1st bull elk down (with story and pics )

[buglin4bulls]

Hi everyone, just thought you guys would like to hear the short story about my first bull elk ever taken at the age of 13 in gmu 454 

It was cloudy that day, November the 6th, 2004 when i jumped in the truck with my dad to head to the field. I was extremely excited, blood pumping through my veins faster then then dragster heading down the track! After the hike too the back of the property, the wait began. After several hours of waiting anxiously,  i began to get discouraged... dusk was setting in fast upon us. I glanced over at my dad and asked him if he was ready to hike back to the truck. He said "Not yet, we have a couple of minutes left of shooting light" "ok" i said to him, thinking it was pointless. Not even 2 minutes went by and i hear a whisper from (Dad) "Elk! Elk! Get your gun up" (ME) "Is it a bull" (Dad) "Yes its a nice spike, Shoot it! right behind the front shoulder" I grabbed my Ruger M77 .243  and loaded one into the chamber. Put the center of those cross hairs right behind the shoulder and started to squeeze... before i knew it, the gun had went off. Not knowing if i hit him or not, i hear (Dad) "Nice shot buddy! Load another just in case" I could hear the bull coughing up blood. I knew i hit him hard. The bull did not walk more than 15 yards before he laid down to die. That night was full of high fives, hugs and kisses from all my friends and family that came out to witness my first bull elk. I then learned that was the fun part... The hard part had just begun 
Special thanks to my Dad (luv2hunt) for being the best dad in the world. This would not have been possible without you!
Hope you guys enjoyed my story!
  for the bad pics, i don't know what happened too them 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Good job Bud ... with a .243 too!!! thats very cool ....

[SniperDanWA]

Great story.  My son is 14 and we are out to do his first hunt this year.  I'm hoping for the same kind of story, but he is shooting my 30.06.  We'll see how it goes.  Thanks for sharing.

[bucklucky]

Thats awesome thanks for posting!

[CedarPants]

What a great story!!  Thank you for sharing.  My oldest turns 8 in 2 weeks and is already begging me to put him in hunter's ed.  Can't wait to get out there with him

[Woodchuck]

Congratulations young man, great write up. Any pic of a first big game animal down is a great pic. 

[buglin4bulls]

Thanks guys! i appreciate it! and good luck to all you and your young ones!

[buckhorn2]

No way to top a story like that and you learned something and that is patience some have it some don;t thank your dad for showing you what makes a hunter.

[101521]

Nice story your Dad has seemed to teach you well...how far of hike and pack in that GMU 454?

[buglin4bulls]

Not to bad. its 30 acres that backs up to the green river gorge. so maybe 1/4 mile to the back of the property. Felt a long way with such a small stride at that age. The pack was great. Went and got the tractor lifted it up in the air, and into the back of the truck! Its nice when you know the neighboring property owners and have access to their tractor 

[101521]

Nice!

[steen]

A great story to start out the pre-hunting season.  It has been pretty slow because of summer.  Thanks for some pre-season encouragement. 

[C-Money]

Great story, and nice bull! He sure has some long spikes! .243's kill plenty of elk every year, shoot accurately and .

[Bean Counter]

  you can't kill an elk with a .243. Minimum caliber is .338 mag and larger   

[gonehuntin68]

nice bull dude