30th Birthday Present

[Carry-a-Kimber]

So, my 30th birthday was last Saturday and my awesome wife hooked me up with an elk hunt. We arrived in Eagle Nest, NM on Friday for the 5 day hunt on Saturday. Went out all 5 days of the hunt and finally had a chance at a shooter on the last day (today). On day one I put a rag horn 4x5 in my sites but figured I would risk passing him up since I had four more days. Next day saw a herd of about 70 with a nice 7x7 and 4 or 5 decent bulls but they were about 1500 yards out. The next two days I only had glimpses of bulls. On the 5th morning I knew it was my last chance to get a bull and was optimistic about seeing a shooter. It was raining, foggy, and around 40 degrees when I caught a glimps of a cow through the fog and moved about 30 yards toward her. When I got into cover I saw she was the lead cow in a small herd and knew there had to be a bull. He was in the middle of a herd of about 40 elk, all cows exept for a rag horn and a spike. Around 7:10 I was finally able to get him in my crosshairs and see he had a decent rack. I couldn't count the points but could tell he had a high rack and it was the last day so it was "now or never" time. I ranged him at 196 yards and put a 140gr 270WSM behind his left shoulder. The herd balled up and surrounded him for about 15 seconds then they broke out towrds the tree line. He stayed put and I knew he was mine. I put another TSX through his vitals for good measure and he sat down and gave up. Walked out to him and discovered he was a respectable 6x6. Best birthday present I could ever dream of; I love my wife.

[Munk]

Very nice!!! Congrats to having an awesome wife, too!

[C-dub]

How do you get a beast like that out of there?

[Carry-a-Kimber]

How do you get a beast like that out of there?

Four wheeler with a trailer, he was only about 300 yards from "camp".

[Texas10X]

Great report and awesome elk! Congratulations!! What a fantastic birthday present!!!

By the way, happy birthday!

[texanron]

Congratulations! I see diamonds in your wife's future.

[RoyGBiv]

What time should we all be over for dinner??

Beautiful beastie... Congrats. Looks like a great birthday present.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

Congratulations! I see diamonds in your wife's future.

Funny thing about it is now she wants to go elk hunting. She comes from a family of hunters but has never been into it. After 5 days chasing elk she is chomping at the bit to get her own bull.

[Seventhsword]

Congrats! That is awesome!!