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I thought i'd share We found this buck in early Aug. and never turned him back up until opening day. 140 yds with ML700 and Barnes TMZ 250's and the rest is history.

With this grey/rainy weather I couldn't resist the urge to make some chili for dinner. I made a double batch to share with some friends on a jr elk hunt in a couple weeks. Can't wait!!!

Sorry Big Tub. Copywright 2009. No inclusion of hand loads, or high quality bullets. And ridiculously low claims. Saying a .260 is only good for a 500# elk out to 75 yards is asinine. And saying you need a .338RUM for a large moose @ 300 yards...…..stupid. But then again, we were talking about shooting steel, accuracy at 1300 yards, etc., not so much hunting. Even though I use shooting steel as hunting practice. I would not use a 6.5CM on anything other than coyotes @ 1300 yards. Not even a Coues deer or javelina. In all honesty, I have my own criteria for hunting. 1800fps minimum on target, regardless of bullet type/brand/construction, and 1000ft/lbs of energy for deer-sized game and down, and 1500ft/lbs for elk/bear that exceed 300# live weight. But, even though I have several rifles that are fully capable of taking big game @ 1000+, I have personally never shot big game over 662 yards. Coyotes though....if I can see em', I will send lead at them.

Got to my hunting unit on Friday 21st at 6:00 pm. 24 hrs later, Saturday at 6:00 pm, put an arrow in this bull, ran about 100 yards and dropped. I'm very happy! Thanks for looking

