Nevada bull elk hunt

My son texted me about one week after the draw with great news. He was awarded an alternate Bull Elk tag in area 221-223. He is a junior in high school and we were really hoping he would draw a tag before he finishes high school and moves away. We are familiar with this area and I have been able to assist two other people harvest a bull there. We waited patiently all summer and fall and would stop to glass the area whenever we drove through there. I took the week of Thanksgiving off and a buddy from Utah drove out to help us. We arrived Friday night and set out before light the following morning. Our buddy got side lined with vehicle problems and wouldn't be able to meet up with us until the following day.

We camped at 6600' and then hiked up onto a bench above a spring at the base of the mountains at about 7700'. We have always seen elk sign in this area and have often watched bulls stage through this area on their way up to their beds at higher elevation. We saw absolutely no fresh sign in the area so we continued up higher in elevation. We climbed up onto a rocky outcropping at about 8,000' that would allow us to look West into two large basins with the sun at our backs. One basin was to the North of our position and the other to the South.

We got my 15x56 binos set up on a tripod and a spotting scope set up on our trigger sticks. In less that two minutes I glassed up a small bachelor group with one raghorn and three 5x5's. We had located elk in the North basin. They were about a mile away and another 1200' feet above our position. As I continued to grid search the two basins we found several groups of cows in the North basin and some more raghorns but no sizeable bulls. They all gradually began to feed into the thick timber on a North facing slope between the two basins.

We were able to locate another group of cows way up on the top of the ridge in the South basin at 10,000' and about 1.5 miles away. We continued to watch this group when suddenly a nice sized bull sky lined himself with the group of cows. He only stood there for a short time before he moved back over the crest of the ridge and out of sight. We spent the rest of the day lounging on the rocks soaking up the sun.

I spotted what appeared to be another decent bull up in the deep timber that appeared to be limping when he walked. So now we knew there were two decent bulls up in these basins but I didn't see any reasonable approach route to get above this bull that was within the realm of my current physical conditioning as I was still healing from a knee injury. My kid runs cross country and is game for just about anything. We met back up that evening with our friend from Utah and another group of guys who had a bull tag. The word from everyone was that with so much warm weather and so little snow coverage all the elk were up as high as they could get.

We camped at a new spot that night and hiked up to glass the West side of the mountains at first light the next morning. We found two groups of cows but no sign of any bulls. We hiked back to the truck and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon driving and glassing new country. We didn't see any more elk and came back to meet up with everyone at their base camp. They had seen bulls up on the ridgelines at 10,000 but not much else. We decided to return to glass those same two basins where we had seen elk the day before. We were way down below and about three miles out. We were able to locate the cows on top of the ridge again but did not see any bulls. As the sun started to set and the sky started to darken I suddenly saw the cows perk up and start moving. Some of them started to move off the ridge and down into the South basin. Within seconds we heard a shot and then I saw that nice bull come over the ridge and into the basin. He did not appear to be wounded but you never can tell with elk. We heard a second shot and then the whole herd was on the move. They started to head North across the basin. It was interesting to watch that bull pause at every transition before he would move out into the open. There were a couple smaller bulls with the group but the bigger guy always stayed behind. We watched them move over the spine that separated the two bowls and then bed down in the same timber we had seen the group feed into the day before.

We returned to base camp that evening and settled on a plan to head up there the following morning. My son and their son had tags so we were going to try and locate two suitable bulls and then work together to get them out of there. The other guys had a Jeep that would make it up the trail on the South end of the mountains. This trail was skinny and steep and my full sized truck wasn't about to make it through there without some serious pucker factor and significant damage from tree limbs. We piled in the Jeep at 4:00am and headed for the top. We arrived at the end of the trail which put us at 9600' elevation and 2.5 miles south of where the elk had bedded the night before. We made it through the snow following a trail that they had marked a few days before during daylight. We got to the top of the ridge and just South of the first basin before first light. We waited for enough light to start glassing. It was one of the more beautiful sunrises I have seen in my life.

