Your first elk.

[3325]

Tell us about it, what you’ve since learned, and how things have changed.

Mine was a cow at about 75 yards. I was shooting a Ruger No. 1 in .30-06 with a 220 grain Core Lokt and open sights (receiver peep sight, not buckhorn sights). I had a military style shooting sling and was leaning across a big rock “looped up” in it. That cow went down like she was poleaxed.

220s, you say? Yes, I was influenced in that decision by Ernest Hemingway’s description of a lion hunt.

“Macomber stepped out of the curved opening at the side of the front seat, onto the step and down onto the ground. The lion still stood looking majestically and coolly toward this object that his eyes only showed in silhouette, bulking like some super-rhino. There was no man smell carried toward him and he watched the object, moving his great head a little from side to side. Then watching the object, not afraid, but hesitating before going down the bank to drink with such a thing opposite him, he saw a man figure detach itself from it and he turned his heavy head and swung away toward the cover of the trees as he heard a cracking crash and felt the slam of a .30-06 220-grain solid bullet that bit his flank and ripped in sudden hot scalding nausea through his stomach.” - Ernest Hemingway

And really, the 220s were not a bad choice. At 2400, the trajectory is a bit like a shot put. But I was shooting with open sights anyway.

I’ve since mounted a scope on that rifle and gone to 165s.

I gutted that cow and quartered her by sawing through the spine lengthwise and cutting up along the back rib. I carried her down the mountain in four big chunks, bone and all.

These days, in addition to shooting with scopes and using lighter bullets, I seldom gut an elk. I bone it out where it falls.

I still like military shooting slings.

 

[Gerbdog]

My very very first elk... hmmm.... Cow elk in NM with a muzzleloader - learned that you can find elk even just glassing from a highway - and not in locations you would normally think to find them.

We just put the herd to bed, snuck up onto the hill and kept them where we could glass them - then when we were out of room to sneak my brother went to the bottom of the draw - i went to the top of the draw and at an agreed upon time he started walking up the draw to flush them up towards the bench i was on .... it was a gamble but the lead cow walked within 50 yards of me and went down on the spot.

Learned elk are awful heavy to pack out.

I am not sure what i learned from that since than, it was a long time ago and all the elk ive killed since than have been with archery equipment. There was a large amount of luck involved in that kill and i havent "flushed elk" as a strategy since than.

 

[Calbuck]

My first was a Nevada cow elk. Spotted a couple days before the opener, checked on and opening morning, made the ~2 mile hike up the canyon to the herd.. actually snuck PAST the herd, as they moved lower and bedded when I couldn’t see them..broke out to shooting position to see ONE cow lying in her bed, head and neck only, approx 90-100 yds. Shooting my mod 700 30.06 with hand loaded 150 gr Gamekings, one shot to the head dropped her.. literally so fast I wasn’t sure I got her (excitement got the better of me)! I got up and headed up to where she had been, not being able to find her in the thick chaparral. The herd had spooked about 150 yds away and was watching me..not gonna lie, I thought I missed and was considering another shot at a different cow but thank god stumbled on my animal, dead in her bed . I radioed my dad to head up with another pack, and we proceeded to try and bone her on the mountain..was the first time doing that. Murderous pack out but we made it, hot and worn out. Celebrated with a few glasses of bourbon that night!

 

[khunter]

First elk was archery in NM in 1997 Pope & young Bull, 40 yards broadside after calling in and it came running in and proceeded to thrash a tree. It never saw me when drew and flung that arrow as it was busy thrashing branches. Exhilarating for a newbie to say the least. Learned plenty since then archery hunting pedestrian and the most sought after tags in NM, AZ, CO, WY, and this year adding Utah since I just drew archery with 18 points.

Many lessons learned and adventures and bulls making the ride home since this one.



Other thing learned after arrowing bulls BIG and small is to relish every hunt and every bull. Having topped 330 once and 300” a few times on archery elk, I get just as much thrill when kill the small bulls. All about the experience to me and making it the hunt I want to have. Always happy to pass on smaller bulls in easy bow range in search of something more mature and never a regret when tag soup was the end result but am also thrilled to kill the little ones like this a couple years ago 26 years after my first elk. See that blood splatter on the tree. It was spraying as it fell.

