Well, my little guy isn't even in the same class as NW80's brute, but here is my elk hunt story from last weekend.
I'll preface this by saying that I was hunting on a high fenced game ranch. It was 16,000 acres with exactly 1 cross fence across the entire ranch (about a 1200 acre pasture that they have "super exotics" on). If that bothers you, quit reading now.
I was invited on a hunt by a subcontractor of mine, and gladly accepted. The ranch is between Kerrville and Rock Springs - private family owned place, 16,000 acres that they have owned since the 1950's. They have a pretty broad spectrum of exotics they keep on the place (this ranch is their toy, I really cannot fathom the amount of money this family apparently has) - fallow, elk, blackbuck, Hawaiian rams, scimitar orynx and a couple of others. In the super exotic pasture they have some zebras, water buffalo, gemsbock, antelope and some other african horned species that I didn't catch the name of).
I arrived late Thursday night. Most of the crew had already gone to bed, but some die hards were still partying balls. At one point they had a game of cornhole going and were betting large sums of cash on the game - it got up to $1k per game. I drank and enjoyed the **** show.
Woke up early Friday and went out to one of the southeastern areas of the ranch. This area was a bit more open. We saw a few elk, mostly younger bulls and some cows, a couple of really nice fallow and the guy hunting with me took a nice scimitar bull as his shooter for the weekend. I seriously thought about one of the fallow we saw, but didn't want to blow my wad so early in the hunt. Plus, I also didn't know that had I taken the fallow, I still would have gotten to go after elk.
View from the main headquarters:
It was a nice view.
Friday evening my coworker arrived and he and I set out with our guide to a different part of the ranch. We hunted on the northwest side for the remainder of the hunt, which was a bunch of valleys and hills. The tops of the hills were fairly open while the bottoms were beyond thick with oak and what is now dead cedar (seriously, if this place caught fire it would be ugly because of all of the die off from the drought a few years back). We opted to stalk hunt rather than go sit in one of the stands. Proved to be a smart move, because the harvest moon meant that the only thing coming to the stands were pigs. (It was hard not to shoot the damned pigs).
We were able to call a bull out right at sunset, but he was a little small. My heart was racing though because he stepped out of the brush not more than 15 yards in front of me and we had a good 3 or 4 minute stare down before he snorted and decided that I just wasn't as sexy as some of the cows. For what felt like forever during that stare down I was worried I was going to have to take a defensive shot if he charged. Talk about getting the adrenaline going.
Moonrise on Friday Night:
We heard several bulls bugle on Friday, but nothing came into the open before the sun set. Saw a couple of cows and some calves, but nothing with horns. They were close - close enough to smell at one point, but they stayed in the thick brush and trees.
Saturday morning we woke up and went back to the same general area, but were a ridge or two over to the east from our spot Friday night. We had what sounded like a big bull bugling just into the tree line down the ridge from us, but try as we might we couldn't coax him out. I saw a nice 5x5 on the ridge across from us and contemplated shooting at him (about 275 yards), but we opted to see if we could find some others. About the time the guide and I decided to pass, we saw a monster 6x6 on a ridge to our west about 1000 or so yards out. Even at that range, we could see he was a monster. He also had a big 5x5 following him with a small heriem of cows. We booked it over there, but ended up getting cock blocked by a lone cow and her calf. While we waited them out, the two big bulls herded their cows off the edge of the ridge and into the bottoms. Very disappointing, but still exciting as hell.
Saturday sunrise:
We took a tour of the ranch Saturday afternoon:
Saturday evening rolls around and we went back to the spot where the 6x6 was. Our thought was that he'd come up to the tops to feed in the evening and we may be able to get a shot at him or his big 5x5 buddy. Unfortunately he never came out, though we could hear him calling from what seemed like just inside the thick trees, almost teasing us. We set up shop in a small grove of oaks and called in 3 bulls that evening - one young 5x5 that ended up bedding down about 40 yards behind us for most of the evening. He wasn't sure what to make of us, but he damned sure wasn't going to leave without finding out. A horny little spike came in and I thought he was going to rape my buddy with his cow call - that spike was no more than 10 feet at one point. Even went as far as to musk himself to try to get that invisible cow going.
My 5x5 came in and was within just a few feet of us at one point in time as well. By this time the sun was dropping fast and light was fading. I knew he wasn't anything overly special, but he was right there and I honestly didn't want to deal with hunting on Sunday morning due to the drive home. Plus, a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush as the old saying goes. He had a huge body on him as well, his rack just wasn't anything super impressive. I debated for a while (seemed like forever, but was probably a few minutes at most) and decided just as the last light was fading to take my shot. He wasn't but about 60 yards out, so nothing special on the shot other than even through the scope he was getting hard to see. I had a perfect broadside on him though and punched him out with my .300 WSM (180 grain Accubonds, handloads). He ran about 10 yards to a nice open area, keeled over and kicked for a few minutes. Apparently my hunting buddy and the guide had decided I wasn't going to shoot, so when I did they about crapped themselves.
I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night. This was my first bull elk, and I couldn't be any happier with how it turned out. My buddy hunted Sunday morning and bagged a nice big 5x5, pretty sure it was the one with the 6x6 we saw - huge tines and a lot of mass on his horns.
All in all, it was a blast of an experience. I hope I get the invite to go back next year. Even high fenced, this place is massive and they don't have it sectioned off so the game running around is every bit as wild as anything you'll find further west. Even my buddy, who has spent 25 years hunting near the Flat Tops in Colorado said that these elk were every bit as elusive as his mountain elk.
