Originally posted by captdavid:
I retired in June and to fulfill my bucket list, booked a cow elk hunt with a ranch in Sonora tx, my friend booked a W/T buck hunt for his son. It is 4200 acres of rough Texas Hill Country with only an exterior game fence. They have whitetails, elk and a variety of other exotics. They have a bunch of good black buck and fallow. He has 30-40 elk with some 300+ bulls. We started hunting Wed. 26th afternoon. It was cold, blustery and with a full moon, not the best of hunting conditions. We dropped my friend and his son off in a nice raised blind and drove around scouting for the elk. After being jarred around for 2&1/2 hours we got several glimpses of elk but no shots or stalks. Right before dark Jason’s father called to say Ryan had shot a buck.
This is Ryan's buck
This buck was passed on (note by GWB)
We were close so we went to see it and help. As we approached we saw several elk in the area of the stand. We didn’t get a shot.
The next morning after a great breakfast we got off to a little late start. We bounced around again for several hours with no luck, so we decided to return to the stand where we saw the elk the night before and hunt it. As we approached we saw elk that were feeding, but moved away as we approached. We climbed into the blind and waited. The elk were in the cedars, but very skittish. After awhile they began to ease out into the open. I focused on what I thought was the largest one and waited for what seemed like a long time, but was probably only 15min or so. Let me say that the elk were not ‘crazy wild’, and due to the drought, were accustomed to the supplemental feed that was put around certain stands. At this time it appeared they were unsure enough and were about to leave. I finally got a decent quartering away shot and took it. The cow turned and trotted off. There was no apparent reaction to the shot and no chance at another shot due to the trees. I told my buddy ‘I can’t believe I missed,’ he was a little worried too. About that time she got the wobbles and fell over.
I was elated. The shot was under 300yds, probably closer to 100yds hehe. The 30-06, 165gn Nosler Partition @2825fps broke two ribs entering, sliced the liver, lung one rib and the fleshy part of the off shoulder exiting. Elgin, Jason’s father, a man with 60yrs of taxidermy and hunting experiences said that it weighed close to 500lbs. I have no idea.
Capt david
