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Post by Bullshop on Oct 19, 2023 12:40:04 GMT -7
Our general deer and elk season starts Saturday the 21'st and runs to 11/26. I am packed up and ready to head out for elk camp tomorrow AM. That will give me most of the day to set up camp and be ready for Saturday AM opening. Will be headed to my favorite spot up Sage creek at about 7000 ft elevation. It has snowed up there a couple times but I doubt any accumulation of snow just some scattered patches that stay shaded during the day.
I will start the season using the Sharps 50-70 which I have well tuned in. I made a drop dope card with sight settings for every 50 yards starting at 100 and going to 400 yards. The smokeless powder load is pushing a very soft maybe about BHN-7 550 grain round nose bullet to an MV of just over 1400 fps. I have done a lot of shooting with this load all summer and am well pleased with its consistency. The drop dope was acquired by shooting not by calculation.
I should be in and out every few days so I dont get too far behind on orders. If by the last week of season my tag is not filled I will consider using a modern long range rifle but I would rather fill the tag using the 50-70.
The weather service is saying its going to be a rainy weekend with temps in the 40's. That forecast is for the valley so at camp that might be snow. Last year a foot of snow fell up there on opening day so we may see a repeat of the same this year. What drove me out last year was that my four-wheeler quit on me which made it about impossible to continue. This year we have a new to me replacement that seems in perfect condition even if a bit old.
Got that 22-250 Ackley packed up too as there are plenty of coyotes as well as wolves up there and those coyotes are the best quality this part of the state has . If its too warm for the elk to be moving that gives me the option to call coyotes. Got three stretched and ready for market so far this season.
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Post by missionary on Oct 20, 2023 6:32:24 GMT -7
Howdy Dan
May our loving Father give you a blessed time up in the high ground. May His Wisdom guide your footsteps and enlighten your thoughts. May your eyes decipher the signs and line up the sights so that big soft cast can deliver the needed jolt to that elk so it slides down your side of the ridge.
And toss in a couple more yotes with a good dozen partridges to munch on.
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Post by shootist---Gary on Oct 20, 2023 9:20:55 GMT -7
Good luck my friend. Hope everything goes well for you this year, & be careful.
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 21, 2023 19:40:50 GMT -7
Just got back from camp with a nice fat cow elk. Lord willing will get it hung and skinned tomorrow. Will have to head back up to camp tomorrow to pull camp. No way I could get it all in one trip. I hunted hard all day on foot carrying a back pack with food, water and supplies and checked a few of my favorite spots. These are elk wallows where there are springs and lots of feed. The rut is over but they still like to hang around these cooling wet spots while the weather is still warm and it is still warm.
My all day walk about was a pleasant break from work but did not see any elk. I wanted to get back to camp before dark to do some chores like fill water bottles and fill the lantern so it would be ready to go in the morning.
Those things accomplished I took a sit down brake and noticed a bump on a distant ridge that seemed out of place. Got the binos and sure enough it was a coyote watching me do chores. I put the laser on him and he was 918 yards, a bit too far. I sat and watched him for awhile and could see that he was after some sage grouse as I could see them flush when he poked around in the sage.
Wile watching the coyote I noticed two very nice what looked to be twin muley 3x3 bucks bedded right near where the coyote was hunting. I had seen the same two bucks yesterday at sundown nearly in the same place but the season was not open yet. I put the laser on them and it read 818 yards too far again. While i was deciding if I would try to get closer I turned and on the opposite side of the narrow valley I camp in right out in the open sage stood three elk. There were two cows and a small bull. In our GMU a bull has to have brow tines to be legal and I couldn't tell for sure if he did. Tina also told me before I left that she and the girls would prefer I got a cow. That settled it then a cow it will be. I put the laser on them and got a reading of 697 yards. That was just too far to attempt a shot with the 50-70 but since I was at camp I had the 280 Ackley right at hand. I had drop charts to 800 yards in both mills and MOA. That because the rifle is mounted with an early SWFA scope that has MOA turret adjustments but mill spacings in the reticle. For speed in getting the shot off I went with the reticle at just shy of three mills and the shot was true and the 160 grain Nosler accubond broke her neck and dropped her where she stood with zero meat loss.
