Who Is Going After ELK???

[Hi Ball]

I just thought I would ask, just who plans on going to the moutains for the big bull elk?:)

[Rock Chuck]

I'm going wolf hunting but I'll pick up an elk tag just in case.

[Pat Hurley]

I will be going on my annual Elk hunting trek to Colorado for the November last hunt this year with my son and 11 buddies. My son has a Bull tag drawn for Kentucky next weekend. He scouted this weekend and saw the MaxDaddy Bull that he hopes to get in his sights. I have a .338 Lapua loaded with 225 grain North Forks at 3100 fps ready for him to take, he will use his old .300 Winny as back up. Good shooting.

[dave-t.]

Going to NM for my first elk hunt in the middle of October. My cousin is a resident there another one of his buddies and I will be gun hunting his bow hunting honey hole. I hope it stays warm enough that the elk don't run down the hill on us and leave us lonely up high. We'll be camping at 8k above sea level. Bull elk tag, branch antler only, spikes not legal.

I'll be using my Ruger m77mII 300wm, 180 hornady interloc @2960fps or so.

[Hi Ball]

Well Gents, I wish you all the best of success on your elk hunts! We are thinking about Colorado once again, at our favorite honey hole and hope to bring home a little meat for the freezer come November, the good LORD willing. ;) :)

The wife will no doubt once again, take along her model 70 Winchester in the 7mm Rem. mag, using her handloaded 160 grn Nosler partitions and her .338/06 with 210 grn. Nosler partitions, as back up rifle. I'll be hunting a couple of spots over looking a known trail in the dark timber. My rifle of choice will be a model 70 in the .338 mag using 250 grn Swift A Frames and back up rifle will be the .444 Marlin lever gun using Hornady Leverevolution bullets in the .265 grain. :D

[Deerslayer]

Not going to be able to make it this year. :( But already planning for next year!

[Bushman]

Hi Ball, from watching the reaction of the two elk that I've gunned with a 160 grain Partition out of my 7mm RM, if I had a .338-06 the 7mm RM would be the back up rifle. I sure can't fault your .338 WM, but why wouldn't you and Mrs. Hi Ball have only one back up rifle between you? We always had a few extra rifles in camp too, but not one for each guy.

[postoak]

You guys are making this way too difficult, LOL. You can have this guy delivered to your house for $3500 plus $1.50 per mile!

360 inch elk (http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa45/circleCrams/elkpics009.jpg)

[Rock Chuck]

Sunday afternoon, we were stopped at a rest stop on I-84 in so. Idaho when a pickup with at MT plate pulled in. He had a rack in the back that made that one look small. It had points going everywhere. I told my wife that it had to be a ranch elk where they selectively breed for racks like that. You just don't find them in the wild. I didn't have the nerve to ask the guy what he paid for it.

[Wismon]

If you're going to do that you may as well pay to shoot a steer as they have more meat on their bones and the challenge is the same.

[postoak]

There was actually one poster on that thread who wanted to come out and "hunt" that elk, despite it being in a pen and having an ear tag. The moderators deleted the whole thread, for some reason. :rolleyes:

[GF.]

I just got back, myself... CO Archery Cow tag.

I did get to full draw on one, in fine range, but two steps out of the shooting lane, and then she wheeled right outta there.

Also saw the biggest-bodied spike I could imagine, standing broadside at 'that's far enough for me' range. At least I told myself it was a spike, if for no other reason than to keep myself from doing the obsessive couldawouldashouldas over not having sprung the extra $300 for a bull tag :D

Honestly, it was at the end of shooting light, so I wasn't really able to tell. And though at the time I would've taken the shot offered on any legal animal, it's probably just as well that I didn't, because we were right on the lip of a hillside that is covered with blown-down aspens and is literally an 80% grade, according to the topo map. And come to think of it, any animal doing a death run down that slope would almost certainly meet up with the fence that separates public land from the private ranch below, so that could've gone good & pear-shaped....

