I see that Deer Slayer let the cat out of the bag so to speak
I ended up being the alternate winner for the OYHSP Elk Hunt raffle. It was a great experience, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The hunt is actually for another day but I had a family emergency so I had to get back home. Luckily, I was able to take care of my business early. So, without further ado, I'll give you the story.
Friday evening I showed up to the lodge in Eagle Nest, NM. If you've never been there, it is a cool little town in a valley among beautiful mountains. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of the other hunters, there were only four of us, and we bs'd a little and headed inside where our cooks, couple of awesome ladies, were waiting for us and had dinner ready. The guides and the other hunter showed up soon after and we had one of many awesome meals. I normally lose weight during elk season but I think I gained weight this year. After dinner we talked a little strategy, got our stuff out and ready to go and hit the rack.
Saturday morning I headed out to the ranch with my guide and we immediately headed up to a meadow where he'd seen some elk the night before. We parked about a quarter mile below the meadow and headed up where we were immediately greeted by a nice 5x5 bull and a couple of cows feeding at one end. We had some pretty good timber cover so I threw my pack down and got myself ready. We watched the elk for a few minutes and were convinced that there were more in there so I waited to see if there was anything bigger. After a few minutes the bull and cows started filtering into the trees and the guide said that things had been slow the last couple weeks and I may want to go ahead and take this bull. I got back on the rifle and tried to catch him before he slipped into the timber but he was already gone. We slipped on up around closer to their side of the meadow to see if we could get eyes on anymore but they had all slipped back into the timber. We decided to ease out of there and come back in the evening to see if we could catch them in the open before dark. We spent the rest of the morning glassing some other areas to see if we could locate other elk, we saw some but still decided we would come back to the meadow that evening and headed back to the lodge for lunch.
Saturday afternoon we headed out and I was feeling pretty confident that I'd at least see the 5x5 again. We drove back up to the same place and as soon as we got out of the vehicle we could hear bulls and cows bugling and mewing and making a lot of racket just above the meadow. We slipped on up below the meadow and set up where I had about a 200 yard shot to the other side and settled in and waited for them to come out of the timber. We could hear at least four different bulls and knew there were a lot of cows there too but we couldn't see them because the timber on the upper side was THICK. After two hours of anticipation we saw a 3x3 bull wander out about 420 yds up the meadow from us and we could tell the whole herd had moved that way so we slipped back and worked our way around to just under 200 yds from the 3x3 and got ourselves set up again. By this time there was only about 45 minutes of shooting light left and we were worried they were going to hang in the timber until it was too dark to shoot and we still hadn't seen the larger sounding bulls. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. They hung tight and we never could see how big the other bulls were. We ended up waiting until we just couldn't make anything out anymore and eased our way back to the vehicle. I know it's only the end of the first day but the guide's advice earlier about maybe shooting the 5x5 were ringing in my ears and I was worried we wouldn't see this bunch again.
Sunday morning we got up and decided we'd go take another crack at the same meadow since we'd had the wind in our favor the previous day and were sure we hadn't spooked anything. We jumped in and headed back out. As we were driving in, we stopped way down in the bottom to glass the meadow and see if we could see anything before we went the rest of the way up. It was just at sunup and the shadows made it tough to make anything out in the binoculars so we started to pull forward, about 200 feet later the guide slams on the brakes and right in front of us is a herd of at least 50 elk! I bailed out of the vehicle and got myself a good shooting rest and waited for the guide to tell me if there was a shooter. He yelled "Second from the back looks like a good bull!" At this point he is only about 150 yds and I swung down and got my scope on him just as he surrounded himself with cows. No shot! So I waited...waited...waited, and about half of the herd is in the timber now and I'm worried he's not going to clear those cows. The guide is still in the vehicle blowing on his cow call trying to get him to slow down, hesitate, or better yet, stop. About 30 yards before he hits the timber line, he all of the sudden stops and turns broadside, quartering slightly away, and looks at us. I'm thinking, man that's a long shot, seemed like it was 450+yds. The guide yells "355!" and I think, "I can hit that" so I squeezed the trigger. Boom! I slammed him hard and he goes down. The guide says, "Get on him again in case he gets up!" and I said "I'm ahead of you!" The bull started to try to get up and just as I was about to put another round into him he slumped down and didn't move again. We literally drove right up to him and it was then I saw he was a decent 6x6, which was at least what I was hoping to see. I was pumped and the guide was pumped. He told me I was the first rifle hunter he's had this season that's made a one shot kill so I was feeling pretty good. I hit him right behind the left shoulder and the bullet took out the lungs and lodged between the hide and muscle just in front of his right shoulder. I used a Remington 700 XCR 300wsm and 180gr Winchester Ballistic Silvertip factory ammo, did the job nicely.
I've hunted elk off and on for about 22 years and this is my first bull. I'm pretty thrilled with him, he's no booker but he'll fit nicely on my wall.
Here's the trophy shot, notice the frost still on his mane. His headgear was still frosted up too.
Picture of the sunrise on the eastern side of the ranch.
You can see the meadow we hunted on Saturday just below the tree line.
Picture of the general area where the herd ran through, I hit him in the area straight through the center of the picture just before he got into the thick timber.
Steaks!
I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to participate in this hunt. I will say, however, that I've been more thankful for the opportunity that I've had to help out with the OYHSP over the past couple of years as a hunt guide and through the selling of raffle tickets. It is a program that I have a deep respect for and I have a genuine admiration for the guys on the board, like Deer Slayer, that put so much time and effort into creating life long memories for kids who normally would not be able to participate in these great activities that many of us take for granted. If you get the opportunity to help out in any way, it is a very fulfilling experience that you will not regret.
