montana elk down
#1
Well im back from my elk hunt and I got a nice bull elk. Its a 6X5. His G2 was broken off.im guessin from fighting. I did a rough score on him and he would have scored 325 if he had that second point. It was an exciting trip and i have never seen soo many bulls in my life. We started off riding the horse back 8 miles not seeing a thing and then we got to back in about 10 miles and i spoted what i thought were elk on top of a ridge about a mile away. so we got off the horses to scope em out and sure enough they were elk, but to my surprise they were all bulls. 13 of em lookin right down on us. so my dad and i just sat there and we couldn't do anything. all of a sudden, 3 more bulls came running down towards us and behind them were 4 coyotes chasin after them. the bulls out ran em and then stopped and i asked my dad how far it was and he said don't even bother cuz it was way to far. it was bout 800 yards to the big bull and all i could do was just watch him. I couldn't tell how big he was until he threw his head back and his rakers went passed his ass. so we focused back on the other bulls which walked away from us so we got back on the horses and went after em. after bumpin them 2 times, we caught 3 of them going into the timber so we tied up the horses and went in after them. we spotted the bull bout 400 yards away and all i had was an ass shot for bout 3 mins and i passed it up. the bulls went deeper into the timber and we stalked after them. all of a sudden my dad said there he is and i couldn't see nething cuz of a tree in front of me. my dad grabbed my jacket and pulled me in front of him and i saw the bull stand up 40 yards in front of me. i threw the gun up and i pulled the trigger and the bull ran off. i was sure i hit him, but wasn't that sure cuz all i saw was hair when i pulled the trigger. we walked 50 yards on the trail finding blood and then we saw a bull running 100 yards in front of us giving me a broad side shot, but with all the timber i couldn't get a shot and he wouldn't stop. i was thinkin for sure i lost my bull, but we continued to follow the blood trail and to my surprise, the bull that ran away from us wasn't my bull it was a different on. the blood trail went to the left and we followed. we came over a little nob and there was my bull struggling to get up the next little nob and i wacked him again. hair went flying and he started to run off again. long story short, after 6 more bullets, he finally gave up. One tough bull. after all said and down, my first shot hit him in the guts and went into his front end, and the rest were in the lungs and heart. he was dead standing after my second shot, but if you have ever hunted elk, they normally don't give up till the very end. I was shooting a 338 with a 210 grain. norsl. pertistion.
#2
Typical Buck
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 753
Likes: 0
From: McCall Idaho USA
Nice work on your elk, sorta! (grin) 6 shots from a .338, WOW! I agree they are tough SOB's. Great story too, nothing like a Father & Son hunt!! I hope you have tons more of them! Consider learning the popping/nervous grunt sound, it can be made with your voice or a mouth reed, it's hands free & will stop any elk in it's tracks everytime, running or walking!
ElkNut1
#5
Nice bull but good grief that has to have a ton of damaged meat. You're a young man with a lot of hunting ahead.. slow down and don't take risky shots. Had you takena little moretime on the first shot he would have been dead meat. I've shot plenty of elk and seen plenty of elk killed with a lot less firepower than a 338. The last thing you want is a bull wandering around with a danglingblown off leg (which I've also seen). Respect your prey.
#6
Actually there wasn't too much damage to the meat at all. He lasted over a year and we eat elk almost every day. andi may have miss wrote that. I ment a total of six shots to kill him. Which is still a lot. we found on hole in the guts, 3 behind the front shoulder, 1 in between the guts and the lungs, and one in the neck. he was dead after the second shot, but i was in an area were if you let the bull go over the next ridge or get out of ur sight, someone else will pop him and clame him as yours. and for mythird bull ever, my dad and i didn't want to risk nething. he was just a tough bull. cuz the year before that i put a bull elk straight down with one shot with the same gun.


