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Best / Worst Big Game shot???

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posted on Oct, 21 2018 @ 03:04 AM
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It'd been 3 weeks up in the high mountains of western Wyoming, prime elk country. We hadn't seen a thing, none of us...and I was with some friends who were professional guides. I was permitted out to the stars (any elk, deer, moose and bear), but we'd seen nothing. One of the guys got a cow on the last day, but lost it in the trees (we found it the next day).

The sun was setting on the very last day, and I saw a 5x6 bull on the edge of a logging clearing at about 450 yards. It was near dark, and almost at the bitter edge of closing hour. We stopped, and I hopped off Reno (my horse) and laid down behind a big log. The relief against the trees in the background was so dark I could barely see though my scope. It was the last day, in the last hour...I figured I'd take a shot.

Being so late, I aimed high, at his head. If I missed, he would go home; there was no tracking, not that night. A true game hunter will never take a head shot, but that was what I was going to do that night. It was one shot.

I laid my .270 Weatherby Magnum over the log and steadied my shot. He was perfectly still. I fired...and he dropped...right in his tracks.

My companions all whooped and hollered at my shot. I jumped back on Reno, spooked as he was, and we all rode out across the clearing to get the bull. Reno didn't like elk hunting (not at all), so I got off him about 50 yards away. I handed his reins over to my buddy.

About 25 feet from the downed bull I was stepping over logs and debris. Suddenly, the bull stood up...strong! I was about 15 feet away then. He dropped his rack, raked the ground and made ready for battle. It happened so fast I never even thought to draw my sidearm. He charged.

There was a ear-splitting thunder clap from a 45-70 saddle rifle (one of my buddies) and the bull fell at my feet. We would find later I'd hit him in the 'wye' of his antlers and knocked him out cold.

If I could go back in time, I'd let that bull go. It all just happened so fast, there really wasn't any other choice.

I have that rack to this day, on my wall, with a perfect .27 caliber bullet hole right through the perfect center of the base of the wye in his antlers (3" above his head). (People look at it and think it was drilled with a drill bit).

He was the last bull elk I ever shot. Never hunted a bull after that.



posted on Oct, 21 2018 @ 06:10 AM
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a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

"It's a hell of a thing, killing a bull. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have."

The important thing is, did he taste good.



posted on Oct, 21 2018 @ 08:39 AM
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a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Would never try a headshot, the brain is surprisingly far back, towards the neck, when looking at a live animal,

But everyone makes mistakes, and the most important thing is that you got it, and he did not run away,



posted on Oct, 21 2018 @ 10:27 AM
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I was 19, hunting deer and antelope in the thunder basin national grasslands northeast of Bill, Wyoming. Myself and two of my dads friends decided to hunt the large, wide and ancient Cheyenne river bed. I have many fond memories of that river. Many of our camps were set up near there.

I was on the south side, when one of the guys got on our radio and said there was a buck antelope within range of him. I had yet to fill my antelope tag and the day was fading on us so we decided to put a small stalk on him. I made my way towards an adequate shooting position, put the buck and in the crosshairs and pulled the trigger.

If you’ve hunted antelope you know that sometimes they have this bionic ability to survive longer than they should. I hit him right in the front shoulder. He should have gone down; instead he ran. So, we waited a few minutes.

We picked up the blood trail and followed it a ways. Found him again standing in the open prairie of the riverbed. So, I lined it up and shot again. Another well placed shot; another bionic retreat from the antelope. But as the sun grew closer to the horizon, we began to worry about a wounded animal not being found on time. So, we found the blood trail and split up. Each of us trying to surround the area we knew he was in. After 30-45 minutes...we found nothing. He had to of been there, somewhere. But nothing.

It was suggested we come back in the morning and retrace our steps. I agreed but wanted to do one last pass to see what we could find. I didn’t want the animal to suffer more than it already had and I didn’t want to lose it to a coyote. So I walked the exact same path one of the other guys walked.

After about 400 yards or so, I was getting ready to circle back around to the other two. Suddenly, I heard a commotion coming from the sagebrush behind me. I turned and the first thing I saw were antlers. I pulled my gun around, put the heart in the scope and pulled the trigger on a large whitetail buck who had been bed down right there the whole time. They tend to be very patient, quiet and still in that area. But he probably felt it was time to move. His mistake, my gain. One shot, clean kill.

I waited and watched, then slowly approached. The closer I got the more my excitement grew. All I could see was a massive bodied animal and antlers on the ground. It was a monster buck. One that many spend their whole lives looking for.

I called the other guys over on the radio. Radioed to my dad to bring the truck to us and get his checkbook ready (he always promised he would pay for my first trophy to be mounted), and the gawking amongst everyone began.

206 1/2 non-typical, 21 points, 260* pounds after field dressing. An absolute brute of an animal. The guy who’s trail I took asked where he was. I showed him, and he was slightly frustrated because he walked right by the whitetail and never saw him. He’s a hell of a hunter, so it’s not like he didn’t know what to look for. Plus, he was looking for blood and an antelope. He wasn’t necessarily looking for a bed down and well camouflaged whitetail.

If it weren’t for the bionic antelope, I never would have come across that whitetail.
edit on 21-10-2018 by Assassin82 because: (no reason given)



posted on Oct, 21 2018 @ 02:36 PM
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posted on Oct, 22 2018 @ 03:56 AM
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I'm not sure where I sit with killing a beast when I'm not starving... I do like the idea of living off the land.

But I fish (catch and release) and I have a gun (I've often considered popping off a few pigeons) - so I guess before I say anything I have to even out my side of the bed.

Elk is supposed to be brilliant meat and I guess a whole elk will feed your family for ages? Photos of the cook up would be nice.

Also, I bet it takes some skill to prepare a full elk for freezing?




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