Hunting & Fishing 11 Year Old's Quest For Her First Elk

[lancetkenyon]

Starting a thread on my daughter's upcoming November elk thread to chronicle her first elk hunt.

We found out last week that she has drawn her first AZ rifle elk tag for unit 7W. She drew this tag with only two bonus points. This will be her third big game hunt, but first real "big game" hunt. She took a javelina in February of this year, and she has a turkey tag for the end of April through end of May.

First off is some upgrades to the rifle she will be using on this hunt. It has been a proven game getter, but some upgrades are long overdue to bring the rifle up to standards. It has been my "loaner rifle" for friends and family for 15 years, for those learning to hunt or old timers who' vision has gone downhill and need a scope (my Dad). It has been used by three generations in my family: My father who taught me to hunt had actually never taken any big game until 10 years ago when he used this rifle on a mule deer hunt and took his first buck ever. I have used it on hunts, but have actually never taken any large game with it. My cousin has used it to take a deer and an elk, a good friend has done the same. My older daughter took her first elk at age 11 (she is now 22), a great cow at 200 yds. that went a total of two steps.

The rifle:
Interarms Mark X (Mauser 98) LA in .270 Win
24" 1-10" twist stock barrel with KDF muzzle brake
Bell & Carlson Carbelite stock
Leupold 1 pc. base
Leupold rings
Cabela's Alaskan Guide 4.5-14x50 scope

The original loads:
Barnes 150gr. XFB @ 2950fps (has taken a few elk)
Sierra 130gr. Game King @ 3120fps (has taken a few deer)
Berger 140gr. VLD @ 3090fps (latest load worked up as an all around and shot about .800 MOA)

The new load I will be working up:
Nosler 150gr. Accubond LR (.625 BC)
COAL of 2.8855 Jammed .005 leaves me a lot of case space
Going to try RL22 and H4831SC
Winchester brass
CCI BR-2 primers
Hoping for 2950fps±

Rifle upgrades:
New Bell & Carlson Medalist stock w. full aluminum bedding block in tan web (ordered from Red Hawk Rifles on Wednesday)
Used SWFA SS HD 5-20x50 scope in TPS rings (picked up from Mike @ Southwest Ammunition yesterday, thanks Mike!)
New Brownell's steel Picatinny rail base (ordered today)

Back-up/long range rifle will be my Rem700 in .300RUM w. brake. She has shot this a couple times and can handle it for a few shots at a time.

My daughter has been shooting a lot in the last year. She can go 10 for 10 on a 12" steel at 600 yds. with my AR15. She has first round hits on the 12" steel with my .25-06 Ackley at 865 yds. We will be doing a LOT of shooting in the upcoming months to get her ready, along with a lot of hiking to get in better shape. Scouting will start in a couple months once the bulls start growing horns again.

I have a good buddy with a cabin about 2 miles outside of our hunting area, and he has graciously offered its use to me, along with trailer parking and hookups for my 31' 5th wheel. So weekend scouting trips will be a lot easier and more comfortable.

On to some photos for the first of many posts. Hope you all enjoy the 8 month journey as much as we are going to. Hopes are high, and any mature 6x6 bull is the hope, but any decent bull will be on the hit list. A good time with family and friends, and meat in the freezer, will be the top goal. But if a giant is spotted throughout the year and makes it through the archery season...who knows. She might hold out for a few days.

The .270 that has served many people well


Muzzle brake makes the .270 kick like a .243


The action has been moving a bit over the years in the cheap stock


Cheap scope and base removed (going to my brother for a "throw in the truck gun")


Mounted the SWFA on my AR to temporarily try out tomorrow




150gr. Accubond LR vs. 140gr. Berger VLD

 

[powdahound76]

Awesome. This is something I am hoping my daughter will be up for. No rush as it goes to fast anyways, just a dream at this point. Best of luck to her and congrats on raising cool kids.

 

[roggom]

Sounds like it is coming together nicely. Best of luck on the hunt.

 

[rhildy77]

Best of luck to you bud...I'll be keeping tabs see how you guys fair.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Brown Santa arrived yesterday with the new stock. Being a "drop-in stock", but knowing all the variables a Mauser 98 can have, I had about 3 hours of inletting to get everything to fit and work properly. Not a big deal, and just makes it a little more rewarding.

