My hunting trip actually started with the luck of the draw; there was only 18 permits available for the muzzleloader hunt in GMU364 in the the Rimrock area of the eastern Cascade Mtns. I feel fortunate to have been drawn for this hunt.
We left Friday morning to set up camp in an area that we had previously scouted; arrived at around 8:00 am. After setting up camp, we again did some preliminary scouting to see if anything had changes from our previous scouting trips. I was with my hunting partners Gary and James. Our scouting took us out to 5-miles from camp on various roads before returning to camp for supper and conversation. We did spot a nice 6 x 6 and his cows that evening. It was encouraging that there was elk in the area. Maybe we were going to get lucky.
Up later than I wanted at 5:00 am the next morning, we ate a hurried breakfast. Gary and James went off in a different direction than we had gone the night before, but I went back to the same area where we had spotted the bull the day before. I set up in an area of trees adjacent to a clearing that gave me an open shot out to more than 150 yards. After a short period of time I saw two cows moving slowly through the trees and into the clearing. They continued on into the trees on the opposite side of the clearing only to be replaced by a beautiful bull elk standing proudly in the clearing. He gave me a quarter-away shot, slightly downhill, at what turned out to be about 70-yards away. I took the shot, watched him stiffen and raise his head, then bolt into the trees where the cows had gone. I saw him drop, and could hear him in distress 25yrds from where he was shot. By the time I got to him he was dead. The 250g T/C SW bullet had entered his left side, took out lungs and liver and lodged in the hide on the right side just behind the shoulder. There was no exit wound. I checked the time. It was only 7:15 am. I had only been out less than an hour and had filled my tag.
I called my partners immediately to tell them that the hunt was over and to come give me a hand getting the bull up to the road. I dragged the animal up the hill as far as I could with the quad. By then, Gary and James were there with the pickup truck and together with the winch on the quad and the truck we pulled him the rest of the way up to the road and loaded him into the truck. Back at our camp we skinned and prepped the bull and got him hung up. Knowing that the weather was starting to deteriorate, we only stayed one more night.
We took the elk to Olson's in Enumclaw for final cutting and wrapped. I estimate we had around 350-400 lbs of meat.