I wont let it hang long as its too warm. Hope to get her hung and skinned tomorrow, then back up to pull camp, then likely the next day get to butchering. This elk was a God gift in not only that it came to my camp but something else that has never happened before is that I got the whole elk loaded in the truck alone. She fell about maybe 15 steps up a steep bank from a flat bottom along a small creek. I had just enough room to get the truck in along the creek and back into the steep bank. Putting the ramps for the 4 wheeler on the tail gate and putting short ropes around the head and front feet I was able to lean hard into the ropes over my shoulder and gain about a foot with each tug. It was hard but with God's help its in the truck.
I am now way past beat so will retire and call it a good day. Still have two deer tags but I hunt those down here in the valley right from the reapers roost that is not much more than about 50 yards from my bed.
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Post by shootist---Gary on Oct 21, 2023 22:08:34 GMT -7
WOW !! Congratulations on the successful hunt. How will you process the meat, by the different cuts, such as roasts, ribs, steaks, or just back straps & burgers, as I like to do with white tail deer here in Ohio?
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Post by todddoyka on Oct 22, 2023 0:31:08 GMT -7
congrats!!!
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 22, 2023 7:09:24 GMT -7
Just as you said Gary accept that I don't pull the back straps from the bone but instead cross cut then split each vertebra into a bone in steak . You don't gain much meat but the flavor is in the bone and they just taste better that way.
Thanks guys for the congrats.
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 22, 2023 15:56:11 GMT -7
Got it skinned and hung and pulled camp and am home again. Tomorrow will be butchering and the girls will be wrapping. After that I still need two more loads of fire wood to stay even for the year. After that I am going to kick back for awhile.
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Post by missionary on Oct 23, 2023 1:36:28 GMT -7
Good morning Dan
That was a fine hunt that God blessed you with. Little heavy hauling and down into the truck !
Seeing Yotes, grouse, muleys and your elk sure would make that spot a fine one to be circling on a map.
Drive safely my Brother.
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 23, 2023 8:10:05 GMT -7
It is a great spot Mike and is my regular camping site. I like camping there because there is a spring with fresh water that comes up from the ground so you know its clean water not like a running creek that the many cows pastured in the area might do their business in. My favorite hunting ground is almost two miles farther in thus the need for the 4-wheler to get myself in each morning and out and back to camp in the evening. That for basic transportation as well as getting to and transporting an elk if I get one.
That is why I am sure it is a God given because of the way it played out. At camp I am not really hunting just always getting ready for the next day. Still though and obviously my chances are better at camp than if sitting at home.
Just now finishing coffee and will get started with the butchering process. The weather channel says by next weekend our daily high temps will be below freezing so I need to get this done. It makes butchering really hard when the carcass is frozen.
Its a lot of work but when its done I always have this big sigh of relief and a warm cozy feeling and feel like "" well OK winter bring it on !""
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 23, 2023 10:04:45 GMT -7
Here is a picture from this AM before he started to butcher - BS Mom - adding a second picture of an elk taken in about 1982 - in the bitterroot valley --a taxidermist bought this elk used it to travel around the US and advertise his business   Attachments:
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Post by missionary on Oct 23, 2023 14:16:53 GMT -7
Thank you Miss Tina !! That will be some good eating during those long drawn out cold evenings.
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 23, 2023 16:31:52 GMT -7
Just now quit for the day. Didn't get it all done because we had to stop mid day for the heat and flies. Only have the hind quarters left to do so should be able to get that done in the cool of morning, Lord willing. We are trying something different this year with the ribs. Tina has one batch in the canner on the wood stove now and there is another batch already put up in jars in the fridge for a second batch. Canning the ribs should pull the tallow and leave it floating on the top of the jar ready to be removed when opening leaving only tender meat and bone . Dont know why I never thought of it before. Tina had the wood cook stove going all day making bread and pies but after handling all that fresh meat I really want an elk steak. Maybe just one slice of pie too.