Biggest thing was the safety assembly on my Mauser is nothing like an original. Took some Dremel work. Also has to clearance a few areas, push-button release for the floor plate, bridge in front of the trigger area for the safety bar to clear, a little bit in front of the lug area for the round receiver, etc.



Clearance for the thumb safety and safety bar (in the bridge)




Clearance for the push button floor plate release


Paint touchup at the clearance areas




Reassembled with proper clearances




Safety off


Safety on

 

[lancetkenyon]

Reassembled










I know you all like my wallpaper....

 

[lancetkenyon]

I also started some loads for a ladder test.

Going to be shooting Nosler Accubond LR
Winchester Brass
CCI BR-2 primers
H4831SC







Nosler book has max load at 55.0gr. Hodgdon book shows max load at 55.7gr. Other sources of reloading data show up to 58.0gr. I started middle of the road and will work up watching for signs of pressure. My 140gr. Berger loads are 58.3gr. of H4831, and these NAB LR are loaded longer than the 140s with more case space for now. I can't wait to get the scope mounted (base is on order and should arrive this week) and start load development.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Was stoked when Brown Santa came back on Friday.....



Until....Houston, we have a problem. The rear mounting holes don't line up at all.



Dammit.



So I quit working on the gun for the weekend. Called up Phoenix Custom Rifles today and dropped it off to have them drill and tap the action to fit the Picatinny rail. They told me they would have it done by the next day for a very fair price, so I left with the expectations of having a new Picatinny rail mounted by middle of the week. Then it happened. About 30 minutes after I left Phoenix Custom Rifles, I got a call...."Hey Lance, this is Keith....ummm....I have your rifle complete."

Seriously, Keith jumped right on my small job and completed it in 30 minutes at the price quoted, and even mounted the rail for me! To PCR...thank you so much! I will be back for other work I want done in the future. Great guy, nice clean, well organized shop too.

I will get photos up of the rail with the scope mounted up later. Nothing special, just a normal Picatinny rail.

 

[oinco]

Fantastic! I am impressed with the care and thoughtfulness you are extending to your daughter in getting ready for a rewarding hunt! I all too often see people spending more time on and equipping their pets/trucks/phones better than their children.

 

[Weaselthis]

+1! I was thinking the same thing. Be great if you could somehow preserve this thread/pix for posterity so she could show it to HER daughter or granddaughter when the time comes. Kudos to you sir! "Raise them in the way ye would have them travel". She may not, at THIS age, fully appreciate the care ole dad is taking on her behalf, but I'm sure she will one day soon. I hope she kills a STUD of a bull. Good luck. She's a lucky little lady to have a dad like you.

Fantastic! I am impressed with the care and thoughtfulness you are extending to your daughter in getting ready for a rewarding hunt! I all too often see people spending more time on and equipping their pets/trucks/phones better than their children.

 

[lancetkenyon]

OK. Got some photos of the rifle with the scope mounted up. I tried a few variations of scope mounting (forward/back) until my daughter was comfortable with the set up. I also moved the scope level around a bit. I had it where I thought was best and most visible (behind the rear scope ring), but when I worked the bolt I hit my knuckle. Can't have that happen when it is cold, so I moved it just in front of the rear ring after the scope was in the correct position for my daughter.

Scope with level mounted on rifle






Lucky sucker checking positioning






It is supposed to be really windy this weekend, so load testing might have to wait another week...plus we might head up turkey hunting if weather and time permits.

 

[lancetkenyon]

So, with a two week family vacation to Alaska out of the way in June, and work allowing me a little bit of free time with a 4 day weekend, my daughter and I had plans to finally get up to the unit and do some serious scouting/hiking/shooting. Got the keys to a friends cabin to make life easy and loaded up the truck and hit the road Thursday morning around 2:45AM to be in the unit by first light.

