Hey guys,
I thought I would share my very first elk taken in the 2014 general season antlerless in Utah. I have a cousin who lives and hunts there that I met for the first time last November. Needless to say we hit it off and I made it out there from California to do something I have always wanted to do...hunt elk. We ended up running into a small heard of about 5 or 6 cows and 2 calves and we both filled our tags about 3 seconds apart. It was a great experience and I hope to do it again soon, maybe a bull next time.
Details:
I got this cow opening morning 10/4/2014 at about 8:30 AM. Unit was Central Mountains Manti North (some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen). Taken with my Tikka T3 Lite in .270 Win. The load was my own (Win brass, 60.0 grains of H4831sc, 130 gr T-TSX, CCI BR-2 primer). The shot was off hand at about 60 +/- yards in thick timber. She was quartering to me slightly. The shot entered the front right shoulder and exited about the middle of the ribs on the left side leaving a quarter sized exit wound. Her heart was completely eradicated and she left an amazing blood trail, although, it wasn't really needed. She ran/stumbled about 60 yards and piled up underneath an evergreen tree. That was when the fun ceased and the hard work began. We had two cows to quarter up and pack out. It was about a mile to the truck but luckily we were very close to the spine of a ridge so there was very little up and down, and when there was it was shallow. This made the pack out much easier than it could have been.
I thought I would share my very first elk taken in the 2014 general season antlerless in Utah. I have a cousin who lives and hunts there that I met for the first time last November. Needless to say we hit it off and I made it out there from California to do something I have always wanted to do...hunt elk. We ended up running into a small heard of about 5 or 6 cows and 2 calves and we both filled our tags about 3 seconds apart. It was a great experience and I hope to do it again soon, maybe a bull next time.
Details:
I got this cow opening morning 10/4/2014 at about 8:30 AM. Unit was Central Mountains Manti North (some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen). Taken with my Tikka T3 Lite in .270 Win. The load was my own (Win brass, 60.0 grains of H4831sc, 130 gr T-TSX, CCI BR-2 primer). The shot was off hand at about 60 +/- yards in thick timber. She was quartering to me slightly. The shot entered the front right shoulder and exited about the middle of the ribs on the left side leaving a quarter sized exit wound. Her heart was completely eradicated and she left an amazing blood trail, although, it wasn't really needed. She ran/stumbled about 60 yards and piled up underneath an evergreen tree. That was when the fun ceased and the hard work began. We had two cows to quarter up and pack out. It was about a mile to the truck but luckily we were very close to the spine of a ridge so there was very little up and down, and when there was it was shallow. This made the pack out much easier than it could have been.
