I had a fantastic hunt last week while in Colorado. I went on a combo Mulie/Elk hunt and luck was certainly on my side...

The first morning of the hunt my guide Cole asked me what my priority would be and I told him that I wanted to go after Elk first and foremost. He said that we were headed to a good Mule deer ranch that morning and now that he knew my priority was Elk that we'd focus on them after this first morning. I went along despite truly wanting to chase after a big bull on opening day. Man, was I in for a delight.

When we arrived at the gate to the ranch it was still dark and after a short sit in the pick-up it was then light enough to see the meadows and saddles we'd have to drive by to get to the particular tract where he wanted to glass for a buck. The guide told me that the elk where usually in different parts of the ranch but, it wasn't uncommon for them to show in the Mulie country we'd be hunting that morning. While driving out of the timber and into the open along side a saddle we spotted a young 4x5 bull at the peak of the saddle. We stopped and glassed the young bull as he ran over the top of the saddle and down into the gulch below. After hopping back into the truck and traveling a mere hundred yards or so, I spotted a spike bull on the mountain ahead of us. After staring at the truck for a brief moment he too went off the back side of the mountain. I told the guide we might better hike up the hill side so we could glass the back side of the saddle where the two young bulls had ran and just check to see if there were any other elk in the area. He agreed so we hid the truck in the timber and set out on foot to glass the back side of the saddle. As soon as we hit the crest of the hill I spotted a herd of 30-40 head on the back side of that saddle we'd seen the two young bulls run over. After glassing for a brief minute the biggest bull in the herd was that 4x5 we'd just seen run over the saddle. Cole said "There's no way he's the herd bull." He didn't even get the words out of his mouth when I saw a big bull walk out of the timber below the herd. I said there's another bull and Cole and I glassed him for a brief moment and he said "He's a 6x, let's get into position." The wind was perfect so down the mountain we went until we ran out of timber to hide behind. There was no way to get any closer without spooking the herd and I knew it was going to have to be the spot. As I got my shooting sticks set up and got ready there was a tree limb blocking a clear shot so I told Cole we had to ease down the hill a few feet to give a clear shot. As I slid in the snow a couple of feet the lead cow threw up her head and keyed in on our position. We froze like a block of ice until she began to feed again and I then slid another couple of feet where I had a clear shot. As the herd grazed up the hill the larger bull was behind the 4x5 and a few cows. I asked Cole to hit him w/ my range finder and he said "325 to the big bull" (I had just told Cole I was comfortable out to 400 w/ this particular rifle and load). Finally the cows and the smaller bull cleared, I held for the ribs and squeezed off the first round. The bull hunched up and turned slightly, as I bolted another round into the chamber and settled the hairs on the top of his shoulder Cole said "hit him again!" I squeezed off the second round and his legs crumbled beneath him. I bolted another round in the chamber and waited a minute but we could tell he wasn't going anywhere so we eased down the hillside to recover our bull. When we neared him I could tell he was still trying to breath so I hit him again to put him out for good.

30 minutes into the first days hunt and we were placing a tag on a bull, you just never know what might happen while in the field. We didn't even expect to see elk on that part of the ranch when we set out to hunt that morning.

Here's a picture of my bull and also a picture of the beautiful mountains off in the distance(also taken from where I took the bull):




The next morning Cole told me that we had plenty of time to find a good mulie buck and we weren't going to settle for an average buck on the second day of the season w/ 4 more days to hunt. We decided to go to a big pasture fairly close to where I took the bull because one of the other hunters saw several bucks there the day before. Cole had also seen a good 6x6 buck a few weeks prior to season in that area. We waited until light to drive onto the ranch and right from the start we started seeing mulies. We spotted several doe and a couple of small bucks close to the timber line on the edge of the big pasture and then spotted two small herds walking across the middle of the pasture headed for the timber. One herd was all doe and the other a small group of bucks w/ one that deserved a closer look for sure. We got in the pickup and headed around the side of a hill so we could try and beat the two groups of deer before they entered the timber. Once we got into position we were probably 300 yards from the deer as they entered the timber. The good buck was about the last to enter and upon close examination he just wasn't the buck I wanted on the second day although a nice 3x4. After the last of them made it into the timber Cole decided we'd drive up to a dead end road along side the timber where those deer entered and set out on foot to glass the country side beyond that point. As luck would have it when we made it to the top of that hill there was a group of bucks right on top of the pick-up in the edge of that timber and 2-3 were unmistakably shooters. I jumped out of the pick-up scrambled for my rifle and managed to get it loaded as the bucks bounded from the hillside. The guide whistled loud and the bucks kept going then he whistled again and the biggest buck stopped to have a look. I placed a 160 Accubond right through the base of his neck dropping him on the spot. There was no ground shrinkage at all, this ole' boy grew as we walked closer. Once again 30minutes into the second day and we had a nice 6x6 on the ground.

