Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Muzzleloader Hunting => Topic started by: Tshawytscha on January 08, 2013, 06:28:24 PM
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Well... it took awhile but I finally got around to posting my story. Like everyone else who had the tag, fire restrictions shut us out of the low lands so I took the advice of others on this site and headed to the eastern end of the unit on the 7th of October. I was able to hunt the 8th-mid day on the 10th without any opportunities to fill my tag closer than about 250yds. The high country was awesome, seen elk, some smaller bulls, had a shot at a bear but passed as we were trying to talk to some elk at the time, and even seen mountain goats walking through the high meadows. I left the high country feeling satisfied that I gave it a good shot and had some cool pictures and memories to boot. A few months later I received my packet again stating the hunt had been extended so I started planning for a late hunt. I was able to take an older gentleman with me who has been an elk hunting partner and inspiration to me for about 15 yrs now. We had a great hunt on the lower end of the unit and saw lots of elk, both bulls and cows, but as it ended up, I shot and lost a nice bull on the 3rd day of the hunt. We tracked the bull for most of the day until the blood trail dried up and his tracks ended up crossing with a herd in about 6" of new snow. Even reached out to a good friend on this site who dropped everything and came to lend a hand but still to no avail. As luck would have it, I had to head back to work and the Xmas holiday so I left disgusted at myself for wounding and losing the bull. Thinking my hunt was over, my wonderful wife surprised me with the best Xmas gift of all and told me to go back and finish my hunt after the holidays and I am glad I did. Got back on the 26th and went to the same areas we had been hitting and saw a decent number of elk and smaller bulls but nothing to shoot at for that day. The morning of the 27th was great, seen 2 nice bulls that we had seen on the first trip but couldn't get shots at, but this time I could, I was able to single out the larger of the 2 and take a shot. The bull instantly lunged forward and ran about 30yds and stopped. My partner said it looked like a good hit as I reloaded, then we waited for him to give me another clear shot. Waiting seemed like forever when finally he stepped out from behind the stump that was concealing him and with a good rest I took the shot but the bull didn't move. We noticed that the bullet didn't have such a clean path to the bull and that it was probably deflected off target so I reloaded in a panic and moved to my right enough to see through the binos that the path was clear, fired again, the bull stumbled and fell, the whopping and hollering began!
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Great bull.
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Tshawytscha
Dang! Dang! What an animal??? :brew:
What did you shoot with and what was the load? How far were the shots?
Golly that is a nice animal...
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Good for you man!!
:tup: :tup:
Wonderful bull!
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great bull. sounds like you had a good time. :tup:
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congrats
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Never a good feeling to loose an animal. Good job on stickin with it and bagin a dandy bull elk! :tup: :drool:
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Very cool good job man. Nice looking bull and a beautiful full winter coat! That's awesome
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Thanks guys!!!!
Sabotloader: I was usuing the Knight Disc Extreme with 120gr 777 2fg, RWS musket cap, and 300gr Harvester Scorpion PT Gold with an mmp hph-12....about a 60yd shot on the first and closer to 75 on the 2nd & 3rd
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AWESOME
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:tup: :tup: Great job!!
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Congrats on a nice bull! :tup:
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Congratz!! :tup: Dandy Bull!!
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Awesome bull Shane. And you can call me anytime I'm glad you got a second chance.
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Thanks Jason.....Sorry we didn't get to hunt that last weekend together but we were still able to hang out and get some nice razor clams and crab. And besides, you don't usually get that nice flat 10-12' swell in the Columbia estuary this time of year so we lucked out there....LOL!!!
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Nice bull congrats :tup:
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Very cool, congrats!!! :tup:
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Thats a good one. Nice job, and good story. :tup:
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Dandy Bull, congrats! Love the width!
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Nice bull :tup:
