Our trip started off bad to say the least. My 5 year old son got the stomach flu, I hit a deer in the road, I cut my heel at the hotel room in Kearney, and I forgot my boots! A stop at Cabela's fixed the boot problem- can't recommend Danner Pronghorns enough- they are awesome boots. We took my son to an urgent care in Laramie. He checked out ok so we felt good about leaving him with my mom in Laramie during the hunt.
I won't get into all the details of our hunt but it was amazing to say the least. This was my first ever private land elk hunt. I had started saving points several years ago for an area 7 hunt that my best friend had leased. When he lost the ranch 2 years ago I had no clue what to do. I found this ranch after 100s of hours on line and on the phone. My friends in Laramie and Saratoga also verified it was worth my time and money for a unique experience. My wife and I saw close to 500 elk on our hunt. About 200 of them were bulls.
My bull was one of about 10 that was trying to keep a group of cows together. It was difficult to get a clear shot because other animals were always in the way. My bull was the 2nd biggest in the herd. The biggest never offered a good shot and then he disappeared over a ridge. My shot was 477 yards. He dropped in his tracks.
I honestly judged this bull at 330 and was surprised to find he scores 351" before deductions. His mass really hides his length. His main beams are 52".
My wife also harvested her first ever elk. She made a great shot after a 1.5 mile stalk. 231 yards through the heart!
She was a huge cow and was estimated at 10 years old. Her ivories are flat.
Overall it was truly amazing experience. I'm not sure I will ever do a private land hunt again as my true love is the DIY hunts with a bow, but I'm sure glad I experienced it once.
For those interested my wife shot her cow with 7mm-08 and 140 grain Nosler Partitions. Her shot was 231 yards and the destruction was amazing. I wouldn't hesitate to use this rifle for anything from antelope to moose. My bull was shot with a 30-06 and 165 grain Hornady Interbonds. As mentioned above my shot was 477 yards and he dropped immediately. I had a cross wind at my location of 15-20 miles per hour. I held my 400 yard crosshairs in front of the bulls shoulder. I was shooting slightly down hill so I figured I didn't need to adjust height. The wind must have been blocked down range because I hit exactly where I held, breaking the spine right in front of the shoulder.
I won't get into all the details of our hunt but it was amazing to say the least. This was my first ever private land elk hunt. I had started saving points several years ago for an area 7 hunt that my best friend had leased. When he lost the ranch 2 years ago I had no clue what to do. I found this ranch after 100s of hours on line and on the phone. My friends in Laramie and Saratoga also verified it was worth my time and money for a unique experience. My wife and I saw close to 500 elk on our hunt. About 200 of them were bulls.
My bull was one of about 10 that was trying to keep a group of cows together. It was difficult to get a clear shot because other animals were always in the way. My bull was the 2nd biggest in the herd. The biggest never offered a good shot and then he disappeared over a ridge. My shot was 477 yards. He dropped in his tracks.
I honestly judged this bull at 330 and was surprised to find he scores 351" before deductions. His mass really hides his length. His main beams are 52".
My wife also harvested her first ever elk. She made a great shot after a 1.5 mile stalk. 231 yards through the heart!
She was a huge cow and was estimated at 10 years old. Her ivories are flat.
Overall it was truly amazing experience. I'm not sure I will ever do a private land hunt again as my true love is the DIY hunts with a bow, but I'm sure glad I experienced it once.
For those interested my wife shot her cow with 7mm-08 and 140 grain Nosler Partitions. Her shot was 231 yards and the destruction was amazing. I wouldn't hesitate to use this rifle for anything from antelope to moose. My bull was shot with a 30-06 and 165 grain Hornady Interbonds. As mentioned above my shot was 477 yards and he dropped immediately. I had a cross wind at my location of 15-20 miles per hour. I held my 400 yard crosshairs in front of the bulls shoulder. I was shooting slightly down hill so I figured I didn't need to adjust height. The wind must have been blocked down range because I hit exactly where I held, breaking the spine right in front of the shoulder.
