Traditions and Hornady VS Elk... again!
 

Well,

My combo deer/elk hunt started on the 15th this year in unit 061 in NV. We both had cow elk and buck deer ml tags.

We were able to scout on the 15th for elk, the day before the opener. I had a spike bull within 50 yards, but he was not legal. The deer season opened on the 10th, and we did see a buck, but did not get a shot.

On the 16th, we saw 3 bucks that we decided to not go after, and only found that spike again later in the day. Just before sunset, my friend spotted a herd about a mile away.


My dad and friend had to leave, so I would be hunting by myself for two days.

On the 17th, I started hiking by headlamp, but misjudged which ridge the elk were on the night before. I did see the herd bull, and managed to call in a 5 point that morning, but he had no cows.

That evening I made a 1 mile hike to the right ridge, spotted the elk, made a 300 or so yard stock, and missed about a 125 yard shot low.

The next morning, I rode the 4 wheeler in low, and hiked up. I was able to find the elk, but they were in the aspens, and would not come out. So I went in, bugling and challenging the herd bull.

I had him at less than 15 yards, and had a cow walk between me and him, with no shot. I stayed a little longer, and had him walk to within 5 yards before he busted.

That afternoon I went for a drive to clear my head, and at the last minute, I decided to head back to that canyon. I parked the 4 wheeler at 4:49 pm. I saw a cow about 5 minutes later, and pulled the trigger at 6 pm. I aimed at her back line, and she was walking so I put the sights a bit forward. I was not certain of the distance, but knew it was pushing 100.

As the Traditions barked, she dropped, and I had to reload and put on more in her head at close range, as I just broke her back.

I was now by myself, 1/2 mile from the wheeler with no way to get it in there, and not help until later that night for sure, with a dead elk at my feet.

I started at 6:10, and at 11:00 got the last load (of 5) back to the 4 wheeler. My dad showed up just in time to drag my tarp the last 300 yards, lol.

We hunted the next 7 days, I had shots at 2 bucks and missed, my dad missed a shot at a buck and missed, and also hit a buck, but after an hour of searching that night, and a couple hours the next morning, we were not able to find him. No blood, nothing, not sure what happened.

Either way, it was a fun hunt.

The gun was a Traditions Pursuit LT, with a 385 Hornady Great Plains on top of 90 grains of Goex 2f fired by a Win 209 primer.

A picture of the bull, my cow, camp, dad walking up a ridge, and what an elk looks like lying on a tarp.

Later,

Marcial

A couple more pics

Congratulations on a successful hunt. That is one big looking cow elk there. Great pictures also. Thanks for the great report.

Big bunches of meat! Congratulations CB.

That looks to be a larger sized cow. Hopefully it will be some good eatin'. Seems you had a real nice hunt.

Congrats on a very nice elk.

Congrats on the success, but it seems like you do a lot of missing! Take your animals at closer ranges with a frontstuffer than you would with a modern rifle!

Congrats on the successful hunt, but I just have to say something here. I counted 4 misses and 2 less than well placed shots in your story with only one animal recovered. I have to say, this is a less than stellar performance. Out of 6 shots fired, you have 1 dead and 1 wounded.

I don't mean to throw stones here, but I think you guys need to spend some more time at the range and/or take more high percentage shots. I hit a buck at 84 yards last year with my gun and open sites. It got away and I felt bad about that. So I scoped the gun and have been to the range 4 times so far. As you can see from my post this weekend, I have it dialed in and have full confidence the next deer is going down and staying down. You owe it to the animals to do the same.

congratulations, man that is some purty country.

Congrats! Very nice elk.

Someone is gonna have a full freezer! Congrats.

Someone is gonna have a full freezer! Congrats.

mac and ADV

Sorry that my story has so many misses in it.

The longest shot was the one I attempted on the elk the day before.

Unfortunately, NV does not allow scopes during ML season, so that is out.

None of the shots we took were at running animals. My dad's shots were both at less than 50 yards. The first was a clean miss, no doubt. The second, he hit in the chest, watched it run, looked like it was going to die, got up, and kept going. He could see where he hit, and he could see the off shoulder soaked in blood, but the buck did not leave a blood trail. That was a slightly angling away shot.

I have been shooting this muzzle loader since 2008. I have killed one other elk, with a good shot. I have also missed some deer in the process. I practice with the gun about once a month in the winter months, and from about May to the hunt, about every 10 days. My dad kept having issues with things on his guns, including the stock screw stripping out on one, getting a barrel for his shotgun, and having the extractor break, and then finally bought a CVA Optima. He practiced several times, and was dead on with his loads. We both practiced to 100 yards, and the longest shot taken by either of us was 125 yards. These were estimates of course, and walking some of them out. I do not have a range finder, and keep saying I need to get one, but there again, thats life, and how things go.

We sighted in our guns, and practiced from field positions only from there on. I have only shot my ML from a bench on 3 occasions since I have had it.

Bottom line is things happen. In the mountains, angles are weird, yardages can appear different than what they really are, and buck fever can have a weird effect that no one can control 100%.

As much as I would like to say I am a perfect shot, I am not. I challenge anyone out there to prove to me that they have never missed a shot at an animal.

I talked to one person while out there that had missed 4 shots at elk in 6 days. I also read on another board where a marksman in the military missed a 60 yard shot, and 2-250 yard shots at elk, with a centerfire rifle.

I wish we could have recovered that buck, but we didn't, and so life goes on. He is done for the season, and I am also. We were out for 10 days, spent some good time together, and have some good memories.

Later, and good luck to all this season.

Marcial

Charlie,

I hear you on all the variables. It's easy to be an armchair quarterback and say, "Hey, how'd you miss that shot". It's another thing to be behind the sights, sweating with a touch of buck fever. I've been fortunate to only miss a deer with a ML once, but I've only been hunting with a ML for 5 years.

On the other hand, I've missed deer with a shotgun and a bow multiple times, even though I practiced a lot with them and thought I was ready. I've had scope/sight problems that cause misses, deer moving at the last second, buck fever and some unexplained ones as well.

Just keep practicing, keep looking for a very accurate load and try your best - that's all we can do!

I sure can't remember all of the deer I've killed. But I remember each and every one I've missed (two) and the ones I know I hit but could not find (also two). It happens, but shouldn't happen too often. That's a 40+ year record, but I seldom take a shot that is in any way risky.