Call it an infatuation. Call it an addiction. Call it a passion. Call it an obsession. A waste of energy. A waste of money. A waste of time. Call it a problem, or a sickness. Call it whatever you'd like. If it's a sickness, I have it, and it's incurable. If it's an addiction, an intervention isn't going to stop it. Trust me, I think my wife might have tried that in the beginning. If it's a waste of time, and money, then that explains why I'm so far behind on chores and why i cant afford luxurious vacations. If it's a waste of energy, then that explains why I feel so dang old. It's not going to stop however. The reward is too great. Succesfully spotting and stalking coues bucks with a bow is the ultimate satisfaction, second only to creating and raising a family. Hunting coues deer with my bow has consumed my soul for many years now. It's a high I've continuously yearned for since I felt it for the first time many years ago. This late summer archery season was as productive as any season I can remember. It cost me money, and time, and energy, and sleep, but each day I got to spend in those desert mountains this season was a day that all non-hunting related stresses left my mind. It is unbelievable how healing it is to climb out of the desert floor, glue your eyes to a pair of binoculars on a tripod, and pick the landscape apart. I was able to lay my eyes on many good deer and had some very close calls. Unforeseen events caused me to miss more days than I would have liked during the season, not counting the days I missed because of work but all in all the this August /early September was one to remember. It flew by and before I knew it, I was down to one day of hunting left. My good buddy Randy Landwerlen made the drive down to hunt with me on what would be the last day of the hunt for both of us. I had a pretty good idea where some shooter bucks were living so we made a game plan that included parking trucks in two different spots and hunting from one to the other. This would allow us to cover most of the country that the big bucks had been calling home. We dropped Randy's truck off and then continued on in my truck. As usual, it was a race against the sun and we sucked wind climbing to our first glassing spot of the morning. It was one of the better glassing spots in the area, but it definitely wasn't a great hill to start a stalk from, primarily because of the effort required to make a move in any direction. Randy was the first to spot bucks. They weren't shooters so we kept looking. I was feeling more pressure than normal to find bucks. It was our last day to hunt and I actually had a spotter to aid in a stalk. I primarily archery hunt alone, unless the stars align and I can get out with my hunting partner Cody, so I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. Aside from the bucks Randy glassed up, things were pretty slow for the first bit of the morning. I eventually found a shooter far off on top of a big ridge but he didn't stay visible for long and he wasn't in a spot that wasn't going to take less than 3/4 of a day to relocate. Randy spotted a few more deer and then we elected to glass back behind us. I found a group of bucks and began to direct Randy to them and before I really got finished giving him all the details of their location he says "those are nice bucks." "I dont think they're shooters." I responded. "That deer on the left looks big." He replied. I obviously wasn't looking at the same deer he was. About 100 yards left of the deer I was looking at were a group of bucks and with them was a deer that both of us agreed was a shooter. We watched the bucks for probably half an hour before deciding to cut the distance some. They were two canyons over and one of the canyons was quite large. . .and deep. We crossed through the smaller of the two canyons and thankfully the bucks had not moved. They fed towards the top of the ridge and eventually bedded down. Randy and I went back and forth about who would stalk the deer and how to go about it. You know you're hunting with a top notch guy when the guy is an avid coues hunter but he's adament about letting somebody else go after a deer rather than himself. Randy convinced me to go after the deer and as you can imagine, I didn't need much convincing. The thermals had pretty much settled and the wind had been pretty consistent for about an hour. I chose a path and tried to memorize some landmarks. Crossing the canyon between us and the deer was not going to be fun. It was going to take me some time and I was afraid that the deer were not going to stay put. I made it about 2/3's of the way up the opposite side of the canyon when I hear Randy holler at me. I knew what that meant. It was over. I looked at Randy through my binoculars and he gave me the signal that they had crossed over. Without a spotter I would have wasted the next few hours stalking deer that weren't even there. Ask me how I know. I climbed a little further until I got phone service and called Randy. He told me that the deer ran up and over but he didn't think they were spooked. I decided to climb to the top of the ridge and just walk down it towards where the deer went over and maybe glass off the other side. Before I made it to the top, Randy text me and said that he found them again. What a relief. They bedded again down the ridge about 400 yards from where they were when I originally started my stalk. Talk about catching a break. The wind was steadily blowing on my right side and slightly in my face. The deer were in their second bed of the day, and they were bedded near the top of the ridge. For once, I felt like I had an advantage. Unsteady wind is my arch nemesis. Finally, today, the wind was steady. I continued down the ridge until I felt like I was getting close to where the bucks were at. I noticed a doe feeding where I thought the bucks should be. I also noticed two cows fifty yards to the right of the doe. The advantage was tipping back into the buck's favor. The best route with the most cover was not available to me now because of the doe and the cattle. The doe laid down, so I crept a little closer and stopped for awhile. Eventually one of the bucks stood up about ten yards past the doe and came and rebedded near her. My goal at this point was to get within shooting distance of the buck that had just rebedded and then sit tight. He wasn't the shooter but I wasn't sure exactly where the shooter buck was and I figured he wasn't too far away. I was 120 yards at this point and the wind was still blowing on my right side. It took me about 20 minutes to crawl to 80. After sitting at 80 for a bit, another buck stood up and fed over to the doe and buck closest to me and bedded. I now had two bucks and a doe at 80. The shooter buck was still out of sight. I could see the head of the second buck which was actually a plus. Now I could move and keep an eye on his ears to know when my noise levels were too high. I crept in to 60 and the buck's ears never perked up once. At this point I could make out the antler tips of the shooter buck. The tree he was under was 74 yards away. I got to 70 when the wind died and I began to run out of cover. I stayed there for a good while waiting for some wind and one of the small clouds in the sky to give me some shade. After being there about ten minutes I felt the breeze against my face. A few minutes later, a cloud provided some shade, so I began to crawl some more. It took me about 15 minutes to cover another 10 yards. I got to 60 and felt like getting any closer was too much of a risk with the two bucks and the doe at only 45 yards from me. My adrenaline levels were beginng to rise and I could feel the fever coming on. I knew I was close to making this happen. Fortunately I had time to gain my composure. In my younger days, this multi-hour stalk would have taken me all of about 30 minutes. Like a grizzly bear, I would have blundered my way in there, hoping this buck tolerated my presence long enough for me to take him down. Today though, I chose to take the form of the Nile crocodile, hiding in the depths of the waste high grass until I got close enough to let the jaws of my BowTech snap, and letting the teeth of my rocket steelhead tear into my quarry's flesh. After sitting at 60 for awhile, the buck stood up and offered a broadside shot. I wasn't completely confident that he was exactly 60 so I tried to verify his range by ranging him rather than the tree above him. I had a hard time with the tall grass, but I finally got a range. He was 60 exactly so I attached my release and raised my bow to draw. He flopped back into his bed before I had a chance to completely draw and the waiting game began again. I wondered if I had wasted my only oppurtunity. It was now afternoon and I was in deep consideration about whether or not to try and crawl closer when out of nowhere, one of the closer bucks jumped up and darted out towards the big buck. Both of the other Bucks jumped and followed. I didn't know what happened. The wind was good. I was motionless. I thought the gig was up so I jumped up and got ready to draw. All three bucks soon realized that their jittery nature had gotten the best of them and they decided to all head back out of the sun into their shady beds. As the big buck approached the tree he had been bedded under, I drew my bow. He got right back to here he had been bedded and stopped, quartering to. I held for about 10 more seconds before he turned broadside. I settled my 60 yard pin at the front of his lungs and applied pressure to the release. As my arrow left the bow, the buck simultaneously began to twist towards me and drop his front end, attempting to drop back down into his bed. My arrow flew true, but unfortunately his vitals were not in the same location they had been when I initially shot. The deer was hit lethally, but it wasn't the perfect double lung shot that I had anticipated. The buck bolted directly towards me and stopped at a mere 15 yards in the tall grass. I couldn't see anything but his head but I took a guess at where his body was in the grass and let another one rip. I heard the impact and the buck bolted off out of sight down the steep, rocky hillside. I immediately called randy to see what happened. He said the deer went down. He was able to watch the entire thing. I was ecstatic. So much work had gone into this. My emotions came to a peak and I let out a schoolgirl yell that echoed through the canyons. I really could not have done this one without Randy and I intend to return the favor someday. Randy made his way over to me and I could see he could appreciate the deer for what is was, which is a rare trait these days. It was refreshing to see somebody view the deer as something more than just a certain amount of inches. We took pictures, deboned the deer, and began our pack out. I'm sure many would wonder why I would bother climbing to the top of this mountain, crawl through the chigger infested weeds and grass, and sit in the baking sun for hours . Maybe I am infatuated. Maybe I am obsessed. Maybe I am addicted. Maybe it is a waste of time, or money, or energy. Maybe it is a problem I have. Or a sickness. Call it what you want. I call it living.

