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Pardon me if I ramble but I will give a running report of a recent hunt I completed.

I just got back from a 3 day hunt in Colorado above Grand Junction in unit 21.This was a "Boys Club" meet were 5 guys and a outfitter friend swap lies.play cards, and hunt elk meat for the upcoming year.I hesitate to call it a real hunt as basically we roam the pig trails of the higher fenced portions of grazing range for cattle at 8500-9000 ft above multiple areas of deep timber and alfalfa fields below and opportunistically harvest elk. My bud Dale really HUNTS elk in the dark timber with a 45-70 guide gun, but that is another story.

The rut had just finished and the elk wanted no part of bugling and just wanted to stay with their cows.Bugling does sometime work early this hunt and still piss off big herd bulls as I popped a big herd bull at the margin of his deep woods bedding area last year. He came out laterally to an opening to rake a tree and grunt angrily at my bugling .Bad move on his part.

Basically we cow called to get the attention of the bulls searching for the remaining cows in estrous with great success. The weather was insane with a hard rain turning the pigtails into owlshit and gumbo mud supreme.navigation was tricky even with ATV's with sloping roads and a 2000 foot dropoff the side for vehicle screwups.The basic tactic was to find animals with spotting scopes and binoculars and get into shooting position.

The weather stayed weird the duration of the hunt with a pattern of overcast/rain/open burning sunshine/clouds below us/overcast then turning cold with snow at night.

Shooting the animals was straightforward. Getting them out was hell and took most of the guys,a power saw with winch adapter, and alot of BUTT to get the animals up the treacherous terrain.Bear sign and cougar sign were fresh and present as well.

We had already harvested a big cow, and two satellite bullsthe previous 2 days(the best elk eating possible) when on the third morning the outfitter glassed a big bull at 6:15 on a distant rise a lazered 459 yards away.I was closest to his position and came crouching/crawling. There was no wind and the conditions were perfect so I set up with a shooting stick on one knee with my 300 ultramag with Swarovski TDS shooting 200 gr Nosler partitions and made the shot (I do not advise this and would not have done this except for the shooting conditions and previous assistance from an ex-military friend betting on long range hits.He takes my money all the time.)

The first shot went- Poohn-----then Whack! The animal staggered to his feet took another in the neck then tried turned butt away to stagger down a trail and was hit back side twice putting him down.. Autopsy of the ~900 pound animal revealed the first shoot was fatal through both lungs and right shoulder out with one backside shot penetrating the whole animal from butt through the pelvis through the chest and out.The other rear shot was non vital/superficial.No bullets were recovered. Yes,the Nosler partitions are hellacious bullets on elk! Took the rest of the day to get that sucker out. He had to be quartered, caped and deboned and drug up the slick mountainside.

500 grains has been very kind and will assist with a pertinent picture. Sorry, but mud/rain killed my camera so pics are very limited.

This and next years resolution--I have to get in better shape and play better cards so my money lasts longer!!

Next year I am taking an opti-logic range finder to correct for the up/down shooting angles for better accurate horizontal distances and more accurate shooting. Gotta have this with the distances involved.

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An armed man is a citizen of his country, an unarmed man just a subject.

Edited by hoppdoc (20/10/06 11:35 PM)