Friends and I made it tough on the elk last week. Went 7/8 with only one bull tag not filled. Even then, we had 3 good tries at filling the last bull tag, but my friend is going to come back later this month and give it another try.
Anyway, we had one really good day, took 5 cows and a bull.
My 2 friends I was hunting with were up first. Found a herd mid-day hiking back to the truck. Wind was iffy at best and they winded us. My buddy couldn't get the bulls to separate from the herd so he took a cow:
The herd moved off about 1000 yards and all settled down, some even bedded. So, my other friend and I took off and easily got to 300 yards. Again the bulls were all in the middle of the 100 or so elk, but eventually one of the dozen or so bulls moved to the edge of the herd.
Big mistake for that bull:
The herd started milling and my buddy decided to fill his cow tag too, done deal:
Spent the next few hours quartering and packing elk. Had about 40 minutes left and on the drive out we spotted another herd moving up a draw. I figured I had time so grabbed my pack and 7-08 and worked my way out to them. They came out perfect, right up the draw and at about 100 yards, filled my first tag. After the shot they trotted out to about 230 yards and started milling around. I picked another cow and filled my second cow tag.
Found out on the way back to town, our other 2 buddies had also taken one cow in another spot...so 5 cows and a bull in one day.
That's the most elk I've seen shot in a 6 hour period by my hunting party.