My First Elk Hunt

[Quillback]

I have eaten elk and it is good stuff, congrats!

[nomolites]

9 hours ago, Seth said:

We roughed it and stayed at the Elkrun Inn in Craig. The rough part was we had to walk up the stairs to our room. 😁

 

This was essentially a long, glorified grocery trip for some elk meat. There had been about 60 head hanging around right before we arrived, but they headed west and it took a few days before some new waves came through so we could tag out. I’ve been saving up points since right after I graduated college and I have 12 now. One of these days i will cash them in for a good unit, but I need to save up my pennies for that one.

12 points should get you dang near any unit you like!  Awesome!

Mike

[JestersHK]

Congrats again buddy.  Glad you were all able to tag out.  That's a haul for sure.  You guys be safe coming back.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Sounds great. I really love the CO scenery.  

[JimDog]

FANTASTIC Elk Stroganoff recipe: http://www.kyeoyf.com/recipe/elk-stroganoff/

[Terrierman]

There's something wrong with me.  I love driving across any of the plains states - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, The Dakotas whatever.  I day dream about herds of bison, and Native Americans and the early white men making their way across seas of grass, getting into and out of trouble from whatever.  Never seem to tire of it, not when you can see so far and have so few people traces still in the view.  Though the wind turbines are changing that and fast. 

[MOPanfisher]

 Awesome!

[JestersHK]

Hey buddy once you're done butchering my curiosity wants to know the details. 

Interested in gun setups, bullet performance,  and glass used if ya don't mind sharing. 

[Seth]

23 hours ago, JestersHK said:

Hey buddy once you're done butchering my curiosity wants to know the details. 

Interested in gun setups, bullet performance,  and glass used if ya don't mind sharing. 

I was hunting with a Browning AB3 in .270 win paired up with a Nikon Prostaff 3x9x40 scope. Nothing fancy. I think I got the gun new for around $400 and the scope for $150. The ammo used was a reload that a buddy made for me using Winchester brass, CCI large primers, 58.0gr of Reloader 22 powder and a 130gr Swift Scirrocco II bullet. My original plan was to use the tried and true 150gr Nosler Partition, but my buddy talked me in to trying the Swift reloads and I prefer the 130gr rounds for the .270 so I bit. They performed flawlessly! One of my shots was recovered from the hide on the opposite side shoulder and it retained 69% of the bullet weight. The factory advertises 60-70% retention. The Swifts are one of the most expensive bullets you can buy, but it still ended up being about half as cheap as if I had bought a couple boxes of premium factory ammo. I've very happy with how they have performed and will continue them in my .270. I may play around with the powder type used next time I reload after hearing others talk about the Reloader 22 (IMR 4350 seems to be the go to for the .270) having some issues in colder weather, but the stuff worked great for me this year in temps ranging 20-40 degrees.

[nomolites]

The Scirocco is a great bullet as is the Partition - I tested the Swift’s in my .338 WM but both of my large rifles like the Nosler better and I have to say they’ve never let me down.  I have recovered most bullets from under the hide on the far side like yours on bull elk and I once hit a mule deer buck going away in the hip joint with a 160gr at 300+ yds and that Nosler still finished by exiting the chest.  Can’t go wrong with either but cheap they are not.

Mike