I am back from my Wyoming Elk hunt. Five of hunted with friends who live in WY. This was a back country horse back hunt. We all had any elk tags.
We have to hunt this late in the season due to work.
We had a great time. There was a lot of snow with some days very heavy, with 2 near whiteout days. We hunted on horse back and on foot.
Two of us got elk. On day 3 a buddy and I spotted several elk about 2 miles away feeding on a hill top. We took notice of which way they were walking, and mounted up.
I am not an experienced horseman but we rode those horses over some country, up and down some steep hills that I would not have thought possible. Then we rode several hundred yards through some thick timber. The horseback stalk was worth the time spent on the trip alone.
I have always wanted to hunt elk on horseback in the mountains in the snow. Great fun.
The stalk went perfect, there they were less than 100 yards in front of us.
As we got off our horses and got into position the elk moved out of sight for a second then came into view about 150 yards away.
My partner fired first [I have taken cow elk before and I was hoping there was a bull somewhere out of sight with this heard of about 5 cows that we could see.]
At his shot the elk ran out of sight, turned back the direction they han came and reappeared about 300 yards away. No bull was seen, so I picked out the biggest cow, set my scope to 300 yards and fired a shot. I was shooting prone off of my elbows. At the shot the cow spun to her right and went down. She then tried to get back up. She was facing away from me. This area has several big sink holes, 30 to 40 feet deep that if an elk fell into one we would never get it out so I fired again into her pelvis hoping to keep her down while the chest shot took effect. It worked, all movement stopped shortly after the second shot.

Both elk were shot with Federal Factory 200 grain Trophy bonded Bearclaw bullets.
Elk Number one was hit at @ 150 yards at a slight quartering away angle, breaking a rib going in, passing through the lungs above the heart and stopping against the off side shoulder.
Recovered bullet weighed 181.1 grains, expanded .872x.470, was still .770 long.

The chest shot on my elk went through the front of the chest damaging the lungs, but not the heart.
The bullet into the pelvis was recovered against the skin in the middle of the back.
It weighed 193.7 grains, had expanded .68x.67 and was also .770 in length.
No meat on the rear hams was destroyed as the shot was theough the pelvis and stangely enough the intestines nor the stomach were punctured.
As it was late in the day and we did not have the pack horses with us we gutted the elk and returned the next day to pack out the meat.
I lasered the distance the next day and it was 291 yards from where I shot to the elk.
Also as we rode up to get the meat we saw a black bear about 300 yards away. When he saw us he ran around in 3 or 4 circles, then ran off. One of the guys had a bear tag and went looking for him but did not see him again.
My rifle was a Blaser R 93 with a Leupold 3.5x10 LR M3 scope. The one with the Ballistic Cam. This setup worked perfect. The finish on these Blasers is very rust resistant. The rifle was snowed on every day and I never wiped it off till after the trip down the mountain [sort of a little test]. I did wipe the bore a time or two however.
All in all a great hunt. We all had a good time.

Conrgats on the Hunt. What part of Wyoming are you hunting in?
(It's a Big State)

450NE#2,

291 yards with a "bolt" action rifle for you is a chip shot, even if she was moving a bit. Well done and it was good to hear you had a great hunt. See you in Dallas if everyone's wounds heal forom the latest AR showdowns.

Perry

sierrabravo45
I was hunting near Pinedale.
PWN375
Thanks. I will see you in Dallas.
Should prove interesting.

Way to go NE 450 #2! Looking forward to the details in Dallas.

Good job NE 450 #2. You weren't too far from SBT and me. Glad you had a good hunt. Did you go with the Dallas Zoo Swat Team?

See ya in Dallas!!

John

30ott6
Actually 2 of the others are, and one was, a member of my agencys part of the EWT.
The Zoo also has members on the EWT.

Good story...and a great shot....but what barrel did you have on the Blaser...or did I miss something...200 grains... .300 Winchester Mag.?

Bob

Bob, I had the 300 win Mag bbl with Magna-Port.

NE.....

Way to go! Congratulations on your Elk, interesting write-up, and good shooting, too.

I particularly liked your added adventure while hunting and the horseback stalking sounds like a really cool way to do it!