I have shot a lot out past 1300 yards. With everything from my 6.5SLR pushing a 140 HVLD @ 2850, to a 7RM pushing a 180 Hybrid @ 2996, to a .300RUM pushing a 230 Hybrid @ 3068, to a .338 Edge pushing a 300SMK @ 2820. My 6.5SLR is deadly accurate out to 1500 easily....on a calm day....on steel and rocks and stupid ground squirrels that inhabitnone of the areas I shoot. But I would never shoot at anything else living other than a jackrabbit or coyote at those ranges. That bullet/speed puts it subsonic at about 1580-1620 yards depending on conditions. I have shot it @ 1771, but those hit not only become more erratic, but much harder to see impacts for corrections. I think a lot of errors you are going to see over 1300 yards are wind induced. Even a 2mph difference will change POI (from 3mph to 5mph) almost 24" difference in drift, from 23" to 47". And that is if it is consistent. Swirling winds will push it all over the place. And winds change direction and speed across 3/4 mile easily. Meaning very hard to judge all aspects of it. Tailwinds induce less drop, headwinds induce more drop, full value winds push left or right, etc. Plus, you still have spin drift at 1300 to account for. And your zero better be perfect L-R. And your ballistic inputs. And your velocity better have single digit ES and SD. A .338 Edge pushing a 300 Hybrid @ 2900 is going to have far less drift at 1300 yards. That same 5mph 90° full value wind only pushes the bullet 29" vs 47" with the 6.5mm 140. And at 3mph, only 13". So about half what the 6.5 140 drifts. That is a huge difference. Just because a bullet has a high BC, a lighter bullet is still going to drift more than a heavy high BC bullet. Takes more force to move the higher mass. Making a .338LM a much better ELR candidate than a 6.5CM. The 6.5CM definitely ups your wind reading game though, and far cheaper to shoot for practice.

My 338 edge has a drop of 468 in at 1300 yrds with a 300 gr berger .818 bc with muzzle velocity 2850 energy at 1300 yrds is 1684 ft lbs The 6.5CM is not in the same class of the 338. You also would have almost triple wind drift as a 338 shooting a 300 gr berger. The 6.5 is NOT even close to a 338 at 1000 yrds velocity or energy. At 1300 yrds my 338 drop 38ft. your 6.5 drop 54ft. 26ft difference So it is not faster or flatter at longrange. Like comparing a bb gun (6.5) to a 22 long rifle (338)

A friend in the know tells me that the Department does not transplant elk within the state (hasn't for many many years). In fact if you watch what the Department does for elk management, most of the strategy is to limit further expansion. Nor does the Department move nuisance elk like they do javelina. I'm told this is an elk that at one time had a radio collar on it to track movement. The collars fall off after a couple years, but the tag remains. Also, the elk was likely in 1, 7, or 27...where most of the recent collar work was done.

Not much to say but dang sous vide burger is a fine way to enjoy elk meat, I think I'm going to scrap my plans for summer sausage and burger that meat instead. 2 hours at 132 degrees then quick sear in cast iron pan.

Boy Scouts that is. Last weekend I took my sons scout troop on a camping and fishing trip to Courtright lake at 8,000 feet in the mountains east of Fresno, Ca. I take my 12 ft jon boat, and I take any boy that wants to go out fishing. No monsters, mostly 14 to 17 inches, but all ten boys that went out with me caught at least one. Several of the boys had never been fishing before.

That country looks like 19A, but your avatar says UT. Is it an AZ or UT buck? Or a NM buck? VERY nice critter, by the way, no matter where it's from. forepaw

Outdoor Experience 4 All is also a great option. Just go to their web site and follow the directions on how to donate.

https://www.arizonaelksociety.org/hunts-for-heroes Hunts for Heroes a great place to donate your tag. Check out the link

How many people here had a brake on their deer rifle when they were 11? How many didn’t? I don’t regret having to shooting open sights and no brake. I think it made me handle a rifle better.

257 Roberts or 243

Outstanding buck & great write up! Congrats & thanks for sharing with us.

good looking buck! Congrats

Nice Bull.

Great bull!

Bad butt bull man!

Great story, awesome bull!

Juvenile Arizona Black Rattlesnake.

Well I believe the BC plays into it a lot at extreme ranges. I believe the 1000 yd new world record set with a 6mm was a tad over 1" for 5 shots.

Wildwoody, the 6.5 WSM is not factory loaded. I am using 270 WSM brass, resizing it and turning the necks.