The Elk Thread

[Gumbo Man]

Brother and I just got back from Colorado last Friday. I was lucky enough to call in 6 bulls. Only one that gave me a shot opportunity happen to be the largest one I called in. We saw some bigger bulls, but I'm very happy. Scores just over 282".

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That’s a great bull. Congrats on your success sir.

[Gumbo Man]

I didn’t have a TBH flag to plant at the summit, so I had to improvise (adapt and overcome). Tobacco Roots Mts, sw Montana (which means ‘mountain’ in Spanish).



Looking east, the north end of the Madison Range is behind/ below the pine, and the Gallatin Range 40+ miles away (and Bozeman) below the Big Sky.

God is great. To be healthy enough able to do this at 66. And have a wife who encourages it.




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Your a blessed man my friend. Thanks for sharing

[Trapper76]

Congratulations to all you guys that killed your elk! I spent 7 days in the mountains outside wisdom mt. I didn’t kill a elk but had a great trip, can’t wait for next season!

[Slick8]

That's awesome Bill. Keep after em.

I'm packing / organizing today for NM rifle elk in two weeks.

Been shooting just a little and exercising a lot. This was cold bore at 600 yards, 1.75".

I did a hike in the hunting area 3 weeks ago.

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[Bill]

The Elk Thread

Congratulations to all you guys that killed your elk! I spent 7 days in the mountains outside wisdom mt. I didn’t kill a elk but had a great trip, can’t wait for next season!

Wisdom isn’t far from me- but close/ far is a different concept here in Montana. The locals and the GW say SW Montana’s archery elk season has been tough. The rut seemed to last 2-3 days in many areas.

I just learned tomorrow is a honey-do day. This week I’ll be trying pronghorns with a bow (yes, once again) and checking the zero on my Tikka 7 mag.


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[tmkrueger]

2021 Colorado Muzzleloader Hunt.

9/8/2021
The journey begins. Me and 3 friends are on our way to NW Colorado for another awesome hunt in the mountains.








9/11/2021
Opening day!
No blood spilled today. It was a great day , saw 6 legal bulls. They were pretty vocal early but went to bed at 8:30.




The next 2 days were slow. The weather is warm and the elk are doing their thing in the dark. We have approximately 50 elk on our ranch. They come down to the river every night and feed in the meadow. We try to get between them and the bedding area in the morning. We leave camp at 5:00am and sit and let them come to us.

9/14/2021
Today was a special day!
I had the biggest Bull I have harvested walk 30 yards from me. It was like it was my turn. I was sitting with my friend Jim when we heard a bugle. As the Bull was walking towards us we both got ready. We were sitting in a small group of service berry bushes. Jim was ready before me and he was in position for the Bull to pass to our south. I got into position and had the trail to the North covered. The Bull stopped just below us completely out of sight and let out a awesome bugle that sent chills down my spine. I had a small gap in the bushes for a quick shot and as luck would have it He walked my way and gave me a perfect 30 yard shot. Jim thought I missed and was in a hurry to go trail the Bull. I was aiming for a double lung shot and felt confident that it was perfect. So I made Jim patiently wait, and after 25 minutes we heard the Bull take his final breath.





That afternoon Jim and Steve both had nice Bull’s in their sights. Unfortunately it had rained several times that day and both of their guns dry fired.
And after taking my elk to the processors I decided to take the afternoon off from hunting and do a little trout fishing. And as luck would have it my good fortune continued!





Good luck to all the Elk hunters this season. There is nothing better than being in the mountains chasing Bull Elk!





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[STGS]

I returned last week from a hunt on our ranch in New Mexico (Unit 34). We usually time our hunt with the new moon and since we border the forest, we prefer limited hunting pressure on the public land. Luckily we were able to align those two aspects and headed for the ranch late in the first week of October.

The weather was clear and warm, although it cooled off a bit on day 4 of the hunt. The bulls were screaming and very active the first 2-3 days of the hunt. I had bulls bugling from first light on day 1 and even went after a bull 500 yds from the lodge that first morning. A front came in on day 3 and the wind was howling (30+ mph), so that limited elk movement for the day.

We saw between 18-20 bulls along with a number of cows/calves. I killed this bull on the evening of the first day. My brother is a bit picky and passed several shooter bulls for one reason or another. One great bull had a broken #5, so he passed. I tried to explain the purpose of a taxidermist, but he was insistent on waiting. He had another shooter at last light on the last day, but he wouldn't chance it without being able to fully assess the bull. He ate tag soup....

