Here are a couple pictures of my Oregon Roosevelt bull. I had hiked in about 5 miles from our camp to the top of one of the mountains where i could glass around and actually see a little ways in this thick country. After spending a couple hours up top a not seeing a darn thing, but hearing three other bulls getting taken out not to far from me down in the thick timber, (I assume at least from the amount of shooting going on.) I started the long, steep down hill trek back to camp. About a mile down the mountain i hit a little bit of a clearing and i heard crashes in front of me. I thought it was a couple friends from my hunting party since my garmin rhino said they were only .3 miles a head of me the last time i had checked it. I stopped anyways just in case. Then I saw black legs, but only 2, so i really thought it was my buddies and started walking towards them. A couple steps later I saw a cow and immediately froze. I watched were she had just walked by and saw cow, cow, bull!! They were moving at a pretty good pace and it was so thick that i didn't get a good view of him, much less a shot, but i saw the direction they were heading. I turned to where I thought they were going to come into view and maybe get a shot and I put my savage .308 to my shoulder and watched through my scope as I saw cow, cow, cow, bull, BOOM!! It felt like a good shot. I stood up and took a step to the right where I could hopefully see which way he was going. What I saw at that point scared me just a little bit. A very large bull Roosevelt elk running straight at me. At about 10 yards from me he turned and took off down hill toward my left (which was also the direction of camp as well 
), and i could see blood on his chest on the opposite side from where my 165gr barnes tsx hit him. After relaxing for a couple minutes i started walking the direction he ran. I never saw a drop of blood on the ground, but he had kicked the dirt up enough as he was running that it was easy to track him. Around 100 yards from where I shot him he was laying there dead. I was very excited to see him up close. He is the biggest Roosevelt I have ever harvested both rack and body size.
Then the fun started, four miles to camp and losing daylight. At least I have some good friends and family that i was hunting with and they all came over to help me pack it out. By the next afternoon I had the entire animal except for the gut pile back at camp. The pack in the picture weighed about 130lbs and was loaded with the half of the ribcage that still had the spine attached and the hide. I had to carry the neck out by hand since I was out of room on my pack and I didn't want to make another trip. I was was dead tired after that one, but I am big into using as much of the animal as possible, so it was worth it.
I will never forget that hunt. It is the annual family hunt and my grandfather does not have too many left in him. The rifle is a factory savage 10fcpk in .308 Winchester shooting factory federal premium ammunition loaded with 165gr barnes tsx. There is a long story for why I didn't use hand loads, but that will have to wait since this post is long enough. The shot was just under 50 yards. I hope you enjoyed my story and pictures since it is the first one I have shared with you fine folks.
), and i could see blood on his chest on the opposite side from where my 165gr barnes tsx hit him. After relaxing for a couple minutes i started walking the direction he ran. I never saw a drop of blood on the ground, but he had kicked the dirt up enough as he was running that it was easy to track him. Around 100 yards from where I shot him he was laying there dead. I was very excited to see him up close. He is the biggest Roosevelt I have ever harvested both rack and body size. Then the fun started, four miles to camp and losing daylight. At least I have some good friends and family that i was hunting with and they all came over to help me pack it out. By the next afternoon I had the entire animal except for the gut pile back at camp. The pack in the picture weighed about 130lbs and was loaded with the half of the ribcage that still had the spine attached and the hide. I had to carry the neck out by hand since I was out of room on my pack and I didn't want to make another trip. I was was dead tired after that one, but I am big into using as much of the animal as possible, so it was worth it.
I will never forget that hunt. It is the annual family hunt and my grandfather does not have too many left in him. The rifle is a factory savage 10fcpk in .308 Winchester shooting factory federal premium ammunition loaded with 165gr barnes tsx. There is a long story for why I didn't use hand loads, but that will have to wait since this post is long enough. The shot was just under 50 yards. I hope you enjoyed my story and pictures since it is the first one I have shared with you fine folks.
