- Joined
- Jan 28, 2003
- Messages
- 13,342
This hunt was primarily for my daughters doe tag. First thing in the morning we got on a herd of mule deer. We snuck up to 383 yards and they seemed calm. I asked my daughter if she was okay and she decided we needed to get a bit closer. Apparently these were 383 yard deer because when we took one more step they bolted and departed the country. We were unable to to relocate the herd, so we decided to move to a different area.
I have a cow elk tag in the area but hadn’t seen any elk at all this year. As an after thought I threw my rifle into the truck just in case. The area we went to is an ancient volcanic lava seam that forms a “dragons spine” out of the surrounding plains. At the base of the north side of the formation is a natural spring that provides year round water. Being a dry unit you can always find critters in these hills due to the water.
We started along the base of the “dragons spine” and slowly worked our way into the wind carefully glassing each and every bowl picking apart the thick juniper and cactus pockets, looking for deer. We’d gone about 6 miles and had stopped once again to glass. I was picking apart the junipers with my binos and saw some tawny hides amongst the trees. “Hey I see them” I said, my daughter looked over at me and said “deer?”. Nope “elk!” I replied. They were about a mile away and I asked my daughter if she would mind if I tried for a cow? She was happy to give it a shot.
We drove to within a half mile or so and parked the truck off the road. The elk had us pegged and it was completely open between us and them. I knew if I started walking towards them they’d instantly be gone. So we set up on a sand bag I had in the truck and glassed the hill side it looked like they were going to pass on the trail they were on at the closest point of about 500 yards.
It didn’t take long for the herd of about 30 cows and young bulls to start filtering across the hillside. I settled into my scope and my daughter started glassing them and ranging them.
“Hey dad that cow in the back has a broken leg.” Sure enough the trailing cow was heavily laboring on a broken front leg. Until that moment I was thinking about not shooting as they were a bit on the far side for my liking. I watched the cow slowly taking up the rear of the herd. She stopped with her front half exposed from a large juniper tree that hid her hind quarters. My daughter whispered “572” I glanced down at my drop chart that’s taped to the stock of my 22” Steyr scout in .308. I dialed for 600 yards at 3.5 Mils. I’ve spent a lot of time behind this rifle and shoot out to 800 yards with regularity. The rifle is a true half MOA shooter and the little Night Force 2.5x10 has proven a dead reliable optic. I’d killed a spike bull with this exact same set up at 524 yards earlier this year and had ultimate confidence that the 165 grain accubond was up to the job at this range on an elk.
There was just a hint of wind blowing straight up to the cow from our position. I was dead steady from a prone position on a heavy sand bag. The crosshairs were settled into the cow just behind her shoulder about half way up. “572” my girl confirmed. I took up the first stage on the trigger and started to exhale. The trigger broke clean, at the shot I saw the cow jerk, I saw a puff of dust fly off the cows chest and she squatted down and immediately turned and it looked to me that she fell out of sight behind a rocky outcropping.
The shot was still rumbling and echoing across the lava fields, my daughter said, “I didn’t hear the thwack”, neither did I. Did you miss she asked? “I’m 99% sure she’s hit and hit good” I replied. My daughter also confirmed that she reacted like she’d been hit.
I quickly chambered a round and flipped the safety on. The elk had been 572 yards away and it was all steeply up hill on jumbled, loose lava rock. I left my pack, and started up that 40 to 50 degree incline at as fast a pace as I could. If the cow was wounded I wanted to find her before she went over the top which would make our pack out extremely difficult. I was maintaining a quick pace jogging from rock to rock all the while looking up to see if the cow was climbing out of the bowl where we’d last seen her. About half way up I saw some tawny elk hides cruising up and out of the bowl in between the trees and rocks. I increased my effort up to shelf where she’d been standing for the shot. I looked back and my daughter was right behind me, we were both breathing heavily. We stopped and looked around we didn’t see an elk.
We both started glassing the hill side that forms the bowl where the elk had departed. There were no elk, a bit of doubt started to creep in. We stood for a bit catching our breath and I said let’s go to where she was and look for blood. We climbed up onto the shelf and some movement off to my left caught my attention. It was a hind leg feebly kicking, and that leg was attached to a very dead cow elk.
I’d hit her almost exactly where I was holding. You can see a black spot just behind the shoulder in this picture. That’s the entrance wound. At the shot the elk had dropped off her shelf, rolled once got her feet under her and made it about 30 yards to where she fell over dead.
If you look at the front leg you can see the fractured and swollen leg down by the fetlock just above the hoof.
The best part about this hunt was sharing it with my daughter who is now 24 and has been hunting with me since she was an infant.
