New Mexico elk success

[godogs57]

Awsome, Hank! Hope to be sharing a similar tale by this time, next week. I leave for that general area Friday am. You've just elevated the excitement level from 'ants in my pants', to "c'mon already....let's go!".

Best of luck my friend!

 

[georgia_home]

+1 upping the excitement. Starts on oct 22 here. Stoked!

 

[Duff]

Wow! What a bull!! Congratulations!!

 

[basshappy]

@godogs57 awesome! I imagined that up the canyon trek ... a few pit stops along the way, maybe with some adrenalin still afoot. Hats off to ya!

 

[Buck70]

Wow!

 

[godogs57]

The view coming back up:

 

[georgia_home]

Man! How are your knees and back after that? What was your elevation there?

The view coming back up:

View attachment 1258493

 

[Jim Thompson]

Hunting on a working ranch (not a fenced operation, Lord NO) in NE New Mexico this week and punched my tag this morning in a big way. The rut is on at this time thanks to cooling temps following weeks of heat and dry conditions. In the 40’s and drizzly. This morning started out foggy, Misty and a little chill in the air. That’s all it took. Turned down a 6x6 early on that was gorgeous, but will be a stud next year. Called in another smaller bull later on. No go.

About 9:30 am we saw a group of cows hauling boogie about 50 yards away, with this guy bringing up the rear. A quick look showed he was impressive but they disappeared into a drainage/canyon in a flash. We rushed over to the rim and saw a few cows milling around……way down there he was rejoined with his girls at 350 lasered yards. He was standing there in thick cover but exposed himself for a minute or so. I held a little high on him (my 338 was shooting 8.3” low at that range), steadied myself and the rifle and let fly. He dropped right there. Climbing down the drain and UP the other side was a knee and lung wrecking challenge to say the least. From 9:30’ish until 2:00 PM we got him back up to the pig trail. This afternoon I was notified by certified B&C scorer’s at the ranch that my bull netted 354” B&C. I about fainted. Bull of two lifetime’s. The vitals of this hunt are as follows: 7x7 rack with heavy mass. Calculated live weight 900’ish. My 1968 Sako 338 Winchester Mag did the job loaded with Nosler 225 grain Accubond bullets. 75.0 grains of RL-19 powder .

Son Zack is hunting for a management bull with me. They called I six bulls the afternoon but none of them met the criteria to be considered management. We’ll be helping him out tomorrow in hopes Lady Luck gives him a big ol smooch. Thanks for reading!


View attachment 1258422

Great story and a giant to go with it!

 

[Dirtroad Johnson]

Beautiful animal & that was a heck of a shot.

 

[godogs57]

@godogs57 awesome! I imagined that up the canyon trek ... a few pit stops along the way, maybe with some adrenalin still afoot. Hats off to ya!

Man! How are your knees and back after that? What was your elevation there?

9,000+ feet right there. My legs are still barking at me this morning.

 

[deers2ward]

Hunting on a working ranch (not a fenced operation, Lord NO) in NE New Mexico this week and punched my tag this morning in a big way. The rut is on at this time thanks to cooling temps following weeks of heat and dry conditions. In the 40’s and drizzly. This morning started out foggy, Misty and a little chill in the air. That’s all it took. Turned down a 6x6 early on that was gorgeous, but will be a stud next year. Called in another smaller bull later on. No go.

About 9:30 am we saw a group of cows hauling boogie about 50 yards away, with this guy bringing up the rear. A quick look showed he was impressive but they disappeared into a drainage/canyon in a flash. We rushed over to the rim and saw a few cows milling around……way down there he was rejoined with his girls at 350 lasered yards. He was standing there in thick cover but exposed himself for a minute or so. I held a little high on him (my 338 was shooting 8.3” low at that range), steadied myself and the rifle and let fly. He dropped right there. Climbing down the drain and UP the other side was a knee and lung wrecking challenge to say the least. From 9:30’ish until 2:00 PM we got him back up to the pig trail. This afternoon I was notified by certified B&C scorer’s at the ranch that my bull netted 354” B&C. I about fainted. Bull of two lifetime’s. The vitals of this hunt are as follows: 7x7 rack with heavy mass. Calculated live weight 900’ish. My 1968 Sako 338 Winchester Mag did the job loaded with Nosler 225 grain Accubond bullets. 75.0 grains of RL-19 powder .

Son Zack is hunting for a management bull with me. They called I six bulls the afternoon but none of them met the criteria to be considered management. We’ll be helping him out tomorrow in hopes Lady Luck gives him a big ol smooch. Thanks for reading!


View attachment 1258422

Congratulations! Love all that mass! What unit was this in? I'm trying to decide which unit to put in for next year. Seeing some hammer bulls going down this year both in NM as well as AZ

 

[tjchurch]

Congratulations what a stud.

 

[godogs57]

Congratulations! Love all that mass! What unit was this in? I'm trying to decide which unit to put in for next year. Seeing some hammer bulls going down this year both in NM as well as AZ

55A

 

[Core Lokt]

Heck of a bull right there!! Congrats

 

[tad1]

Incredible! Thanks for sharing your success!

 

[Hunter/Mason]

Do you get the whistlers or do you leave them. And awesome bull.

 

[Milkman]

Congrats on a super bull !!

I bet those antlers don’t end up on a knife handle

 

[Nicodemus]

Hank, send me a text when you get home and I`ll swing by.

 

[Philnlucky]

Awesome bull Hank! Congrats!

 

[godogs57]

Do you get the whistlers or do you leave them. And awesome bull.

Yep. Save all my ivories. I’ve had a number of them turned in to jewelry for my sweet wife. Win win.