To start off I want to take this chance and say thanks for a few things. I am thankful for the chance to go in beautiful country and pursue the aniumals that live there. I am greatful for friends and family that are my hunting partners. My brother-in-law, who is on this board (300winnie), gave up a day of his hunt to help pack out three bulls, mine included. On that note I am glad and very happy to have harvested a 4x4 muley buck, and a 5x5 bull elk. I didn't have high expectations this season for myself. I knew that my wife's elk hunt would be very demanding and take time. I also knew that my midseason general rifle bull hunt is no guarantee for anyone. My wife's hunt that opened Oct. 1, didn't go the best because of several different factors, but she did get a long shot at a ok 300 class 6x6 bull. I shot my muley buck opening morning, Oct 5 during her hunt. My elk hunt opened Oct. 15 in a different unit than my wife's hunt, and with no prior scouting, and only two days to hunt, I didn't expect much. But to my suprise and luck, the area had not been hunted hard during the archery season and the elk were still very callable. I called my bull in to me on the eveing of the first day. And my .300 Ultra mag with 180 Nosler Accubond did the rest. I haven't got my pictures developed yet, but when I do I'll post both animals. Thanks and good luck to you all.

Idahoelkinstructor

Congratulations, sounds like a great season!!! Tell us more about the performance of your Accubonds. I used one (160gr 7mm rem mag) to take a young bull moose and am a little leery about the performance as it completely shed its core on the neck during a finishing shot from a few feet. Tell us more.

Great job,will be waiting for the pics

TerryM, I am mostly a archery hunter and only occasionally rifle hunt when time does not allow me to bow hunt. I say this because in no way am I an expert on rifles or bullets. But, to answer your question, I realy like the accubonds. My bull was only 65-70 yards away. I shot three times and recovered one bullet. To understand why I shot three times. I have to tell the story. I was going to wait until pictures, but here goes with the short verision. I was was on a trail leading back to camp when I encountered the herd of elk. I started getting the bull who was 200 to 300 yards away in thick timber fired up with my calls. Sounding like several cows and a raghorn bull. He was answering me and I could tell he was excited. Well right in the middle of this I saw a man and his son heading down the trail towards me on horses. Not wanting them to screw things up I pulled an archery trick on him. I let out a bugle that sounded like the biggest perfect bull in the woods. Just like I make at a calling contest. This man bought it, headed straight toward me. I was about 40 yards off the trail. He had a very dissapointed look on his face when he saw me and asked where is the bull. I told him that I was the bull. He told me, "No, I know what an elk sounds like and that was an bull elk I heard." I again told him that I made the bull call and called again just to prove it to him. He told me that I was good but that he heard a real elk bugle. Just then the real bull bugled again, but like real elk they don't always sound the best. I looked straight at the guy and said, "Thats my buddy. He's not very good is he." The guy said, "No, he doesn't sound good." With that I told him that my hunting camp 8 guys were all on this mountain. He turned and left wih his son. I was thinking that my chances at this point were not very good after talking to this other hunter. But I had nothing to loose. I again started to cow call with the lonesome cow call, fighting cow call, and my diaphram reed. Well the bull couldn't take anymore and ran towards me sounding like a freight train. He came in to 50-70 yards or so, but in the thick timber and low light I couldn't see him. He then started circling me to find out what I was. And just like if I was archery hunting I ran with the wind to close the gap between us. When I saw him he was about 60 yards away and I know he cought my secent. He started to run but a simple cow call made him hit the brakes and I shot a quick off hand shot. At the shot he dropped like a ton of bricks and I knew that his back was broken. But he was pushing himself up with his front legs. It's amazing of how quick you think of things and what you think of. Not knowing of where this other hunter was and with the bull trying to get up. My fear was that he (other hunter) would see the bull and put a finishing shot in him and claim him for himself. So not wasting any time I aimed carefully behind both shoulders and thumped him a second time. He was still kicking his legs and was holding his head up so I aimed just below his head on his neck and hit him again for the final shot. Out of the three shots, the first one broke his back and the bullet lodged itself in the hide on the oppisite side. The second and third went through the elk. My recovered bullet weighed 92 grains and was peeled back to the base. My handloads are moving at 3380-3400 fps. So that bullet was traveling at somewhere around 3250-3300 fps when it hit the elk. Not bad performence, if you ask me. On a side note my brother-in-law (300winnie) just got back from a last chance, last day hunt. He killed a 5x5 today as well. He was using a .300 Win Mag. accubond 200 gr. bullet. But I'll let him tell his story and not spoil it for him. I will say that of the 8 hunters in camp four of them killed bulls. A six point, two 5x5's, and a spike bull is good for a general season elk camp!

Idaho---I thought I'd seen you post earlier and you mentioned about you and your wife being bowhunters, now that explains it. Congrats on a fine job!!! Your bull will be some good eating!! ElkNut1

Here are some pics of my deer and my elk. I didn't have a camera when I shot my elk, so those pics are of me at home.





This is a picture of my neighbor and hunting buddy, Jim. My daughter, Nikayla (blowing an elk call!), and my son Aaron.

And a few more....

What a great story! Congratulations on your hunt. Great picture also of your little ones, enjoy them as much as you can as mine are already growing up too fast!