Wife's First Elk-Cow

[huntingfool]

My wife was drawn for antlerless elk this year, no elk tag for me. This hunt was in an area I've never hunted but it's easy to draw and a good friend of mine was confident we could find some elk for our wives so we thought we'd give it a try.

First morning had a couple bulls bugling. We were still-hunting towards the bugling when a shot rang out and the bugles started moving away. We changed direction and as luck would have it the elk looped around and crossed a canyon ahead of us. We hustled to try and cut them off and get a shot as two herds were crossing the canyon but could only close to 330 yards. My wife is pretty solid at 200 yards but haven't practiced further than that so they were out of range. We spent the rest of the day hiking uphill into the high country, hit 9500 feet and elk sign was everywhere but it's so thick and steep the only way to hunt them I think is to sit a trail. I'm not sure either of us have the patience for that so we made our way back down. Was a very long day but learned some stuff and saw some great country:

Nap time:

Day 2 we were up early and hiking in the dark to a small spot of high ground with feeding area all around. We had been there about 15 minutes when my wife spotted some elk. She was pretty excited but it looked like 2 bulls, moving left to right along the ridge. After awhile we could see a cow and 2 calves but they didn't offer a shot and disappeared below the ridge line. We waited as we could still see a spike bull and sure enough another cow and calf and another spike popped up. My wife was situated with her rifle and there was a small log laying in front of her for a perfect rest and the cow finally offered a shot at 150 yards. The shot rang out and the cow just stood there. The other elk milled around and by the time my wife had another round racked the cow was walking. I could tell she was hit hard, her hind legs did not want to move with her front half. She had the look of a dead elk walking but she came to a stop and her head was back up looking around. Her calf stood right in front of her blocking a shot. They stood there for about 30 seconds when she finally tipped over. Waited to see if another cow would offer up a shot for our friend but no dice. So we made our way over and took some pics before the work started.

The cow must have been quartering towards, entrance was perfect about an inch behind the shoulder, got both lungs and made a mess of the liver. Just clipped the stomach but not near as bad as it looked.

She fell about a mile from the truck, took 2 trips with 2 packs. First load was the heaviest:

I tell you what, there is nothing in the world like watching an elk tip over. I love it. All the preparation, logistics, load development, the numerous trips to the range making sure the rifle is sound and that she could shoot consistently, waiting for months to get out and go, going over shot placement, all the miles hiked... so many hours of thought and energy put into reaching an objective and it's all validated when you see that elk fall down. I can't get enough of it. I couldn't be happier about wife wife shooting this elk, last year she got a deer but it was a buck we saw 5 minutes into the hunt from the road. This was the real deal, she had to put her time in and put her miles in. It's soooooo much more satisfying to do it right.

Rifle:

Nosler TGR 300WSM

180gr Nosler Accubond

66.6gr AA 3100

I bought the rifle earlier in the year and she drew first blood with it. She nuts up to that 300 better than a lot of dudes, she can be a rough customer

One more of the elk killer:

[cohntr6]

Great pictures of the hunt and congratulations to your wife!!

Jeff

[elecshoc]

Congrats, good job!!!!

[Flatlander]

Congrats on a well deserved trophy

[ElkyG]

Congrats to your wife

[Will K]

Sweet.

[kidso]

Great job! Looks like a decent spot for bears up in those high aspens. Did you see any bears or any fresh bear sign up there?

[huntingfool]

Great job! Looks like a decent spot for bears up in those high aspens. Did you see any bears or any fresh bear sign up there?

 

Nothing fresh, only poop I saw was very old. A lot of aspens were scraped though, I assume these are bear scrapes?

[papa]

Congrats on a fine elk!

[Couestracker]

 

Great job! Looks like a decent spot for bears up in those high aspens. Did you see any bears or any fresh bear sign up there?

 

Nothing fresh, only poop I saw was very old. A lot of aspens were scraped though, I assume these are bear scrapes?

 

Congratulations to your wife! Great pictures and recap of the hunt too. Those scrapes are from elk I believe, they like to eat the aspen bark.

[twowindy]

great job congrats.

[kidso]

Agree on the elk scrapes. Bear would be definite claw of bite marks.

[nateNAU]

Awsome job! My dad had the first peaks hunt and I had the second and neither one of us could get the job done.

[firstcoueswas80]

Good job Hannah.

 

Jake, aren't you glad I made you buy that rifle?

[huntingfool]

Yeah Casey, I am happy with the rifle. Hope to bust a coues buck with it later this year. When you want your elk cape?