Oh and BTW that dark haired fella in the picture is Diesel. He is lording over the job to be sure it gets done right.
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Post by missionary on Oct 23, 2023 16:35:42 GMT -7
OHHHH yea.. Fresh pie and an elk steak.. then maybe another taste of pie!
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Post by grasshopper on Oct 24, 2023 1:57:36 GMT -7
Good on you Pard!! You know I couldn’t be any happier for you!! Only wish I was there with you if for nothing else but to help you load her up. I could sure tell you were smoked from the weary look of your eyes, that’s ok though just as long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other. Hopefully that takes a little pressure off of you as winter rapidly approaches. Can’t wait to hear about how that first steak tastes! Take care my friend!
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Post by todddoyka on Oct 24, 2023 10:31:48 GMT -7
mmmmmmmm bread................mmmmmmmmmmmm pie.............wish i had a mouth drooling emoji.
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 24, 2023 11:53:53 GMT -7
Not to like rub it in or anything Tod but the pie crust was the best she has ever made, so light and flakey. I asked what she did differently and she said more shortening. The butchering is done now and as I sit here typing I have before me a large platter of elk steaks and eggs. Our chickens are putting out overtime and we are swamped with eggs. Tina is going to have to pickle a couple gallons just to make room in the fridge. The elk steak is great ! I have with it some wild horse radish I found and dug near our house. Boy I tell ya you couldn't stand to be in the house when I ground that up. Sure cleared up any sinus issues I might have had.
Have not tried the bread yet but as soon as I close the message I am headed to the kitchen for a slice. Life is good ! Praise God !
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 24, 2023 17:17:30 GMT -7
Tina just added to the first picture an old picture of a much younger me with a nice elk trophy I got when I was in my 20's She reminded me that she was 12 YO when the picture was taken. Our paths didn't cross for about another 8 years after that picture.
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Post by shootist---Gary on Oct 24, 2023 21:11:51 GMT -7
Daniel, when I went out to Forsyth in June, 2021, there was a table on vendor's row, that had some quarts of canned bear fat, from a Black Bear in Wisconsin that he shot near his barn. This fat was cooked down & canned, & his wife told me that it makes the best flaky pie crusts. I paid $8.00 for a quart, but Jeanne will not use it. I have kept it in the fridge since I got back home. Would it still be usable? I've even thought about using it on patches for my muzzleloaders, & in the cylinders of cap & ball pistols. What is your opinion?
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Post by missionary on Oct 25, 2023 1:23:22 GMT -7
Hey Dan
On which truck hood did you mount that elk rack ?
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 25, 2023 7:24:07 GMT -7
Gary
I would think the bear grease is still good as food as long as it does not smell bad. In the pre smokeless powder days bear grease was a preferred patch lube for ML arms. I long ago quit using animal fats in my bullet lubes because I found that if bullets were lubed with it even as an ingredient in the lube that if the bullets were to set unused for a number of months they would oxidize badly from the acids in the animal fats. In that condition they are likely still usable but dont look good. Since I sell bullets they have to look good as well as shoot good.
Mike
Actually as was my usual practice I sold that rack to a taxidermist. I set it on my vehicle and parked in front of the coffee shop that I knew he would come by and he did. I was having coffee when he came in and sat beside me. There was not much of a conversation, all he said was " how much" and to that I held up two fingers. Without another word he laid two C-notes on the counter and walked out and took the elk rack with him.
He mounted it and each year after that he rented it to an outfitter that used his taxidermy service. That outfitter took it to trade shows around the country to promote his business. The funny part is that I had asked that same outfitter to hire me as a guide for that hunting season but he did not. It could have worked out much better for the outfitter for his advertising if one of his clients had got that elk hunting under one of his guides.