Anyway, I hope all you guys have as much fun as I did - and that you have a little better luck!:cool:

[Hi Ball]

Bushman nothing is written in stone I guess but the wife will have 2 rifles to take along as I mentioned. Her main elk gun will be a .338/06 using 210 grn Nosler partitions and her backup will either be the 7mm mag or a 6.5/06 using 160 grain bullets in both of those rifles. She is subject to change her mind though, women sometimes pull a reverse etc. :confused:

I will be taking along the .338 Win mag (250 grn Swift A Frames) and my Marlin .444 using Hornady Leverevolution ammo in the 265grn bullet weight. I am taking off the Leupold scope to lighten it up a bit, since I am going to be in the dark timber mostly.;) :)

[GF.]

So why would you be using the leverevolution load with iron sights for black timber?

:confused::confused::confused:

And frankly, I don't believe that's any excuse for an Elk load in the first place; if those bullets are designed to expand on a deer at 200 yards, well, something tells me that you could buy yourself a heap o' trouble using one on a Bull at spitting distance. Maybe if they have a bonded/fusion core, but still.....

After my trip last week, it's plain as pee to me what a huge difference a scope makes in allowing a guy to take a shot in any kind of cover, especially in the thick stuff, and double-especially hunting early or late. Personally, I'd put my 2-7X Vari-II on the Marlin and shoot the pokey old 405 Greenbox loads. Or if I wanted flatter-shooting, there has got to be a 350-grain 'hard-kicker' load out there that will flatten an Elk just fine....

I hate the looks of a lever with a scope on it, but if carrying a scope is the difference between packing off an Elk or not, I'll take the weight of the scope. Last week, I saw a nice buck mulie at what I later stepped off at 65 paces; with iron sights, I would have had to use the binocs to figure out where to hold - relative to his glaringly white face - then put the binoculars down, pick up the rifle and aim (approximately) at what was the right spot on his essentially invisible-to-the-naked-eye body..... at least the last time I checked. Maybe some guys are OK shooting that way, but that's no kind o' recipe for getting the first one where it belongs.....

[Rock Chuck]

I have a Bushnell with the Firefly reticule that's just made for black timber, on both ends of the day. If you can see the target, you can see your x-hairs to shoot it accurately. It's not so great for long range shooting, though, because the x-hairs are too wide for pinpoint aiming at long range.

[Hi Ball]

G.F & Rock Chuck.........Yep, you both got the right idea alright!!! I shot some of those Hornady 265 grain bullets today at 50 and 75 yards from the bench. I certainly did not like the results of those recovered bullets, shot into wet news-paper. I am going back to my handloads for that .444 Marlin, I have 4 dozen of thoseee Beartooth hard cast bullets at 325 grain bullet weight and large metplate.

Now rockchuck, this morning early, as the sun was just starting to show a little light, I walked down our woods a piece (20 yards and tried to sight that Marlin rifle on a brown brick I placed on top a fence post 3 days ago. I had a real hard time with the iron sights and right then I knew a scope would have to go back on this rifle for me to place a bullet on an animal period.

I later came back in the house after feeding the birds and picked up the phone and ordered one of those Bushnell Firefly rifle scopes in the 3 x 9 power. I wanted a 2 x 7 but they told me they were back ordered. Well, it just pays to be prepaid at all times and what you think about something, can always change in a hurry you betcha.;) :)

[Rock Chuck]

A lot of guys say the Firefly doesn't work because they don't read the directions. They say the bright glow fades too fast but it doesn't work that way. You need to activate it at least 10 or 15 min before it's light enough to see game. At first, it'll be too bright to see much through it so don't wait until it's light enough to see game or it'll be too bright. After 5 or 10 min, it'll fade to a dull green and that's what you want. It'll look black if there's much light but if you see a deer silhouetted in the dark, the x-hairs will be green over it and you'll easily be able to shoot. You'll want to experiment with it before going hunting so you know how to time it.
If I'm hiking in in the dark, when it's time to activate it, I use a mini-mag light or something similar. I hold it against the objective lens while I'm hiking so I can't see it and it doesn't blind me.

