BuzzH
Well-known member
Spent the last several days chasing elk with 3 of my best friends. We all grew up together in Missoula Montana and have been hunting together since grade school.
Opening day was pretty uneventful.
Day two we decided to backpack into an area that I've been wanting to rifle hunt for a couple years. We left the truck at daylight and had not been hiking for more than 20 minutes and a raghorn bull and ten cows came trotting by. The bull slowed to a walk at about 70 yards and I shot him through the lungs with my 338. He staggered a few steps and that was it. We had the bull quartered and back to the truck by 9:30 am...about as easy as it gets.
My buddy Joe and I with my bull:
The next day we managed to actually backpack into the area we wanted to get to before seeing elk. We camped below a glassing spot that we could get to in just a few minutes. We quickly set camp up and hiked about 10 minutes to the glassing spot. The conditions were getting good, snowing and around 25 degrees, perfect for elk hunting. I immediately located 12 cows and a spike bull. Then I glassed up a small bunch of cows followed by another raghorn. Then I spotted another small bunch with one spike and another branch-antlered bull. Finally, up on the very top, I located a herd of 35-40 with 2 six-points, 3 smaller branched bulls, and 4 spikes. We decided to make a run at the bigger herd and try for one of the six-points. We hiked about 3/4 of the way up and it started snowing really heavy...too heavy to see more than a couple hundred yards. The snow broke and we found the big herd bedded in some aspens. We put a good sneak on the herd and my buddy Case threaded a shot through the aspens and killed one of the six-points in its bed, his first six-point.
Case with his bull:
Me with Case's bull:
We saw a bunch more elk while packing this bull back to camp. It continued to snow most of the night and the next morning Case went back to pack the last quarter or his bull to camp while my buddy Joe and I went to look for a bull for him. I glassed up a bunch of cows, a 5 point, a decent six-point and some spikes from a high saddle. We decided to cross the major drainage in front of us and hunt. We were in elk continually and jumped 3 bulls while trying to stalk the six-point we'd glassed. Finally about 2:00 pm we decided to hunt back toward camp. We stopped and glassed a heavily timbered side-hill and I no sooner than got my glasses up when I spotted a 5x4 bull. We hurried down to a good spot to take the shot across the draw and had to wait for about 30 minutes before the bull stepped into a small opening. My buddy Joe rested over his pack and when the bull stopped he made a spectacular shot with a 338 at 420 yards hitting the bull perfectly through the top of the shoulders and the spine, dropping the bull immediately. No field photos of that bull as I didnt have my camera with me.
The next morning we still had a bit of the camp to pack out along with Cases bull and half of Joes bull. My buddy Doug showed up to help pack, but brought his rifle along. Just before we got to our camp Doug spotted a herd of elk with 3 spike bulls in it. With just one day to hunt, I told Doug he should take a spike. The entire herd was feeding about 50 yards in front of us. Finally, Doug decided I was right and slapped the spike that was closest to us behind the shoulder with his 300 winchester.
We had all the packing done by dark. Four bulls in four days and in that 4-day time frame I only saw one other hunter (also originally from MT and had also killed a spike bull and was hunting solo and backpacking his elk out at AGE 61!).
I couldnt believe how many Wyoming "elk hunters" panicked and headed for home at the first sign of a little snow! What a joke! You couldnt ask for better conditions.
Opening day was pretty uneventful.
Day two we decided to backpack into an area that I've been wanting to rifle hunt for a couple years. We left the truck at daylight and had not been hiking for more than 20 minutes and a raghorn bull and ten cows came trotting by. The bull slowed to a walk at about 70 yards and I shot him through the lungs with my 338. He staggered a few steps and that was it. We had the bull quartered and back to the truck by 9:30 am...about as easy as it gets.
My buddy Joe and I with my bull:
The next day we managed to actually backpack into the area we wanted to get to before seeing elk. We camped below a glassing spot that we could get to in just a few minutes. We quickly set camp up and hiked about 10 minutes to the glassing spot. The conditions were getting good, snowing and around 25 degrees, perfect for elk hunting. I immediately located 12 cows and a spike bull. Then I glassed up a small bunch of cows followed by another raghorn. Then I spotted another small bunch with one spike and another branch-antlered bull. Finally, up on the very top, I located a herd of 35-40 with 2 six-points, 3 smaller branched bulls, and 4 spikes. We decided to make a run at the bigger herd and try for one of the six-points. We hiked about 3/4 of the way up and it started snowing really heavy...too heavy to see more than a couple hundred yards. The snow broke and we found the big herd bedded in some aspens. We put a good sneak on the herd and my buddy Case threaded a shot through the aspens and killed one of the six-points in its bed, his first six-point.
Case with his bull:
Me with Case's bull:
We saw a bunch more elk while packing this bull back to camp. It continued to snow most of the night and the next morning Case went back to pack the last quarter or his bull to camp while my buddy Joe and I went to look for a bull for him. I glassed up a bunch of cows, a 5 point, a decent six-point and some spikes from a high saddle. We decided to cross the major drainage in front of us and hunt. We were in elk continually and jumped 3 bulls while trying to stalk the six-point we'd glassed. Finally about 2:00 pm we decided to hunt back toward camp. We stopped and glassed a heavily timbered side-hill and I no sooner than got my glasses up when I spotted a 5x4 bull. We hurried down to a good spot to take the shot across the draw and had to wait for about 30 minutes before the bull stepped into a small opening. My buddy Joe rested over his pack and when the bull stopped he made a spectacular shot with a 338 at 420 yards hitting the bull perfectly through the top of the shoulders and the spine, dropping the bull immediately. No field photos of that bull as I didnt have my camera with me.
The next morning we still had a bit of the camp to pack out along with Cases bull and half of Joes bull. My buddy Doug showed up to help pack, but brought his rifle along. Just before we got to our camp Doug spotted a herd of elk with 3 spike bulls in it. With just one day to hunt, I told Doug he should take a spike. The entire herd was feeding about 50 yards in front of us. Finally, Doug decided I was right and slapped the spike that was closest to us behind the shoulder with his 300 winchester.
We had all the packing done by dark. Four bulls in four days and in that 4-day time frame I only saw one other hunter (also originally from MT and had also killed a spike bull and was hunting solo and backpacking his elk out at AGE 61!).
I couldnt believe how many Wyoming "elk hunters" panicked and headed for home at the first sign of a little snow! What a joke! You couldnt ask for better conditions.
