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Recently my buddy and I returned from a week long elk hunt near Chama NM. Steve had a Bull tag and I opted for a cow tag. The first two days of the hunt was wiped out by heavy wind and snow. The third day dawned cold and clear. My luck was as usual. I had a cow tag and only saw spike bulls. My buddy had a bull tag and only saw cows.
Both of us have health issues which limit the amount of walking we could do so we could not hike up high to get to a lot of the elk. Just prior to leaving on the hunt my doctor changed my diabetic medicine. Unfortunately my new medicine caused me to be very short of breath and very dizzy if I stood up quickly. At 8500 ft elevation being short of breath is not very helpful.
By the last day our guide was working his butt off to get us on some elk. Our guide called a friend of that owned a large ranch to see if he was seeing any elk as he had two clients that were running out of time. His friend told us to come on. That afternoon his buddy picked us up and drove us to a small clearing facing the west side of a large hill. He pointed out an opening with a water hole about 200 yards up the hill. Just before dark elk started appearing in the clearing. No bulls appeared but several large cows did. My rifle was sighted in at 200 yards so I aimed dead on with my 6.5 Creedmoor. The bullet hit perfectly and the elk dropped about 20 yards away. The 140 gr bullet made a complete pass through.
My hunting buddy went back the next morning to see if he could get on a bull. He never saw an elk much less a bull. As they were leaving our guide saw a cow elk at 400 yards and asked Steve if he thought he could make the shot. Steve's 340 Weatherby was sighted in at 400 yards so he was ready for the shot. Just as Steve got his sights on the cow elk she turned straight away and was leaving. Steve put a 225 gr slug right up the elks tail pipe. The elk dropped in her tracks. It wasn't a bull but we both left with two ice chests full of elk meat and lots of good memories.
Both of us have health issues which limit the amount of walking we could do so we could not hike up high to get to a lot of the elk. Just prior to leaving on the hunt my doctor changed my diabetic medicine. Unfortunately my new medicine caused me to be very short of breath and very dizzy if I stood up quickly. At 8500 ft elevation being short of breath is not very helpful.
By the last day our guide was working his butt off to get us on some elk. Our guide called a friend of that owned a large ranch to see if he was seeing any elk as he had two clients that were running out of time. His friend told us to come on. That afternoon his buddy picked us up and drove us to a small clearing facing the west side of a large hill. He pointed out an opening with a water hole about 200 yards up the hill. Just before dark elk started appearing in the clearing. No bulls appeared but several large cows did. My rifle was sighted in at 200 yards so I aimed dead on with my 6.5 Creedmoor. The bullet hit perfectly and the elk dropped about 20 yards away. The 140 gr bullet made a complete pass through.
My hunting buddy went back the next morning to see if he could get on a bull. He never saw an elk much less a bull. As they were leaving our guide saw a cow elk at 400 yards and asked Steve if he thought he could make the shot. Steve's 340 Weatherby was sighted in at 400 yards so he was ready for the shot. Just as Steve got his sights on the cow elk she turned straight away and was leaving. Steve put a 225 gr slug right up the elks tail pipe. The elk dropped in her tracks. It wasn't a bull but we both left with two ice chests full of elk meat and lots of good memories.
