Post by sixshot on Dec 21, 2020 14:31:54 GMT -5
My neighbor called me Sunday & said the elk had hit his haystacks hard Saturday & for me to be ready at 7:30 Monday morning. Once they start on those big bales they can do a lot of damage, they eat on the lower bales until the top bales tip over, then its a lot of damage.
When I got there it looked like a feed yard, there were tracks everywhere. We got on 2 4 wheelers & headed out through the deep snow, turning around several times because we kept getting stuck. Finally we got onto the road we wanted into a canyon with a lot of thick brush & timber, it took about 5 minutes & we had elk going everywhere. Up to our right there were 70-80-90, no way to count them, the whole mountain was covered with running elk. A rifleman could have killed a dozen, for me it's a scene I've watched hundreds of times.....just out of range.
Then we spotted some much closer, I jumped off the 4 wheeler & reached for the scoped 10.5" bisley 44 & laid it over the fender of the 4 wheeler & Larry said 138 yds. There was a cow & calf standing broadside as I pushed the scope caps off. Kneeling in 6" of snow the calf stepped forward & I moved the gun & then 7 bulls ran right past them & up the hillside & then elk were running everywhere. I could see parts of elk but no shot. I stood up & yanked the iron sighted 41 out of the holster because one elk was maybe 40-50 yds sneaking out on us but no shot.
I look to my right & there's maybe 15 head walking up a fence line 200 yds away, they are in no hurry, then they stop & watch us for 10 minutes before they finally jump the fence & head towards the big herd that's now a half mile above us, it's over!
We wind our way down through the heavy timber looking for a way out, no way we can go back, it's too steep & the snow is too deep so we make a 3 mile detour back to Larry's shop. Along the way I manage to lose the insert to my PSR rest on the back of my 4 wheeler, bummer!
If you look at the very top of these photo's you'll see an awful lot of elk working their way over the top of the ridge above us. Many you won't be able to see.
Dick
When I got there it looked like a feed yard, there were tracks everywhere. We got on 2 4 wheelers & headed out through the deep snow, turning around several times because we kept getting stuck. Finally we got onto the road we wanted into a canyon with a lot of thick brush & timber, it took about 5 minutes & we had elk going everywhere. Up to our right there were 70-80-90, no way to count them, the whole mountain was covered with running elk. A rifleman could have killed a dozen, for me it's a scene I've watched hundreds of times.....just out of range.
Then we spotted some much closer, I jumped off the 4 wheeler & reached for the scoped 10.5" bisley 44 & laid it over the fender of the 4 wheeler & Larry said 138 yds. There was a cow & calf standing broadside as I pushed the scope caps off. Kneeling in 6" of snow the calf stepped forward & I moved the gun & then 7 bulls ran right past them & up the hillside & then elk were running everywhere. I could see parts of elk but no shot. I stood up & yanked the iron sighted 41 out of the holster because one elk was maybe 40-50 yds sneaking out on us but no shot.
I look to my right & there's maybe 15 head walking up a fence line 200 yds away, they are in no hurry, then they stop & watch us for 10 minutes before they finally jump the fence & head towards the big herd that's now a half mile above us, it's over!
We wind our way down through the heavy timber looking for a way out, no way we can go back, it's too steep & the snow is too deep so we make a 3 mile detour back to Larry's shop. Along the way I manage to lose the insert to my PSR rest on the back of my 4 wheeler, bummer!
If you look at the very top of these photo's you'll see an awful lot of elk working their way over the top of the ridge above us. Many you won't be able to see.
Dick
