Part III
The next morning I was raring to go hammer that big non typical. Ron said he was the highest scoring bull on the place, that was until he saw the one Korey shot and then said they would be very similiar in size. I was thinking it may be possible yet for both of us to bring home a 400" class bull.
We drove out to the far end of the property. Ron said the big non typical and several other mature bulls generally hung out around a couple deep draws on that end of the ranch. Unfortunately he drove up to the first draw and nailed it on the head, the old boy was in there with 5 other bulls, all good bulls but we got to close and blew them out of the draw. I just caught a glimpse of "81K" as he bailed out of the bottom of the draw. There was no mistaking that big non typical point coming off the base of that right antler and hanging a couple feet out of the base.
We decided to give them some time as they were not overly spooked and then we tried to loop around them on foot. First try almost worked but instead of getting ahead of them, we looped right into them and blew them out again. We tried again to look but this time they were moving to fast and got to far ahead of us.
We walked back to the mule and drove around to the other side of the canyon to see if we could glass them down in one of the draws on the other side. When we got there we found plenty of elk but none of the bulls that were in the herd with 81K or him. By this time it was about noon so we took an hour or so for some lunch and talking over where the hell we thought he may have went.
After lunch and a bit of a break we drove back to the other side of the draw where we started. This time we took our time over the draw and I'll be damned if those bulls did not come back to the exact same draw. Only problem this time, the wind!!! We were busted again by an unexpected swirl and unfortunately 81K was the first out the door again. From that point on, we never saw 81K again. We busted that canyon all day, in fact until 6:30 that evening. We caught up to the group of bulls that was with 81K but he was not there. He simply disappeared and no matter where we went we could not catch a glimpse of him. We thought we had finally caught up with them but only to find 81K had dropped out of the herd somewhere.
We talked it over sitting on our tired rears in some thick timber taking a break. To be honest, we were all pretty weak in the legs from walking the steep draws looking at the same damn bulls over and over having no idea where 81K was. We had put over 10 hours into walking this canyon with not even a hint of a shot possibility and only two positive sightings and one maybe sighting.
I asked Ron if the bulls generally came out onto that big flat in the evenings to feed and he said many times they will, at least all the young bulls will come out and alot of the mature ones but every night some of the bigger bulls would stay in the black timber until it was dark and then they would come out.
I told him we might as well take a break for an hour and then set up somewhere where we could see as much of the meadow as possible and just sit there and wait for the evening. If he showed up great, if not, we would start over in the morning and give him a night off from being chased all over. Obviously at this point, he had won that game!!!
We laid back there on the hill for an hour or so and then drove over to an area in the timber and parked right on the edge of the treeline. There were over a dozen smaller bulls already on the flat eating grass. They had had a good bit of rain a week or so before we got there and fresh grass nubs were coming up.
We got set up, Dad was videoing some of the bulls and we watched to pair of bulls put on some entertaining sparing matches. Nothing serious but two of the bigger bulls, "9L" and "12K" pushed each other around a bit which was fun to watch. We were 750 yards from them and you could easily hear those big horns smacking each other with no problem.
After about 30 minutes a couple other mature bulls broke the treeline onto the park and started eating. They were in the group that had been with 81K earlier in the day.
Shortly after them the big boy came out. I got on the rifle and rangefinder and he was 510 yards out but walking dead away from us. I think Ron was a bit worried about me making the shot. He commented the fathest shot he had ever seen on a mature bull elk was around 400 yards. Kind of made me smile as I was watching the bull through the Weaver Tactical set on 14x to make sure he was 81K with those big nontypical points it was not hard to confirm who he was. His body size was just huge. I asked Ron how much he figured he weighted and he guessed over 1100 lbs live weight before the rut for his 8 year old bulls. As I was looking through the scope I commented, "your farthest shot witnesses may be broken tonight!"
81K continued walking dead away for quite a while in that lazy walk that big bulls have. Like their to darn heavy to even move. Then he stopped and to all our suprise, laid down!!! He was laying quartering away from us. The sun was starting to dip pretty low, in fact the shadows from the pines were covering most of the meadow now so I was getting a big worried. Then just as I was about to consider taking a laying shot, a small 4x5 laid down right behind 81K!!! It was like he knew exactly what he was doing.
I told dad to just keep the camera on him as I was going to get set up for a shot if he stood and cleared from the small bull. I ranged him several times. He was so big I only got one measurement 604 yards.
We set there for 20 minutes. The sun was on the ridge by now and I was thinking we would be waiting another day to kill this bull at least. Then all of a sudden he stood up and stretched. I tucked the 2nd mil dot down from the main crosshair right in the shoulder pocket of the big bull before he came to a full stand. He took a couple strides, I figured he covered no more then a few yards, estimated a 607 yard actual shooting range which would not change my hold at all.