I'll preface this by saying that I was hunting on a high fenced game ranch. It was 16,000 acres with exactly 1 cross fence across the entire ranch (about a 1200 acre pasture that they have "super exotics" on). If that bothers you, quit reading now.
I was invited on a hunt by a subcontractor of mine, and gladly accepted. The ranch is between Kerrville and Rock Springs - private family owned place, 16,000 acres that they have owned since the 1950's. They have a pretty broad spectrum of exotics they keep on the place (this ranch is their toy, I really cannot fathom the amount of money this family apparently has) - fallow, elk, blackbuck, Hawaiian rams, scimitar orynx and a couple of others. In the super exotic pasture they have some zebras, water buffalo, gemsbock, antelope and some other african horned species that I didn't catch the name of).
I arrived late Thursday night. Most of the crew had already gone to bed, but some die hards were still partying balls. At one point they had a game of cornhole going and were betting large sums of cash on the game - it got up to $1k per game. I drank and enjoyed the **** show.
Woke up early Friday and went out to one of the southeastern areas of the ranch. This area was a bit more open. We saw a few elk, mostly younger bulls and some cows, a couple of really nice fallow and the guy hunting with me took a nice scimitar bull as his shooter for the weekend. I seriously thought about one of the fallow we saw, but didn't want to blow my wad so early in the hunt. Plus, I also didn't know that had I taken the fallow, I still would have gotten to go after elk.
View from the main headquarters:
It was a nice view.
Friday evening my coworker arrived and he and I set out with our guide to a different part of the ranch. We hunted on the northwest side for the remainder of the hunt, which was a bunch of valleys and hills. The tops of the hills were fairly open while the bottoms were beyond thick with oak and what is now dead cedar (seriously, if this place caught fire it would be ugly because of all of the die off from the drought a few years back). We opted to stalk hunt rather than go sit in one of the stands. Proved to be a smart move, because the harvest moon meant that the only thing coming to the stands were pigs. (It was hard not to shoot the damned pigs).
We were able to call a bull out right at sunset, but he was a little small. My heart was racing though because he stepped out of the brush not more than 15 yards in front of me and we had a good 3 or 4 minute stare down before he snorted and decided that I just wasn't as sexy as some of the cows. For what felt like forever during that stare down I was worried I was going to have to take a defensive shot if he charged. Talk about getting the adrenaline going.
Moonrise on Friday Night:
We heard several bulls bugle on Friday, but nothing came into the open before the sun set. Saw a couple of cows and some calves, but nothing with horns. They were close - close enough to smell at one point, but they stayed in the thick brush and trees.
Saturday morning we woke up and went back to the same general area, but were a ridge or two over to the east from our spot Friday night. We had what sounded like a big bull bugling just into the tree line down the ridge from us, but try as we might we couldn't coax him out. I saw a nice 5x5 on the ridge across from us and contemplated shooting at him (about 275 yards), but we opted to see if we could find some others. About the time the guide and I decided to pass, we saw a monster 6x6 on a ridge to our west about 1000 or so yards out. Even at that range, we could see he was a monster. He also had a big 5x5 following him with a small heriem of cows. We booked it over there, but ended up getting cock blocked by a lone cow and her calf. While we waited them out, the two big bulls herded their cows off the edge of the ridge and into the bottoms. Very disappointing, but still exciting as hell.
Saturday sunrise:
We took a tour of the ranch Saturday afternoon:
Saturday evening rolls around and we went back to the spot where the 6x6 was. Our thought was that he'd come up to the tops to feed in the evening and we may be able to get a shot at him or his big 5x5 buddy. Unfortunately he never came out, though we could hear him calling from what seemed like just inside the thick trees, almost teasing us. We set up shop in a small grove of oaks and called in 3 bulls that evening - one young 5x5 that ended up bedding down about 40 yards behind us for most of the evening. He wasn't sure what to make of us, but he damned sure wasn't going to leave without finding out. A horny little spike came in and I thought he was going to rape my buddy with his cow call - that spike was no more than 10 feet at one point. Even went as far as to musk himself to try to get that invisible cow going.
My 5x5 came in and was within just a few feet of us at one point in time as well. By this time the sun was dropping fast and light was fading. I knew he wasn't anything overly special, but he was right there and I honestly didn't want to deal with hunting on Sunday morning due to the drive home. Plus, a bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush as the old saying goes. He had a huge body on him as well, his rack just wasn't anything super impressive. I debated for a while (seemed like forever, but was probably a few minutes at most) and decided just as the last light was fading to take my shot. He wasn't but about 60 yards out, so nothing special on the shot other than even through the scope he was getting hard to see. I had a perfect broadside on him though and punched him out with my .300 WSM (180 grain Accubonds, handloads). He ran about 10 yards to a nice open area, keeled over and kicked for a few minutes. Apparently my hunting buddy and the guide had decided I wasn't going to shoot, so when I did they about crapped themselves.
I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the night. This was my first bull elk, and I couldn't be any happier with how it turned out. My buddy hunted Sunday morning and bagged a nice big 5x5, pretty sure it was the one with the 6x6 we saw - huge tines and a lot of mass on his horns.
All in all, it was a blast of an experience. I hope I get the invite to go back next year. Even high fenced, this place is massive and they don't have it sectioned off so the game running around is every bit as wild as anything you'll find further west. Even my buddy, who has spent 25 years hunting near the Flat Tops in Colorado said that these elk were every bit as elusive as his mountain elk.