HuntFarther
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2012
- Messages
- 812
So It has been a really long season I set out to shoot a good bull or die trying. I have hunted since opening day of Montana big game season which was October 26. In that time I missed one day that I could not hunt. The season started out chasing a big bull I seen in archery and got video of and some pics. I could not find this bull for the life of me. And the area that I am hunting gets hunted hard, right at 26,000 days a season by the hunters that are polled and for 150 bulls. The people that hunt this are after a legal bull which is a browtine area. Which in return does not allow for few bulls to mature. So in the process of hunting this bull from archery season I am at a lost. I have sat on every different vantage point glassing all the main parks for the area he is in, and always with no luck. One day I decided to try something else and find a new bull, was a good day really cold and good new snow. Seen some rags and small sixes, nothing I wanted. So decided was still so early I am going to run over and see if I can find the big bull. As I pull up to look at the park where I last seen him could not believe it. He is in the middle of the park and it is around 9 a.m. Here he is at 1975 yards and no easy way to get close. But from archery season I knew there was a point if I could get to it and he would be less than 1000 yards. I hustled the .91 miles up to it and he is still there feeding along the timber. I laid down he was 1075 yards. I kept telling myself you can't shoot if you don't calm yourself. I tried and tried to calm my breathing and then he turned and walked out of my life. I hunted hard for him and could not turn him up.
So last weekend I had to get horses off of pasture and bring back for the winter. Decided to take the horse trailer and go hunt around where the horses are at. Could not turn anything up that was on public. Really hard hunting, and in the process I was driving down the road and noticed I have a prestone leak. Could not figure it out. So dropped my trailer at the horses and headed home to fix whatever it was. Ended up just being the water pump. Got that fixed and decided today to go a different way to hunt my way to get the horses and trailer.
It was just breaking daylight when I was sitting on a point I glass bears from but have never hunted elk here. I thought to my self when it gets light I am going to glass this park that every time I look at it in bear season has bulls in it. As soon as I could see the park and my leica spotting scope hit it, there stood a 330-340 type bull. I look underneath him and there was 4 other bulls. One I was thinking a 300 class six and three rags. I glass the big bull again and he is feeding towards the timber. I am beat down from hunting and I am leaving for deer hunting this weekend told myself. If I can get a chance at either six I am shooting one. From this point to the elk is 3-3.5 miles. So I take off the point to the highway and head up the highway. I hunted this in bear season and know the road goes under the park. So stopped just behind the ridge and started walking up the park. I break the small ridge and instantly knew they were out of range. I start walking from one little tree to the next until I ran out of trees. I start glassing and the big bull was at the edge of the timber. I quickly range and it came back 1655 yards. I thought to far, so turn to the other bulls looking for the other six. I find him they are still out in the open, one rag was still laying down. Then it was time to go. They all started walking. I range the smaller six 1345, as soon as I get a range he starts walking. I stayed ranging 1345, 1357, 1365, 1380, and my last one was 1399 and 36.5 moa. I noticed for about every 25 yards it was going 1-1.2 moa more. I see this tree in the park where he was walking had good grass under it. I thought he is going to hold up there for a min. Ranged ahead 1435 I dialed 37.7 moa and leveled my scope on him. He walks up and soon as he stopped I sent it. My first thought was I missed and not even a reaction, and as soon as I got that thought out of my head I see is hind end go out from underneath him and then he regained his footing to turn around a fall down. So he hits the ground and the other rags are trying to figure out what just happened and then the sound wave must have arrived they all jumped and ran about 10 yards and stood there. Then I hear "whaaap". It was so crazy to watch all this happen so quick but like in time lapse speed.
The bull was angeling hard away I aimed for the last rib and the bullet should come out infront of off side shoulder. I ended up hitting him in front of the flank and traveled all the way up through his chest cavity. The gut, liver and lungs knew they were hit. The damage in him was extensive. I didn't cut his brisket so it did not fill with junk on the drag out. And when I got home and started skinning could not believe what I found, or didn't find. I could not find where the bullet hit him. Then finally found the hole of entrance, and drew the conclusion the bullet blew and was in the vitals and left on the hill. So he is all skinned and I cut the brisket and started cutting the wind pipe left in him out and something falls out. It was the bullet.