[Wapitibill]

I've got a cow elk hunt in New Mexico set up for mid-December. This will be my 8th elk hunt in the Land of Enchantment in as many years and I've been successful on every one of them, 6 cows and one bull.

As always, I'm excited about the upcoming hunt but I truly envy those of you who have friends and/or relatives with whom you can share the hunting experience. Driving across the country alone on the hunting trips gets old as does not having anyone to talk to (in person, not on internet forums) about my big passion in life.

[Hi Ball]

Wapitibill.....I did that on my last elk hunt but vowed not to do it again, it is just to dangerous for a person to be on the roads etc and by yourself. Now most of the hunters I knew years ago, are in the Happy Hunting Ground. So when a man gets into his 60's, it's time to think about another way of getting things done. I too miss the conversation of the hunt while going cross country with hunting buddies.

It also makes for one heck of a lonely campfire in the evening too!:( I have only had to do that twice in my hunting life so far, wife keeps me company these days and is my hunting buddy as well. I can't hunt like I once did (tracking far back off the beaten path) but just being able to get into those mountains in the high country brings about a real rush to my mind and body.:D

[Wapitibill]

Hi Ball - My New Mexico elk hunts are guided. When I've mentioned cow elk hunting some people say "why pay all of that money for a guide. Just get an over the counter cow tag in unit XXX in Colorado and bag yourself a cow elk a lot cheaper." I'm an out-of-shape, middle aged desk jockey and there is no way that I would want to go after an elk - of any size - alone in the mountains. The guided hunts have been enjoyable, safe and 100% successful. Worth every dollar IMO.

I have a somewhat off-color saying about hunting: Hunting is a lot like sex. You can do it all by yourself and get the job done but having the right partner adds a lot to the overall experience. The flip side is that the wrong partner can prove to be deadly..

[Unclebuck257]

I'm leaving at 6AM tomorrow morning to head to Colorado. I'll get to the cabin about 830PM tomorrow night. First rifle season opens this Saturday and I'll guide "older" hunters first season and then hunt second rifle season myself, with my buddies who are other guides.

We'll get the necessary things done at the cabin, like filling up the 1000 gallon water tank by hauling water in a 300 gallon tank from town up the mountain, and scouting the ranch, before Thursday when our first season clients arrive.

With the economy, most outfitters are seeing a reduction this year in the number of clients and we are no exception. My buddy is the outfitter and we are down about 50% from every other year for the last 20 something years I've been doing this.

Should be real relaxing and an easy year, IF the Elk cooperate.

[Chuck S]

I have till the end of the month here in my unit, northwest of Rock River. Been under the weather for weeks now with this danged flu/sniffles, coughing, etc. I've been out three times and saw elk on two of them but not where they were shootable. (private land adjacent to where I was hunting)

A storm is due in tonight with cold and a ft of snow, may'be more so this might bring them down to us in numbers a bit more than so far. I'm using my Mannlicher in 30-06 with handloaded CT partition gold 150s. My wife has an antelope tag in that same area good till the end of the month so wish us luck. Other than that I still have an unfilled Mulie Buck general tag also and saw my buddies nice four by four he shot this morning so there's hope.

Thus far just one Antelope buck taken about tree weeks ago --a still under the weather ride out to a hayfield but lucked out although my shooting was shaky, even off a rest. Went in to the docs the next day and found that my being sick had triggered some heart palpitations and the shakes. Stay well all and good luck!

[dave-t.]

Good luck Chuck. Stay healthy and keep after 'em.

[Chuck S]

A foot so far and 18 more inches expected--not good. It will bunch up our local herd of mulies most likely and at times there are a couple nice bucks in that group so have to getup early the next few mornings and watch for them out at our back fence, which is just out of town limits, in an area where my licenese is good and where they pass within a 100 yds or so each day morn and eve moving back and forth from water and shelter to grazing. I also have a close by elk spot if the main roads get plowed where I can sit and watch. So we have hope yet.