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.