Tweet
Holy crap, I'm the proudest dad right now. We went out last Thursday (both my kids had tags). Set up camp. We walked miles and miles Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We got up at 4:30 every morning, hunted til dark every night. We saw 5 elk in total. My son had the first opportunity Saturday morning. Elk spooked us. We had literally just gotten out of the truck and were unloading gear. Shut the doors, turned around and a very small bull and a cow were 20-30yds out in front of us, looking at us. He tried to line up a shot, but the scope caps were still on. By the time he figured out why he couldn't see through the scope, the elk trotted off and he couldn't get a clean shot.
2nd time was Saturday evening, we spotted 2 cows and a bull. Stalked in a little, took a knee and lined up a shot. Unfortunately, the only Elk he had a shot on was the bull. Couldn't take it and we lost them after that. Didn't see any more.
I busted my ass at work this week to get off early and take my daughter for one last chance. She had a half day so it worked out perfect. We drove up to our chosen spot. Got out, loaded up our gear and started walking. We arrived at our spot at 4:02 pm. We walked for a few minutes, maybe 200 yds into the woods. Spotted a small herd (5-6 cows) about 60 yds out through the trees. They didn't even notice us. We were walking into the wind and they were feeding. She took a knee, lined up her shot and fired. It was 4:17 pm. Elk jumped up, did a 180, fell straight down. Kicked once. Didn't move again.
Rifle was a 16" barrel 6.5 Grendel with handload 123 grain Hornady SST projectiles, form 1 suppressor. 2450 FPS 10' from the muzzle. She hit the cow right at the end of the scapula. It did not exit. Destroyed the back of the scapula. I did not recover the bullet, but I did not cut into the chest cavity. I believe it punctured the lungs, as there were bubbles forming under the skin when we skinned her. Also, it must have stopped the heart essentially immediately as there was zero bleeding. I've never shot an elk before, and I've only watched youtube videos on how to cut her up, so I was just making sure to get the meat. We quartered her, grabbed backstraps and tenderloins. I did not do a pretty job.
Hunting with a suppressor was pretty awesome. She took the shot and I heard a very solid THWACK so I knew she had gotten a good hit. The other elk looked at the one that was hit, watched her for a minute, and then went right back to feeding. The did not move on until we started walking over to the downed elk.
Pics!
Point of impact:
My daughter and her first Elk!!!
Packing meat:
2nd time was Saturday evening, we spotted 2 cows and a bull. Stalked in a little, took a knee and lined up a shot. Unfortunately, the only Elk he had a shot on was the bull. Couldn't take it and we lost them after that. Didn't see any more.
I busted my ass at work this week to get off early and take my daughter for one last chance. She had a half day so it worked out perfect. We drove up to our chosen spot. Got out, loaded up our gear and started walking. We arrived at our spot at 4:02 pm. We walked for a few minutes, maybe 200 yds into the woods. Spotted a small herd (5-6 cows) about 60 yds out through the trees. They didn't even notice us. We were walking into the wind and they were feeding. She took a knee, lined up her shot and fired. It was 4:17 pm. Elk jumped up, did a 180, fell straight down. Kicked once. Didn't move again.
Rifle was a 16" barrel 6.5 Grendel with handload 123 grain Hornady SST projectiles, form 1 suppressor. 2450 FPS 10' from the muzzle. She hit the cow right at the end of the scapula. It did not exit. Destroyed the back of the scapula. I did not recover the bullet, but I did not cut into the chest cavity. I believe it punctured the lungs, as there were bubbles forming under the skin when we skinned her. Also, it must have stopped the heart essentially immediately as there was zero bleeding. I've never shot an elk before, and I've only watched youtube videos on how to cut her up, so I was just making sure to get the meat. We quartered her, grabbed backstraps and tenderloins. I did not do a pretty job.
Hunting with a suppressor was pretty awesome. She took the shot and I heard a very solid THWACK so I knew she had gotten a good hit. The other elk looked at the one that was hit, watched her for a minute, and then went right back to feeding. The did not move on until we started walking over to the downed elk.
Pics!
Point of impact:
My daughter and her first Elk!!!
Packing meat:
Comment