I killed my bull on the 5th day of the 9 day Colorado muzzleloader season.
Walking a ridge overlooking a deep canyon we spotted 3 different bulls on the slopes across the other side. After glassing them for a while, we finally decided to slide down the hill on our butts to go after the biggest one. The bull was bedded when we started our descent. Halfway down the hill my guide turned back around to me and asked, "how far can you shoot with that sidelock ?". I told him I had been practicing with my peep sight out to 200 yds and was able to hit a target about the size of a bread toaster at that distance. As long as I had good visibility and a good rest.
We continued to glass and keep an eye on the bull as we descended into the canyon toward the stream at the bottom. We stopped at the last shelf just above the stream. At this point the bull was now above us on the other side still bedded. The only thing we could see was his antlers rising slightly above the brush. We were contemplating our next plan of attack. Worried if we crossed the creek and tried to bust up through the noisy oak brush to go after him, that we would chase him into the next county.
We glassed and ranged the spot where the bull was bedded and determined the distance at 208 yards. I got into shooting position as my guide got ready to cow call to the bull. The bull stood up after a series of calls. He looked in our direction quartering toward us. I settled in and touched one off. After the smoke cleared my guide said, "you missed, load another one." I started to fumble around to load for another shot feeling extremely disappointed that I missed. Glancing up at the bull from time to time as I was reloading, I saw him moving down hill real slowly as the guide kept his binoculars on him. As I got in position to shoot the 2nd time, the guide said "he is at 190 yds now and it looks like you may have hit him with the 1st shot because he is acting sick and hurt". At the sound of the 2nd shot, the guide said "you hit him, he hunched up when you shot". The bull stood there as I reloaded and shot at him a 3rd time. At that point the bull bedded down.
We waited as the bull rocked his head side to side trying to get up from his bed. About twenty minutes went by before the bull got to his feet again. He slowly walked down hill to within 175 yards before I shot at him a fourth time. He bedded down a gain still holding his head up and rocking it all around for about another 30 minutes. He eventually laid his head to the side and stopped moving. We waited about another hour to go after him just to be on the safe side.
As we approached him in his bed it was one of the greatest feelings of joy for me. The first thing I did was thank God for the opportunity and accomplishment. This was the 8th elk I have killed, but the first elk I have taken with a sidelock. For some reason it was even more rewarding than the elk I have taken during archery seasons gone by. Three of the four shots hit him. Two of the shots were fatal. One of the shots went through his upper front left leg, grazed his belly and broke his upper back right leg in half.
I was shooting a .50 cal stainless steel 15/16'' Green Mountain Barrel LRH in a TC Renegade stock with with a .04 green fiber optic front sight and a Lyman 57SML peep sight. (I bought the barrel and stock from Sabotloader about 3 years ago)
My load was a 460 grain Bull Shop NEX conical, 85 grains of Swiss 2F black powder with a 1/8'' over powder wool wad.
Below are pictures of;
The bull in his bed,
The guide and I glassing the bull across the canyon,
Sitting behind the shooting sticks waiting for the bull to stand up,
Finally getting a chance to put my hands on him.
