My First Elk Hunt

[Tebbeman]

I went on my first elk hunt in Sept of 2012 in the heart of Colorado. Leaves changing, bulls bugling and cows fat and sassy. The weather was a perfect as you could want and I was surrounded mostly by good friends and in my hands, a new to me Shiloh Sharps 50-90. The rifle started as a mid-90's #1 sporter in 40-65 but thanks to Clearcreek in WY, and the talented hands of Kirk Bryan, a heavy 50-90 barrel was fitted and I have a new hunting rifle. I was using Lyman mould 515142, which throws a 525 grain flat nosed beauty, 86 grains of Swiss 1.5 Fg, the normal Walters Wad, CCI primer and Starline brass. The rifle wears a MVA Combination rear sight and a homemade penny front sight...both worked very well even in the low light of the evening.

This cow came out of the timber just past 200 yards away from my selected tree stump seat. Up comes the bino/rangefinder and she looks good, but a little too far for my comfort level, so I decided to duck walk my way toward her using a few strategically placed pines as cover. I was able to cut the distance my 50 or so yards as she was now at 153 yards and feeding peacefully with a buddy cow. I double checked the distance, sighted the rifle numerous times to check my confidence and using the pine for a horizontal rest, pulled the trigger. The bullet entered her left side, in the pocket behind the front shoulder, right in heart. She spun around 180 degrees and looked pretty sick but stayed on her feet. Her companion ran off a little and seemed to be encouraging her to come along, so I reloaded, reminded myself there is no shame in a second shot, and put another 525 grainer in her...that laid her over right there. Looking back on it, I'm sure she would have dropped in a minute or so but I didn't want my first elk to get into the timber at dusk and require a tracking job.

The hunt is a memory now and one that I enjoyed last night again as I grilled backstrap steaks and thought of the pretty leaves. Life is short and our ability to hunt is limited so make the most of what you have and the time you have...get out and go hunting. Friends, nice country, wonderful rifles all make up great memories and I hope you have the opportunity to do the same. Stay safe and shoot straight. Tebbeman

[Jim Kidwell]

Nice one, Kenny. I believe you can overnight some of those Elk chops my way. .........................................Jim

[Don McDowell]

You did well , elk meat doesn't get much better than one of those fat ol dry cows.

[rdnck]

Ken--Nice rifle and nice elk. That cow will be better on the table than a bull. I am curious. Did you recover a bullet or get complete pass through? Shoot straight, rdnck.

[Tebbeman]

Redneck, I able to see both bullets as they skipped on down the valley headed into a mountainside so no safety issues. When we dressed the cow she had a nice thumb sized hole through the heart. You're right also in that the meat is excellent and a dry cow is the perfect animal to harvest. Thanks for the kind comments, y'all.

K. Tebbe