Hey Gents
I want to share my success this last week with y'all.
I was invited to hunt a private ranch in the Craig CO area. The owners daughter and my daughter play soccer together and we have developed a friendship over the years. I jumped at the chance to hunt elk and mule deer as this was for sure a bucket list item for me.
For mule deer I chose to hunt with my pre-64 m70 in 257 Roberts loaded with 115 gr TSX's. I have had unwavering success with his rifle in Texas over the years. For elk I carried another pre-64 m70 in 30-06 loaded with 168 gr TSX's.
This was an unguided, diy, hunt.

Over the first couple of days I saw several cows and does but no bulls or bucks. While the owner and a friend connected early on mule deer bucks the bucks seemed to elude me. Finally on the last minute of the last day I connected with a mature buck. I was literally returning to the cabin to leave when I saw a buck drinking from the pond below the cabin. I settled the cross hairs on his chest and let the 115gr TSX fly. I hit him in the front shoulder at a quartering angle and the bullet exited just in front of his off side ham. He stumbled back and collapsed, never to move again. I was THRILLED. While his antlers are'nt huge he was very mature and that's all that mattered to me.

The elk was a surprise. I was hunting a small meadow where the other hunters had seen mule deer bucks. I settled in behind some oak trees in a make shift ground blind. Armed with my 257 Roberts I was ready for any mature buck that exposed himself. About thirty minutes before dark a group of cow elk ambled in with one bull in the group. I counted points and realized immediately this was a legal bull. At 400 yards I did not feel comfortable with the shot so I let him close the gap a bit. At 300 yards I felt good, not great because I was KICKING myself for not carrying the '06. When he turned broadside I let the first bullet fly. The squeeze was good and the hold true. The bull was fairly unimpressed with the 257 and did not react at all. The herd wheeled left and started to run. At this I let the second bullet fly, with this one he stumbled a bit. Now at 365 yards he pulled up to a walk and tried to figure out what had happened. At this I let the third round go. Again, no reaction. He teetered a bit then collapsed. I could see warm air rising out of his lungs from both sides and knew he was fatally hit. He breathed his last and laid his head down. A this point I got really excited. Walking up to him I was over whelmed with gratitude and honor, I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a tear or two. When we cleaned him I found 3 shots in a 6" group just behind his shoulder. All 3 bullets fully expanded before getting through the on side rib cage. 2 of the 3 exited, I could'nt find the unexited bullet, a bit of a mystery.

Both of these animals were a first for me and I got really emotional when walking up to them. I was overwhelmed by their beauty. The first thing I did on both was to place greenery in their mouths and a branch on their bodies.
While there will certainly be bigger animals killed these are both trophies in my mind and I could not be more pleased.
Several of you guys gave me sound advise over that last month to make the outcome what it is and I truly am grateful for it.

I will also note that I was using a new GPO Passion 3x, 3-9x40 scope. Neil at Camera Land steered me towards it and I could not be happier with it. It is light weight and rugged. I was looking right into the setted sun on the elk with no glare what so ever. For a $300.00 scope it really is nice piece of equipment.

Perry

Good hunting!
Glad to hear your success with the .257 Bob on both animals.
When you said the Elk was unimpressed with your first shot don't sweat it they can act like that when fatally hit with anything. I've seen Elk take 3 hits in the kill zone with a .338 Mag and walk around "unimpressed" until they just fall over dead.
Caliber doesn't kill Elk but good shooting does, nice job.
Great pictures and thanks for sharing the story!

Perry:

Any mature buck or bull these days is best collected. Especially if they're not running full tilt when they come out of the tree's. Too many "long range shooters" have 'em spooked.

Congrats on filling both tags. Nothing wrong with carrying the '06 for deer either, even better when you've got an elk tag and in a likely area.

George

Perry,

Congratulations on a very successful hunt

Great story and the look on your face says it all.

As George said, Any mature Bull or Buck a person gets a chance at is a trophy.

Congratulations!!

Congrats Perry, you took a couple fine animals there and put some great meat in the freezer. I suspect that young bull will be excellent tablefare.

And as was said above, his lack of response to your 115 grain TSX isn't surprising. My wife's bull a few years ago took several solid hits from 185 grain .338 caliber bullets without much reaction until he crashed in a pile of dust. Mine this year was shot with a 250 grain Barnes TEZ from the muzzleloader and I at first thought I had missed!

for the Craig area you done as good as possible.
there are a lot of guy's that get animals that are not even close to those.

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.

Perry

Good for you!

Congrats on a fine hunt!
That mulie has an awesome cape on him.

Great job with a dink cartridge! Amazing what a bullet in the right place will do.

Outstanding. Congrats.


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Perry,

Good shooting and hearty congrats on a job well done!

Mark

Looks pretty good!!!

Very representative of the majority of bulls/ bucks harvested. Don't let magazines, guides and tv fool you, BC animals aren't around every bush! I'd be beyond happy with those. Enjoy that bull, looks like great eats!! And as stated above, elk ain't impressed by much. Only time I've had instant reaction was muzzleloader at 12 yards. And that waa must likely the bull just being surprised looking around for the horny cow he heard haha

You done good!!!!

Nice !! Glad you had a good time in Colorado. Come Back next year.

You had me at "Gratitude and tears"
Congrats on your successful trip

Great Job!

Congratulations, somehow I have a feeling you are planning a second trip.

I'm impressed, and I'll bet old Ned Roberts himself would be too. Good for you for shooting two more times, even if the result was inevitable. When I hunted in Namibia 10 years ago, our PH repeated the comment about Americans' tendency to admire the first shot instead of putting in insurance. I made that mistake on Hartmann's zebra, and learned a valuable lesson.

When I did my first elk hunt in western Colorado in 1992, the guide I hunted with told me that if I got a shot at an elk, as long as it was standing, keep shooting.

Good job, Perry. Congrats.

Congratulation on a good hunt..I shot a lot of elk with the 25-35 and 250 Savage in my misspent cowboy youth. Reaction such as you explain is fairly typical with even a 270 or 30-06 on ocassion has been my experience..A 338 or 375 can and has gotten the same results on rare ocassions, but the bigger guns do leave a better blood trail and that can be critical, so Ive gone to the .338 Win for that reason, especially for forest hunting and damp ground, if snow its not so important. and it seems the elk get smarter every year and my last three or four have been plus 350 yards..Just speaking for myself. I still use the 250 and 25-35 on deer and will be doing that next week.

Outstanding trophies and a great report! I don't know too many people who wouldn't jump at the words "private Colorado ranch" and "elk and mule deer." Good shooting with a smaller caliber, too!

Great report and outstanding trophies.

Good work with your classic 257! You had a great hunt experience. Nicely done.