Well I posted a couple weeks ago with my 12 year old sons first buck, now a week after his 13th birthday he scores on his first bull !
Here is the story.
My brother drew a late Buck tag for a hard to get area and either sex elk tags were available there as leftovers so I put my son and I in and we drew the tags. We spent the first couple days of the season spotting and evaluating bucks with my brother trying to find him a good one and he passed on many opportunities on bucks larger than he or I had ever taken. After not seeing many elk during this process my son and I got serious about elk on friday and saturday finally getting in on them saturday morning. We were slipping through the dark timber on a real steep north facing hillside and I spotted a bull 80 yards away sleeping in his bed, saw another part of an elk so we knew he wasn't alone and this gave us no chance to close the distance for fear of blowing them out of there. He didn't present a good shot angle the way he was bedded so we just set up my backpack for my sons rest and waited. Ended up waiting nearly 40 exciting minutes for him to make a move. I told my son that when he stands up we won't have long for the shot so as soon as the bull stood my son fired. The bull flinched at the shot and shuffled a couple feet and stood there and my son ( who was very excited at this point ) couldn't get on him again and the bull fast walked away into the dark timber. We went to check the area where the shot was fired and about 50 yards past that the bull bolted down the steep timbered slope. I was able to get a shot on him that broke 2 of the last three ribs and angled up into the neck knocking him off his feet, my son then shot him in the neck as he was getting up and it was all over except the butchering and packing.
The pack out was steep and ugly but shorter than most of my elk stories at only 1.5 miles to the truck. Bull was killed at 9:30 am and had the last quarter in the truck at 5:30.
The next morning ( last day of the season ) my brother shot the Mule Deer in the last picture, he had held out for a bigger buck but he was happy with this one as I was too. His buck dropped at the shot and made not a kick, one shot at 125 yards with a 270 WSM in the shoulder.

Way...too cool-thanks for sharing!

Way to go kiddo and pops!

Mark D

Nice muley too

Snell:

congrats to son and dad! as well as your brother...I am considering on giving up on Oregon here for a season or two and looking at hunting out of state...

those results are impressive... your 12 yr old son's luck this season beat the heck out of my results......didn't see anything that big except left over cattle grazing in high country on BLM land that hadn't been rounded up yet.....

My 12 year old is giving a big thumbs up to your 12 year old.. and is really envious...

cheers
seafire

Congratulations to all you guys! Nice Bucks!

Hey Snellstrom, Congratulations to all of you on the kills. I sure like to see those BIG smiles on the young`uns.

You mentioned your brother was using a 270WSM. What kind of Load was he using?

And what did you and your son use?

Hey Dave,

Congradulations on your sons elk, I've never shot a bull so I can only imagine how much fun he had. Your brother shot a very nice buck as well. What area were you hunting this time?

Hot Core
My brother was using factory 270 WSM Ballistic Silvertips in 130 grain, they print real tiny groups out of his gun and the deer could not have died quicker. My son uses a .284 Win in a Ruger M77 flatbolt that my dad bought new almost 35 years ago. I load a loaded down 130 grain bullet for him (2650 fps) next year he'll be a little bigger and recoil hardened and we'll step up to bigger bullets and faster loads.

Thanks to everyone for the positive comments my son really enjoys seeing his picture posted on the worldwide web and hearing the praise!

Congratulations to all. You guys had quite a season.

Fantastic, big congrat's to your son and yourself (your brother too)...

Brad

tell your son congrats and your brother too and slap yourself on the back ---chris

Snellstrom

You mean to tell me that great looking kid who shot the elk came from you???

Seriously, great looking kid and great story.
Congratulations.

Congrat's to all!!! Way to go!

Can't wait till my boy is 12!!!

Congratulations to your son, and a well done to you both.

Congratulations to both of you! Seeing his bull made my day.

That is great. Your load for your son's gun is almost the same as my daughters when she got her bull. How wide was your deer? Ron

Snellstrom ----- Way to go, speaking from experience, there is nothing as pleasing as seeing your son or grandson follow in your footsteps. I just got back from Colorado myself and your pictures of the snow remind me of my hunt as will as the good Elk meat packed neatly in my freezer. Good shooting.

Congrats to your son! And to you! Great hunt and great story.

Thanks again everyone for the nice comments. I get more of a thrill posting my sons pictures here than I would posting any of my own. I'll have to remind him that every year won't be as lucky as this one, we got pretty lucky after lots of hard work to get him the right shot and the right situation for his first buck and first bull. He was very dedicated to practicing a lot in the last year getting ready for these opportunities and held it together very well ( better than some grown men! ) in the presence of a legal bull.
I'm a very proud father!

By the way I didn't put a tape to my brothers buck but he won't go 30". Brother said he would measure it up this weekend.