Well, we made it home today after a great hunting trip. Tee and I each scored a nice cow elk. Good food in the freezer.
Our first day, Sunday, to hunt was interrupted by a snow storm. We were seeing the elk at the same time they saw us. No way to get a shot like that. Around noon, we decided that we couldn't see well enough to shoot, so we stopped hunting for the day. The snow stopped overnight and left a nice white blanket of around 10" or so at the higher elevations.
The second day was much clearer, but a lot colder. It was 25 degrees below zero first thing in the morning. We spent the day trying to spot elk and came up pretty dry. We spooked a few, but could never get into position to take a shot. Around 3:30 in the afternoon the main guide took Tim with him and I went with my guide. Sunset was scheduled for around 4:40. Not a lot of time to hunt. Well, success smiled on both of us. I'll let Tim tell his "version" of his hunt. My guide took a road that had not been driven on yet. Just about 4:40, we spotted a small herd of cow elk down the hill, about 225 yards away. The guide told me to get ready. I had to use his shooting sticks, so I had to kneel down to take the shot. The cows had not spotted us. In order to make the shot I was going to have to shoot downhill, in fading light through a window of trees and branches. My first shot must have hit a tree branch. The cows just started milling around and not running because they didn't know what had happened after the shot. I had to wait for another cow elk to walk into an opening between two trees. This time there were fewer branches to obstruct the shot. I squeezed off another shot. The guide said I had hit the animal. Because it was getting darker by the minute, I decided to try to anchor her right then and there. I shot again and down she went. When we got to her, I saw that my two shots were about two inches apart on the same elevation. Needless to say I was most pleased.
Tim and I will be posting some details about some of the food we enjoyed on our trip out to New Mexico, while we were in New Mexico and on our way home to North Carolina. Right now I am really tired. Bed time for me.
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