 

[Ross]

1984 spike in north Idaho. Everyone used 7mm and I’ve never changed, only going to a tikka in 2003, versus the old heavy Remington bdl. Scope of choice then was leaupold, and I’m still using leupold with never an issue. We had a camp of 10 in the 80s, they were meat hunters and cows were fair game. I’ve never shot a cow and once I started hunting alone and knew what I was doing I started passing on rag horns and learned how to elk call in the mid 80s. The other guys in camp thought I was stupid passing on elk and my bugling would scare all the elk Biggest changes from the early days. I’m now old. I bugle a lot. I don’t use two hatchets and chopped them down the vertebrae and learned on my own in the 90s boneless method was the way to go and no gutting unless required. Instead of Kentucky windage I bought a rangefinder in the late nineties then rangefinding binos. Clothing has changed incredibly it is like another world. I live with smoke in a bottle when things get close, they smoked two packs a day I’ve used ballistic dots for 20 plus years versus holdover. Wolves until you know how they changed things you don’t know. Elk hunting was life for two decades

 

[Maxhunter]

I was 13 at the time hunting the Blue Mountains in Oregon 1973 November. My dad and his buddies did a drive through a pie shaped piece with a bench running the length. My dad placed me about 150yds next to a big tree. It was a very cold morning and I wasn’t happy I wanted to be walking. This before all the high technical clothing. About an hour later I hear something coming my way but couldn’t see it since it was so thick with brush. All of a sudden this spike comes outta of the brush running straight at me at about 20yds. I had my dad’s Winchester Model 70 30-06. My dad told me to leave the scope set on 4x. I pulled up saw his neck pulled the trigger and he dropped at about 10ths from me. I was hooked on elk hunting!

I’ve been fortunate an have shot an elk ever since an I’ll be 65 this December. I did miss one fall because I went into the service. Some years I hunted 2 states and filled my tag. I got into bowhunting in my early 20’s and prefer that over gun hunting now.

My dad always said elk hunting is fun until they hit the ground then it’s all work.

 

[Smoke10]

First elk was late season cow in South Dakota, I was 23. I spotted the herd at sunrise feeding on the edge of the timber.

I had to drop down a draw (~200 ft elevation) and up the other side to get within shooting range. As I snuck over the ridge, I stayed low to not skyline myself and hunkered down with my rifle. I had ~100-200 elk feeding in front of me from 80yds - 300yds. I picked out a cow giving me a clear shot at 120 yds. Shot her once with handloaded a 165 grain accubond out of a 30-06. She ran off with the herd over a slight rise and went out of sight about 100 yards away. A few elk stopped on the edge of the timber close to where the cow disappeared. These elk were looking around when all of a sudden they spooked and ran off. When I saw those elk react and spook, I knew the cow I shot fell over. Sure enough, I hit her double lung and the cow went about 100 yds and tipped over.

It was my first time quartering a big game animal in the field solo. I gutted the cow, then skinned, and broke down one side. Then I flipped her on the other side and skinned, and broke down the second side.

Since then I have broken down a couple elk using the gutless method and it does seem quicker.
But if I have daylight and time, I still like to gut the elk, then skin and process one side, getting the front & rear quarters, backstrap, tenderloins, and rib/neck meat into game bags. Then I flip the carcass over and repeat the process - just my preferred method.

Ever since that hunt, I have been hooked on elk hunting and moved to a state where I can elk hunt every year.

That hunt was when I first realized how important trekking poles really are and was glad I had a pair along.

 

[Wheels]

First elk was in SW New Mexico early ‘90’s, archery. 300” six point called in to 10 yds. He only ran about 50yds and laid down, snuck up on him and put another arrow in for insurance.
Had archery hunted Colorado for a few years before that and could have shot a few small bulls but was holding out for a bigger bull. Since then have hunted some really good units thru out the west and still get excited about calling them into range.

 

[Bigred323]

My first and only elk was a 6x6 in southeast Colorado.

I learned that even the valleys of Colorado have no oxygen in them compared to south Texas

 

[cnelk]

1979 - I was in HS and my dad, me and my uncle drove out to Colorado from Minnesota.
I Shot a raghorn with a 270 and my uncle shot another raghorn with a 30-06.

 

[Jaker_cc]

I was 21 and it was my first year ever hunting out of state. I was glassing a group of 3 bulls and 30 cows in SW Montana. Two guys bumped the herd and they side hilled right to me. I got a shot at a raghorn 6x6 and somehow connected. Idk who was more surprised me or the bull.

 

[butcherboy]

Just turned 14 and killed a 6x6 hunting archery by myself. 2nd one I was 16 archery again and my dad’s good friend called it in. 3rd one was a rifle cow at 17. Don’t remember the exact dates, age, or number of elk after that. Wore old cotton camo from an army surplus store and cheap semi water repellent Hitech hiking boots. Learned how to call elk in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I actually call less now and have learned that cow calls work best on young lonely bulls vs herd bulls. Still a meat hunter first.

