sn.outdoors
New member
- Jun 6, 2016
- 105
I recently PCS\'d to Idaho and waited 30 days before I was able to buy a hunting license. I had only intended on shooting some coyotes before I went home to WI for Christmas, but then I noticed there was an any weapon antlerless only elk season still open.... that was Wednesday. I bought my tag Thursday and scoured the interweb for any and all information I could find on the unit. There wasn\'t many positive things about the unit, but Idaho Fish and Game reported a 30% success rate. I felt my chances would be pretty good. Its a wide open desert unit, and I just spent 3 years hunting the wide open spaces of Eastern NM so that didn\'t deter me. With the cold snap I also figured many elk would have migrated off the mountains and into the crop fields the unit had.?
As it turned out, I was not alone in my thinking. I competed with many other hunters to get an opportunity at the MANY elk which were feeding on the fields. It didn\'t take long for all of the shooting to stop and the elk to get across the road to a different unit. I normally don\'t prefer to road hunt, but with temps at -20, I chose preservation of comfort over walking around outside.?
I spotted a lone \"cow\" around 930. \"She\" spotted me too and was having none of it. \"She\" took off sprinting across the desert. Long story short, I followed \"her\" for 4.8 miles, before I could confirm \"she\" was bedded. I cut \"her\" tracks with the truck several times before I got to a road \"she\" didn\'t cross. I picked up the track and after around 500yds I spotted a set of elk ears in the sage brush. I quickly ranged \"her\" and got settled in for the shot. The elk in this unit are hunted hard so I didn\'t make an attempt to get any closer. It was now or never. As I settled the crosshair on the animal, it was looking away and appeared like it was ready to bust out of there. I squeezed the trigger and my bullet found its mark.?
The elk stood up and ran about 50 yds so I put another round into it. Both of my shots hit lower than expected (which I should have figured, since it was -20 degrees and my load data was made at 70 degrees) I ran closer and finished it off with a headshot.?
Much to my surprise it was not a cow, but a young bull with a broken skull and a unicorn spike that laid flat on its face. I never saw that it had a spike. Upon further investigation, I noticed he was missing an eye, and had a broken skull... (not from the 7mm berger that finished him off)
As it turned out, I was not alone in my thinking. I competed with many other hunters to get an opportunity at the MANY elk which were feeding on the fields. It didn\'t take long for all of the shooting to stop and the elk to get across the road to a different unit. I normally don\'t prefer to road hunt, but with temps at -20, I chose preservation of comfort over walking around outside.?
I spotted a lone \"cow\" around 930. \"She\" spotted me too and was having none of it. \"She\" took off sprinting across the desert. Long story short, I followed \"her\" for 4.8 miles, before I could confirm \"she\" was bedded. I cut \"her\" tracks with the truck several times before I got to a road \"she\" didn\'t cross. I picked up the track and after around 500yds I spotted a set of elk ears in the sage brush. I quickly ranged \"her\" and got settled in for the shot. The elk in this unit are hunted hard so I didn\'t make an attempt to get any closer. It was now or never. As I settled the crosshair on the animal, it was looking away and appeared like it was ready to bust out of there. I squeezed the trigger and my bullet found its mark.?
The elk stood up and ran about 50 yds so I put another round into it. Both of my shots hit lower than expected (which I should have figured, since it was -20 degrees and my load data was made at 70 degrees) I ran closer and finished it off with a headshot.?
Much to my surprise it was not a cow, but a young bull with a broken skull and a unicorn spike that laid flat on its face. I never saw that it had a spike. Upon further investigation, I noticed he was missing an eye, and had a broken skull... (not from the 7mm berger that finished him off)
