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Boncarbo, Colorado, Unit 85 Cow Elk.
This morning I headed out bright and early to start my
4th season Colorado Cow Elk hunt. I was able to locate
a bunch of tracks of deer and elk. Close to 4PM I had
gone back to the area after a break and a nap at home
and started back up to where I had seen some deer
early this morning, along with millions of deer tracks
and darn good number of elk tracks.
I had been keeping my eye open on a certain area where
I had seen the deer and as I was sneaking through the
trees and brush, I took a knee to look under some oak
brush before heading out into the open where i was
going to set up under a tree.
I knelt down, looked around my area, and my eyes had
drifted upwards to the side of the mountain that was
directly in front of me. Half way up all i see are
dark brown/black/tan bodies on the side of the
mountain.
I set the double triggers on my CVA .54 cal Big Bore
Mountain Rifle.
All 6 cow elk had me pinned down and knew I was there.
I had a good deal of cover to work with and I slipped
back the way I come and slowly worked my way through a
boulder/oak brush/cedar tree infested area until I
came up to a good area where I could take the shot.
Five of the elk had started getting nervous and
started to turn around in circles, walk away a bit
then stop and turn back towards me.
I dropped down on to a big clump of dirt and pulled
back the hammer and picked out my elk. She had just
turned to face up the mountain and so I took aim at
the top of her back and squeezed the trigger.
The slight breeze in my face was strong enough to
blow the smoke away quickly and allowed for a clear
view of my target.
After the shot I saw her hunch up and slowly walk up
the side of the mountain and I watched her until she
got into some thick cedar/ponderosa pines. I reloaded
the Mountain Rifle and hiked back down to the truck
and drove 10 minutes back home to pick up my brother
for help, along with an axe and a saw. I had pulled
the trigger on her a little before 4:30PM and we got
back to the base of the mountain a little after 5PM
with the gear.
I didn't bother going directly to where I shot her, I
saw where she had run to and I knew we'd be able to
cut fresh tracks and hopefully some blood. Half way up
the mountain we stopped for a break and I asked my
brother if he could smell that. He was like, smell
what? I said, That strong musky odor. He couldn't, but
it was a very strong smell for me.
We started up after a few minutes and again I stopped
and asked him if he can smell it yet, very, very
strong musky scent. Nope... We get up to an area
that's thick with oak brush and cut tracks! Two trails
of torn up tracks to be exact. My brother and I split
up and I told him to go slow and quiet. I took to the
trail leading up the mountain and I hadn't gone 8 feet
when I spot a silver dollar size spot of blood on the
fallen leaves on the ground. I call out to my brother
and he comes running up and as I do the tracking. My
brother stays behind looking ahead of me as a
look-out.
We go a couple feet and there's just a line of blood
on the ground and then it stops, pours out again,
stops.... Nothing on the ground for a good 6 feet and
then I spot small splatters of blood on the tall oak
brush and slowly started to scan the brush for more
blood.
My brother called out and said, "Is that a leg I see
sticking up behind that tree?" I couldn't see anything
and so I told him to go ahead and check it out while I
wait in the area so I don't lose the blood trail.
My brother starts out and all I hear is, holy crap its
a friggin horse!! I go running up and find my cow elk
lying on her side with her legs straight up in the
air! She had gotten wedged between some oak when she
had fallen over dead.
We were all celebrating and looking her over and we
grabbed her legs and rolled her so I could take a look
at the shot.
My shot had drifted 2" left of where I had been aiming
and the 224gr home-cast .530 round ball had dropped a
good 9". I was sighted in 2" high @ 100 yards and this
much drop tells me it was a LONG SHOT! It was a high
lung shot that went through both lungs and tore
the tops apart badly. No meat was ruined! The entrance
shot was twice the diameter of an unfired .530 round
ball. I had estimated the distance to be 130 yards.
Five days later I was able to range the actual shot
and it was 140 yards. This was my first elk with a
muzzle loader and I look forward to the next elk!
I wasn't able to recover the round ball as it was
almost dark out and the temp was getting in the mid
30's and dropping quick.
We had a choice, either 1/4 the elk and spend a LONG
night traveling with meat or do it my way, cut the
sucker in half and drag it down through the brush and
rocks. We got it done in a little over an hour and a
half. It was a complete nightmare going down that
mountain with only moonlight and following water
runoff ditches, but we got it done and loaded into the
back of the truck.
My blood was pumping hard from the hunt and taking the
elk, I went down a good 20 feet flat on my back in one
area and got right back up and ran back up to my rear
half and started dragging her again. A
bruised/scratched up shoulder, torn up hands and a
sore back was an awakening call that this really was
happening and I wasn't dreaming!
It took the 2 of us to lift each half into the bed of
the truck, a good 400+ lbs gutted.
The .530 Round ball and 80gr Pyrodex RS, did an
amazing job for the distance it had traveled and the
excellent job it did at putting her down within 60
yards of where she was hit.
One thing I am very thankful for, besides shooting the
elk, was that I was smart enough to change out of my
hooded Wool Capote and boot moccasins! There were some
jagged rocks that hurt like a son of a gun with my
regular hunting boots on!
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