I had been putting in for bull elk in NV for the last 15 years and finally drew my tag. The area that I drew was not my first choice but still a good zone. This year I had a new 300 win mag being built for me. When I was notified that I had drawn this tag I started to panic a little because my rifle was not done. I have posted this in another thread so I won't go into to much detail. I received my rifle about three weeks prior to my hunt opening. That gave me a total of 6 days of shooting to get a load worked up, break in the barrel, and get it dialed in. Obviously a little more rushed than I would have preferred. But thanks to Rock Creek barrels for being so easy to break in I got it done. The rifle shot great and a decent load was pretty easy to come by. I practiced out to 600 yards and felt very comfortable at that range shooting 4" groups consistently.
We saw bulls from the first light the first day. But getting in on them in pretty much open country proved very difficult. It amazed me how an animal that big could disappear that easily. I have hunted elk before but not in this type of terrain. High desert mountains with sage brush and small patches of quakies.
Finally on day three we saw a group of 4 bulls with what we thought were two shooters. My goal was a bull that would score over 300". These bulls were probably a mile and half away. We watched them all bed down and then the stalk began. We made good time closing the distance. My buddy asked me at one point what was my comfortable shooting distance. 500 yards was were I had set my limit. I knew I was comfortable farther but only under the right conditions. After about an hour we closed the distance to 540 yards. This was as close as we could get without getting busted since we were completely out in the open. The problem was that we were down in a valley and the bulls were high up on the mountain, making a difficult uphill shot. I couldn't get an angle off my bipod. My buddy took his spotting scope off of his tripod which gave me a relatively stable platform to shoot off of. Then it was a matter of waiting for the bulls to stand up. This took about an hour. Finally they stood up and it gave me a decent broadside shot. I had a bit of the shakes and had to pull off the rifle on a couple of occasions to calm myself. The group of bulls had no idea we were there so there was not a huge rush to get the shot. One last range and double check my dope. The shot seemed to take forever. At the shot the muzzle jump took me off target. My buddy whispers "you missed, just below his chest". I was confused. The shot felt great. How did I miss? The bulls just stood there trying to figure out what just happened. I double checked by scope and realized that I had dialed 8 moa not 9 like I should have. After adding the extra MOA I got back on the tripod and let a second shot rip. This time there was the distinct "Whack". The bull stumbled and turned straight on with me. I let the third shot fly and struck him in the center of the chest. This time he was down. We watched him for a while to make sure he was down and then started up the mountain towards him. When we got within 30 yards of him he stood up. Surprised the hell out of both of us. One more shot at the base of his skull sealed the deal. And then the work began. I have never considered elk all that tough. All my previous have been one shot kills. This guy was tough. The first shot had been high shoulder with complete pass through breaking both shoulders. The second took out one lung and the bullet recovered in offside hip.
Sorry for the long winded story. But this was a great learning experience for me. I learned to triple check by data, elk are truly tough critters, and make sure your boots fit perfectly as the blisters on my heels are still healing. In the end this was a hunt of a lifetime and I have a great bull at the taxidermist and a full freezer.
We saw bulls from the first light the first day. But getting in on them in pretty much open country proved very difficult. It amazed me how an animal that big could disappear that easily. I have hunted elk before but not in this type of terrain. High desert mountains with sage brush and small patches of quakies.
Finally on day three we saw a group of 4 bulls with what we thought were two shooters. My goal was a bull that would score over 300". These bulls were probably a mile and half away. We watched them all bed down and then the stalk began. We made good time closing the distance. My buddy asked me at one point what was my comfortable shooting distance. 500 yards was were I had set my limit. I knew I was comfortable farther but only under the right conditions. After about an hour we closed the distance to 540 yards. This was as close as we could get without getting busted since we were completely out in the open. The problem was that we were down in a valley and the bulls were high up on the mountain, making a difficult uphill shot. I couldn't get an angle off my bipod. My buddy took his spotting scope off of his tripod which gave me a relatively stable platform to shoot off of. Then it was a matter of waiting for the bulls to stand up. This took about an hour. Finally they stood up and it gave me a decent broadside shot. I had a bit of the shakes and had to pull off the rifle on a couple of occasions to calm myself. The group of bulls had no idea we were there so there was not a huge rush to get the shot. One last range and double check my dope. The shot seemed to take forever. At the shot the muzzle jump took me off target. My buddy whispers "you missed, just below his chest". I was confused. The shot felt great. How did I miss? The bulls just stood there trying to figure out what just happened. I double checked by scope and realized that I had dialed 8 moa not 9 like I should have. After adding the extra MOA I got back on the tripod and let a second shot rip. This time there was the distinct "Whack". The bull stumbled and turned straight on with me. I let the third shot fly and struck him in the center of the chest. This time he was down. We watched him for a while to make sure he was down and then started up the mountain towards him. When we got within 30 yards of him he stood up. Surprised the hell out of both of us. One more shot at the base of his skull sealed the deal. And then the work began. I have never considered elk all that tough. All my previous have been one shot kills. This guy was tough. The first shot had been high shoulder with complete pass through breaking both shoulders. The second took out one lung and the bullet recovered in offside hip.
Sorry for the long winded story. But this was a great learning experience for me. I learned to triple check by data, elk are truly tough critters, and make sure your boots fit perfectly as the blisters on my heels are still healing. In the end this was a hunt of a lifetime and I have a great bull at the taxidermist and a full freezer.