Before sunrise, we were spotting elk all over, totaling 68 animals by sunrise, unfortunately it was too dark for photos for all but a few of the elk. A few nicer mature bulls, one stud bull, some raghorns and spikes, and a lot of cows/calves. They really seemed to be hanging around the few tanks that still had water in them and then bugging out to thick stuff at sunrise, as this spring has been really dry in AZ. Phoenix has gone 122 days with no rain, and the higher country was not much better. The monsoons are on the way, but I hope it is not too late for antler growth.

We also saw a decent antelope buck with 9 does, a couple small herds of deer (10 total with 3 small bucks), 2 jake turkeys, a lone coyote who almost stopped long enough to get lead poisoning, a bunch of jack and cottontail rabbits (which my daughter took one at about 200 yds. off a sitting position bi-pod), and we glassed up a prairie dog town at 363 yds. with about 15 dogs as far as I could tell. Now numbering 13 or so. My daughter connected on shot #1, and I connected on shot #2. Not bad. A .25-06 Ackley slinging 115gr. Berger VLDs @ 3400fps launch the dogs pretty well.

Ran into Williams, AZ for some good BBQ ribs for lunch and headed back out to find a suitable 1000 yd. spot to try some long range shooting and sighting in the .270Win and performing a ladder test at around 400-600 yds. or so. A fun and productive day so far....until.....I got a call from my wife at 3:30 saying she had just been rear-ended on the highway and totaled her 06' Mustang......crap. So much for the long scouting weekend. Luckily we were just setting up the steel and so we took it down, loaded up and hit the road. My daughter was having a blast as we bombed down the dirt roads, rally style at about 60mph heading to the highway. Fortunately, even with the holiday weekend, we only saw one other vehicle all day. Hit the highway and called the cavalry (my older daughter) to pick up my wife and shoot some photos of the damage to the car.

So we made it home about 6:45PM and thank God, my wife is doing fairly well. Sore back, but that is it. The next day was spent looking and buying a new car for my wife, which we have been discussing anyway, this just made it about 6 months sooner than planned.

A fun day none-the-less, as spending time with my daughter is always a good time, and being in the woods and seeing game is a bonus. Hopefully we will be back up a bunch over the next few months in preparation for the November hunt my daughter has coming up.

One of the raghorn bulls


Antelope buck


A cool cave we found while hiking a bit


Luckily we were hiking when we saw this guy, and the guns were in the truck


One of the two jakes we saw


Lucky coyote


Mmmm...powdered sugar donuts, breakfast of champions!

 

[TravelingMan]

Good luck to your little girl and you... It's nice to see a father passing on the hunting tradition...

 

[lancetkenyon]

Finally....FINALLY got to the range to sight in the new scope and do some load development. Sight in took all of 3 rounds with 3 more to verify with my old loads. The SWFA 5-20 is extremely accurate on click adjustment, and really clear. Much more so than my Leupold 6.5-20 VX-III LR.

Had some interesting results. The 150 Nosler Accubond LR shoot decent, but I think some tweaking is still in my future.

Shooting a ladder test @ 300 yds. over a chrono showed a wide range of velocities. From 2637FPS to 2961FPS with no signs of pressure yet with the bullets at .0010 jammed. But I think I will stop, as I found a good load to try out. I had a high node at 57.5, 58.0 & 58.5gr. with the 58.0 load shooting a sub-MOA group at about .650" for 5 shots. Time to try seating depth then testing at longer than 100 yds.

Conditions were as follows: 88-98°, elev 1653' AMSL, pressure 28.11, winds swirling from 1-6 o'clock @ 5-15 mph. Mirage was rocking too.



Here are a few 5 shot groups after the ladder test:

57.5 gr. H4831


58.0 gr. H4831


Kind of a weird group of 58.5 gr. H4831

 

[Phil1]

...

A fun day none-the-less, as spending time with my daughter is always a good time, and being in the woods and seeing game is a bonus. Hopefully we will be back up a bunch over the next few months in preparation for the November hunt my daughter has coming up....

+1
Great thread.

 

[Opticsspecialist]

good luck! i'm hoping to take my first elk in the near future

 

[Mortarman0341]

Good stuff,great rifle.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Been out scouting some over the last couple months, but got out again yesterday for a half day. Saw some nice bulls (no photos unfortunately, we were too busy sizing them up through the binos), some deer, a great antelope buck, and shot a couple deer killers. We also found 8 dead sheep that the coyotes had killed. Both the coyotes I shot were on/around the dead sheep.

