azpredator@work

this is the only shopping I'll be doing...

@ Wcat - the 3 of us drew this tag with the following pts. 5,3,3. We paid the extra money for the better draw odds. Lance - grossed right under 325 and netted 318. I figured he was a little under 330" and it wasn't much of a surprise when I grabbed onto his rack. Just glad he wasn't broken up and still looked good. As for injuries....one broken toe that never slowed me down. Plenty of slipping, falling and questionable decision making during this hunt, but we have all year to recuperate - right? Thanks for the comments.

This would be my first year hunting in Wyoming. It's been a trip I've planned for 5 years and I wanted to make the most of it. I would be heading out with my good friend Randy and we would be meeting Doug who was driving from Minnesota. I've only hunted elk solo so this would be a welcome change. Both Randy and Doug are much more experienced hunters than I am so I was anxious to spend time in camp with them listening to their stories of past hunts. My wife caught me in a surprise pic studying maps while referencing google earth and other map programs on the internet.I spent a lot of time preparing for this hunt. In the end, we found elk everywhere we looked. Checking gear and making a new dozen arrows. All of these types of things get me fired up for the upcoming hunt. With everything organized, condensed and ready I just had to get through the last day of work. I was prepared for whatever the mountains would throw at me. After a 22 hr drive we arrived to 16" of snow. Our hunt area was in the middle of wilderness (high elevation) and private (low elevation) and we watched as dozens of elk appeared to be in a migratory path to lower elevations. We were a little worried watching herd after herd pass through....we heard hunters talk abouit seeing hundreds of head of elk congregating a few days later on the private land. We hunted out of a 12x20 alaknak with a stove so we were nice and comfy. With the cold weather and a broken water heater we weren't able to shower 'til our 8th day. We basically went our separate ways each day and returned to camp after dark, ate dinner, told each other of our day and went to bed exhausted. We saw many types of big game and small game animals that kept the hunt interesting and filled my head of future endeavors in this beautiful land....moose, tons of deer and elk, sage hens, etc. The landscape was vast and the elk were a long ways apart from each other. I spent a lot of time getting into shape to maximize my effectiveness in the field. When I got there, it seemed like it didn't help a bit. The air was thin and the mountains were tall! On Doug's last day I hunted with him and after a long hike straight up the mountain (1400 vertical feet) we heard Doug's bull bugle. After the 3rd bugle I told Doug "let's go kill your bull". 1.5 hours later we were in position and Doug killed his bull at 12 yards. I was able to film an over the shoulder kill shot which will provide Doug with years of joy. On the 2nd to last day I shot my bull as light was fading. I glassed him on the opposite hill and made a mad dash to get between him and his cows. This would be my 7th encounter with a bull in shooting range and I was going to make things happen. As the bull raked a small tree I inched forward to the last small bush between me and him. I ranged him as he continued to rake his tree and came to full draw with him unaware. I completed my pre-shot checklist and released. Perfect hit! He collapsed dead in less than 4 seconds after a 50 yard run. I never saw the 350" class bull I was hoping for, but the experience in a new land hunting with new hunting buddies proved to provide a lifetime of memories. Can't wait for new memories to come from Wyoming as I have plenty of deer and antelope points to keep me busy the next couple years Heading home loaded...

Awesome. Congrats

Sent u a pm

Nice buck, thanks for sharing.

Mount it and you can change the antlers later when you get a bigger one...

my first 6 bulls never hit 300". I saw what I liked and took the shot. Since then, my standards have changed. Don't worry about what others might think - harvest a bull that will make you happy. What makes you happy today may change later in your hunting career. Take this time to "learn" as much about elk so each time you have a tag you can challenge yourself more and more. You're right. Tags are getting harder and harder to acquire so maximize your experience. I finally began taking pics of my hunts and they are fun to share with friends and family. Good luck - that's a good tag you have.

Great buck in a cool looking area. Congrats

Sweet buck. Congratulations.

Interested, send me a pm with ALL the details...

I was fortunate enough to see this rack last night and have to say it is an incredible beast of an animal. Unbelievably symmetrical for a non-typical of this caliber. The score is insane as well. Friends of the hunter told me he's a scouting machine and has been after this buck for quite awhile.

Nothing like savoring the moment....

Redman - my tag was good for the entire month of September. We hunted the 12-27th.

love it

Sweet character on that buck

Great buck Noah....you're the man!

Pretty buck

Very nice. Congrats

Sweet. Congrats

Very nice

Nice buck. Where did u get that hat?

Sweet!

I only had 4 days to hunt so I figured my best opportunity would be my second favorite hunting method - bivy hunt (my favorite hunting style is any method other than bivy ). Its an 8 hr drive from my home to where I would be hunting in unit 23 so it was a long night Thursday. I arrived at 3am Friday morning, unloaded my pack, changed into my camo and was off. It took a little under 2 hours to get to the spot I had marked on my GPS. I set up camp in the early morning as light barely began to shine. I set up on a hill where I could glass 3 sides from my tent. Friday proved to be uneventful with only a half dozen muley does spotted. Saturday morning I decided to quickly descend a 15' decline head first. My rifle took the brunt of the fall and I only suffered a bruised mid section and and handful of cuts from grabbing a thorn brush. That sucked! At 9:30 I glassed up a nice 8pt @ 436yds. I took a peek at my printout and read 4.5. Me, being a rookie rifle hunter, thought it was inches of drop so I got a steady rest and fired. Buck just stood there. I readied the rifle once again and fired. Buck started walking off unalarmed. I figured my rifle was off after the fall and started looking at it. I fired a test round at a rock at 200 yards...perfect hit. I looked at the drop reading attached to the butt of my rifle. OOOPS! MOA = 4.5 / Inches of drop = 24". What an idiot! I admit, got a lot to learn. For the rest of the day, I hiked and glassed, hiked and glassed, hiked and glassed. I saw several bucks that were small and ended up glassing this buck @ 236 yards bedded on top of a knife ridge. I dropped to the prone position and shot him in his bed. He's a mainframe 2 pt, but with triple eyeguards and some trash he's a 10 pt. Nice character buck. I used my KUIU 1850 pack to carry all my gear. Most of the weight came from the water I had to bring. Total weight = 56 lbs. I was ready to stay 4 days, but only needed 2 which was nice for a change. "Look...I can see the road!" Weather and bugs were miserable. Not a whole lot different than hunting in august. Although I have shot quite a few with my bow I was just as excited to shoot this guy with a rifle. I'm sure it's the first of many. Good luck to everyone this year.

WOW! Don't see one that that everyday...congrats on a special animal.