Son's 6x7 Roosevelt elk

[Okanagan]

Man but our family has had a string of good luck on elk.  On this bull, I love the webbing and crown of antlers on the 7 point side.  That is uber typical Roosevelt elk.    The second points are both 16" long.





Modern rifle elk season opened last Saturday in Washington State.  My son went out Thursday and started looking for a bull.  Public land, over the counter tag.  He saw a bull just before dark with a herd of cows, plenty more antlers than the legal minimum of 3 points or more on one side.   He tracked the bull Friday to keep tabs on where it was and then went after it on opening morning, Saturday.  About 10:30 he caught up with it 2 1/2 miles from where he'd first seen it, and shot it at 50 yards or a little more.  His nephew (my grandson) Code was helping with the hunt and sent me these photos. 

It was steep country and pouring rain.  He didn't want the bull to run off anywhere to force a tracking job, and if it did run he wanted it to be leaking as much as possible to keep the blood trail from washing out for as long as possible.  He had a leaner rest on a tree and shot it broadside in the chest.  The bull stayed on its feet so he shot it two more times in the chest as quickly as he could with his .338 Win mag in stainless synthetic Tikka 3 Lite.  He used Barnes 225 grain bullets this time, deep penetration and good wound channels yet little meat damage. 

His son (my grandson) was playing in a high school postseason football playoff game that evening, 3 hours drive from the elk.  The bull was only 600 yards from a road and between a road above and one below.  David got all but the head and one quarter out before he had to take off to reach the game.  I got a brief version of the story between quarters, then he drove back that night to pack out the rest of the meat the next morning.  He told us that with a road above and one below, if they were smart one of the hunters in camp could drop the meat packers off on the road above, let them hike down to the elk, load up with meat and pack it downhill to the lower road.  "But we are elk hunters... " he said. 

[pitw]

Never hunt with someone who will shoot downhill.
Man do them antlers have the coolest colors eh.  Great job.

[Todd Rahm]

Nice elk! Thanks for sharing.

[slagmaker]

Wow. I love elk and would dearly love trying my hand at giving myself a heartattack packing out the meat......LOL

beautiful pics and loved the story with it
Thanks for taking us along

[Dave]

Sounds like they needed you in camp, Clyde. You'd have been all over that one high road and one low road with that mountain 4x4 you truck around in.  :big grin:
What a great hunt that sounds like.  And as brutal as that seems to me, it's just business as usual out there - "I'll get a hunt in before the big game."  Haha
Great pics and story - thanks and congrats to David
BTW, win or lose? Traveling 3 hours I'd think they have to be a few playoff games into states

[FinsnFur]

"But we are elk hunters... " he said. 

I love it!
50 yards. He did a good job of sneaking up on it.
Well done thanks for sharing the story.

[Okanagan]

BTW, win or lose? Traveling 3 hours I'd think they have to be a few playoff games into states

First round of playoffs and we lost.  3 hours from elk to game but not so far for the teams to travel. Good game, fun high scoring shoot-out close till the last few minutes. 

[coyote101]

Great story  Great pictures  Steep terrain 

Pat

[Tikaani]

Nice Elk Clyde. It does not matter how you plan it, there is no part of packing out meat that is enjoyable.

John

[Coulter]

That's a dandy...and everybody knows elk brought out up a hill taste way better.

[Okanagan]

That's a dandy...and everybody knows elk brought out up a hill taste way better.

Over pizza today with grandson Code I got more of the story on this elk.  They took one quarter uphill on the first load out after the kill, but packed most of the rest downhill.  Code said that the antlers kept digging in so much when packing the rack downhill that David decided to pack it uphill.  Good kind of problem.

[FinsnFur]

Code said that the antlers kept digging in so much when packing the rack downhill that David decided to pack it uphill.  Good kind of problem.

That is a lot of work either way. Those boys sure earned it.