Hello All,

Here is my long overdue hunt report from my wonderfull trip with Double T Outfitters.

Hunt Dates Oct 5th to Oct 10th

Outfitter www.doubletoutfitters.com

Rustin and Amber Titensnor

JACKSON HOLE- HOBACK JUNCTION AREA in Star Valley Wyoming

Animals Hunted ELK, MULE DEER and PRONGHORN

Animals killed ELK, MULE DEER and Pronghorn

Rifle used Winchester Model 70 Supergrade in 300 Win Mag Leupold VXIII 2.5x8
180 grain Nosler BT on the deer and pronghorn and 180 grain Barnes X for the elk

The pictures are here...

http://share.shutterfly.com/ac...?sid=8AZNXDhq3atFG7o

I flew from Bangor, Maine to Jackson Hole on Oct 2nd. I would of preffered to drive but time was limited. The flight with Delta was as good as flying goes these days.

I arrived in Jackson a few days early and checked into the Anvil Hotel, cheap and good for a place to sleep. The next day I went to Double T's camp which was great. We were there 2 days before the hunt and had the camp to ourselves. We were at about 5800 feet right acrossa road from the Snake River. I could of fished for trout if I had the time.

You can see the pictures of the camp kitchen. The owners Rustin and Amber Tisenor have Amber's Mother do the cooking. I was very impressed with the food.

Double T charges $3800 for an elk hunt, $4800 for elk and mule deer and $5000 for elk, mule deer and antelope. When planning this hunt I talked to Rustin and I asked what were the chances of getting all 3 animals. He told me that they run about 80% on elk and about 50% on muler deer. With Pronghorn, if you are lucky enough to draw the only reason you won't get one is if you spend all your time elk hunting or you get a blizzard to roll in and make them all lay down and hide.

I decided that for an extra $1200 and another couple hundred more in tags that I would be foolish not to expland my oppurtunities. MOREOVER I KNEW THAT IF I DIDN'T HAVE A MULE DEER TAG I WOULD SEE A MONSTER!!

I was lucky enought to draw a mule deer tag and pronghorn so I was hunting all 3!! We started out each day riding up the mountains in the dark. this was my first Elk hunt so I didn't have any real lofty goals fot a monster 6x6. I just wanted to go and get an elk that had some horns that I would not be embarrased with. The first day we spotted some elk on a distant mountain face at 0800. There were 4 hunters and 2 guides this morning in our group.

I have to say that the ratio of hunters to guides was good, we had 8 hunters total. Me and my friend Von were hunting Elk, Mule deer and Pronghorn. Mark and Dan were hunting elk and mule deer. The other 4 hunters in camp that week just had elk tags.

We made a plan to get closer and cover the 2 sides they could come out on. Long story short, the bull in the group popped out on the side of the ridge where Dan and Mark were. Mark made a 300 yard shot with a 338. The elk ran qiute a way before finaly going down. His buddy Dan also hit it 2x in the neck with a 30-06 before it stopped. Nice bull. It is the one in the creek bed in the pictures.

DAY 2 We hunted deer and elk the next day, we saw no elk on day 2 but quite a few small mule deer bucks and does. We got a a brief glimpse of a MONSTER 4x4 but he evaporated over a ridge and we couldn't find him.

DAY 3 we rode out early and were hunting high up on a big mountain range. Most of the hunting party went to one side of the mountain range and I went to the other side with another hunter named Kent. We were to push across the mountain slowly stillhunting with the other 6 hunters positioned strategicaly in ridge tops, and vantage points to see anything we pushed out.

It was 0830 and it had just stopped snowing. About 30 minutes into my walk I happeened on to a set of FRESH tracks. I had the wind in my favor so I continued on. I pushed along on what I hoped was a shootable bull for about 40 minutes. I then could SMELL the elk up ahead. I was pretty excited and I made the mistake of not slowing down. I kept pushing the sign like I was tracking an escaped convict through a Georgia swamp. The next think I saw was a few cows jump up and a lone bull!! I didn't have time to count points they were at about 130 yadrds on a lottle clearing up ahead. I knew he wasn't a monster but I could see he wasn't a spike or fork. I shot him qiuck behind his left shoulder as he was bugging out.

He did not show much indication of being hit. I went over to the clearing where I shot him and I found NO BLOOD!! I decided to sit and wait rather than drive him into the next mountain range.

