After filling my Shiras moose tag I was pretty content on my hunting season (plus my freezer space and taxidermy budget had been exceeded). However that didn't keep me from hunting. I passed on numerous smaller bulls during archery season and then another handful of 270"-290" bulls during rifle. My hunting partner and I had been putting a lot of miles and long days in the saddles and the goal was 320" or better for either of us. Being an unusually warm season with no snow, locating a big mature bull was tough.
My girlfriend had been showing an interest in shooting an elk so I figured I'd take a weekend and get her out. I had a few spots up my sleeve that had produced in years past and she told me she wouldn't be picky about shooting a bull or cow. The first day we got up at 3:30am and started hiking by 5:00am. We were where I wanted to be about 20 minutes before shooting light. I Told her right out of the gate that this spot was too far to shoot anything but a nice bull and she agreed to that. We hunted pretty hard for the first few hours and saw some cows and smaller brush head bulls but nothing worth shooting in the hell hole we were in. So we decided to build a fire to warm up and take in the scenery for a bit before heading out.
The second day we were going to try a new spot and right at first light I glassed a nice bull about a 1000 yards away. I watched him feed into a small patch of timber and waited about 30 minutes to see if he would come out or was bedded for the day. After not seeing him leave the timber we beat feet to the patch of timber and told her to be ready that things were going to happen quick if we bumped him. He must of given us the slip when we were on our way over there because we couldn't' find him and I lost his tracks in the sparse amount of snow on the ground. To say the least I was very disappointed in myself for not being able to get my girlfriend on this bull. Discouraged and hungry we headed into town to have some breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to check out some new country and glass for a bit. Right away I noticed something on a distant ridge and pulled up my binos to discover a heard of cows. We put a plan together to get the wind right and put the boots to the ground. We were able to get within 100 yards and all but a few of them were bedded and had no idea we were there. I told her to take her time and pick out the cow she wanted to shoot. She lined up on the one she wanted and touched off the shot. All the elk stood up and I couldn't figure out which one she shot...They started to head over the ridge and I hit the cow call a few times to stop them and pulled my binos up to see the lead cow staggering around. She quickly reloaded and I told her the front cow, hit her again. BOOM, WHACK and down she went. Upon getting up to the cow the first shot was a little far back but the second shot was right on the money!
I couldn't be more proud of her and she is absolutely ecstatic about her first elk.
My girlfriend had been showing an interest in shooting an elk so I figured I'd take a weekend and get her out. I had a few spots up my sleeve that had produced in years past and she told me she wouldn't be picky about shooting a bull or cow. The first day we got up at 3:30am and started hiking by 5:00am. We were where I wanted to be about 20 minutes before shooting light. I Told her right out of the gate that this spot was too far to shoot anything but a nice bull and she agreed to that. We hunted pretty hard for the first few hours and saw some cows and smaller brush head bulls but nothing worth shooting in the hell hole we were in. So we decided to build a fire to warm up and take in the scenery for a bit before heading out.
The second day we were going to try a new spot and right at first light I glassed a nice bull about a 1000 yards away. I watched him feed into a small patch of timber and waited about 30 minutes to see if he would come out or was bedded for the day. After not seeing him leave the timber we beat feet to the patch of timber and told her to be ready that things were going to happen quick if we bumped him. He must of given us the slip when we were on our way over there because we couldn't' find him and I lost his tracks in the sparse amount of snow on the ground. To say the least I was very disappointed in myself for not being able to get my girlfriend on this bull. Discouraged and hungry we headed into town to have some breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to check out some new country and glass for a bit. Right away I noticed something on a distant ridge and pulled up my binos to discover a heard of cows. We put a plan together to get the wind right and put the boots to the ground. We were able to get within 100 yards and all but a few of them were bedded and had no idea we were there. I told her to take her time and pick out the cow she wanted to shoot. She lined up on the one she wanted and touched off the shot. All the elk stood up and I couldn't figure out which one she shot...They started to head over the ridge and I hit the cow call a few times to stop them and pulled my binos up to see the lead cow staggering around. She quickly reloaded and I told her the front cow, hit her again. BOOM, WHACK and down she went. Upon getting up to the cow the first shot was a little far back but the second shot was right on the money!
I couldn't be more proud of her and she is absolutely ecstatic about her first elk.
