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Nice!Originally Posted by fj605
I understand success on the margins of a season.
With my last elk, it was only a minute or two past legal shooting time on opening day when we randomly stumbled into each other.
The Mrs.'s got her first buck tonight. The first time we stalked him, we got to 227 yards. The second time he was bedded and we were able to stalk to 35 yards. This was an amazing feat considering we had a 7, 5 and 3 year old helping us with the stalk. I think him and his does were curious what the heck was going on with all the noises coming from us.
The .300 blackout with 110gr Lehigh defense controlled chaos did a number on him. The first shot he didnt even flinch, 2nd he humped his back, 3rd he started walking. The fourth made him fall over. Three shots were a nice group in the kill zone, one was in the front leg, all passed through. I tried to save the heart, but it came out in several pieces and it was mush.
This evening as I headed back down the mountain I spotted my only deer of the day about 170 yards below. Although I had hoped for a wall hanger I decided on easy over trophy. The prize was a healthy 3x3 buck, so I happily join the tender young deer hunters here.
Good golly I love the suppressed 7mm-08!
At 4:40 pm I knew dark was fast approaching so I rushed to field dress and begin the drag down the steep rocky slope. An hour and a half later we were in the truck and headed home. It's clean and cooling on the patio table where it will freeze overnight. I'll skin it tomorrow morning and hang it a few days before butchering mostly for steaks.
Nice work everyone. I hear you aren't supposed to let it freeze before it goes through rigor. I think that's what I heard.
The carcass is in rigor now and it will be a few hours before freezing. It's 22 degrees now.
This is the first deer I've hunted in several years. The Roosevelt Forest closure actually ended Friday for areas north of Hwy 7 but I didn't see the revised map until this afternoon. The USFS Boulder Ranger District hid the order and hasn't removed the closure signs and gates throughout the district. Typical arrogance, disregard for forest users and inaction from that office. I went hunting in MY FOREST, OUR FOREST, and got my buck, pfffft!
My 2nd season elk hunt was difficult and disappointing. First day was a 14 mile round trip jaunt over the mountain into prime elk country. On Sunday I rested while it snowed 16 inches and temps dropped to minus 8 degrees. It was tough going from that point in. There were elk all through the spruce-fir burn area of 2018 but I never got close enough. I hunted until the last light of the last day of season. None of the 7 other veteran hunters who camped nearby got an elk either. Difficult hunt. I like to be on the move and sitting in one place for very long isn't my style. At 69, the deep snow and below zero temps aren't much fun anymore. My best reward was finding, calling and duetting with Northern Pygmy Owls on four days. Great birds, they came withing a few feet of me.
Bummer on the elk hunt. I also love my suppressed rifle, by the way, thanks for the idea.
Last edited by Irving; 11-11-2020 at 00:23.
congrats on the deer steaks. Good eatin' right there.
I went from not going to hunt big game this season to getting to hunt buck antelope, (with a landowner voucher back in Oct.) and then cow elk 2 rifle with 3 of my brothers and one of their friends. I was successful on both but I didn't take a single pic. of the big cow elk that I got and too lazy to download antelope pics. from my phone.
Laws aren't "preventable" measures. IOW, more gun laws won't stop mass shootings.
Some close friends of mine.
The daughter shot this deer this morning.
The father shot this one Sunday.
That's a great deer!
She shot an even bigger one last year in Montana.
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