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Post by missionary on Oct 25, 2023 8:14:08 GMT -7
Sometimes in life our brain does get in the way of what would be best... That "outfitter" sure missed a good opportunity to have a hunter / guide.
I have read several ratings for "outfitters" that rate the so called "guide" no better than a GPS who only knew where the camp sight was.
I do like small town life. Not much needs to be said when everyone knows each other by first name and reputation.
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Post by grasshopper on Oct 25, 2023 12:03:48 GMT -7
Reading your story about you selling the elk rack made me remember I did pretty much the same thing when I killed my first moose, no not the one with my brand new truck, I sold the rack to a guy on post who carved them for tourists, I got $200 for mine as well which paid for me having the meat processed in town. I figured up the components and that moose cost me about $1.75 since I only used one shot!😂
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 25, 2023 13:43:17 GMT -7
Montana is one of the best elk hunting states if not the best. Our area in the Beaverhead NF is likely the best in the state. So many hunters come here from all over the country. Its big business for the state but kind of a nuisance to resident hunters not so much looking for a trophy but just after meat.
For me like you if I cant hunt cheap I cant hunt. The whole idea is to save money not to burn it. Unfortunately even in hunting money talks so the state leans more to those that spend the most just as in Europe where hunting has become a sport for the wealthy and subsistence hunting is not well received by those that profit from hunting as a sport like socker or football. When it becomes a sport it becomes an activity for the wealthy eliminating those that really need it for its original purpose.
I remember that night you totaled your truck on a moose when you left my house. It bothered me greatly.
$1.75 for a moose is a good deal, and likely cheaper than I ever got one but not by much.
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Post by grasshopper on Oct 26, 2023 8:51:47 GMT -7
Ha! No way, no way I got off cheaper that you pard! You don’t have to be so modest!😁 I remember that night I hit the cow moose, I do t remember the month but it was super cold. I couldn’t believe I actually hit the moose! There was a bunch of ice fog that night and really hard to see. About 10 minutes before I hit her I saw several bison standing on the sides of the road and actually told myself out loud that I should probably slow down even though I doubt I was going 45, the next thing I knew it was like she fell out of the sky in front of me! As I mentioned it pretty much totaled my truck. Once I recovered from being punched in the nose by the airbag I got out to inspect the truck and to see if she had run off or still close. I found her about 50 yards away but not dead just hurt really bad. Like you I always had at least a pistol, most times on my person. I was carrying my smith 4 inch 29 and one of your Keith hard cast bullets put her out of her misery. Lucky for me the guy who had a UPS contract, named Bruce came by and gave me a ride to post. I called the troopers and he met me back at the scene and was kind of a jerk telling me that he could of given me a ticket for shooting her! I thought I did the right thing. If I had it to do over I would of asked Bruce to take me back to your place and we would of gone and harvested what we could for our families. The moose did go to a local church though. I hate you ever felt bad about it pard! Things happen and the main thing is I wasn’t hurt except for my feelings being bruised a little!!😁
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Post by grasshopper on Oct 26, 2023 9:01:03 GMT -7
One thing I forgot to mention regarding your last post pard, I fear the day that wealth will dictate who gets to hunt and harvest are fast approaching. I do my very very best to be a good guy and an honest citizen but if that does come to pass I guess I’ll become a modern day Robin Hood and “poach” what I need to feed my friends and family!!
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 26, 2023 10:25:09 GMT -7
poach ! By that you mean cooked in water right ?
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Post by grasshopper on Oct 26, 2023 11:09:25 GMT -7
Absolutely! I knew we were close enough to read my mind!!😁
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Post by Bullshop on Oct 29, 2023 20:24:22 GMT -7
The canned elk ribs turned out good. All the fat cooked out and floats in the jar. When the ribs are pulled out the fat falls away. The meat is good and soooo tender. Should have thought of this a long time ago.  Attachments:
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Post by missionary on Oct 30, 2023 5:15:55 GMT -7
That sure looks like a tasty meal waiting to be uncapped.
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