Here is a pic of my bull. Forgive the lack of pics, but when it is 75 degrees and you have to cape and quarter in the hills, we didn't spend a lot of time taking pics.

[weminuche]

I returned last week from a hunt on our ranch in New Mexico (Unit 34). We usually time our hunt with the new moon and since we border the forest, we prefer limited hunting pressure on the public land. Luckily we were able to align those two aspects and headed for the ranch late in the first week of October.

The weather was clear and warm, although it cooled off a bit on day 4 of the hunt. The bulls were screaming and very active the first 2-3 days of the hunt. I had bulls bugling from first light on day 1 and even went after a bull 500 yds from the lodge that first morning. A front came in on day 3 and the wind was howling (30+ mph), so that limited elk movement for the day.

We saw between 18-20 bulls along with a number of cows/calves. I killed this bull on the evening of the first day. My brother is a bit picky and passed several shooter bulls for one reason or another. One great bull had a broken #5, so he passed. I tried to explain the purpose of a taxidermist, but he was insistent on waiting. He had another shooter at last light on the last day, but he wouldn't chance it without being able to fully assess the bull. He ate tag soup....

Here is a pic of my bull. Forgive the lack of pics, but when it is 75 degrees and you have to cape and quarter in the hills, we didn't spend a lot of time taking pics.

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Awesome bull congrats


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[Bill]

My congratulations to you guys who took elk, especially DIY hunts.

I just finished my 4th season bow hunting elk in Montana, hunting an average of 5 days per week this season and probably 4 in 2020 and 2019 and I have not pulled my bow back since Sept. 2018. I could have shot a dozen if it was rifle season.

I hunted public, block management ranches, and private land- from hunting at ranch hay/ alfalfa pivots in valleys to the tops of mountains with 2’ snow drifts.

My hat’s off to you.


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[TildenHunter]

I returned last week from a hunt on our ranch in New Mexico (Unit 34). We usually time our hunt with the new moon and since we border the forest, we prefer limited hunting pressure on the public land. Luckily we were able to align those two aspects and headed for the ranch late in the first week of October.

The weather was clear and warm, although it cooled off a bit on day 4 of the hunt. The bulls were screaming and very active the first 2-3 days of the hunt. I had bulls bugling from first light on day 1 and even went after a bull 500 yds from the lodge that first morning. A front came in on day 3 and the wind was howling (30+ mph), so that limited elk movement for the day.

We saw between 18-20 bulls along with a number of cows/calves. I killed this bull on the evening of the first day. My brother is a bit picky and passed several shooter bulls for one reason or another. One great bull had a broken #5, so he passed. I tried to explain the purpose of a taxidermist, but he was insistent on waiting. He had another shooter at last light on the last day, but he wouldn't chance it without being able to fully assess the bull. He ate tag soup....

Here is a pic of my bull. Forgive the lack of pics, but when it is 75 degrees and you have to cape and quarter in the hills, we didn't spend a lot of time taking pics.

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Congrats Jeremy! Great bull!

[Slick8]

Im in NM scouting and acclimating ahead of the hunt which starts on Saturday. We saw about 40 elk total with 4 small end bull's and one big one but broke up this morning. The guides buddy went to the spot I've wanted to hunt from the start and took video of 3 low end shooters and one pretty good bull. Going up there in the afternoon to glass.

Headed out shooting after a green chilly cheeseburger.

It was 28 on the mountain at daybreak and will warm up just a bit over the next few days.

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[justletmein]

Celebratory fresh tenderloin in our camp tonight.

[Bill]

Congratulations


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[Slick8]

Shot at 6pm and just about to hit the hay.

Big 5x5 down, story to come later.



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[justletmein]

Celebratory fresh tenderloin in our camp tonight.

Middle kiddo got his first Elk ever, DIY public Wyoming general tag. Pretty sweet hunt we had, his Mom and I went up there without tags just to hunt with them and I hunted with his brother and he hunted with his Mom. We were probably 3/4 mile away when we heard the shots but couldn't get cell signal so we packed up and headed towards them and followed their tracks in the snow til we saw orange and met up with them to start tracking. I don't think a lot of people get to shoot an Elk with their mother. It was one hell of a packout uphill but there were 4 of us so that helped a ton.