I am fortunate to work for a man that owns a large ranch in West Texas. He asked me to guide some of the people that work for him on an Elk Hunt at his ranch. The ranch is extremely large and is not high-fenced. We ended up shooting 5 bull elks; three 6x6, one 7x5 and one 8x6 in the 7 days I hunted. One of the 6x6’s was really outstanding; it probably scored 340 or better. The 8x6 was a typical 7x6 but he had an extra point near his brow. On this particular bull, the hunter got out of the jeep and tried to shoot. The safety was on. After getting on “fire” and finding him in the scope again, (as the bull was steadily making his getaway) he shot. It was a good shot and probably a kill shot, but he was still running up the header following his cows. He tried to reload but couldn’t get the action open. By the time he got chambered, I had grabbed the backup – a 7mm mag – and got him in the sights. Free-handed and at three hundred plus yards, I led him by two feet and let loose. The bull went down immediately and after field dressing him, we saw a 3 inch hole in his heart. It was the best shot I’ve ever made. Had I not shot, he would have gone over the mountain and I don’t know when, where or if we would have found him. The hunter was glad I shot.
We saw 10 or 12 other bulls that we glassed and thought of shooting but ended up passing on. In some cases they were immature bulls, smaller satellite bulls, out of range or we got busted and they gave us the slip.
The one that got away was a hunt and an animal that I’ll not soon forget. We saw some Elk from about a mile away grazing at the base of a header. We hopped out of the jeep and covered about 200 yards of open ground before making our way to a draw that would keep us hid until we were about 300 yards from the herd of about 10 or 11. Once we got in position, we saw a 400 class albino bull. His 4th, 5th and 6th points were at least 18 inches long. His main beams were the longest I’ve ever seen – the very definition of a backscratcher. The bull gave several broadside opportunities over the course of about 5 minutes but the hunter couldn’t get a good rest, calm down, get him in the sights, a bush or a cow in the way, etc… A cow and a calf busted us soon thereafter and “whitey” trotted off with his cows. We followed chase up the mountain and had two more opportunities to shoot that were similar to the first opportunity. In both cases, the hunter couldn’t get comfortable with the shot. I was disappointed that we didn’t get the bull for the sake of the hunter – a man that has worked for my boss for 30 or 35 years. All in all, I’m not too disappointed because it was awesome seeing that bull and the hunt was spectacular.
Oh and we shot a Mountain Lion too. Really strange; she was just sitting in the shade of a tree at noon about 60 yards away. She must’ve never seen or heard us (it was really windy) because she never moved. She was juvenile and still had some light spots on her thighs.
We saw 10 or 12 other bulls that we glassed and thought of shooting but ended up passing on. In some cases they were immature bulls, smaller satellite bulls, out of range or we got busted and they gave us the slip.
The one that got away was a hunt and an animal that I’ll not soon forget. We saw some Elk from about a mile away grazing at the base of a header. We hopped out of the jeep and covered about 200 yards of open ground before making our way to a draw that would keep us hid until we were about 300 yards from the herd of about 10 or 11. Once we got in position, we saw a 400 class albino bull. His 4th, 5th and 6th points were at least 18 inches long. His main beams were the longest I’ve ever seen – the very definition of a backscratcher. The bull gave several broadside opportunities over the course of about 5 minutes but the hunter couldn’t get a good rest, calm down, get him in the sights, a bush or a cow in the way, etc… A cow and a calf busted us soon thereafter and “whitey” trotted off with his cows. We followed chase up the mountain and had two more opportunities to shoot that were similar to the first opportunity. In both cases, the hunter couldn’t get comfortable with the shot. I was disappointed that we didn’t get the bull for the sake of the hunter – a man that has worked for my boss for 30 or 35 years. All in all, I’m not too disappointed because it was awesome seeing that bull and the hunt was spectacular.
Oh and we shot a Mountain Lion too. Really strange; she was just sitting in the shade of a tree at noon about 60 yards away. She must’ve never seen or heard us (it was really windy) because she never moved. She was juvenile and still had some light spots on her thighs.