Arizona Elk Hunt. Successful and interesting year. All three of us tagged out, one of us twice. Went with two of my cousins. On 2nd day one cousin and I shot two bulls that were bedded down about 20yds apart on the opposite ridge. Range was 860yds. An hour+ later when we got to the site three guys were butchering my cousins 6x6 and claimed it as theirs as they had gut shot it three hours before.
Seven guys with a lot of weapons 9,000+ ASL on ridge miles from anywhere. Things got tense. My cousin said f**k it because he thought the young kid had the tag and we had 5 more days to hunt. Later we found out the young kid was actually a guide and the old man was the tag holder. Messed up situation.
In any event three bulls in the freezer is the overall result. Nothing special in terms of rack size but a good hunt that produced a lot of memories.
Last pic is of rounds recovered from my last two elk hunts. Both went through bulls and came to rest under the hide opposite. One of the left was from this years hunt. The round is a 300WM Barnes VOR-TX LR 190gr recovered after an 860yd shot. It hit a rib and not much else other then tissue. The one on the right is a 300 Weatherby Barnes X 180gr bullet after traveling though a quartering away bull at ~ 100 yds. That round shattered the forward left shoulder socket after traveling though lung, liver, and heart.
These are tough bullets. My HMR loves the VOR-TX LR. My best group with them is .27” at 200yds. Wish I could actually buy more of them. Only have two left. Hope these start appearing in stores again soon.
Oh, the old fella in the middle is me.
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