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11-17-2007, 08:57 AM

#1

AZBear

Fork Horn

Join Date: Oct 2006

Location: Mesa, AZ

Posts: 448

Muzzle loading cow elk in New Mexico

In the middle of October I went on a muzzle loader cow elk hunt with my brother in a limited draw area of New Mexico. He was along to help out with hauling meat and providing assistance in locating elk. Last year he had drawn this same tag and I got helped him out then, so I got lucky with the draw this time. Since we were hunting the same area this year that he hunted last year I had a real good idea of where I wanted to hunt and how hard it was going to be. Most would think a cow hunt would be a piece of cake, but the problem is we were hunting in the rut and the bulls were everywhere. We had no problem finding the cows, but getting close enough to take make a shot was constantly being foiled by the number of bulls getting between us and the herd. The herd bulls had their job cut out for them just trying to keep the cows together and the outside bulls from getting too close.

On opening day we found no less than three herds of elk that ranged in size from 8-35 elk. Without exception every one of them had at least 3 bulls trying to cut cows out and the herd bulls were constantly on the move. We located the elk just like last year at 9,200 feet and in a mix of Aspens and Pines. The wind was blowing 10-20 MPH and changing direction most of the morning. After busting two herds of elk and not getting any closer than 200 yards most of the time we decided to take a long lunch in the woods and let things settle down.

At about 1pm we decided to give it another try and within 100 yards of where we had ate lunch we bumped into a monster bull that was slowly coming our way and had to wait and see where he was going. As it turned out he was headed right for us and I made a decision to back out of his way and see where he was going. What was really amazing was as big as this bull was he didn’t have any cows with him. This bull was a solid 6x6 and his 5th’s were as long as his 4th’s and the 6th’s were about as long as what you would have thought the 5th’s would have been (a good 360-380 bull). Never fails when you see a trophy of a life time you have a cow tag.

Once the big bull had passed our spot my brother and I just sat there with our jaws hanging open…he just made us that more determined to get a bull tag for next year. After about a 20 minute wait to see if anything was following I decided to push on and try and located another herd of elk. We hadn’t walked more than 100 yards past where we had first spotted the big bull and I see about 12 cows bedded down. Immediately I sat down to judge the wind and get my binoculars and range finder to see what I could make of the situation. The wind had finally changed to a good steady up hill wind and I ranged the cows at 100 yards. I decided to drop my pack and all my gear right there except for what I would need for my muzzleloader. My brother could collect all my gear if I had to chase the elk.

I decided to try and close the distance since I hadn’t been notice by the cows and I was really fortunate that I had several large trees between me and the heard. I slowly made my way towards the bedded cows and always managed to keep a large tree between me and most of them. I finally got to within 52 yards of the cows, but then I had a big problem…all the cows were bedded closely together and none provided a clear shot. I was afraid that if I had a pass through on my shot I would hit another cow. I did have one big cow that offered a head and neck shot but not one I was willing to take. I did at three different times raise my rifle and get ready to take the neck shot but every time I talked my self out of it, not because I didn’t feel comfortable with the accuracy of my rifle (my Encore was shooting <1 inch at that distance), but because I didn’t have the type of neck shot that was close to the chest area that would have been a better shot. Taking a shot at the neck mid way leaves little room for error and I didn’t want to miss a vital area and have a wounded cow to try and chase down.

After waiting for 45 minutes (3:15pm) one of the cows decided to stand up and stretch and that was the chance I was waiting for. She took two steps and gave an excellent broadside shot…at the shot she went 20 yards and collapsed. I took her just ½ a mile from where my brother got his last year and at the same elevation right at 9300 feet.

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