So here we are with two shooters at first light and we are ready to see if we can locate some bulls. The older of the boys needed to get back to Vegas for final exams at college so we planned to give him first pick of any bulls. We slowly made our way through the snow and into a vantage point to see into the South basin. We did not see anything at all and felt comfortable that all the elk had been bumped into the North basin the evening before by the other hunters. We side hilled across the basin and onto the spine separating the two basins. Las Vegas is only at 2000' and we were at 9500-10,000'. I was definitely sucking wind. As we moved slowly onto the spine we could see through the trees onto the opposite South facing side of the basin, and sure enough there they were. We idenitified one beautiful blonde colored bull and several smaller 5x5's at around 800 yards. They were with a bunch of cows so there were lots of eyes and ears.

We backed out and moved up the spine to the top of the ridge. Unfortunately, there were cows bedded on top of the ridgeline and more elk feeding across the basin in that direction. We could not see any of the bulls. We dropped down a bit into the trees for some cover and my buddy moved back to the last spot we had seen the bulls. We had cell service and he was able to let us know that the elk had split into two groups. One group of cows and spikes had fed towards the top of the basin where we were at and they were gradually bedding down in the open on top of the ridge. The bigger bull and the satellite bulls had about thirty cows and had pushed them in the other direction towards the East. We waited and waited for all the cows to feed across the basin and then slowly moved in below them where they could see us. We had to make sure that they didn't run back towards the bulls and spook them. Slowly but surely we pushed them over the ridge and away from the bulls. I was so worried that they might decide to run the other way.

Once the cows were gone we were able to get up on the ridgeline and above the bulls and the other cows. Over the next two hours we moved up where we bumped the cows off the ridgeline and then side hilled across a huge rockslide on the South face of the basin. We knew we were 200-300 yards above the elk but the slope was not steep enough for us to see them below us through the trees. They got nervous and the big bull started slowly moving the herd West towards a saddle that led into the next basin North. We made our way down the snow covered rock slide above that saddle where the bull was pushing the herd. Traversing down that slide in the snow was really sketchy and one of the boys stepped into a hole all the way to his hip. I am very grateful no one got hurt.

We slowly moved down the slide until suddenly we saw cows down the slope in the trees on the edge of the bald saddle. They were just downhill from the saddle and feeding in that direction. We identified several different shooting lanes with distances of 400-500 yards from potential targets. The shooters got into steady positions and waited. We saw more and more cows move out into the open as they were getting ready to feed over the saddle and into the next basin.

We saw several smaller bulls move in and out of cover but not the bigger bull. Suddenly the bigger bull stepped out into a small opening tight to the tree line. I told the boys, "there he is, shoot him". They could not see him and soon enough he stepped behind another group of trees and was getting ready to go into the next basin. The bull stepped out again and I told them "you better shoot that bull he is about to go over that saddle." The other shooter said, "I don't see him". As soon as those words left his mouth I heard my son's rifle thunder. Since I was looking over his shoulder with binos I could see the bullet impact right behind the left front shoulder. Perfect hit right in the vitals at 373 yards from the trusty old Winchester Model 70 chambered in 7mm Rem Mag.

The elk stood there and looked around trying to figure why he was experiencing a sudden drop in blood pressure. My son's second shot was a miss and the third shot was a double lung. He quickly reloaded. The bull was still standing there. His 4th and 5th shots were misses and then the 6th shot dropped him in his tracks. Turns out this last shot hit him just above the left knee and also in the opposite front leg below the knee. He expired shortly after. The rest of the herd were milling around and starting to head over the saddle. The other shooter had a chance at several of the smaller bulls and I asked him if he was going to shoot. He looked at me and said that he wasn't interested in hauling out anything smaller than a 6x6 this high up and this far out from the truck. Smart kid.







