Elk and 30 30
 

I have lurked for a couple of years and rarely post. Good information on the site and always interesting. Thought this might be interesting reading for some. In today's Rocky Mountain News, 11/28/2006.

I guess 30 30 will work.Who knew?





Rocky Mountain News



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URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...174117,00.html






Special to the News ©

Levi Samora, of Westminster, says he has been "on cloud nine" since he bagged his stately bull elk Nov. 9 on public land in Grand County.• Online extra: For more photos, go to: RockyMountainNews .com/recreation
Dentry: Payoff for persistence is big bull elk
November 28, 2006
The old bull elk sought refuge from hunters in dark timber. That is precisely where experts tell us we should spend more time when rifle seasons are in progress. But the average hunter seldom gambles the effort.
Levi Samora is not your average hunter. Long convinced of the wisdom of hunting deep and steep, he happened - not coincidentally - to be at the right place at the right time to bag one for the record books.
"I hunt hard," Samora said in a telephone interview. "I'm not a guy who road hunts."
The condensed version: Samora, of Westminster, sneaked through blow downs into the only place he knew to go in an unfamiliar hunting area - a snaggled, north-facing slope, the kind of seat-of-the-pants place where less motivated hunters fear to tread.
That was Nov. 9, and Samora says he still is "on cloud nine" over his bull, which he says green-scores 381 Boone and Crockett points.
For just one chapter of the longer version, consider: "It took us 11 hours to get him out," Samora said of his deep-woods prize. But his story goes way back before this year's third rifle season.
"It's been 25 years. I've been hunting for one specific bull," said Samora, 45, a Colorado native and Rocky Flats retiree with a penchant for big critters and fair-chase hunts.
That specific bull would be this one, by the hunter's count a magnificent 9x7 - much bigger, older and wiser than the average 5x5 raghorn you expect to find in Colorado's heavily hunted national forests.
Failing to draw a bull tag for another game unit he coveted, Samora was hunting in the Arapahoe National Forest in northern Grand County with an over-the-counter bull tag. His partners, Shawn and Jack Robertson, had gone downhill, and he headed into the deep stuff.
"This was the last day of our hunt, and time was running out," he said.
Not long after entering the forest with his open-sight, .30-.30 lever-action Marlin rifle, he found heavy elk sign, then smelled elk.
(Note: You can always distinguish a devoted black-timber elk hunter from the average nimrod; he's the one whose rifle wears no scope, leaving him ready for encounters at close quarters.)
Samora said he spotted animals moving from dark timber into aspens so dense that getting a shot seemed impossible. Then a spike bull moved aside, revealing the big bull and an 18-inch window for the killing shot.
"I had only a split second," he said. "With a scope, you would never see them in there."
Conjuring the old hunters' saying, Samora said he'd rather be lucky than good: "The shot was good," he said. "But I was lucky those elk came right by me. I'd never hunted the area."
OK, time for some tough questioning, given the shady provenance of some trophy elk this autumn. One bull in particular - it was touted as the world's biggest, from Idaho - turned out to be livestock from Quebec.
Do you suppose this majestic old bull might have been some runaway ranch clown, a companion to moo-cows, with numbered ear tags?
No tags, Samora swears.
"This was a wild bull elk on public land. You can't believe how beautiful an animal it was. I was up in Estes Park, and this bull makes those look homely."
Some hunters would be proud of such an accomplishment purely for personal reasons. And Samora admits he has no problem raising his living-room ceiling and widening the walls for the trophy.
But any skepticism falls away, along with his first-person, when you hear the real reason for his pride.
"What's so neat is that the state of Colorado has so much to offer," Samora said. "And it was a native of Colorado. It wasn't someone who was paying $40,000 to shoot at one of these private ranches.
"This was an open-land hunt. It was a stalking hunt. It was a fair-game hunt."


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RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Good for Levi! That he shot it with a 30-30 just means it'll taste better.

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Didn't anyone tell the Big Bull not to die unless the hunter was useing a souper douper magnum that produces so much energy and the bullet must weigh so much, be certain Dia. traveling at the speed of light and has to be made of Kryponite,and the rifle has to be custom made with a certain barrel and a special twist for each bullet weight..and be stocked in English Walnut and be topped with a scope that would hummble the Huddle Telescope. Zowie ,I guess that Elk couldn't read !!!!

Buckeye!

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

I have heard people argue sillyness like this and then when the time came for this to go out west, I asked why they wasn't taking thier 30-30. I get the I was yapping.

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Exactly! Public land, a simple gun, determination = success.

Not everyone has success, I did not this year but I was more interested in my son having success, which he did.

I do have a few different rifles in various calibers, but the huge elk taken with a .30-.30 just brings a smile to my face. :D

I guess I will carry my .30-.30 a little more often.

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Big Country ,Just Jokeing !,Dang... I 'm sorry you took me seriously...
You bet if Itraval all that way and spend big moneytobag a Elk I'm going to take a my 6.5X55 or 30-06 or 444M or 375 Win. or 45/70 or 9.3 X62 or maybe the gun I picked up a while back that has killed a half dozen or so of Elk a 35 Rem. Note: (No magnums mentioned)

Buckeye!

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Most centerfire rifle cartridges will. You just have to know your limitations.

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

Even the biggest bears in NA have been taken with the 30-30. Elk would be no exception. Would I recommend it as a primary elk rifle? NO but if thats all I had, I wouldn't hesitate to use it. Just keep its limited range in mind.

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

When I was a lot younger, I worked one fall in a gunshop in Las Vegas, New Mexico, a small town on the east edge of the Pecos Wilderness in Northern NM near some great elk and mulie hunting country.

A number of the locals used M94 Winchester .30/30's to kill their elk each year, and thought nothing of it.....

RE: Elk and 30 30
 

**Applause** That right there is so true, it is pure gospel! :D[8D]

Butch A.