Sorry for the lousy I phone picture from a phone being balanced on a bino case resting on the ground. One of these days I’m going to remember to bring my mini tripod along. One of these days...
I have a cow elk tag in the area but hadn’t seen any elk at all this year. As an after thought I threw my rifle into the truck just in case. The area we went to is an ancient volcanic lava seam that forms a “dragons spine” out of the surrounding plains. At the base of the north side of the formation is a natural spring that provides year round water. Being a dry unit you can always find critters in these hills due to the water.
We started along the base of the “dragons spine” and slowly worked our way into the wind carefully glassing each and every bowl picking apart the thick juniper and cactus pockets, looking for deer. We’d gone about 6 miles and had stopped once again to glass. I was picking apart the junipers with my binos and saw some tawny hides amongst the trees. “Hey I see them” I said, my daughter looked over at me and said “deer?”. Nope “elk!” I replied. They were about a mile away and I asked my daughter if she would mind if I tried for a cow? She was happy to give it a shot.
We drove to within a half mile or so and parked the truck off the road. The elk had us pegged and it was completely open between us and them. I knew if I started walking towards them they’d instantly be gone. So we set up on a sand bag I had in the truck and glassed the hill side it looked like they were going to pass on the trail they were on at the closest point of about 500 yards.
It didn’t take long for the herd of about 30 cows and young bulls to start filtering across the hillside. I settled into my scope and my daughter started glassing them and ranging them.
“Hey dad that cow in the back has a broken leg.” Sure enough the trailing cow was heavily laboring on a broken front leg. Until that moment I was thinking about not shooting as they were a bit on the far side for my liking. I watched the cow slowly taking up the rear of the herd. She stopped with her front half exposed from a large juniper tree that hid her hind quarters. My daughter whispered “572” I glanced down at my drop chart that’s taped to the stock of my 22” Steyr scout in .308. I dialed for 600 yards at 3.5 Mils. I’ve spent a lot of time behind this rifle and shoot out to 800 yards with regularity. The rifle is a true half MOA shooter and the little Night Force 2.5x10 has proven a dead reliable optic. I’d killed a spike bull with this exact same set up at 524 yards earlier this year and had ultimate confidence that the 165 grain accubond was up to the job at this range on an elk.
There was just a hint of wind blowing straight up to the cow from our position. I was dead steady from a prone position on a heavy sand bag. The crosshairs were settled into the cow just behind her shoulder about half way up. “572” my girl confirmed. I took up the first stage on the trigger and started to exhale. The trigger broke clean, at the shot I saw the cow jerk, I saw a puff of dust fly off the cows chest and she squatted down and immediately turned and it looked to me that she fell out of sight behind a rocky outcropping.
The shot was still rumbling and echoing across the lava fields, my daughter said, “I didn’t hear the thwack”, neither did I. Did you miss she asked? “I’m 99% sure she’s hit and hit good” I replied. My daughter also confirmed that she reacted like she’d been hit.
I quickly chambered a round and flipped the safety on. The elk had been 572 yards away and it was all steeply up hill on jumbled, loose lava rock. I left my pack, and started up that 40 to 50 degree incline at as fast a pace as I could. If the cow was wounded I wanted to find her before she went over the top which would make our pack out extremely difficult. I was maintaining a quick pace jogging from rock to rock all the while looking up to see if the cow was climbing out of the bowl where we’d last seen her. About half way up I saw some tawny elk hides cruising up and out of the bowl in between the trees and rocks. I increased my effort up to shelf where she’d been standing for the shot. I looked back and my daughter was right behind me, we were both breathing heavily. We stopped and looked around we didn’t see an elk.
We both started glassing the hill side that forms the bowl where the elk had departed. There were no elk, a bit of doubt started to creep in. We stood for a bit catching our breath and I said let’s go to where she was and look for blood. We climbed up onto the shelf and some movement off to my left caught my attention. It was a hind leg feebly kicking, and that leg was attached to a very dead cow elk.
I’d hit her almost exactly where I was holding. You can see a black spot just behind the shoulder in this picture. That’s the entrance wound. At the shot the elk had dropped off her shelf, rolled once got her feet under her and made it about 30 yards to where she fell over dead.
If you look at the front leg you can see the fractured and swollen leg down by the fetlock just above the hoof.
The best part about this hunt was sharing it with my daughter who is now 24 and has been hunting with me since she was an infant.
Sorry for the lousy I phone picture from a phone being balanced on a bino case resting on the ground. One of these days I’m going to remember to bring my mini tripod along. One of these days...
Last edited:
