Thanks, guys, I really do appreciate it...a whole lot!
The experience was made all-the-better because we didn't shoot it. That elk forced us to hunt him and hunt him hard. Ram told me that it knew we were not cows nor anything that made him comfortable. He'd run over a ridge. We'd wait. Ram would bugle. Many bulls answered. Ram listened intently, assessed, and pointed in the direction we had to go, and then Ram was gone leaving me to force myself to chase after him. How he was able to tell the bull we were after from other buglers was beyond me. But he did.
After chasing him for the better part of 90 minutes and with Ram paying very close attention to what the bull was doing and predicting his next move, he disappeared over another ridge. I was in miserable pain and out of breath. I pushed myself to crest the ridge. I saw Ram glassing. He turned to me and motioned for me to get to where he was. Cardio wise, I'm can hold my own. But sea level cardio and high altitude cardio must be two different things because high altitude cardio didn't extend reciprocity to the sea level kind.
When I managed to get to Ram, he pointed off in the distance and said, "There's your bull. He's 130 yards away. Shoot him." Easier said than one thing or another, neither being shooting a rifle while oxygen deprived.
My crosshairs were doing 360's around his entire huge body. I told Ram that I needed to catch my breath. When my heart rate slowed, I was able to settle on where his heart was. I fired a 160 grain Partition. At the shot, I saw his knees buckle. I knew I hit him hard. Ram told me to shoot again, but by the time I bolted another round, he had walked behind trees.
The bull managed to make it to what was probably his bedding area. Ram found him about an hour after I hit him. How an animal that huge could hide itself was beyond me. He did leave an initial blood trail, but it slowed to mere droplets. I'm guessing that the droplets were from the entry and exit wounds because I think that that 160 grain Partition destroyed its heart on its way out of its far side. The exit wound was at least in inch in diameter. If its heart was pumping, we'd of found a whole lot more red stuff.
He did have a huge rack. At places just above its head it looked as though his antlers were considering palmation. However, my first reaction was to the size of him in his entirety. He was massive. Ram said he'd break 900lbs. He was so huge that five of us were unable to roll him on his legs for photos. After about a half-hour of trying, Ram accepted endeavor futility. So we managed to position him as best we could, and Ram switched from guide to photographer.
Besides the knowledge and expertise of Ram and his excellent crew, I do owe a lot of appreciation to my surgeon who knew exactly where to inject me with three cortisone shots about 10 days before I killed my bull. Without that medicine, I know I would not have been able to hunt.