I ended up being the alternate winner for the OYHSP Elk Hunt raffle. It was a great experience, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The hunt is actually for another day but I had a family emergency so I had to get back home. Luckily, I was able to take care of my business early. So, without further ado, I'll give you the story.Friday evening I showed up to the lodge in Eagle Nest, NM. If you've never been there, it is a cool little town in a valley among beautiful mountains. I had the opportunity to meet a couple of the other hunters, there were only four of us, and we bs'd a little and headed inside where our cooks, couple of awesome ladies, were waiting for us and had dinner ready. The guides and the other hunter showed up soon after and we had one of many awesome meals. I normally lose weight during elk season but I think I gained weight this year. After dinner we talked a little strategy, got our stuff out and ready to go and hit the rack.
Saturday morning I headed out to the ranch with my guide and we immediately headed up to a meadow where he'd seen some elk the night before. We parked about a quarter mile below the meadow and headed up where we were immediately greeted by a nice 5x5 bull and a couple of cows feeding at one end. We had some pretty good timber cover so I threw my pack down and got myself ready. We watched the elk for a few minutes and were convinced that there were more in there so I waited to see if there was anything bigger. After a few minutes the bull and cows started filtering into the trees and the guide said that things had been slow the last couple weeks and I may want to go ahead and take this bull. I got back on the rifle and tried to catch him before he slipped into the timber but he was already gone. We slipped on up around closer to their side of the meadow to see if we could get eyes on anymore but they had all slipped back into the timber. We decided to ease out of there and come back in the evening to see if we could catch them in the open before dark. We spent the rest of the morning glassing some other areas to see if we could locate other elk, we saw some but still decided we would come back to the meadow that evening and headed back to the lodge for lunch.
Saturday afternoon we headed out and I was feeling pretty confident that I'd at least see the 5x5 again. We drove back up to the same place and as soon as we got out of the vehicle we could hear bulls and cows bugling and mewing and making a lot of racket just above the meadow. We slipped on up below the meadow and set up where I had about a 200 yard shot to the other side and settled in and waited for them to come out of the timber. We could hear at least four different bulls and knew there were a lot of cows there too but we couldn't see them because the timber on the upper side was THICK. After two hours of anticipation we saw a 3x3 bull wander out about 420 yds up the meadow from us and we could tell the whole herd had moved that way so we slipped back and worked our way around to just under 200 yds from the 3x3 and got ourselves set up again. By this time there was only about 45 minutes of shooting light left and we were worried they were going to hang in the timber until it was too dark to shoot and we still hadn't seen the larger sounding bulls. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. They hung tight and we never could see how big the other bulls were. We ended up waiting until we just couldn't make anything out anymore and eased our way back to the vehicle. I know it's only the end of the first day but the guide's advice earlier about maybe shooting the 5x5 were ringing in my ears and I was worried we wouldn't see this bunch again.
Sunday morning we got up and decided we'd go take another crack at the same meadow since we'd had the wind in our favor the previous day and were sure we hadn't spooked anything. We jumped in and headed back out. As we were driving in, we stopped way down in the bottom to glass the meadow and see if we could see anything before we went the rest of the way up. It was just at sunup and the shadows made it tough to make anything out in the binoculars so we started to pull forward, about 200 feet later the guide slams on the brakes and right in front of us is a herd of at least 50 elk! I bailed out of the vehicle and got myself a good shooting rest and waited for the guide to tell me if there was a shooter. He yelled "Second from the back looks like a good bull!" At this point he is only about 150 yds and I swung down and got my scope on him just as he surrounded himself with cows. No shot! So I waited...waited...waited, and about half of the herd is in the timber now and I'm worried he's not going to clear those cows. The guide is still in the vehicle blowing on his cow call trying to get him to slow down, hesitate, or better yet, stop. About 30 yards before he hits the timber line, he all of the sudden stops and turns broadside, quartering slightly away, and looks at us. I'm thinking, man that's a long shot, seemed like it was 450+yds. The guide yells "355!" and I think, "I can hit that" so I squeezed the trigger. Boom! I slammed him hard and he goes down. The guide says, "Get on him again in case he gets up!" and I said "I'm ahead of you!" The bull started to try to get up and just as I was about to put another round into him he slumped down and didn't move again. We literally drove right up to him and it was then I saw he was a decent 6x6, which was at least what I was hoping to see. I was pumped and the guide was pumped. He told me I was the first rifle hunter he's had this season that's made a one shot kill so I was feeling pretty good. I hit him right behind the left shoulder and the bullet took out the lungs and lodged between the hide and muscle just in front of his right shoulder. I used a Remington 700 XCR 300wsm and 180gr Winchester Ballistic Silvertip factory ammo, did the job nicely.
I've hunted elk off and on for about 22 years and this is my first bull. I'm pretty thrilled with him, he's no booker but he'll fit nicely on my wall.
Here's the trophy shot, notice the frost still on his mane. His headgear was still frosted up too.
Picture of the sunrise on the eastern side of the ranch.
You can see the meadow we hunted on Saturday just below the tree line.
Picture of the general area where the herd ran through, I hit him in the area straight through the center of the picture just before he got into the thick timber.
Steaks!
I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to participate in this hunt. I will say, however, that I've been more thankful for the opportunity that I've had to help out with the OYHSP over the past couple of years as a hunt guide and through the selling of raffle tickets. It is a program that I have a deep respect for and I have a genuine admiration for the guys on the board, like Deer Slayer, that put so much time and effort into creating life long memories for kids who normally would not be able to participate in these great activities that many of us take for granted. If you get the opportunity to help out in any way, it is a very fulfilling experience that you will not regret.
Saw some, but it's hard hunting on the mesa's. 
