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Author Topic: Wyoming Elk  (Read 3794 times)

Offline Ellensburg

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Wyoming Elk
« on: October 25, 2016, 08:26:09 PM »
First year trying out of state. A buddy and I drew a Wyoming General Elk tag. I popped out 2 hernias 2 months before the season. Thought i was going to have to cancel the trip I've been planning for 6 months, but against everyone's advice, I kept with the plan.

We met up with a friend in Pinedale. They showed us a couple of general areas.

Hunting was tough. 9,000ft of elevation. 15-25 degree lows and 20mph winds.

The first 2 days we did not see anything except some beautiful land.







We got dumped on. The weather was sunny one minute, and a blizzard the next. The good news was, this got the elk moving.





By day 4, we had put a lot of miles on the boots and had nothing to show for it. I had glassed some elk from a mile away. We tracked some in the snow to no avail, but did track a big bull and cow moose.

The locals were super nice. We only ran into maybe 7 hunters during the 6 days we spent in Wyoming, and they were all very nice. We all shared info about where we were seeing elk/sign.

On day 5 we were driving up to a spot at around 9300ft elevation, when we saw a group of 6 cows cross the road. They were @ 800 yards away, and were hesitant to cross. The cows were looking back into the woods and calling. I worked my way to a rocky point while my friend made a big loop through the woods that the cows had came out of. It was 15 degrees out so I figured I was going to get cold, but things heated up quick.

It took all of 5 minutes for a spike to show himself.

I cleared away the 12 inches of snow on the rock in front of me and got steady. I ranged him at 450 yards but he was working his way towards me. I held still and let him get into a more comfortable range.

He darted across the road below me and stopped at 350. As I put my crosshairs on him, I noticed a small rock 10 yards in front of me was in my line of sight. I had to wait for him to move again.

He took off running again across the flats. As he was getting close to the timbers I let out a loud grunt and he stopped dead in his tracks.

The new Tikka 300 win mag with 180 gr barnes dropped him like a rock @326 yards. He never took another step.







I had the spike cut up and loaded into the truck before my buddy got back to me. I got lucky because he was only 40 yards off the road.  :chuckle:

Back at camp:





Nothing special, but a trophy to me. As recent as a month ago, I was not sure I could make it due to the pain. I bought a nice hernia belt and it keeps my guts from popping out, but was super uncomfortable.

My buddy shot a cow later on that day and I helped him get that cut up and packed out.







Got to put some new gear to the test this hunt. Proved a lot to myself, and we have 2 freezers full of good clean meat. Wyoming was a blast, and I look forward to going back again.

 



Offline trophyhunt

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2016, 08:51:56 PM »
Great story, congrats. Nice looking country!
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Offline Widgeondeke

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #2 on: October 25, 2016, 09:08:16 PM »
Looks like a good time.  Congrats  :tup:

Offline hunting4sanity

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2016, 09:32:26 PM »
Congratulations on the elk and the freezers full of some great meat!
Disappointments are inevitable, misery is optional.

Offline muleyslayer

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2016, 10:15:57 PM »
Nice elk! Looks like a fun area to hunt.  :tup:

Offline Ghost Hunter

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2016, 03:28:33 PM »
Way to get it done!  The best eats there.  Just got back from 5 weeks WY elk hunting.  The weather helped us finally get it done.  Lost 15 lbs chasing elk.   
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Offline bowhunterforever

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2016, 09:05:59 PM »
Nice work :tup:
You sure you know how to skin griz pilgram

Offline Stickerbush

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2016, 07:40:40 AM »
I went on this trip as well, was able to harvest my first big game animal a cow elk. This really was a cool adventure, I've attempted big game hunting around Washington for a few years now and haven't been successful. So it was nice to have a change of scenery and hunt some new areas. For those that are on the fence about hunting out of state, if you are bored with your current situation or just looking for new adventures I would say do it! Randy Newberg has a great article on budgeting an out of state hunt for 1000 dollars. I would say this is pretty accurate based on our trip. To agree with what Ellensburg said, the local hunters where super friendly and helpful, not at all what I expected as attitude toward out of state hunters. Pretty stoked that I was able to harvest an elk and my buddy as well. It may not be a big deal to some but the meat is my trophy and this was a memorable hunt. To anybody that is on the fence about doing something like this, I'd say get out there and do it right now!
Coastal Perspective.

Offline carpsniperg2

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Re: Wyoming Elk
« Reply #8 on: October 30, 2016, 08:23:01 AM »
Any elk is a trophy they are not easy to come by, congrats guys.
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