Our guided cow elk hunt started this morning in New Mexico. We spotted a couple of elk herds up on a ridgeline a 1000 yards away. The guide four-wheeled it up to a pasture near the top of the ridgeline (8500’). I set-up on the hood of the truck. We spotted a small herd about 350 yards away in a break in the trees on the next ridge over. One bull but I could not tell if the other two were cows because their heads were in the branches (we had seen more bulls than cows so far that morning). Even though I had a good shot on the body, I passed (the penalty is too steep if I shot a bull). Two more steps and I confirmed it was a cow but the shot opportunity was gone. There was another small clearing 400 yards away that was in the direction they were moving. Two cows moved into the clearing. As soon as the one broadside stepped out from behind a tree in the way, I sent the bullet down range aiming for a double lung shot. I heard the "thwack" of the bullet's impact, got the scope back on her and watched her take 5 steps up behind some more trees. My view was blocked but could see her shape fall. I was calm and steady during the shot but after I got the excitement shakes. Then it was down into valley and hike up to the top of the ridgeline to find her. Boy was she big, estimate 500+ lbs! As my lagging partner was catching up to us, we pointed out two more cows standing about 80 yards up in the next clearing. He shot one off-hand. His shot was probably more difficult than mine because our hearts were pumping and we were breathing heavy from the climb. When we field dressed my cow, I was surprised to see the entry about 6 inches behind the rib cage. She must have turned away just as I fired. However, the bullet went dead-center through the heart and was lodged in the ribcage on the far side. The Hunting Gods’ payback, the memory cards failed in both cameras so I have no pictures to show.

good man.

Congrats Slim glad you got one. Back straps for supper

Thanks, Evis. The trusty .270 Win with Hornady 130gr GMX bullet did its job. Perfect expansion and 100% weight retention. I'll post some bullet pictures when I get home.

great to hear that your load worked that well for you. 400 yrds is a good long shot and getting a projectile back is a bonus but sure shows that energy is getting down the further out you get.

The bullet still had 1700 ft-lbs. It had penetrated a long way.

Good story! Before you go out next time, google up pictures of bulls, they are a slightly different color than cows (more cream colored than red). After you notice this, its easy to pick bulls out of a herd even if you cant see heads... although I do admit, always make 100% sure of your target before you fire


-DallanC

Good shooting Slim.

SJ, just for your info: our St.-Hubertus is on the calendar on 3th of November. We here in the village celebrate him on the Sunday closest to that date, so that's today. When you want to drink your cow death (as this is the habit in our part of the world), you're welcome
And we were lucky yesterday. In the rain we could shoot a few rabbits, a hare and a fox, just hunting on footh with dogs and the shotgun. The rabbits go to the celebration and afterwards we'll drink that fox death...

picture or it never happen.

gelandangan wrote:

picture or it never happen.

Our guide may have one on his phone. I don't know why the pictures taken with the tablet didn't come out - they are totally gray. Every picture prior and every one after are there. My xD card has lost formating before. I found a utility where I might be able to recover the images. I'll have to do it when I get home Maybe some pictures on Tuesday.

If you can't recover the pics off the memory card, try "testdisk" software as its free open source and comes with photorec and runs on all platforms and both are small programs and work 99% in most cases. The included photorec is specificaly aimed at digital cameras and memory cards.

Well done Slim...a successful hunt is a real joy mate. 500lbs of elk meat....hmmm....OK when is the BBQ mate???

Dam, thats suck Slim..
I use a software called Advanced Photo Recovery for that kind of incidents with my clients.
But often its the card that got zapped and die.

There is quite a difference in colour with some of the elk.