Around 1991 and 1993

 

[Walla7]

My first was a 5x5 in NM, shot with the remington 700 30-06 that my grandfather had given me as a high school graduation present. Broadside, approx 130 yds. He ran about 25 yards and fell down dead.

 

[Firestone]

I was 13, 2001 in Montana. Picture is with my old man and the beginning of an extrememly long night for a kid hahaha
I remember my hands being freaking cold

 

[Phaseolus]

My first and only elk was a 6x6 in southeast Colorado.

I learned that even the valleys of Colorado have no oxygen in them compared to south Texas

Southeast Colorado??

 

[waspocrew]

My first elk was a cow in SE Idaho when I was 14. We had already knocked a bull down and had him loaded up on an ATV. While carefully getting the loaded ATV out, a group of about 12 cows came running out right in front of us.

My dad’s friend quickly handed his rifle to me and I kneeled down and somehow knocked down the lead cow with a lucky shot at the base of the neck.

We got to work breaking her down and when my dad’s friend was attempting to get the ivories out, his knife slipped and he buried the blade through the cow’s lip and into his palm. That required a long trip into town and several stitches.

Couple lessons learned:
1. Elk are big animals
2. It pays to be lucky
3. Be careful with knives

 

[Bigred323]

Southeast Colorado??

Now looking at the map, it’s more south central. Right around Alamosa.

 

[Phaseolus]

Now looking at the map, it’s more south central. Right around Alamosa.

Thought so, not too many elk in southeast Colorado

 

[Slickhill]

I was a teenager and I wasn’t too stoked that I had to hunt elk if I wanted to hunt that year. At that time we were more or less guaranteed to draw a buck tag every other year and would often draw one with no points on successive years, we regularly were able to get one off the leftover list back then in the pre internet days too. But I’d struck out in all those avenues and it was a bull tag or just being the camp dish washer and packer.

I’d hunted a bull tag a couple of times before with no luck but had been there to help butcher and pack when my Grandfather or uncles had killed a bull. My dad took me aside the day before the opener and told me to cheer up, not everyone gets to share a camp with their family in the mountains out of state every year and told ask my uncle if I could tag along with him and told ask listen to his advice and do as he said because he was the best chance I’d have at punching a bull tag outside of dumb luck.

Opening morning I was beside my middle uncle on the top of the tallest ridge looking off into a steep and brush choked hellhole of a box canyon. As I bumbled along the top of the ridge he snapped his fingers to get my attention and silently pointed down into the box canyon. As I eased back to him he pointed out an almost white body under a juniper across the canyon, I had failed to notice it and walked right on by. He explained that it being alone meant a good chance of its being a bull and the pale color of its hide a possible indication it was an old bull. It’s head was behind a bush and we couldn’t tell if it was actually a bull let alone a legal one, but we should sit tight and have a closer look.

After what seemed like an eternity he lifted his head just enough to make out a long set of brow tines, assuring us it was a legal bull. I was a little surprised after I’d completely missed spotting it when he asked if I’d like to take a shot. I sat down and leaned my back against a log with my rifle in the vee of uncle’s shooting sticks, guessed the range at 400 and held about 8” over his back then began to squeeze. As the shot echoed down the canyon we could hear the thump as the bullet landed and the bull lurched forward to where his body was hidden and just stood there. A few minutes later he collapsed and started to roll down the steep wall of the canyon.

Uncle told me to loop around the rim of the canyon and he’d guide me in with hand signals so a shouldered my pack and away I went, walking on air. As I got around 100 yards away from where I’d shot I hear brush busting behind me followed by a shot and a crash. Initially I thought my bull had somehow come back to life and needed to be shot again but it turned out another even bigger bull had come up the trail and almost run over my uncle and he’d shot him on the run and rolled him up.

My bull turned out to be an ancient old 5x7, very heavy horned and teeth worn down to the gum. Uncle had killed a beautiful perfect 6x6. I think of the dozens of elk the both of us have killed those two are still our biggest and I don’t know about him but that may always go down as my best day of elk hunting.

 

[spike camp]

1999
My Brother was 4 feet behind me.
5x5 comes busting through the trees and in a kneeling position I frontal shot him at approximately 15 feet.
Arrow buried beyond the fletching.
The initial blood landed just a few feet from my knees.

Not much has changed, just more schmo’s in the woods and point creep.

Spent the first 10 year just getting in front of elk and never called.
Calling has definitely improved my encounters.

Biggest takeaway in 25 years of very successful elk hunting?
Never, ever ever ever ever…share info on a good spot.