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One of the small groups of cow elk that we debated about going after.
The built-in 30x zoom on my FujiFilm HS20exr camera works great for getting pictures of critters that are at long distances.
After harvesting my cow elk in early January, we received a couple of really good snowstorms. Dallen my oldest son who also had a cow elk tag, had a horrible cough and breathing problems throughout most of January. After several trips to the doctor the x-rays showed pneumonia with his left lung full of infection. I felt really bad for Dallen and at the same time, I felt like a horrible father for not even getting him out to hunt a single time for his cow elk.
With about a week left in the hunt my brother and I set out to fill his tag. Right at first light, we started hiking up the same canyon I had taken my cow elk in two weeks earlier. This time the canyon looked completely different with a heavy layer of snow covering everything.
With the snow, we had high hopes that the elk would have moved further down the mountain... well that wasn't to be the case. As we reached about three miles in, near the area I shot my cow elk a few weeks earlier we started to spot different small groups of elk. Every group of elk was going to require hiking considerably more to get into position and range for a shot at one of the cows.
We accessed the different groups of elk and decided our best option was to continue hiking up the mountain and then swing around through a north-facing slope to get to a ridgeline that we could follow. This would hopefully place us swinging above a small group of cows that we hoped we would be able to get within range of.
This was just a fun picture I took of my brother glassing a small four-point mule deer buck.
The plan was good but we had no idea how deep the snow really was until we started to cross to the shady north-facing slope of the mountain. Luckily we were able to find where a horse hunter had crossed the draw a few days earlier. It had snowed six or so inches on top of the horse's trail through the snow. The snow was so deep that you could see the riders foot and stirrup dragging, leaving a groove in the snow a foot down from the top.
As Weston and I made our way around the trail we did our best to stay on top of the horse's hoof prints without sinking all the way to the ground. As best as we tried we found ourselves stuck in snow up to and above our waists on many occasions. After crossing the first of two draws we spotted a spike and cow and we hoped to move in for a shot, however, a couple of mule deer had other ideas as they busted from the second draw and spooked the spike and cow.
Can you see the shooting sticks? The snow was deep... snowshoes are going to be added to my list of needs for hunting.
I like to carry a set of Stoney Point Steady Stix even if I am not shooting myself. With a small hook and loop strap on the bottom to hold them together, they make pretty good walking sticks. And if I need to help my son or brother out with setting up for a shot, I can quickly hand them the shooting sticks.
After we spooked the spike and cow we finished working our way around the second draw placing us above the location we had last seen the group of cows from earlier in the day. As we worked our way down the ridge-line we spotted a cow on the backside of the ridge where we didn't want to shoot a cow. This cow was safe... a little further down the ridge and a cow and three calf elk showed up on a finger ridge below us at 230 yards. Weston dropped to his Stoney Point Steady Stixs and dropped the cow with my 140g Accubond hand load from his A-Bolt 270 WSM.
It was now four in the afternoon and we were a long way from the truck. After a few photos, we quickly went to work on boning out the cow. To get the elk off the mountain we had packed my homemade canvas meat bags and two of my modified meat hauling saucer sleds. After boning out the meat and securing the meat bags to the sleds we started our way down the mountain in the dark. At eleven o'clock we made it back to the truck. As always the sleds worked great. Each of us pulling half of the 150lbs of meat.
Thanks for the opportunity I had to help you with your cow elk Weston. It was a great day on the mountain.
I wish Dallen could have been well enough to go out for a cow elk himself this year. I really enjoy the memories I share with my son while out hunting.
Weston with his cow elk taken with a Browning A-Bolt in 270 WSM.
The 140g Accubond fired from my brother's A-Bolt 270 WSM exited the cow elk just behind the shoulders with a 230-yard shot.
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Using my new wireless shutter release (in my right hand) to take a photo of the cow elk I took in January of 2012. I used my X-Bolt Stainless Stalker in 270 WSM with 140g Accubond handloads to take this elk.
Through November and December, I had my fifth knee surgery and surgery to fix my exhaust pipe (no more hemorrhoids!). My "good" left knee had been giving me a lot of trouble since this past summer. Mainly catching when I bent it past around 110 degrees. I was able to make it through the fall hunting season thanks to my DonJoy knee braces. After the fall hunting seasons, I had Dr. Harrison go in and remove the offending problems behind my knee cap.
