Big Bull down in CO

[TonyQ]

I just came back from a hunt in southern CO. The elk was shot at 450 yards with a 300 weatherby pushing a 230gr Berger at 3032fps. I felt pretty lucky to get the elk because we only had about 15 minutes of shooting time left and he was moving so it was pretty hard to setup for the shot. My friend spotted the bull I grab my rangefinder then looked at my shooter app dialed in the scope and took the shot all in about 45 secs when the elk stopped for a brief moment. I took the rack to the taxidermist and he scored it at 340 and a bull of a life time for me. Man was it a great hunt sorry there was not more pictures but all the work was done at night but here are a couple. Thanks for reading

 

[jackem]

Great shot and trophy, Congrats!

 

[PowellSixO]

Awesome story, and great bull. Any bull over 300" is a trophy in my mind. Congrats on a good shot, and a great animal. Thanks for sharing.

 

[TonyQ]

Thanks guys also just a note on the 230 Bergers we found no blood. It looked like a lung shot but we did not gut the animal it was only a guess by the bullet hole. It was a smal bullet entrance with no exit. The bull ran about 50 yards before expiring. Bullet velocity on impact was est at 2608 fps and 3473 of energy.

 

[maxcarp]

Pleased to hear a field report on the Berger bullets performance on elk.I used a 165gr Berger bullet on a Mulie last yr with darn near perfect results.I did listen to the critics of the Bergers performance on elk and opted for the Federal Tipped Trophy Bonded load this yr while hunting elk,with great results.The more info we have from real world results,the more informed choices are open to us

 

[TonyQ]

This is the 2nd bull I have shot with the Berger hybrids. Both did not go very far but both did not leave a blood trail. I hope I keep on getting good shot placement and having the bullets do its jobs becuse tracking down animal would be tough without a blood trail.

 

[bayjoe]

Nice bull!!!
Hunting has been a little hard down here, with the weather being so warm.

 

[TonyQ]

The weather was pretty warm for us also we were seeing elk in places that we had never seen them before. I have been hunting the same area for 5 years now so I thought I had them figured out. My buddy who came with me never hunted the area is the one who spotted it. It was good to have someone with fresh eyes who scanned in different places that I didn't look. I hope to get him an elk next year to pay back the favor.

 

[bayjoe]

I did see a herd of around 30 animals east of Walsenburg on highway 10.
They were on private land.
It is really suprising how many elk are now east of I-25
All on private land so only a few lucky people will get to hunt them.

 

[TonyQ]

I grew up in pueblo when I was younger and I know for a fact there are some monster bulls east of I-25. Yep all on private land that I will never get a chance to hunt. I hunt in a over the counter area and I am trying to save up for trinchera ranch. I did a hunt there with a buddy who drew it and man was that special.

 

[bayjoe]

Oh man yeah there are some monsters on the Trinchera. two years ago I saw 2 big bull elk total a chevy pickup. Killed both bulls and totaled the truck.
I know a guy that took a huge bull on the south side of 160 just across from the east end of the Trinchera
Good luck!!!

 

[TonyQ]

I just got them mount back and dropped it at the artist house. On this mount he is doing an American flag on it. He did a great job on the last one here is a pic of it.

 

[cohunter14]

Looks great! That's pretty cool what the artist did for you on that other one as well. What does he charge for something like that?

 

[TonyQ]

I had the taxidermist do the European mount then the artist will do his thing on it. He will do a American flag on the new one. My last one was his first one he did and he charged me 300. His business has boomed from it and now it costing me 700. Talk about a big price jump.