58 Colonial and The Bull Elk

[jarentz]

What a great hunt you had!beautiful country and a fine looking flintllock to boot.

 

[Hawk54]

Nice elk and rifle. Well done. Good narrative.

 

[1:66 twisted]

That’s awesome! Congratulations!

 

[jdw276]

Deleted post was quoted here.

Yes, he shot 3 times AT the elk. Hit it twice and shot a tree with the other one.

 

[MTFURY]

Great Job!!!! Your 3rd photo is looking right down the valley at my house.

 

[CharlieP]

Beautiful story, excellent hunt. Well done sir.
affirmation of your screen name, enjoying and exercising the freedom and bounty

 

[azmntman]

KEEP SHOOTNG TILL IT DOWN AND STILL. When walking up to your "dead" elk do NOT approach from the front feet side, only from the rear back bone side. Many guys bought a chopper ride outta the woods walking up to a "dead" elk and standing between its legs when it thrashed again and broke legs an knees and wallets.

My friend and his sons first elk: Boom, "I hit it!" "Keep shooting"..."where" I don't have a shot"...."SHOOT IT IN THE ELK! Shoot it in the Elk!"" Kid shot it in the elk and dropped it at 200yds running like a antelope with no lungs left. Was shot at 80 yds so it was running hard with no lungs 120 yds later when "shot in the elk" (which ended up being a ham that dropped it). Was real close to making the edge of the canyon too, a shot in the elk assured a relatively easy pack out compared to boning and ropes n such!

NICE JOB

 

[Old Oak]

Beautiful Elk and rifle, wonderful story..... how was the pack out?

 

[appalichian hunter]

Great Job!!!! Your 3rd photo is looking right down the valley at my house.

how about a invitation to your house, we can go elk huntin and shoot one or two three times. Not making fun of the original post just lookin to hunt elk.

 

[Robby]

Thanks for sharing your story freedom475, and the beautiful pictures as well!!!!
Robby

 

[zerosprk]

Awesome storytelling! Congratulations on a great bull. You were right to keep shooting until he was down for good. Elk have a will to live surpassed only by a mountain goat and a passed off bear. Great job!

 

[BuffaloSoldier]

I know exactly how he felt, first elk I shot was "shot" and claimed by another hunter.

 

[SciAggie]

Before I went on my first elk hunt I was warned they had “a bad case of the live longs.” Elk don’t always give up easily. Well done and nice story.

 

[Bushfire]

I know of an Aussie that travelled half way across the world to hunt Montana, hunted hard, shot an elk across a gully, hiked up the other side just to see some SOB tagging it. He called the warden but apparently that's legal and there was nothing he could do. He wasn't happy understandably.

 

[Bigpete]

I know of an Aussie that travelled half way across the world to hunt Montana, hunted hard, shot an elk across a gully, hiked up the other side just to see some SOB tagging it. He called the warden but apparently that's legal and there was nothing he could do. He wasn't happy understandably.

You'd have to be the lowest kind of scumbag to do that imo

 

[PathfinderNC]

I love stories like yours. Congratulations and well done!

 

[Ranch 13]

Well done Wes, it's good to see real elk hunt stories.

 

[JB Books]

There are 5 subspecies of Elk left in North America according to the internet :
Eastern Elk ; Cervus canadensis canadensis
American Elk also known as Rocky Mountain Elk ;Cervus canadensis nelsoni
Roosevelt Elk ; Cervus canadensis roosevelti
Tule Elk ; Cervus nannodes
Manitoban Elk ; Cervus canadensis manitobensis.
Here in New Zealand we have the nelsoni sub species , these deer were given by President Teddy Roosevelt to NZ early last centaury . We call them Wapiti , but they have inbred with European Red Deer , Cervus Elphus , so much we now call them Fiordland deer . The terrain they live in has one of the highest rainfalls in the world and the country is made up of deep steep fiords and glaciated valleys which are covered in very thick southern rain forest . A wapiti / Fiordland deer is a highly desirable trophy and the herd is the only one in NZ which the hunting is controlled.
Other than the country they live in , which makes then hard to hunt , they seem to be no harder to kill than the red deer .
Wapiti / Elk / Fiordland Deer |

​

I must politely ask you with what do you hunt these animals? My reading these last recent years has myself arriving at the conclusion that all New Zealanders have been effectively disarmed.

 

[JB Books]

Great story, very nicely told. Thank you for sharing it.
Ignore the fool from across the pond, for knows not of which he speaks.
Read some of the old tales of the early days of British hunting safaris in Africa,,, they dump more rounds into an animal at times than a Marine trying to put down a drugged up jihad. And seem proud of it.

You did excellent. Your 1st shot would have been enough, but given the circumstances could still have resulted in a lost animal, following up was the right thing to do.

Great pictures too by the way, do you have any more from the hunt?

I don't know about the drugged up statement but don't know enough to rule it out. But motivation is very powerful and the jihadis are very motivated. I'd say their fanaticism mimics the Japanese in WW2.

 

[Pukka Bundook]

JB Books,
No plenty of guns and hunting in NZ still.
I am not from there but have a mate down there.

Semi autos thin on the ground though!