Andrea’s Amazing 2014 Bull Elk

I grew up hunting small game and going with my parents for big game but never hunted big game until 2008. I live in Colorado and am able to hunt bull elk every year with an over the counter tag. In 2014 my son, my husband, uncle-in-law and I all had tags for rifle 3rd season. I got my son on a bull opening morning and he filled his tag, we spent the day packing out his bull and the next morning went back out after mine.

My husband (and lifelong hunting partner) and I set up on a canyon early that Sunday morning, by about 11 am we hadn’t seen a single elk and hiked back to the jeep and drove over where his uncle (Rex) and brother (Andy) were sitting to have some lunch. When we make our way around to the point he was sitting on he too claims not seeing any elk, as a creature of habit I put up my Vortex binoculars and start glassing the thick cedar hillsides across a canyon. About 1000 yards away I see movement of a cow elks head and the statement we always use when glassing is “I’ve got elk” comes out of my mouth. My husband and brother in law throw up their binoculars as well. We could see legs, bodies and a few cow elk heads but no bulls yet.

The way the canyon runs we are almost level with the elk, but looking at the hillside from a diagonal 1000 yards away. Jared takes off to the side of the canyon where the elk are to see if he can get a better view and Andy and I take off to opposite side to see if we can get a bit closer. With gun and pack I sneak through the trees glassing the hillside to keep an eye on the elk. We get about 500 yards from the point where we saw the elk and have a good vantage point. I lay pack on a rock and get ready and started glassing again. We glass up a small 4×4 bull bedded down under a tree. Not what I was looking for so we keep looking. Time passes and Andy has goes back to help Rex setup so maybe he can get a shot. We know there are a lot of elk, just don’t know what yet!

I keep glassing and then I catch it, an antler moving and then I see the rest of him moving through the trees, a decent 5 x5, I range him at 504 yards. I nestle down on my butt with my gun steadied on my pack that is on a rock and pick him up in my scope and check my range in my scope. He walks behind some trees and is just moving slow, I have one opening and one chance. He slowly walks out and I hold my 500 mark on him, remove my safety and slowly pull the trigger of my Browning 7 mm. I hear the whoop and see him drop, but he rolls down the steep hillside and I have lost him! I keep my scope up and reload, one thing I know is elk are tough, sometimes one shot is not enough! After I had shot the hillside came alive, 10 bulls ran down the hillside through the valley and back up on my side. The elk I shot was not with them. I keep watch and about 30 minutes later my husband makes his way over to where I had dropped my 2014 bull. I head back to the jeep, empty my pack and start the hike across the valley and up the canyon to quarter my bull and pack him out. Our family tradition is if you shoot it you pack out the head as you can see in the photos.

I learn something every year I hunt, I learned in 2014 to never lose your patience no matter what time of the day it is I killed this bull at 1:30 pm in the afternoon!