I have been having extra problems with the knees this year (could I be getting old) and Dr. Harrison let me know that jogging was off-limits to prolong getting a total knee replacement for hopefully another 10 years. Anyway with jogging off limits I have been riding my bike to stay in shape... well this just seemed to complicate my hemorrhoids and I decided to have this taken care of also... not a fun surgery and recovery at all! I'll never forget that first BM... thought I'd die.
With the surgeries combined with the holidays I have put on a few pounds and am not in as good of shape as I like to be in. Well enough of me being fat and out of shape and... my hemorrhoids.
Dallen my oldest son, my brother Weston and I all drew cow elk tags for a region in Northern Utah this winter. With my surgeries and the lack of getting much, if really any snow, has prolonged me from getting out as soon as I would have liked to hunt. I normally like to hunt when there is a good cover of snow on the ground. By hunting in the snow it helps bring the elk lower on the mountain, makes them easier to find, and my modified saucer sleds work great for hauling out boned out elk meat. See: The Meat Saucer — Sled System for Hauling Deer & Elk in Snow
I snapped this photo of my X-Bolt 270 WSM rifle just after taking the shot across the canyon to put the cow elk down.
As my permit is progressing to the last three weeks I decided to make a trip in myself to hopefully get one of our tags filled and assess the location of the elk if they had even moved into the public ground we hunt. Then I can come up with a better plan for taking Dallen and Weston back in to hunt later. See: Cow Elk Hunting Jan. 2012 — Helping My Brother in Northern Utah
I showed up before light and slowly started working my way back into the property. I found only a little snow on the north-facing slopes and the rest of the ground bare. With so little snow I knew that I would have to go in a few miles, probably near the end of the public ground to find any elk. To be prepared to get an elk out by myself, if I was fortunate to harvest one, I decided to carry a couple of saucer sleds.
At around three miles in I started watching a group of bull elk feeding in and around a ridgeline above me. I started working my way in their direction hoping to find some cows somewhere in the near vicinity. As I worked my way up a canyon I spotted two cows that were moving across the canyon I was in. They were working their way through some really heavy oak brush. When they got near the 200-yard range I patiently waited for one of them to offer a good shot through the oak brush. Finally, the lead cow stepped partially into a sliver of an opening right at 200 yards away. She only offered a shot at the head or neck back to the front edge of the shoulder. I centered up the crosshairs just off the edge of the tree she was behind and let an Accubond fly heading for the front edge of her shoulders. The shot was quickly answered with a loud whopping sound and after I re-acquired the cow in the scope I could see her piled up right where she was standing.
The recovered 140g Nosler Accubond bullet from my cow elk. This recovered bullet surprisingly weighs 87 grains. At first glance, I would not have thought it was that heavy, as there isn't much left. Even though there isn't much left of the bullet I really like the effectiveness of the 140g Accubond at putting elk and mule deer on the ground. You can read more of my thoughts on this bullet near the end of my Recovered Triple Shock page. See: Recovered Barnes Triple Shock Bullets in Elk from 243 WSSM and 270 WSM Rifles
The bullet entered the elk just in front of the right shoulder and the bullet stopped against the ribcage directly under the left shoulder blade. The recovered 140g Accubond bullet weighs 87 grains. This 270 WSM, 140g Accubond hand load has a muzzle velocity of 3,300 fps from my Browning X-Bolt Stainless Stalker rifle. This bullet has been doing a great job for me at putting deer and elk on the ground.
I snapped a few photos and started to work on boning out the elk. I was able to use my new wireless JJC shutter release with my camera for the first time in the field. It was nice not to have to run back and forth with a 10-second delay on the camera to take pictures of me with the elk. What a cool accessory for my FujiFilm HS20exr camera. It will also work well at keeping the camera still when taking photos with my teleconverter attached.
I spent the next four hours boning out the elk and placing the meat into my homemade heavy-duty canvas meat bags.
Given some snow and my saucer sleds I can hunt by myself and bring an elk or deer out without making extra trips or calling for help. Just my style of hunting, no horses required, no asking for help, and no extra trips hauling the meat out on my back.
After getting home the scales showed 149 pounds for the meat and bags that I brought off the mountain.
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We sat here and glassed for deer much of the afternoon until dusk. We watched four does from this location.
Coming off the end of the rifle elk hunt where my son Dallen had a couple of missed opportunities to get a bull we were hoping to make up for it during the deer hunt.
