JakeSCH
WKR
I am fortunate to have had two Colorado elk tags this year, a bull and a cow. Tagged my first bull in October on a guided hunt and recently was able to tag a cow on DIY.
I am very familiar with the elk in the unit I hunted but this year I had the added pressure of helping my buddy tag his first elk as a wedding gift. Since it was a wedding gift it turned into a couples hunt, with my kids staying with the their grandparents for the week.
Day 1: Arrive to camp around late morning and set up camp. Buddy forgets a few items so we have to drive to nearest town and get back to camp with about an hour of light left...sure enough a huge herd of about 75 elk (raghorns, spikes, and cows) is within 600 yards of camp out in an open field. There was about a 15 mph cross wind and we tried to sneak in closer but they bailed. It was to open with way to many eyes.
Day 2: It went from no snow to waking up with 2" of powder on the ground. I am stoked because I love hunting with a little bit of fresh snow. We hike into a valley where I have killed and seen elk many times...but we left there late and didn't get there before shooting light. I decided it was worth walking through to see if there are fresh tracks. Sure enough, about 20 elk crested a hill in a hidden offshoot of the valley. They had spotted us and we were not going to chase them down. However, 6 bulls lingered and got a photo of them at 500 yards. To bad I didn't have another bull tag!
It was early and we hike back to camp and I could see were the heard of 20 went into a burn area a couple of miles off. We get back to camp and swap out socks, get warm and eat a little soup. Before going after the heard of twenty I glassed around camp and found a small group of 13, mostly raghorns and spikes but had 3 cows in the mix only about a 1.5 miles from camp. Start working our way toward them and I notice a solo cow working her way towards us walking along an old cattle fence looking for a place to jump over. I had my buddy get ready, because he told me he wanted a sub 200 yard shot and he she was walking right toward us with the wind in our face.
He gets set up, she gets to about 75 yards and notices us, does a quick turn and my buddy popped her. She started to run again and he put a second in her taking her down for good. This was probably 300 yards from camp. You cannot ask for an easier packout.
After she is down, I look and notice that small herd of elk was not phased by the shots. So my wife and I took off to try and fill my tag while my buddy guts his out (it was close enough to drag back to camp and to truck whole).
My wife and I get about 650 yards away and was not a way to get closer without spooking them. I could have belly crawled the last little bit, but with the terrain, I wouldn't see them again until about 50 yards. I decided to put my practice to use in the field (I had been practicing at 700 yards this year).
I get prone, use my pack as a rear bag and was able to get dead still. Adjust my elevation on my and did a final wind check. At that distance I even did a practice dry fire, I knew they wouldn't hear it. She was slightly quartering away, I made a final wind call (about 10 knots from 2 o'clock), about 2 MOA of wind.
She went about 15 yards, extremely woozy looking like a dead animal that is trying to deny she is dead. The rest of the heard standing there looking and decided to move off. She disappeared behind a cedar following them.
Finally make my way over to where I shot her and I notice extremely dark blood. My stomach turns inside out and all the thoughts start pouring in about how dumb it was to shoot an animal at that distance...that targets and animals are different...so I start following the started the blood and tracks. Gratefully she tipped over just as she got out of view just behind the bushes she went out of view behind.
After the fact, playing the shot over and over in my mind I realize that even though I calculated about 2 MOA of wind I realized I never actually held for the wind. My cross hairs were in the crease behind the shoulder when I fired.
In my practicing I did both turrets and holds for wind and found I preferred holding for it at those distances...which is great for when you actually hold for it.
Honestly, I am lucky. It could have been much worse than her only going 30 yards.
While processing her, I saw that the 181 gr hammers pulverized her liver and still exited out the far side. My big lesson learned from the trip, even though you prepare, mistakes can still happen. Shooting closer helps minimize the effects of those mistakes.
Side note, had some steaks off her last night and she is a tender one!! Fantastic texture compared to the bull I got earlier this year.
I am very familiar with the elk in the unit I hunted but this year I had the added pressure of helping my buddy tag his first elk as a wedding gift. Since it was a wedding gift it turned into a couples hunt, with my kids staying with the their grandparents for the week.
Day 1: Arrive to camp around late morning and set up camp. Buddy forgets a few items so we have to drive to nearest town and get back to camp with about an hour of light left...sure enough a huge herd of about 75 elk (raghorns, spikes, and cows) is within 600 yards of camp out in an open field. There was about a 15 mph cross wind and we tried to sneak in closer but they bailed. It was to open with way to many eyes.
Day 2: It went from no snow to waking up with 2" of powder on the ground. I am stoked because I love hunting with a little bit of fresh snow. We hike into a valley where I have killed and seen elk many times...but we left there late and didn't get there before shooting light. I decided it was worth walking through to see if there are fresh tracks. Sure enough, about 20 elk crested a hill in a hidden offshoot of the valley. They had spotted us and we were not going to chase them down. However, 6 bulls lingered and got a photo of them at 500 yards. To bad I didn't have another bull tag!
It was early and we hike back to camp and I could see were the heard of 20 went into a burn area a couple of miles off. We get back to camp and swap out socks, get warm and eat a little soup. Before going after the heard of twenty I glassed around camp and found a small group of 13, mostly raghorns and spikes but had 3 cows in the mix only about a 1.5 miles from camp. Start working our way toward them and I notice a solo cow working her way towards us walking along an old cattle fence looking for a place to jump over. I had my buddy get ready, because he told me he wanted a sub 200 yard shot and he she was walking right toward us with the wind in our face.
He gets set up, she gets to about 75 yards and notices us, does a quick turn and my buddy popped her. She started to run again and he put a second in her taking her down for good. This was probably 300 yards from camp. You cannot ask for an easier packout.
After she is down, I look and notice that small herd of elk was not phased by the shots. So my wife and I took off to try and fill my tag while my buddy guts his out (it was close enough to drag back to camp and to truck whole).
My wife and I get about 650 yards away and was not a way to get closer without spooking them. I could have belly crawled the last little bit, but with the terrain, I wouldn't see them again until about 50 yards. I decided to put my practice to use in the field (I had been practicing at 700 yards this year).
I get prone, use my pack as a rear bag and was able to get dead still. Adjust my elevation on my and did a final wind check. At that distance I even did a practice dry fire, I knew they wouldn't hear it. She was slightly quartering away, I made a final wind call (about 10 knots from 2 o'clock), about 2 MOA of wind.
She went about 15 yards, extremely woozy looking like a dead animal that is trying to deny she is dead. The rest of the heard standing there looking and decided to move off. She disappeared behind a cedar following them.
Finally make my way over to where I shot her and I notice extremely dark blood. My stomach turns inside out and all the thoughts start pouring in about how dumb it was to shoot an animal at that distance...that targets and animals are different...so I start following the started the blood and tracks. Gratefully she tipped over just as she got out of view just behind the bushes she went out of view behind.
After the fact, playing the shot over and over in my mind I realize that even though I calculated about 2 MOA of wind I realized I never actually held for the wind. My cross hairs were in the crease behind the shoulder when I fired.
In my practicing I did both turrets and holds for wind and found I preferred holding for it at those distances...which is great for when you actually hold for it.
Honestly, I am lucky. It could have been much worse than her only going 30 yards.
While processing her, I saw that the 181 gr hammers pulverized her liver and still exited out the far side. My big lesson learned from the trip, even though you prepare, mistakes can still happen. Shooting closer helps minimize the effects of those mistakes.
Side note, had some steaks off her last night and she is a tender one!! Fantastic texture compared to the bull I got earlier this year.
