Wyoming Elk

[Bookworm]

Just got back from my Wyoming elk hunt this morning. The wife and I left Aberdeen on the 15th. We drove to Post Falls that evening, we didn't leave from Aberdeen until about 1 p.m. Got up the next morning and took off on I-90. We got just east of Wallace when the truck developed a noise in the front end. I pulled over and tried to find out what the noise was but couldn't find anything. We got back on I-90 and headed for Missoula. We took our time hoping not to break anything and got there with no problems. We found the Les Schwab store and about two hours later we were back on the road. The Les Schwab store in Aberdeen had balanced my tires the morning before and one of the clips that hold the pads to the calipers had caught one of the wheel weights causing my noise. We had planned on going down to south eastern Wyoming to visit the wifes old family ranch around Centenial but with loosing about half a days travel we ended up just driving down to Thermopolis instead.Now for the good stuff. We met my outfitter Sunday about one, loaded up the eight hunters and took off for camp.There was only one other elk hunter besides myself. We drove in a couple of miles and stopped to have everyone shoot their guns to check them. A couple of the guys made some adjustments and we were on the way to camp again. Once we left the flats and started up the hills we came up against the base of the mountain we would be hunting. The lead truck stopped and started glassing so everyone else did also. I about sh#t my pants after I put my glasses up, there were elk everywhere! There were at least four hundred head of elk right in front of us. We looked for a little while then took off for camp again. We got to camp, got everything squared away and started glassing around camp. On the ridge to the southeast of camp there was a herd of about 150 elk. Talk about an elk hunters paradise! After dinner they figured out who was going to hunt where and with who they would hunt. The other elk hunter was going to hunt to the south of camp where one of the guides had seen a big bull. My guide and I were going around to the face of the mountain where the big herd was hanging out. We got there the next morning to see the herd hanging around a spring where it was possible for me to get a shot at the big herd bull. We backed out to where they couldn't see us any longer and started our sneak. We got to where I would have a decent shot and popped over the ridge only to see the whole herd making tracks up the mountain. We never did figure out what spooked them but they were gone.   We headed back to camp to drop off one of the other guides. My guide wanted to look at another place where he had located another big bull so off we went. We were glassing the other big herd that we had seen the night before from camp when Coop found the bull he had seen before. One quick look and up the mountain we went. We hiked for a half an hour to get to the ridge where they had been when we had spotted them but they were not there any longer. Coop said maybe they had just went over the top so up we went again. We getb to the top and there they were. There were about 15 cows and a couple of spikes on top of the ridge bedded down. We snuck around the side of the ridge to try and find the bull but we couldn't see him. We found a good spot to be hidden from them and waited for the bull to show himself. After about twenty minutes the bull stands up right in front of us about 250 yards away. He was walking away from us with no shot for me when all of a sudden he beds down right there. He was facing head on to me about 280 yards, not a shot that I wanted take with him bedded down. After about ten minutes he stands up and takes about three steps to his right. That was his last mistake, one shot from my Tikka 300wsm and he was down!

[rougheye]

well done ,   very nice bull   

[Huntbear]

Way to go, very nice bull!!!

[Hunting Cowboy]

Congrats on your bull. Enjoyed the story and your pics!

[washingtonmuley]

congrats

[SuperDave]

Nice looking Wyoming bull!  That makes it well worth the trip!  Was that a general tag?

[robb92]

Great story and a very nice bull!!!

[coyotemadness]

Congrats, sounds like a great trip

[Bookworm]

It is a limited quota area, I think most of the area is private property.

[logger]

nice bull great story sounds like you had a great time . congtats

[bowsandhose]

congrats on a great bull

[bow4elk]

That picture says it all - nice going!  Looks like you might have that perma-grin through next week at the very least.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Great looking bull!  Congrats on a nice trophy.

[X-Force]

The smile says it all. congrats.

[MichaelJ]

SWEET stuff man congrats!  What did the other hunters in camp shoot???

Michael