After about 20 minutes I took up the tracks. Kurt, (one of the guides) called me on radio. He was up ahead on a ridge and he could see a wounded bull sidehilling along. I kept on going. I began to doubt my shot as there was still no blood. I marked the spot where I shot the bull by GPS, partialy for the memory and part so I could get back there in case I lost the track and had to come back to it from a different direction.

LONG STORY SHORT I stayed on the tracks and and put 2 more shots into the elk and he died almost 1/2 mile away from where I shot him!! The Barnes x barley clipped the back of the left shoulder and the front of the right shoulder due to the steep angle. The bull was hurt and he couldn't go up hill but he was not ready to die yet. I love Barnes Bullets for tough stuff, I have used them in Africa quite a bit with great results. I just wish I got a bit of blood. if it was not for the snow and Kurt I am sure the elk would of died but I would problply not of found him.

DAY 4 Von and I (both flatlanders) enjoyed a much appreciated break from the altitude and terrain that is elk and mule deer hunting. We drove out to the area where we were to hunt Pronghorn.
Kurt was out guide and Mark (who shot an elk on day 1) cam along for the ride.
After about a 45 minute drive the terrain changed to rolling sage. We started seeing Pronghorn.
This was a lot of fun. It reminded me of hunting plains game in Norther Tanzania in the Lake Natron area. you could see very fay and the animals were not very skittish, unless you got closer than 400 yards.

The trick was to drive past them and then stop the vehicle a 1/4 mile or so out of sight. then stalk back and get a shot. I gave Von the first oppurtunity as I had already shot an elk. He had one down in no time. I was up next. I crept up to a heard of goats with a nice male in the lead. We got within 235 yards. The group of goars were comming up to a fence line an they usually stap and then pick a dirrection to go. This heard had a hole in the fence an were not stopping.

I told Kurt that I was going to try a running shot. This is something I normaly don't feel comfortable with BUT with the open terrain and the gun choice with the animal I felt confident that I would either miss or hit the animal. I figured even if I wounded it we would not loose him in this open country.

I was swinging on the goat and holding right on his nose when Kurt said "Hold 4 feet in front of him" I would of adjusted but I was already in mid triggere squeze when he said it. Sure enough, the snow exploded about 3 feet behind the goat!! Those things are fast!!

The good news is that I got a second chance about 45 minutes later and I did it right. One shot behing the shoulder off hand at 220 yards. I had to shoot offhand because I couldn't get a rest on anything and when I sat or kneeled I was deep in sage!! The 180 grain Nossler BT dropped him right where he stood.

Kent shot his elk today also. A real nice 6x6. I was glad that he got one. This guy had put his time in. Kent had hunted previously twice in Montana for elk and had not even seen a hair.

Day 5

I went out with Mark (who still had a deer tag) early in the morning to get up on Red Mountain.

We rode up and up and UP. My altimiter said we were over 9000 feet, I verified this later with my GPS. At 0900 we spotted a 3x3 with a few does up above us. I told Ike (the guide) I would like to shoot it. I think he wanted me to hold out, but I haven't killed many big deer so my standarts were not set all that high, I a was applying my usual "it looks good to me" scoring method.

I made a 270 yard shot up hill and the deer dissapeared. The does ran off but I didn't see him go anywhere. I humped up to where he was when I shot him and he was DRT!! One more stellar performance from the 180 grain NBT. right behind the shoulder and an exit on the other side with lung sticking out like a deflated baloon!!

The last day we were trying to get elk for some of the other guys who were still not tagged out.
One more was shot bringing the camp total to 4 elk for 8 hunters. the sucess rate that week was below the normal average but almost everyone had oppurtunity at elk which is all you can ask a guide service. i think everyone felt that they got their money worth.

The food was top notch and the guided knew their craft and the area. This outfit has an outstanding work ethic that is unfortunatly less and less common these days.

I whole heartedly reccomend them and I plan to go back and hunt elk with them again.

If amyone wants more details feel free to PM me.

Great Report!!!!

The hunt is more important than horns to me, give me a good old animal and a challange and I'm happy. If it's a good old animal with big horns I'm still happy.

Congrats,Good report,nice animals and pics!!!

Sounds like a great hunt and a darn good price to boot. congrats

Nice report thanks for sharing.