I was completely shocked when I found it. I thought it did such a tremendous job to look like this. I am not nocking the bullet, it hammered this bull. He knew he was hit. But if I never found the bullet would never have dreamed once this is what it looked like if I found it. So what does this say, the bull was a sissy or we have the wrong idea of what bullets should do or how they need to preform to work? Either way he could not have been any deader that what he was. So I am not disappointed, at all even with my findings. I will get pics of the entrance, I didn't lose one pound of meat.
Here is the info.
338 edge
300 berger otm
2830 fps
Nightforce g7 scope
g7 br2 rangefinder
Harris swivel bipod and eberlestock pack for rear support.
bullet impact at
1638fps
1788ft pounds
tof 2.004sec.
So last weekend I had to get horses off of pasture and bring back for the winter. Decided to take the horse trailer and go hunt around where the horses are at. Could not turn anything up that was on public. Really hard hunting, and in the process I was driving down the road and noticed I have a prestone leak. Could not figure it out. So dropped my trailer at the horses and headed home to fix whatever it was. Ended up just being the water pump. Got that fixed and decided today to go a different way to hunt my way to get the horses and trailer.
It was just breaking daylight when I was sitting on a point I glass bears from but have never hunted elk here. I thought to my self when it gets light I am going to glass this park that every time I look at it in bear season has bulls in it. As soon as I could see the park and my leica spotting scope hit it, there stood a 330-340 type bull. I look underneath him and there was 4 other bulls. One I was thinking a 300 class six and three rags. I glass the big bull again and he is feeding towards the timber. I am beat down from hunting and I am leaving for deer hunting this weekend told myself. If I can get a chance at either six I am shooting one. From this point to the elk is 3-3.5 miles. So I take off the point to the highway and head up the highway. I hunted this in bear season and know the road goes under the park. So stopped just behind the ridge and started walking up the park. I break the small ridge and instantly knew they were out of range. I start walking from one little tree to the next until I ran out of trees. I start glassing and the big bull was at the edge of the timber. I quickly range and it came back 1655 yards. I thought to far, so turn to the other bulls looking for the other six. I find him they are still out in the open, one rag was still laying down. Then it was time to go. They all started walking. I range the smaller six 1345, as soon as I get a range he starts walking. I stayed ranging 1345, 1357, 1365, 1380, and my last one was 1399 and 36.5 moa. I noticed for about every 25 yards it was going 1-1.2 moa more. I see this tree in the park where he was walking had good grass under it. I thought he is going to hold up there for a min. Ranged ahead 1435 I dialed 37.7 moa and leveled my scope on him. He walks up and soon as he stopped I sent it. My first thought was I missed and not even a reaction, and as soon as I got that thought out of my head I see is hind end go out from underneath him and then he regained his footing to turn around a fall down. So he hits the ground and the other rags are trying to figure out what just happened and then the sound wave must have arrived they all jumped and ran about 10 yards and stood there. Then I hear "whaaap". It was so crazy to watch all this happen so quick but like in time lapse speed.
The bull was angeling hard away I aimed for the last rib and the bullet should come out infront of off side shoulder. I ended up hitting him in front of the flank and traveled all the way up through his chest cavity. The gut, liver and lungs knew they were hit. The damage in him was extensive. I didn't cut his brisket so it did not fill with junk on the drag out. And when I got home and started skinning could not believe what I found, or didn't find. I could not find where the bullet hit him. Then finally found the hole of entrance, and drew the conclusion the bullet blew and was in the vitals and left on the hill. So he is all skinned and I cut the brisket and started cutting the wind pipe left in him out and something falls out. It was the bullet.
I was completely shocked when I found it. I thought it did such a tremendous job to look like this. I am not nocking the bullet, it hammered this bull. He knew he was hit. But if I never found the bullet would never have dreamed once this is what it looked like if I found it. So what does this say, the bull was a sissy or we have the wrong idea of what bullets should do or how they need to preform to work? Either way he could not have been any deader that what he was. So I am not disappointed, at all even with my findings. I will get pics of the entrance, I didn't lose one pound of meat.
Here is the info.
338 edge
300 berger otm
2830 fps
Nightforce g7 scope
g7 br2 rangefinder
Harris swivel bipod and eberlestock pack for rear support.
bullet impact at
1638fps
1788ft pounds
tof 2.004sec.