I'll be the first to admit I got lucky on the bull and the buck, Really Lucky! When I rolled out of camp on the 4th day there were still alot of tags to be filled. Only two mulies and my Bull had been taken at that point. The luck didn't end there. When I returned home I found out a Blizzard hit just as we left the mountains, There's no telling how long I would have had to stay in camp If I had stayed until that last day. As my ole' man says "I'd rather be lucky than good any day."

Here's a pic of my Buck:




Ya'll have a good one and Good Luck on all of your hunts.

Reloader

Well done!

As far as bullet performance goes, I used the 160 grain .284 Nosler Accubonds on this trip. Pushed by 66 grains of R22, Fed 215 GMM primers, and Remington brass. This load chronied around 3060 for an average. Rifle was a factory Model 700 7RM acraglassed in a HS stock and topped w/ a 4.5-14x44 Zeiss Conquest. This combo shoots right close to an inch at 200 and sometimes less if the conditions are good.

The bull was at 325 yards. the first bullet was rib in, lungs, and rib-out leaving an exit abou the size of a quarter. The second bullet hit the bull in the shoulder blade then backbone where it stopped on the off side of the back bone. I did not recover the first two bullets. I did recover the bullet that I finished the bull off w/ at close range however. It went through the bulls back bone and stopped in the offside shoulder(he was laying down w/ his back facing me). That bullet was peeled back w/ about 1/4" or so of the base intact and a nice mushroom over that. I lost it in the snow so no chance to weigh it.

On the mulie buck the range was only around 75-80 yards the bullet nipped both shoulders at the base of his neck totally destroyed his neck bone and left an exit about nickle size.

I would not hesitate to use Accubonds for either of these animals again.

Good Luck

Reloader

Way to go Reloader. Very nice trophies.

Great Job Reloader!

Excellent hunt and report!

It sounds like you had a fantastic hunt. Which unit were you hunting in?

Photos like that remind me why I live in Colorado!

David,

I was in 581

Yes, definitely some pretty country up that way. I could do w/o the snow . My 3/4 ton cummins 4x4 doesn't do worth a flip on a incline/decline in snow.

Have a good one

Reloader

Sounds like you had a great hunt! I bet you were very tired after packing that bull to the road
With all the snow in CO I am sure the hunting was great this year.

Great Hunt Report. I love the pics.
I hope to have some of the same luck on my Elk hunt here in Oklahoma on the 13th. I have loaded 160 Accubonds for my 7mm RM and 185 TSX in 338-06 for the hunt.

quote:

I bet you were very tired after packing that bull to the road

Roscoe, Look in the picture where the bull is laying by the ranch road. Notice that cliff about 30 feet behind him? It was at least a mile to the bottom of that canyon almost straight down and that's where the whole herd ran when I fired the second shot that dropped him. If he would have ran when I poked him through the lungs w/ the first shot, it would have probably taken us quite some time to pack that big dude out of that canyon. No roads or anything in that big gulch . Got real lucky. The guide had a nice set-up, he carried 4 wheeler ramps in the back of his pick-up and he had a little winch that hooked to his head-ache rack. We backed up to him, set-up the ramps and winched that rascal up into the truck

Back at camp they had a high skinning rack built in some trees where I hung him up and caped him out. One mistake I made was I left him to chill overnight and the dang thing froze like a block of ice. It took me ten times as long to get all the meat off of him. When I killed that mulie, I cut him up right then while he was warm and just hung the pieces to chill.

Have a Good One

Reloader

Good Luck Rob, I hope you bag-a-bigen.

I think you'll like the 160 ABs from your 7RM. Might want to stay away from the shoulder. My bullet did bust through that bulls shoulder blade and backbone before it stopped but, I don't think I'd intentionally hit em in the shoulder w/ that combo again. Had one guide tell me he wouldn't even go for the shoulder w/ a 375. Don't know if I'd go that far but, they do have pretty tough shoulders.

Good Luck

Reloader

Nice bull and buck Reloader! I leave for Colorado tomorrow to try for my first mule deer. Hope I'm as lucky as you! I'm sticking with the same accubond load I took my bull with last month in NM. -Sean

Who was the guide service? The animals are sure nice.