2019 Success

Been having a pretty good year with the rifle already.

First weekend of rifle here in MT I found this elk bedded at daybreak. I waited for a few minutes until he stood, then 1 shot with the 6.5x284 at 400 yards put him right back in his bed. This was my first elk.

4 days later I was off to SW Colorado for a 3rd season mule deer hunt. With a full freezer at home I was planning on helping a couple of buddies fill their first deer tags, but ended up by myself on the second day when I caught this guy moving early in the morning. I got set up and made a 525 yard shot with the same 6.5x284. The buck was 26" wide and green scored right at 170" gross.


Best part is I still have a deer tag in my pocket here in MT and a couple of more weekends to hunt. Hoping to add a nice whitetail for the trifecta.

Congrats! Fine looking trophies you have there. You are going to need another freezer if your luck continues!

Nice job! What bullet?

cjl2010 said:

Nice job! What bullet?

Click to expand...

Put the rifle together late last year but haven't had time to do any load development so I was shooting HSM Match 142 SMK at 3100fps out of a 28" proof barrel. Both animals took one just behind the shoulder that went off like a grenade behind the ribs. The elk never took another step at 400 yards and the deer spun around and maybe went 10 yards. Probably won't use these in the long run but they seem to be working while I burn through the couple of boxes I bought.

You should try the lottery with the luck you're having! Good shooting, thanks for sharing that with us.

I wanna see the whitetail.....kept at it...
I am also trying for a WT....when i can skip work and finally make the 12 hour drive to north idaho......been there a few times...still havent killed a buck......time is running out.....

Two nice trophy's KEEP IT UP

Man, that is a very nice mulie. A nice whitetail will be a hat trick.

Wow congrats & thks hope you get your Whitetail for your tripple !!!

Wow, I can't imagine taking two animals of that caliber in one decade, much less one season. You guys living out west are so lucky. I miss Colorado (I can thank the Army for taking me out there and then making me leave! Ha). I hope to get back out there sooner than later, but I've got a great job and a great setup for my family right now. Hard to walk away from that when the kids are young.

Congratulations......Ya done real good! Both are fine animals and something to be proud of! Nice shoot'n, also! memtb

Very Nice! Good luck in MT...

Awesome! I'm having the opposite season as you! LOL

Sweet run of luck. Congrats!