We got to work butchering out the elk and it was past sundown as we started down the mountain. The other shooters dad and their friend brought vehicles to the edge of the wilderness boundary 3.5 miles and 3,000' below us. They hiked up almost two miles to just below the rocks where we had originally glassed the elk from the first morning. I carried a rear quarter and my son carried the other rear quarter plus his rifle. At 16 years old I am impressed at the weight he carried out. Those rear quarters were so heavy. My buddy carried a front quarter and loose meat. The other young man carried backstraps, tenderloins and loose meat. We left one front quarter and the head behind. It was steep and nasty. We had a rock slide on our right and thick mahogany in front of us. We were behind the other two guys and it was getting dark by the time we got into the thick stuff. They found a clearer path to the left by checking OnX and made pretty good time. They were quite away ahead of us, I was starting to fatigue quickly and my feet were getting pretty blistered. My Initial Ascent pack performed flawlessly but my physical conditioning was not up to par. Lesson learned. My son's cheapo frame pack was a flying piece of *!&% and he really struggled to keep it from sliding down no matter how tight we cinched it.

By the time we made it to the guys waiting for us below we were a pretty sad sight. I was absolutely exhausted and my son was pretty wrecked. We handed off our packs to the other two guys and these legends carried them the rest of the way to the truck. I can't even begin to describe how much easier it is to walk without an additional 60-70lbs on your back. The other young man's father is roughly the same size and strength as a bull moose and he effortlessly shouldered that pack like it was nothing. We rested the next day and tried to assist the other young man in finding a bull. He passed on a couple of smaller bulls and planned to come back up after Thanksgiving. My feet were blistered and wrecked so I elected to be radio support at basecamp while my son and my buddy went back up the following morning. My buddy is part mule and can carry just about anything down a mountain. They left the truck at 7am and headed up the 3.5 miles and 3,000 feet to retrieve the head and front quarter. They returned triumphantly at around 4pm with big smiles plastered across their faces. What a wonderful experience for my son and I am grateful for all the folks who helped him accomplish his goal of harvesting a mature bull.

Great story and pictures. Thanks for sharing and congrats to your son!

Awesome experience with your son-congrats on a great bull!!

Man, that is awesome. Time with your son and an awesome bull. You can't put a price on that. Thanks for the pics

Congrats to you and your son. Great story and awesome bull.

Awesome story and great memories! Congrats!

Nice write up. Thanks for posting & congrats on the nice bull.

Nicely done! Good looking bull. Me and my daughter are headed up to 222 for my cow elk tag this weekend. Doesn't look like there is a whole lot of snow. Sounds like you saw plenty of elk though.

Cows were up high and some were still getting pushed by bulls, or down low in the Ag fields. We are heading up New Years weekend for my wife's cow tag as well. I have been watching the weather and there still hasn't been any snow to speak. Some pressure from hunters might finally push them off the fields and up on the benches. Hope you get a nice one for the freezer.

Congratulations to your son that’s great that you got to spend some time with him hunting before he graduates

Great account of your hunt and congratulations to your son. I'd rather pack 70 pounds a little uphill than down hill. It's harder on my legs and knees to keep putting the breaks on going down hill with a load.

eelgrass said:

Great account of your hunt and congratulations to your son. I'd rather pack 70 pounds a little uphill than down hill. It's harder on my legs and knees to keep putting the breaks on going down hill with a load.

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Agreed. I was doing a lot of switchbacks going down that first steep pitch.

Great story and a great bull for your son. Congrats

Awesome! Congrats to your son on a great bull!

Outstanding...

Very kool


congrats to all


Robb

Big bull!! Pass my congrats onto your son. Sweet score.

Founder said:

Big bull!! Pass my congrats onto your son. Sweet score.

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Will do. It was a great adventure.

JakeInLasVegas said:

Cows were up high and some were still getting pushed by bulls, or down low in the Ag fields. We are heading up New Years weekend for my wife's cow tag as well. I have been watching the weather and there still hasn't been any snow to speak. Some pressure from hunters might finally push them off the fields and up on the benches. Hope you get a nice one for the freezer.

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Well, we got it done the morning of day two. We were fortunate to find a few groups of cows in the foothills. Freezer will be full and we are happy for sore shoulders and legs (pains of success). Good luck getting your wife's cow.

Very nice- congratulations

Great story and great bull!

Way to go guys. Great story and a great hunt that you will remember forever.

Thanks for the write up. Way to get it done. Huge congrats to you all.