So I was with an outfitter in Montana just south of Clyde park, nearest decent city is Livingston which is the northern way to Yellowstone. We could see the northern edge of the caldera which was cool and brings back memories of that trip from a few years back. Hunted unit 393 but it was a private ranch. First day we didn’t see an elk. Second day we saw the herd move on the far western edge of the property and bed down in some timber (at least that’s what we thought). Herd was about 150-170 strong with some decent bulls. So after a quick “let’s make a plan” discussion, we decided to hike down into the big valley and up the back side of the property. We sat at 6150’ in the am, descended several hundred feet down, then back up a little then back down a little, then back up to where we were higher than we started. From there we thought we were almost to the top...wrong. More up. So we hiked more. We ended up around 6700’ and found all kinds of elk sign up there. It was a literal elk haven. We got close to the timber so we could catch the herd if they came out late, but they didn’t. They came out early and started grazing around 3pm, quite shocking considering the temps were quite warm for this time of year. After watching more and more elk come out it was obvious we were blinded by a small crest below us to where they were going. So we decided to move down some, which took some time finding the right place to hunker down under while not being seen moving there. We got set up and watched the herd grow as a cow have her calls to the group (my brother was hoping to hear some bugles but the cow call was neat too). Around an hour before dark three bulls came up and showed themselves. When the biggest gave a clear shot I took it, a quartering to 300 yard shot that hit right in front of the shoulder and rocked him hard. It would have been a lethal shot by itself (the bullet was found near the opposite tenderloin and actually ruined some of that good meat) but he turned and gave me a broadside second shot which put him down. It was great. Rifle performed as expected, FiremanJG’s ammo performed as expected (and was dead on), and our plan came together almost as good as a randy newberg show.
Then the fun began. Being that this was a guided hunt, we called for reinforcements, but they wouldn’t be there for a while (Polaris ranger with a sled for the meat/head and us) so we quartered and caped the bull and got the meat on some snow to cool, and finished right as the help arrived. It was nice being able to drive back to the truck instead of hump it back.
Lots of prep went into this hunt and the only thing that didn’t work out as planned was the boots, my right foot got a small blister on the heel, but I am not sure I tightened them enough this am. Clothing choices, weapon choice, caliber choice, ammo choice, all worked as expected. Very happy about that. The only thing that didn’t work to advantage was weather being warmer than it should have been, but in the end it didn’t matter. Overall, very happy.
Couple photos: 1&2 are self explanatory, the rest are pretty much just the scenery the last one is the elk herd out and about a little before I shot.
Edit: sorry some of the photos are sideways and upside down. I must have had the camera turned funny when I took those
