Hey guys,

Well I got home last night from NM, unfortunately empty handed (at least i was). As far as i was concerned it was a great 2 weeks; no work, lots of fresh air, great scenery and we could hear and see elk everyday. Just not so lucky with the deer. But any way here are the highlights of the trip.... In the 8 days I was out there I saw 1 deer and my brother-in-law saw 1. Although he did have an elk tag. And thats what was walkin around. The night before the elk hunt started he took a pic of a 7x7, then for the next 3 days took 4 shots(misses) ...2 shots at 6x6's, 1 shot at a 5x and 2 shots at cows. All the bull shots were long shots; the first cow shot should have been a kill but my Bro-in-law said he looked away from the vitals and at the head and shot over her back at about 15 yds. On Friday night one of the 6X6s came out to feed, he was set up in a blind and stood to take the shot. The elk was sucking down acorns from a scrub oak. Mark lined up took the shot and put it right between his legs and into the oak. Well that spooked the bull and he went back into the thick stuff and out of site, Mark went to look but he was gone. He then went over to the oak to get his arrow. The broad head was stuck in the tree so he just unscrewed it and stuck the arrow back in the quiver. Mark tried to get me on the radio to let me know he had another opportunity, while doing this a group of cows just walked out into this small meadow. As he watched 2 cows started to walk by as he stood on top of this knoll. He pulled out another arrow and at about 20yds let it fly and hit the first cow. She took off running but the other elk didn't notice. Mark said he could hear his cow go down and was breathing heavy. He stood there for a while without spooking the other elk and then walked back to camp after dark. he said he was pretty sure it was a good shot but he didn't want to push her. So we decided just to eat dinner, get to bed early and get up early and go track her.
Well we got up the next morning and while getting ready Mark went to his case to replace an arrow and the broad head on the arrow in his quiver. Next thing I know he is in the tent saying when he looked at the arrows in his quiver they all had broadheads...yep he shot the elk with a broadhead-less arrow. Well we went out and started from the spot he shot from he took one side of the meadow and i took the other and within 15 seconds we found her. I guessed she probably weighed about somewhere between 350-400 lbs. While we were butchering her, we found where the arrow had hit, through the rib cage, breaking a rib puncturing both lungs and then hitting a rib on the other side. We found the arrow and measured through the rib cage as to where the blood mark was on the arrow.

Anyway i got to bring home a few steaks and some stew meat. But now after a few days to get caught up around home and work i will try and get out to try and help out the team.

When i get the pics of the elk i will post all i have is a little video.

Jack