Yesterday will be a day I always remember. I drew a bull elk tag this year after 15 years of applying in a western state. On the drive to the hunt area in the early morning, I saw the northern lights for the first time.
We hiked into our target area just as it got light. Almost immediately we spotted 2 groups of elk quite far away. Spotting scope revealed small bulls and cows. Not too long after, a batchelor group of about 8 bulls crested a hill about 800 yards away. All smaller bulls... Oh wait, there's one that looks really good...
There were 2 small ravines between us and them. They dipped down into the first of them, kind of towards us. We didn't see them for 20 minutes or so. So we decided to get up and try to get eyes on them. Not long after we got up, we realize one of the bulls is now cresting the hill and is now about 450 yards away. We sit down and I get ready on the tripod. The third bull to come out is the big one. He walks to about 415 and I shoot. He's still standing so I shoot 2 more times. He went down about 20 yards from when I first shot. All shots were hits.
We took our time caping and processing. The pack out wasn't too far, but it was kinda steep. We also came across some grizzly tracks.
I'm thrilled with the bull. To be honest though, I'm a bit disappointed the hunt is over. I've waited for 15 years for this hunt and it was over first morning. I took over a week off work and expected to hunt most of that. Oh well, no real complaints.
To top the day off, I watched my college football team beat their in-state rival!
Not many days are this good!
We hiked into our target area just as it got light. Almost immediately we spotted 2 groups of elk quite far away. Spotting scope revealed small bulls and cows. Not too long after, a batchelor group of about 8 bulls crested a hill about 800 yards away. All smaller bulls... Oh wait, there's one that looks really good...
There were 2 small ravines between us and them. They dipped down into the first of them, kind of towards us. We didn't see them for 20 minutes or so. So we decided to get up and try to get eyes on them. Not long after we got up, we realize one of the bulls is now cresting the hill and is now about 450 yards away. We sit down and I get ready on the tripod. The third bull to come out is the big one. He walks to about 415 and I shoot. He's still standing so I shoot 2 more times. He went down about 20 yards from when I first shot. All shots were hits.
We took our time caping and processing. The pack out wasn't too far, but it was kinda steep. We also came across some grizzly tracks.
I'm thrilled with the bull. To be honest though, I'm a bit disappointed the hunt is over. I've waited for 15 years for this hunt and it was over first morning. I took over a week off work and expected to hunt most of that. Oh well, no real complaints.
To top the day off, I watched my college football team beat their in-state rival!
Not many days are this good!
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