Safer Elk Tonite

[Mark251]

Great job 

[Duckslayer89]

My taxidermist is making a fortune off of me this year. I don't know if I can afford to shoot a bear or a deer now...!

Man this would be the year to really try and fill that bear and deer tag! Get all four that would be once in a lifetime experience. Even hiring an outfitter for bear

[180-GRAIN]

Nicely done 

[BNAElkhntr]

Way to Go Gilley!   same area as your Bull?  Now you Just need that Bear

[jgilley]

BNA: yep, same area - same creek...

[Birdguy]

Nicely done! One less = several more 

[Fl0und3rz]

Nicely done 

More to the story?  Called in?  Spot and stalk?

[pd]

My taxidermist is making a fortune off of me this year. I don't know if I can afford to shoot a bear or a deer now...!

Man this would be the year to really try and fill that bear and deer tag! Get all four that would be once in a lifetime experience. Even hiring an outfitter for bear

Agreed!  Pull out all the stops and go for the Grand Slam!  Hunt of a lifetime.

[Little Dave]

Nice kitty.  Agree... go for it!

[NavyChief08]

 

[BENCHLEG]

Thank you!!

[jgilley]

Since someone asked.... Here is the story:

It was a dark and stormy nite.... Errr... Wrong story... Lol.

It was a nice day out. It was still wet and muddy, but starting to dry a little and the sun was up. I had decided to go for an half day hunt for bear in my elk woods. (I was really just going to grab some tree-stand tools that I had left in the woods.) But, I brought my old Ruger M77 .270 with me just in case. Had this rifle since I was 13 when my dad bought it brand new for me for my b-day. Has a bushnell scope chief on it - 3x-12x. Great combo. I took along my daypack and wore my old USMC Desert brown camo undershirt, my olive Dickey's jeans and hunting sneakers (Keens - love these shoes). I brought along an elk bugle to see if they were talking, too (they weren't). Anyway, I did about a two mile loop, grabbed what I came for and headed back for the truck, which I had left parked on an old forest service road near a creek that had a bridge over it. I walked up the creek to the south side of the bridge and walked over to my truck and dumped my pack. I then decided that I would walk down the road about 100yds and go see if any Bears had been eating on the forelegs of the elk I had killed earlier this year and had thrown off the road. As I walked down the road with my rifle, I looked back over my shoulder (a habit I have when walking through the woods - it's amazing what you can see when you practice this) and I see this cat jump right up onto the road's shoulder and start to cross over to the south side of the road on my side of the bridge. I was amazed at its movement with it's tail just swinging and him sauntering. He knew he was the one in charge of the woods there I guess. I turned completely around and squared off to bring my rifle up and as I did so, he stopped and stared at me. He had no idea I was there until I had moved. He was about 80yds away.  My truck was on the south shoulder of the road between us and about 50 yds from where I stood - so the cat was about 30 yds in front of my truck, but on the opposite side of the road. I took aim at him in the standing position - something I used to train for at the 100yd line as a young Marine, Ooo-rahhh! (Sorry, got carried away...) Anyway, I'm not as lean and mean as I used to be, so I found it hard to keep a steady crosshairs on him. I then took a knee to get a steadier rest - the other 300yd shooting position that the Marines teach in rifle training, Ooo-ra... Oops, there I go again. Ahem, well, anyway I realized then, as I looked through the scope, that it was on a lower magnification (3x) and I needed a little more. So I lowered my rifle and twisted the zoom ring up to 5x. And would you believe it? - that cat just sat down like a house cat on the shoulder of the road and watched me do all this! I couldn't believe he was still there! From the time he first saw me, must have been about 20 seconds by then. Maybe he was scared to death to see a Marine Rifleman (once a Marine, always a Marine) staring at him thru a rifle scope.... Ooo-rah! Well, I raised up my rifle a second time with the scope dialed in to 5x and I had a better view of him. His left shoulder was quartering towards me and he was just sitting real still and staring hard at me - an intense "are you something to eat" stare, too. I then started my breathing routine before squeezing the trigger. I had the crosshairs on his left shoulder which was pretty much center-mass for the way his body was positioned in relation to my position. The rifle surprised me when it went off. Man, was it loud without hearing protection (I almost exclusively bow hunt now). I watched as the cat reacted to the round hitting it. It jumped upright and then turned and sprang back to where it had come from - almost in one movement - and man was it quick. As it dropped from sight below the road grade and back into the creek bed, I chambered another round and grabbed my ejected round before walking slowly to where the cat had dropped off the road and down towards the creek bed. I was not sure where exactly my round had struck - I believed it had been center mass, but.... I got to the spot where the cat had been standing and I did not see any blood. I started to "slice the pie" with my rifle as I looked over and downward on the shoulder of the road. These cats can really blend in with their environment and the last thing I wanted to do was tangle with a wounded cat. Then I saw him laying on the shoulder of the creek below and he was about 30' away from me. The pic I posted of him was his final resting place. I watched him real close with my binos on his chest to make sure it wasn't moving. After about 20 seconds I drew my Ruger New Vaquero - polished stainless steel single action revolver with a 5 1/2" barrel - and cocked it. ( ) I then stood over it with my revolver pointed at its head before I convinced myself that the cat was down for the count. Man! My first cat! Dragging it back up to the road was like pulling on a beanbag chair full of runny jello without a handle... I finally got him up to the road and loaded him whole into the bed of my truck. I then took him to my hunting buddy's house (the same one that skinned and butchered my elk in the field this year - thanks again Jon  ). We estimated his weight at about 120lbs as we hung him up to skin. We also measured him lying down and he was 77" tip to tip. Nice cat! I called our other hunting buddy, Wyatt, over to see it and he helped to skin it with us. Thanks Wyatt.  We finally finished it around 11pm. The guys had to work the next day, so I really appreciated their help. Great hunting bros. Anyway that is the story....
Remember, you asked for the story....  Lol. 

[jgilley]

...and as a wise man named Forest Gump once said, "And that's all I got to say about that..."