BigGameHunter

My son knocked down his cow elk with a .243 (95 grain). That was a 125yd shot.

Yes, on my son's first cow hunt I struggled with this question. I spent week's researching it and looking up ballistics, range, etc. At the end of the day, my son knocked down his cow from 125 yards and she only ran 25 yards before hitting the ground. I am sure everyone in here has their opinions on ammo but we opted for a 90grain bullet and it worked great. Now, we were "lucky" in that the shot was relatively close, but I would have been comfortable on that bullet choice upto 200yds. With him, at that time, having limited range time we made the choice to stay inside of 200 on all shots. Bottomline, your .243 will work. I had the meat in the freezer to prove it. Good luck out there with the kid(s). There is no greater feeling as a parent to hunt with your kids.

This whole unit is full of elk .... there aren't too many bad spots. I am betting you fill the tag

When do you guys start shed hunting? How much do you use your optics vs. your boots?

Saw a lot more activity this weekend in my area. Finally had one of the big boys move in to kick out some of the spikes ... but let's be honest. I'm cool with a spike too. Glassed 4 or 5 bucks; drew back on spike before he decided to jump down into the wash to chase a doe .... overall good weekend.

I have been out 3 times since Saturday and still haven't seen the bucks sticking with does. I have seen them come into the doe herds and not sticking around the next day. Just the spikes are sticking. This warm weather can't be helping. If it's worth anything, all the "rut" activity I have seen has only been in the evenings. I'll be out all day Friday/Sat/Sun .... let's how this changes over the weekend during the rain.

*tips my cap to you gentlemen* Well done!

Was back out this morning, down south, and found about 20 does ... no bucks pushing. Maybe these does aren't pretty enough or the bucks in the unit have ED. I may never know the answer to those questions...so I'll leave it to that to the biologist(s).

The two areas that I have been in, unit 33 and 36B, have not seem to start yet. Lots of does hanging around but no bucks in the mix (yet). Hopefully, the cold weather snaps them into the fever. I just need to find one that's half blind, can't smell, and walking with his head down through a 10 yard wide wash to make this season happen. *crosses fingers* DL

This is about the equivalent of Fred Flintstone ordering a rack of dinosaur ribs for his car, right?

Does anyone have the youth hunt in 36B this weekend? If so, I might be able to help.

If he needs help on that Jauary javelina hunt ... you know where to find us.

SOLD

Yes, 2WD

Still runs, defintely noisey when it runds (sounds like a diesel) and yes it does rattle.