"So the story starts out a few months ago as I talked to TC about the grand opening of the new shop. I made mention to him that I had never seen an elk in person. After he was done being shocked he said he would have to have me come up around the shop and they (TC and Dustin) would see if they could show me some elk. I had been to the shop a few times to pick up a Coues mount for my dad and for a bow (best price in town by the way). So I picked up a tag and made the trip from the Valley to Holbrook. We got to the Taxidermy shop and we went out for an afternoon hunt. We saw a few tracks but nothing too fresh. The next day we met at the shop again to go out in the morning. We glassed and walked a bit but couldn’t find any fresh sign. We had some heavy wind and some rain so our chances were pretty slim as we figured the elk were bedding down. We headed in for lunch and pretty much had no luck in the afternoon either. Saturday we got to the shop and headed out. When we got to our spot, Dustin cut some fresh tracks as TC and the others went to cut sign the other direction. We were on what looked like a cow track based on the size. After tracking for a max of 15 minutes, Dustin motioned to me and there was a Bull Elk no more than 75 yards in front of us. He was quartering away and soon gave me a broadside shot. I put the cross hairs of my 300 WSM right on his front shoulder. I was sighted in for 200 yards so my first shot went high and was a clean miss. The elk didn’t spook and stayed there and after a quick adjustment I put the 180 grain Barnes Triple shock right on his shoulder. He took off out into the open plains and could not put any weight on the front right leg. He bedded down and we stayed back to not push him thinking he would expire. Shortly after he got up and headed off. We followed the blood trail and didn’t think it would take long for him to go down as we were seeing good dark red foamy blood that let us know we got at least one lung. As we came over a hill and down the other side to a shallow ravine I lost the blood trail. There was a canyon and we didn’t think there was any way the Elk could make it down the ravine with only three good legs. Dustin worked his tracking skills and picked up the blood trail again and sure enough he had made it down the ravine. The tracking was easy as there had been recent rain and the creek/river bed left great tracks. We could see that the Elk was dragging its leg that took the shot. As we continued walking I saw that look on Dustin’s face again and saw some antlers in the thickets and reeds. I grabbed Dustin’s gun as I had used my 3 rounds (rookie mistake to not bring more rounds with these tough animals) hitting him twice in the shoulder. I took aim and put one right behind the front shoulder. He reared back a little and stumbled. It was a good shot, he went down right there and after a short time he was down. When we finally got close to him I was ecstatic. He was still in full velvet and Dustin and TC estimate him at 2.5-3 years old. He has some really good and thick bases with a cheater on his right side. I was thrilled and extremely happy and thankful for Dustin and TC’s help. They are definitely the real deal. I can’t wait to see what this thing looks like on my wall. Thanks again Dustin and TC for a trip I will never forget!"
Enjoy the pics.
One thing about being so close to the shop we got to bring our kids out. I hope we all take a little time and let our kids come with us to get a feel for this awesome sport that we all love so much. My kids haven't stopped talking about this!
Thanks to Shane and his family for the fun time!
