Thought I would share my hunt with you all.
Well I finally got drawn for muzzy elk in Mtn. View 172 this year. We have been rifle hunting this area for quite a few years and I couldn’t have been more exited as this season approached. Since the season was 12 days I decide that I would pass on any bull not 5 x 5 or larger for the first 6 days of the season. On the afternoon of day 1 we decided to hunt our way back toward camp when we heard a bull bugle on the bench below us. We weren’t able move toward the bull due to the terrain (nearly a cliff). The bull was moving around the bench tearing up brush and small trees while giving us short glimpses of himself but not a shot for about 45 minutes. I did see that he was a 5x5. We could see him moving toward a narrow opening that I was hoping would give me a shot. That opening ranged 89 yards. Sure enough he moved into the opening and stopped giving me a broadside shot. I took the shot and the bull lunged into the brush. At the same time a branch came falling out of a tree between me and the bull. That started the conversation………….did you hit him…….I’m pretty sure…….did the shot feel good……….yeah……..what about the falling branch………I don’t know………you think it deflected the bullet………I don’t know. Kind of a stressful situation not knowing and all. After giving it some time we decided to get down there and see if we could find some blood when my brother grabbed my arm and gave me a shh and whispered I hear him down there moving. Sure enough we saw him in the brush……….feeding! Guess he’s not hit. Then he started moving toward the edge of the bench without giving another shot when my brother gave him a cow call. He responded by turning and moving back toward the narrow opening where I had taken my first shot. As he stepped into the opening I pulled the trigger and he dropped in his tracks without so much as a step. As we approached him we saw that he had a weird rack. His left side was normal with 5 points but his right side while also having 5 points was smaller and came out of his forehead. Definitely gives him some character. We quartered him and started hauling him out in the dark. From the time we first made contact with him until he was on the ground was about 2 hours making for a lot of excitement.
He was shot with a Knight Bighorn using 110 gr of Pyrodex RS and 495 gr No Excuses conical. It did its job.
Hopefully the pics work.
Take care,
Mike