Dallen was using my latest handload of the 80g Tipped Triple Shock with Hodgdon Superformance powder. This load has a muzzle velocity of 200 fps faster than my previous load and is now going 3550 fps from a short 22-inch barrel A-Bolt Stainless Laminate Hunter rifle. I was looking forward to seeing what performance on game this bullet would have with the increased velocity.
Opening weekend we decided to hunt the sagebrush-covered hills of the Henefer-Echo public ground. I knew that the hunter to deer ratio was going to be well in favor of the hunters but I hoped that we could find a buck before someone else did.
We arrived at the parking lot an hour before light. Trying to find a place to park was a little tricky. There were definitely going to be a lot more hunters than deer on the property today.
Snapped this photo of the back of Dallen's hat while he was watching four does feeding below us. Can I please cut your hair Dallen? :)
A couple of Bald Eagles soared over us at one point during the day.
My friend Ryan and two of his kids on horseback mule deer hunting below us.
We hiked hard in the dark for that first hour before light working our way around sagebrush draws before it got light. As it got light we decided to hike up to a ridgeline to sit and glass the area from. As we were slowing working our way through the sagebrush I looked back over our shoulder and spotted four bucks that were watching us from a saddle of a draw below. There were two, two-point bucks and two three-point bucks in the group. Dallen quickly got set up on the shooting sticks and was ready to take one of the three-point bucks however they were standing behind an old fence line. (Later that day I studied the map and gps and realized the fence was an old one and that the property line was another half mile away.) Not knowing this section of the property that well I told Dallen to wait until they crossed the fence. When the bucks decided to cross they did so running and they didn't slow down until they were 750 yards away.
We quickly started around after them. Once we got to where we saw them go into a sagebrush draw we started a zig-zag pattern to try and find them. It didn't take long for them to find us first and we caught a glimpse of them bailing over a ridge at a full-speed run. Dallen was hopeful that we might catch up to them again so I sent him hiking while I called my friend Ryan who was on a horse somewhere further up the canyon to let him know some bucks were headed that way. Just as I got him on the phone I looked back and four more larger bucks (small four points and three-point bucks) were sneaking out of the draw.
I had to yell to get Dallen's attention who was now forty yards away marching up the hill. It also took me several times yelling to get his attention... reminding me of yelling for him to get off the computer downstairs and come up for dinner. He never hears a thing for the first ten or so yells... anyway the bucks heard my yelling and that just elevated their exit speed. By the time Dallen turned around and was ready for a shot they too had run over the ridge... What were the chances that there would have been two groups of bucks in that draw???
Here is Dallen with his 2011 mule deer buck he dropped with a single shot at 619 yards. He was using a 243 WSSM, Browning A-Bolt Stainless Hunter Laminate with 22" barrel and a Bushnell Elite 3200 3-10x SA Scope. A wonderful little mountain rifle we really enjoy hunting with.
Dallen putting on the latex gloves to help his old man with boning out the mule deer.
Dallen packing out the head and a little of the meat on my HideAway Expeditions frame pack while the bulk of the deer meat is in my pack.
We had two good chances to take a buck and struck out much like Dallen's elk hunt we just experienced the previous weeks before this hunt. Having such close calls and missed opportunities was really not helping Dallen's morale.
We spent the rest of the day taking a nap and glassing for deer. We were able to find five does that afternoon but no bucks. :(
During the week I took Dallen out of school to take one more chance at finding the bucks we saw on opening weekend. We hiked all over the place trying to find a deer and the property was just devoid of deer.
My good friend Ryan was hopeful to get his daughter her first buck. We made plans for the last Saturday of the hunt to take her and Dallen back into the area that my brother Weston had taken his mule deer buck during the elk hunt with a buck/bull combo tag. There had been a lot of small bucks in the area during the elk hunt so I was hoping we could get the kids in on a few bucks.
Friday even we were up in the high country glassing for deer with the kids. It didn't take us long to find some bucks. The deer were still hanging out in the area they were two weeks before. As it was getting late we made camp and made plans to go after them the next morning.
Almost an hour before you would want to hike down into the canyon two groups of hunters showed up and marched off down the trail invariably bumping the deer out of the location they like to be feeding in during the night and early morning hours. Dang it! This put a small damper on our plans. At about a half-hour before light, we started working our way to the area the bucks should be in and to no surprise we found hunters surrounding the canyon.
