Elk success

[elk hunter]

Yesterday was opening day for the five day, any legal weapon, season for bull elk in our area. The season opened at 0703 hours. At 0741 the wife's 35 Whelen sent a 250 grain Nosler partition on it's mission. The shot, taken off hand, was about 150 yards at a walking forked horn bull. He stopped, did a half circle then tipped over back first down hill. Dead right there. Pre-season practice paid off. We were hunting a new area and had only scouted it one time. The scouting paid off as we saw quite a bit of sign and decided to hunt there. It took four and one half hours to drag him fifty yards to where we could get the jeep to him, gut him out and load him on top of the jeep. I must be getting old. A few years ago we would have done it in a couple of hours. We did have a lot of people rubber-necking as we drove home. Guess they aren't accustomed to seeing a bull elk on top of a jeep. Someone thought we must be poachers. We were stopped and checked when we got into town. The pictures are all in the wife's phone and she won't send them to me as she gets embarrassed when I brag about her. Is it bragging when you relate stories of successful hunting about a woman whose Indian name is Elk-Woman-Singing? I think not.

My muzzleloader season starts in ten days. I hope to start freezer training a nice cow to keep the bull company this winter. Elk tender loin for breakfast tomorrow.

[Mikedominick]

That's a great hunt, I love the 35 Whelen! I shot a moose up in BC with mine, and whitetail over here in Montana. Kills like the Plague!

[sixshot]

Congratulations to your wife on getting that bull elk, and to you for taking her, great job hunting together. Would it have been easier to use the boneless method to get the meat out rather than dragging it? We've been doing it for a long time & it's sure a lot easier after you done it a couple of times. Still, great team work by both of you & enjoy those back straps!! Love it when the kids & ladies score!

Dick

[725]

Certainly be proud of your woman. You're a lucky man.

[stubshaft]

It's great to have a wife that hunts with you, I wish mine did.

[smoked turkey]

Tell your beautiful wife that it is not bragging about a big game kill such as you are describing. We all just want to hear the story and see the pictures. Besides if she wants to brag a little about her opening day success, by all means let her. She has certainly earned it. Congratulations to you both for doing such a superb job on the hunt. I have only been on one elk hunt and no elk taken. I'm still waiting so I can brag about mine!

[slim1836]

Congrats, y'all did well. You might want to invest in a winch for dragging game out of the brush. :drinks:

Slim

[BLAHUT]

Good job LADY, You set the bar high for other women to follow, keep up the good example.

[pworley1]

Congratulations to both of you.

[taco650]

Congratulations to both of you!

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Congrats on your meat! 35 Whelen is a fine cast boolit caliber, just saying ;)

[CLAYPOOL]

Winch - Sheave blocks - and extra cables, chains, ETC.......Boys size Axe might be a good investment...

[elk hunter]

Congrats, y'all did well. You might want to invest in a winch for dragging game out of the brush. :drinks:

Slim

We actually have a winch on the Jeep and normally use it to power skin our elk. Where we hunt I can normally drive the Jeep to them. In this case the dragging didn't take long as it was downhill on ferns. The majority of the time was spent gutting and and loading the elk on top of the Jeep. We have an ATV winch powered system to pick them up and place them on top of the Jeep. The wife has taken a number of elk, I can think of five she's taken with a muzzleloader so we do have some experience in handling them. The problem is lack of strength due to age. This getting old is "GETTING OLD". Wrestling an elk on the ground is getting to be too much for my back and once I'm down on the ground I have problems getting back up. We both were stiff and sore today so we took the day off. My older son and some friends have the same muzzleloader tag that I do so I'll have help if I get one during my upcoming hunt.

[marshall623]

Excellent story , and great shooting . 150 offhand awesome

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[lar45]

Most excellent, thanks for the story.

[Ramjet-SS]

Nice work enjoy that awesome table fare

[T-Bird]

150 yrds offhand, can't accomplish that w/o proper practice. In this day and time, components for proper practice rounds aren't readily available. Congratulations!

[taco650]

We actually have a winch on the Jeep and normally use it to power skin our elk. Where we hunt I can normally drive the Jeep to them. In this case the dragging didn't take long as it was downhill on ferns. The majority of the time was spent gutting and and loading the elk on top of the Jeep. We have an ATV winch powered system to pick them up and place them on top of the Jeep. The wife has taken a number of elk, I can think of five she's taken with a muzzleloader so we do have some experience in handling them. The problem is lack of strength due to age. This getting old is "GETTING OLD". Wrestling an elk on the ground is getting to be too much for my back and once I'm down on the ground I have problems getting back up. We both were stiff and sore today so we took the day off. My older son and some friends have the same muzzleloader tag that I do so I'll have help if I get one during my upcoming hunt.

I completely get “lack of strength due to age” thing! I struggled to load my medium sized whitetail buck into my little pickup by myself last week. I got it done, got it home and processed but I was sore & tired the next day lol!

Congratulations to your wife!

[MT Gianni]

Congratulations. I knocked a cow down last week but she ran off. The Chevy Traverse didn't need towing but will spend a month in the shop.

[veeman]

Kills like the Plague!

You mean slow and without mercy??[smilie=l:

[CBH]

You mean slow and without mercy??[smilie=l: That’s my first thought! lol
Great hunt!