AllaSnackbah
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- Sep 11, 2009
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Lucked out and drew for a late season unit 10 cow rifle hunt this year. Hunt dates were first week of December.
I was hunting the big boquillas ranch, whch is about 40,000 acres smaller than the state of rhode island.
There had been several hunts prior to mine, archery, muzzleloader, rifle etc. Unit 10 is one of the best trophy bull elk units in the country, guys applying for a unit 10 archery or rifle bull might have to wait years. So these guys are all hunting hard, so the animals are getting constantly pressured.
Up scouting 2-3 weeks before my hunt started i was unable to glass any cows, found very little sign. With the pressure they were not herded up and up in the thick vegetation at higher elevation.
I hunted hard for 5 days, covered over 40 miles of ground on foot and who knows how much in the truck driving around glassing mountainsides. After 4 days i had seen 1 elk which i rushed up the mountain to find gone and replaced with another hunter glassing another mountain completely unaware of the cow that was grazing 100 yards below him.
Day 5 we woke up to cold drizzle and thick fog, so my spotter and i decided to do a little stalk hunt on the rolling hills atop a mesa until the fog burnt off well enough to glass. About 45 minutes in we started seeing extremely fresh sign and smelling them, so we continued pushing up. The wind was doing some crazy shit in these swirling hills but was generally not in our favor but we had no other choice. As we crested a hill and stopped to look through our binos 5 cows ran up out of the little canyon about 300 yards from us, so i rested my rifle on top of my binos on the tripod aimed just behind the right shoulder and fired.
Zero reaction. I thought i completely missed despite my spotter saying "good shot", quickly chambered another round and got back on, at this point the elk had done a 180⁰ turn and were heading up the canyon in the opposite direction, the big cow id shot at was now in the rear and following them with no apparent issue. So i sighted and fired again, this time i saw my hit in the glass and she was visibly impacted. She walked another 15 yards up behind a tree where on the other side i was gonna shoot her again, laid down, and died.
While quartering her out i found both of my 140gr accubonds in the opposing skin.
Walked from the far edge of trees all the way up this for the cow to find the other guy.
I was hunting the big boquillas ranch, whch is about 40,000 acres smaller than the state of rhode island.
There had been several hunts prior to mine, archery, muzzleloader, rifle etc. Unit 10 is one of the best trophy bull elk units in the country, guys applying for a unit 10 archery or rifle bull might have to wait years. So these guys are all hunting hard, so the animals are getting constantly pressured.
Up scouting 2-3 weeks before my hunt started i was unable to glass any cows, found very little sign. With the pressure they were not herded up and up in the thick vegetation at higher elevation.
I hunted hard for 5 days, covered over 40 miles of ground on foot and who knows how much in the truck driving around glassing mountainsides. After 4 days i had seen 1 elk which i rushed up the mountain to find gone and replaced with another hunter glassing another mountain completely unaware of the cow that was grazing 100 yards below him.
Day 5 we woke up to cold drizzle and thick fog, so my spotter and i decided to do a little stalk hunt on the rolling hills atop a mesa until the fog burnt off well enough to glass. About 45 minutes in we started seeing extremely fresh sign and smelling them, so we continued pushing up. The wind was doing some crazy shit in these swirling hills but was generally not in our favor but we had no other choice. As we crested a hill and stopped to look through our binos 5 cows ran up out of the little canyon about 300 yards from us, so i rested my rifle on top of my binos on the tripod aimed just behind the right shoulder and fired.
Zero reaction. I thought i completely missed despite my spotter saying "good shot", quickly chambered another round and got back on, at this point the elk had done a 180⁰ turn and were heading up the canyon in the opposite direction, the big cow id shot at was now in the rear and following them with no apparent issue. So i sighted and fired again, this time i saw my hit in the glass and she was visibly impacted. She walked another 15 yards up behind a tree where on the other side i was gonna shoot her again, laid down, and died.
While quartering her out i found both of my 140gr accubonds in the opposing skin.
Walked from the far edge of trees all the way up this for the cow to find the other guy.