Also, my now 12 year old daughter got to drive the truck around the dirt roads for a couple hours, which she enjoyed, and was relaxing for me too.

I picked up a new set of 15x56 Meopta binos, and holy cow, I don't know how I used to glass with "just" 10x42s. The 15s are like cheating! I was glassing up bedded deer on mountain sides over a mile away, even with heavy midday mirage. Glassed up antelope bedded under trees at almost a mile and a half, and elk were easily identifiable at a mile and a half too.

Beautiful start to a great day.






The three antelope standing were at 1435 yds., and the bedded antelope under the left side of the tree was over 1828 yds. (the furthest my rangefinder goes). According to Google Earth, he was around 2236 yds. +/-


My new chauffer


Local wildlife


Glassing the mountainsides a mile+ away is easy with the new 15s


Nice buck we spotted

 

[Engine 22]

Very cool story going here! Thanks for sharing the pics and looking forward to what's next. Keep it coming!

 

[lancetkenyon]

Got to the range for a few hours this morning.

Got the backup rifle (.300RUM w. brake) ready to go. 200 yds. netted me this with 210 SMKs at 3170fps.


Got the primary rifle sighted in and load development complete too.

Final load:
.270 Win.
Winchester brass
CCI BR-2 primers
150 gr. Nosler Accubond Long Range
57.8 gr. H4831SC
3.5535 COAL (.0050 jump)
2912 fps (average of 10, +/- 6fps: 2906 to 2917fps)
Temps @ 88°, baro 29.11, winds 4-6mph from 1-3 o'clock

These are two separate 5 shot groups @ 100 yds. First 5 shot group is top left. Dialed 1/2 MOA down and shot the second group as the winds died a little. Dialed down 2 more clicks and called it a day. The SWFA tracks perfectly, and is really clear. I am liking the FFP scope more and more as I get used to it. Seems tiny at 5X, but anything shot at that mag will be close range anyway.


Heading up to scout some more tomorrow.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Had a fun scouting day yesterday. Poured like cats and dogs the entire way from Phoenix to the unit. Once we pulled off the road onto dirt, it quit raining. No dust, no hunters, super quiet terrain.

We took a few hikes to check bedding areas, and the woods were literally alive with bugling elk. At one time, we had 9 different elk screaming all around us. Hiked a couple miles, and saw some dandy bulls. Dropped a fresh salt block off at a lick I know of about a mile from any roads too. Found some elk sheds, found some fresh bear tracks, saw lots of elk, and a got a photograph of a shooter. Not a monster, but a good typical mature bull. The dogs got a workout, the wife got some relaxation and some laughs, and Taylor and I got some good father/daughter lessons and about 6 miles of boot leather on the ground getting into lots of elk. About 2:00PM, the rain came back with a vengeance, so we packed it up and headed back. Poured the entire way back too. Awesome weather, awesome times, awesome experience.

Raring to go.


The wife was just THRILLED she got to get up at 2:30AM on her day off to go scouting with us....


Even the DOGS love scouting!


Quit raining right as we got off pavement


We hope to find the guy that did this...


Hard to see, but this small 6 point bull was bedded across a 100 yd. canyon from us. No cows with him though....they were with his Daddy further up the canyon.


This was the second 5 point shed we found in the same canyon. One in the bottom, one on the ridgeline.


Nothing huge, but cool to find. My wife is already planning decorations with them....chandelier, coat rack....I am sure more work for me to do.


The young one is on a leash, because he thought it would be funny to chase a herd of elk.....I didn't find it funny, and neither did the elk. So he got strung up the rest of the day.

 

[lancetkenyon]

Sorry for the lousy photo, but this guy was about 1K yds. off with his girlfriends, and it was drizzling.




Everyone was wiped out on the way home.

 

[avluey]

What an absolutely awesome thread. Got the same B&C Stock and SWFA to upgrade my Remington 700 in 7 mag going into this year!

 

[cmica]

Great post, did love AZ when i visited, tad hot to live in.