We moved off to the left and started glassing and found the deer were way down in the bottom of the canyon. Again not a surprise because of the hunters hiking in so early right through the feeding area of the deer.
Ryan found a two-point buck bedded in the brush below us. We tried to get Darla in for a shot at this buck.
Ryan and Darla glassing for mule deer.
Dallen and I taking a break hauling the boned out mule deer meat back up the mountain.
Dallen and I taking a hauling the boned out mule deer meat back up the mountain.
Here is a photo showing the entry hole of the 243 WSSM 80g Tipped Triple Shock bullet on Dallen's 2011 mule deer taken at 619 yards. At this distance, the bullet would have been traveling around 2100 fps and still made a pass-through on this mule deer.
Exit hole of the 243 WSSM 80g Tipped Triple Shock bullet on Dallen's 2011 mule deer taken at 619 yards. There is also a very small exit hole about four inches above the tip of the bullet that is in the photo. I didn't find this second hole until I skinned the deer to bone out the meat.
Without hiking around past the hunters that were set up in front of us we decided to try and get as close as we could working our way directly towards the deer down through some small cliffs. When we had made it to the last cliff we were still 500 to 600 yards away from various small bucks that were feeding in and out of maple trees, chaparral and other brush below. If we tried to get any closer we were going to have to scale down through rock slides and thick chaparral brush. The deer would clearly hear and see us and we would also not have any good place to set up and shoot from.
So here I was stuck in a dilemma. I wanted Ryan's daughter to get a buck. I felt pretty comfortable with Dallen taking a shot from this distance and other hunters were closing in on the group of deer below... I really felt we needed to take a shot from here. At 619 yards below us a three-point buck and a two-point were feeding next to each other. With the kids set up on shooting sticks I calculated that we wanted to hold for a 550 shot with the steep angle. That would make approximately 36 inch drop with the bullet Dallen was shooting. I instructed Dallen how high to hold and he sent an 80g Tipped Triple Shock at 3550 fps from a 243 WSSM down to greet the buck. The buck dropped like a ton of bricks. The buck appeared to be completely dead... or was he only just shocked? Then after a few seconds up comes the bucks head and he tries to get up but his spine was clearly broke. We watched him crawl into the brush and then decide to head down to try and get a closer shot at some of the other bucks for Ryan's daughter.
The deer weren't spooked that much as we started to work our way down through the thick chaparral and rock slides. On the way down the other hunters had finally moved around into shooting distance and a barrage of lead started to rain down into the canyon. On a couple of occasions we set up on the way down hoping that our young female hunter could get a buck, but alas it wasn't to be. She was a trooper hiking down in and out of a very steep canyon, a canyon I'm sure few ladies have ever ventured into.
Surprisingly when we got to the downed buck, probably a full hour later, he was still alive and required a finishing shot to the neck.
Upon inspection, Dallen's shot placement was great with a double lung shot just off the back edge of the shoulder blades. The bullet at 619 yards would have been traveling at 2100 fps and it had complete penetration out the opposite shoulder. How had the buck lived so long with clearly a lung shot? How had the spine been broken? Upon skinning the deer to bone it out the mystery of the spine being severed was revealed. The bullet upon entry had hit a rib and exploded a larger sized entry hole than the exit hole. This caused a "malfunction" in the bullet and a pedal of the bullet came off sending it angling up through the spine, leaving a very small second exit wound out the opposite side.
Sometimes bullets do weird things and I am grateful this time that the Triple Shock actually came apart or this buck may have been a lot harder to recover. I actually wish the Triple Shock bullets would lose their pedals upon impact giving much more damage with multiple bullet fragments flying around inside the chest cavity.
Similarly, because Triple Shocks from my 270 WSM have not performed well at times with direct vital zone shots I have switched to 140g Accubond bullets in my 270 WSM to be able to be more effective at taking down big game, especially at longer ranges. In the case with such a small diameter and weight of bullet that the 243 WSSM offers I choose the harder better penetrating Tipped Triple Shock. This small 80g Tipped Triple Shock bullet will not disintegrate on mule deer and elk at close range, like other .243 bullets do, and this bullet does perform fairly well at longer ranges.
In the rush to get down the mountain to hunt I left my camera at the truck. Luckily Ryan had his camera.
After a few photos with Ryan's camera (thanks Ryan!) we loaded up the packs with the boned out meat and up the mountain, we went.