Typically we get one elk and one deer tag up here in Montana, and after shooting a young white-tail buck last night I'm done for the season with 18 hunting days still to go! I usually go down to Belt near Great Falls to hunt mule deer and elk, but unless some other tags are available I won't be doing that this year.
I only have 20 acres up here but I was able to shoot both animals on my property which was a first for me. I'm having a mount made from the elk since that was kind of special. I used a Tikka T3X chambered in .300 Win Mag and Federal's excellent Vital-Shok Trophy Copper 180gr for both. Not surprisingly both were one-shot kills with the elk falling over less than 10 yards from where he was shot, and the deer less than that. Neither were long shots but I did get to use the Spartan Precision tripod for the deer and shot from the standing position. I would rather have used a .308 Win for both but the Kimber/Proof 84M wasn't where it needed to be i.e. I haven't finished working up a hunting load for it. Oh well, next year I guess!
The elk was about 450lb on the hoof and weighed in at 320lb gutted & skinned but not sure if that was with/without the head. My friend at the meat processing facility thinks I'll get about 180lb of meat back. I'll be lucky to get 50lb from the white-tail but he'll taste good I'm sure.
I only have 20 acres up here but I was able to shoot both animals on my property which was a first for me. I'm having a mount made from the elk since that was kind of special. I used a Tikka T3X chambered in .300 Win Mag and Federal's excellent Vital-Shok Trophy Copper 180gr for both. Not surprisingly both were one-shot kills with the elk falling over less than 10 yards from where he was shot, and the deer less than that. Neither were long shots but I did get to use the Spartan Precision tripod for the deer and shot from the standing position. I would rather have used a .308 Win for both but the Kimber/Proof 84M wasn't where it needed to be i.e. I haven't finished working up a hunting load for it. Oh well, next year I guess!
The elk was about 450lb on the hoof and weighed in at 320lb gutted & skinned but not sure if that was with/without the head. My friend at the meat processing facility thinks I'll get about 180lb of meat back. I'll be lucky to get 50lb from the white-tail but he'll taste good I'm sure.
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