stumpy208]

Here's my first bull that I have gotten.



After the pack out my buddy ended up getting his bull as well. We ended up getting his on the south side of the finger that we got mine on.



It was an awesome trip. It was also pretty cool that we both got some nice looking 5x5's.

Here's the meatpole.

 

[nidahobrushswimmer]

North Idaho bull. Came running in to cow calls on Oct. 27th. Shot him frontal at maybe 25 yds. The bullet is from a factory .308 175 terminal ascent. Not super stoked with it, but I’m sure every bullet at some point won’t look like you want it to.

 

[KsRancher]

North Idaho bull. Came running in to cow calls on Oct. 27th. Shot him frontal at maybe 25 yds. The bullet is from a factory .308 175 terminal ascent. Not super stoked with it, but I’m sure every bullet at some point won’t look like you want it to.

View attachment 623938View attachment 623940View attachment 623941

Congrats! Curious how far that bullet went into the elk?

 

[nidahobrushswimmer]

Congrats! Curious how far that bullet went into the elk?

It went through his chest, behind his front left shoulder and basically rode down the side of his ribs. About 3 or 4 ribs from making it into the gut. I did end up shooting him broadside after the initial shot, but that was a pass through.

 

[Rifleman86]

Nothing huge, but a decent little 5x5 Montana general bull.

7 SAUM at 540 yards did the trick.

Recovered 150gr Badlands Bulldozer II weighing 140 grains. 2260 impact velocity. Pretty pleased with the performance.

Packout sucked (almost four miles to the truck) but got it done in 24 hrs because of looming weather between the two of us.




Finally, meat pole!

 

[chizelhead]

New Mexico.

Lots of great bulls on this thread. Congratulations to everyone.