I asked to make sure Dad had the camera recording and he gave the go ahead. Seconds later, the trigger broke and the only reaction from the big bull was that he lifted his nose in the air slightly. I raked out the empty and got a fresh round in the chamber in a second. Just as I found the big bull in the scope I heard the THWACK drift back across the +600 yards. Then the big bull lifted up his off side front leg and then took a half falling/trotting semi-circle trot of around 5 strides and fell over on his right side.
When he fell, his offside was laying up and there was a large red stain on the offside just behind the shoulder. Obviously full penetration!!! There were no solid shoulder bones hit but the bull still went down within 25 yards!!!!!
When we got down to him, I damn near fell over. I knew he was a big bull but had no idea how big he really was until I get my hands on him. Ron was even amazed. We took pictures and started getting him ready to haul out.
He was pretty much exactly what we thought he was, only bigger!!! 11 points on the right side, 7 on the left. When we got him skinned, caped and put in the cooler I ran the tape over his rack and came up with the following score sheet:
Measurement Right Left
Main......................................61 5/8......................56 4/8
T1.........................................16 0/8.....................16 5/8
T2.........................................19 0/8.....................17 2/8
T3.........................................no point...................20 4/8
T4.........................................21 0/8.....................24 2/8
T5.........................................4 5/8.......................14 1/8
NT1.......................................3 3/8.........................2 2/8
NT2.......................................25 7/8
NT3.......................................1 4/8
NT4.......................................31 1/8
NT5.......................................17 4/8
NT6.......................................1 4/8
C1........................................11 3/8.......................11 0/8
C2........................................11 3/8.......................8 3/8
C3........................................8 0/8.........................7 6/8
C4........................................10 3/8.......................6 2/8
Length Totals.........................244 2/8....................184 7/8
Inside spread credit.................37 3/8
Total SCI score......................466 4/8
We were all pretty much amazed. Now remember that SCI scoring system is a total inches system with no deductions. Just the total inches that are on the animal which in my opinion is the best way to really represent the true size of an animal. Scored on the Boone and Crocket scoring system, the gross non-typical score would be the same as the SCI but the Net non-typical score would drop to 420" mainly because of the lack of a typical G3 on the right antler by B&C standards. Still a hell of a score but does not represent how big this bull really is.
The performance of the new 265 gr AT RBBT at least in this one example could not have been better for the shot placement. The bullet landed just behind the shoulder on impact leaving a 1/2" entrance wound. Centered a rib going into the chest cavity. Both longs had a continuous 3 to 5" hole bored through them. On exiting the chest cavity the bullet centered another rib and left a 1" exit wound in the hide.
It appeared that expansion was not overly excessive but enough to produce a very respectable permanent wound channel while still retaining enough weight to full penetrate the width of an animal the size of this elk. Could not be happer with it on this shot. More testing to come this big game season as well but so far its off to a hell of a start.
The next morning was much more casual. We headed out to get Dads ram. We had looked over the Fallow but there were none that were really that big and all of them were still in full velvet and dad did not care much for that so he decided he would rather take the ram.
It took us a couple hours to find him but finally we did and dad made a great shot with his 25-284 and put one of the Wildcat 100 gr Bonded Core HPs right behind the shoulder and the ram fell within a few yards of the shot. The range of the shot was around 125 yards in some heavy timber. A good shot.
He is a good ram, 27 1/2 and 28" curls. Significantly bigger then the one Dad shot this spring and he scored 124 5/8" which easily maked the SCI record books, in fact places Dad at 171 in the world in the current record books for hybred sheep species. I only have one ram larger then this one.
He has a really pretty cape as well so I told Dad I would get him shoulder mounted for him for some more shop decoration!!!
After that we headed back to the ranch for lunch and then to start butchering. That took most of the afternoon but we got those two bulls quartered and packed up in the 6 coolers we had and put them back into the cooler to stay cold until we left the next morning. After a good dinner and a good nights sleep we made the trip home with no troubles at all.
Was a great time for all. I will be honest, obviously this is not the same as a wild elk hunt, not one is saying it is close. The physical strains of most back country elk hunts is extreme and generally end with no animal more often then not.
The odds of getting a big bull on this type of hunt are great if you can shoot. The biggest challange is getting what you want and being able to pass on smaller bulls that are still very large and right in front of you many times.
Still, this hunt was much more of a challange then I ever expected which just added to the fun. Got some great field testing, some great pics, some great video and some big critters and best of all some time with family, thats what its all about.
Now its back to the shop to get out some more rifles.
Good shooting and good luck this big game season.
Kirby Allen(50)
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