Cushman meets a Creedmoor

[Addicting]

After watching for a while I had a cow step out into the open and I settled the my Leupold crosshairs on her and had to decide wether or not to put a end to the show. I decided she was the one and sent 2 well placed rounds to end the show.

 

[Addicting]

Derek climbed up and help me break her down then it was back to camp for some coffee and hang up my orange hat. We strategized that afternoon and put a plan together to get John on a group I had glasses in a high meadow.

I will let him tell it from there.

 

[Gerald Martin]

All aboard for the ride on the story train! Good stuff guys!

 

[Southern Elk]

Glad to see you boys getting it done. Stop teasing us. Let's see your ugly mugs in the same picture as a dead elk.

 

[jvanhoy]

Congrats!! Hooked on this one! Come on Cush put another one down for the tattooed hunters!!

 

[JohnCushman]

This is as close to a hero shot as we have for Tony.

 

[Colorado kid]

Congrats!! Hooked on this one! Come on Cush put another one down for the tattooed hunters!!

^^this^^

 

[JohnCushman]

Me and Derek went up on a ridge overlooking a hay meadow where the elk should be coming down to feed into. The sunrise was amazing.

Action poses....



The elk should be here

 

[Addicting]

No hero shot for me, I had her half broke down by the time Derek got there to take a pic of me and her.

Glad to see you boys getting it done. Stop teasing us. Let's see your ugly mugs in the same picture as a dead elk.

 

[JohnCushman]

I took a nap at the quad while Derek went up to help Tony lol :W:

 

[Southern Elk]

View attachment 87648 No hero shot for me, I had her half broke down by the time Derek got there to take a pic of me and her.

That'll work. Congrats!

 

[antelopedundee]

I thought a deprivation tag was the one you got when you struck out in the drawing.

How does the population get that high in an area? Poor success rate or difficult access?

 

[JohnCushman]

I thought a deprivation tag was the one you got when you struck out in the drawing.

How does the population get that high in an area? Poor success rate or difficult access?

In our area access was very difficult. When we talked to the biologist he said the bull/cow ratio was a bit off for managing a trophy unit, so the cow tags were a bit easier to get.

 

[Addicting]

.....

 

[cahunter805]

Congrats to all involved!!! Way to get it done!
What bullet from the 6.5CM?

 

[JohnCushman]

The scenery was amazing...

 

[antelopedundee]

In our area access was very difficult. When we talked to the biologist he said the bull/cow ratio was a bit off for managing a trophy unit, so the cow tags were a bit easier to get.

So in general some landowners restrict or prohibit access, but gripe when populations get too high and crop or other damage results? Or was it the physical access that was difficult? If the rancher had 300 head feeding there it sounds like half of them could have been or could be harvested off with no ill effect. How many other folks hunted there while you were there?

 

[Zach]

Just like I said when I got the text from the bearded sensei, Awesome!

Congrats fellas!

Did John make tacos?

 

[Dan O]

Ahhh waiting for the rest of the story

 

[JohnCushman]

So, we go back out Sunday evening. Tony says we're going to go to 'that hedgerow' about 300 yards away. With my physical impairments I thought I was the man after doing a couple hundred yards up a ridge that morning. So, we get the the hedgerow and Tony says this spot is no good, so we need to go up more. So, we go up more and Tony once again decides the spot sucks, so we go up some more. We get about halfway up a ridge and he decides to cross over and get into some large rocks to ambush the elk where they should come down around us. We're there for a while, I'm restless and standing up and texting on my inreach and Tony decides we need to move. So I cross back to where we were and head down into a drainage to scout it for the morning. Tony goes up and around to meet me. I'm in the trees and hear a really weird cow call and come around the tree and see Tony waving his arms around and motioning me over. Meanwhile, there are elk all over the ridge in front of us and bulls screaming and cows wandering. He says we have to gain more elevation and get through an aspen stand and get even with a small herd where a bull is screaming his head off. So, we start to climb and get up even with the bull. Now we have to sidehill towards them because Tony sees them on a ridge to the side of us. So, we side hill into some rocks and get down. Tony is glassing the hillside and telling me there's elk everywhere on the hill. I'm looking and looking and not seeing them and it's pissing Tony off. I'm glassing the entire hillside through my scope and not seeing anything and that's pissing Tony off even more....