MachIVshooter
Member
Elk! I know this should be in the hunting forum, but I am just too proud of her to put this post in a less traveled area.
Anyway, it is not only her first elk but her first animal ever. A couple years back, she decided that she wanted to go hunting with me
. So I bought her a Ruger M77 stainless/synthetic .280 with a Nikon 3-9 for her birthday. The following spring she put in for cow elk and we went to Sportman's Warehouse and got all her gear and she bought dies, powder, bullets, etc. because I told her I felt factory .280 ammo left a lot to be desired. I had her load 100 rounds under my supervision and then we went to sight in. To my surprise, she was immediately shooting 1-1/2" groups. Anyway, about 50 rounds later I felt her shoulder had enough punishment for one day. Over the next few months, she put another 20 or 30 rounds downrange. Before we knew it, 2nd season was upon us. We spent 4 days trudging through snow at 11,000 feet just south of Gunnison. Unfortunately, neither of us got anything that year. But she was hooked. For the last year, I could hardly speak to her without mention of hunting. Well, this year she had a cow tag again but only 2 days to hunt due to final exams (she is a microbiology major at CSU). I was worried about the brevity of her stay. Well, we hunted on top of the mountain the first day and not a shot was fired. Very frustrating. So the following day, one of our guys took her down to some private land we are allowed to hunt. Almost immediately, 3 cows ran by her. She couldn't get on them quickly enough and they vanished. Slightly disheartened, she sat down. About 10 minutes later, she heard some rustling to her left. She readied. Right then a nice +/- 3 yo 450. lb cow emerged. She pulled up and fired on the elk on the run at 60 yards and hit it in the spine, mid-back. It kept hobbling, so she fired again, this time drilling through just above the lungs. The cow fell and kept trying to get back up. She rushed down to it and put a 158 gr. JHP form her .357 in its head. She was so excited she could hardly hold the gun straight. We quartered it and packed it out, her beaming all the while. That entire evening she was grinning ear-to-ear. Her car could have burned to the ground right then and she would still have been smiling. I didn't get my Buck this year:banghead: , but her success nullifies my failure (which was due in no part to lack of effort
).
Needless to say she wants a bull next year
Anyway, it is not only her first elk but her first animal ever. A couple years back, she decided that she wanted to go hunting with me
. So I bought her a Ruger M77 stainless/synthetic .280 with a Nikon 3-9 for her birthday. The following spring she put in for cow elk and we went to Sportman's Warehouse and got all her gear and she bought dies, powder, bullets, etc. because I told her I felt factory .280 ammo left a lot to be desired. I had her load 100 rounds under my supervision and then we went to sight in. To my surprise, she was immediately shooting 1-1/2" groups. Anyway, about 50 rounds later I felt her shoulder had enough punishment for one day. Over the next few months, she put another 20 or 30 rounds downrange. Before we knew it, 2nd season was upon us. We spent 4 days trudging through snow at 11,000 feet just south of Gunnison. Unfortunately, neither of us got anything that year. But she was hooked. For the last year, I could hardly speak to her without mention of hunting. Well, this year she had a cow tag again but only 2 days to hunt due to final exams (she is a microbiology major at CSU). I was worried about the brevity of her stay. Well, we hunted on top of the mountain the first day and not a shot was fired. Very frustrating. So the following day, one of our guys took her down to some private land we are allowed to hunt. Almost immediately, 3 cows ran by her. She couldn't get on them quickly enough and they vanished. Slightly disheartened, she sat down. About 10 minutes later, she heard some rustling to her left. She readied. Right then a nice +/- 3 yo 450. lb cow emerged. She pulled up and fired on the elk on the run at 60 yards and hit it in the spine, mid-back. It kept hobbling, so she fired again, this time drilling through just above the lungs. The cow fell and kept trying to get back up. She rushed down to it and put a 158 gr. JHP form her .357 in its head. She was so excited she could hardly hold the gun straight. We quartered it and packed it out, her beaming all the while. That entire evening she was grinning ear-to-ear. Her car could have burned to the ground right then and she would still have been smiling. I didn't get my Buck this year:banghead: , but her success nullifies my failure (which was due in no part to lack of effort ).Needless to say she wants a bull next year
