My first year in Montana I didn't know anything about elk. I hunted for about three weeks by my self and got close to lots of cows and several spikes. I saw a few bulls from long distances and twice by the time I got to where they were someone else shot them.
A guy from work, who was from Wyoming, said he had killed lots of elk and invited me to go along. We went to Beaver/Willow pass just south of Gibson Resevoir and camped out with maybe 300 other people and waited for the migration out of the Bob Marshall. On the third day elk started coming over the mountain. At first, only a few cows, then more and more. Finally I heard someone down the hillside yell he saw a bull. A few seconds later the guy I was with fired his .300 Win Mag. I never saw a bull, but the closest cow was still probably 600 plus yards away. Pretty soon at least a dozen guys started shooting. Elk started running every which way. The guy I was with finally killed a cow that someone else had shot through a hind leg. He shot 13 times at 4 different elk before he knocked that cow down at about 10 yards. Took him 4 more shots to finish her off. Only the last one was fatal.

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Ignorance is curable but stupidity is terminal.

Back in the early '70's I used to spend a lot of time up on the Sun river below Gibson Resevoir. Used to stay in cabins owned by Mrs. Stecker. She said her husband was the one who showed Bob Marshall around. Haven't gone back in years, even though I loved the Augusta rodeo. After reading your account I'm pretty glad I haven't gone back. I'd probably be really depressed.