The next day we got a call that we were waiting on from a friend of a friend. The ranch he works on would give us a special zone tag that was good for a bull elk with an unbranched antler at least 15". He had seen 3 or 4 such bulls in a particular area. We spent the whole day travelling with as much stuff as we felt we needed for the 24 degree temperatures in the mountains. After an early wake-up at 4AM and a long climb that started at 7AM and took an hour, we were on a hillside overlooking a water-hole and within a few hundred yards of an alfalpha field. The ranch hand started calling with squeaks and I asked him "why" since the elk rut was long over. He said the young, curious elk would still come to check it out and this group he had been watching was usually bedded in a heavily brushed area. Apparently it worked because soon the boys saw some antlers moving through the trees. First, a huge 6X6 bull and 6 cows came by within 100 yards. We moved further up the hill and called again. This time within 15 minutes a group of young elk showed up. The first was a fork-horned bull, followed by 8 cows. Then there was a spike with about 10" sticks. The last one was a spike that would make the 15" mark. Our "guide" popped open a decoy and set it just in front of us when the elk were looking away. He called again and they all started coming to us on a narrow trail. When the last elk, the one we wanted came around the trees he was about 30 yards away. I whispered to Justin to take his time and squeeze the trigger. My whisper must have been a little too loud as it stopped the elk. Justin aimed in and as I was about to say "wait" he fired. The elk scattered and this one went 25 yard and fell over. He got up and came back to us and fell over again. Then he got up and ran downhill where he fell yet again. The rest of the elk grouped up and headed uphill. This elk got up one last time and tried to climb the trail to follow his buddies. He made it about another 20 yards and went down for good. We could see the hit in the lungs. Later we found the 180 grain XTP. It took both lungs and broke the shoulder palate where it was stuck in the meat. At home it weighted 139.6 grains and is .486 diameter with a nice mushroom shape.
We travelled most of the night and arrived in Camp Wood, TX early in the morning. We were going to try to hunt whitetail or free-range exotics by spot and stalk. In Camp Wood we saw axis deer, blackbuck and whitetail, but none that the boys wanted to shoot as most were does and far away at that. We hunted 4 other places including one of the ranches were Anna Nicole Smith lived with her husband (the ranch was sold to the husband's brother and was just sold again). We saw an aoudad, axis deer and whitetails but again nothing big or close. We then travelled southwest to Bracketville. Me met Efran there and he took us out on a ranch that was a mere 16,400 acres. Efran said there were usually axis or blackbuck on a flat, so we climbed up and looked down over the flat that was about 100 yards away. Brandon saw the axis deer first but they ran past us as close as 40 yards. About 20 minutes later Justin saw some "deer" up on a bluff and quite a ways out. I looked with binos and saw a group of about 20 blackbuck does. Efran had to leave to pick up his kids from school (early out) in 15 minutes, so I told the boys "go to the truck and get me my rifle". About 10 minutes they came back with my rifle still in the case. I loaded it, looked through the rangefinder and saw a red 267 in the lens. This custom 7mm-08 is my most accurate rifle, regularly shooting half inch hundred yard groups and sighted in 2.5" high at 100 yds. The 150 grain Swift Scirroco at 2700 fps hits right on at 270 yards. I got comfortable and put the crosshairs right on a fat doe. Just as they started to move I squeezed the trigger. While the other does ran across a trail on the bluff, the one I shot fell about 50 yards down off the bluff. The shot was right on the money and the small antelope was no challenge for the cartridge.
After a long ride home pulling the trailer and stopping for coffee and restroom breaks every 2 hours we arrived back this Thanksgiving Day at about 7AM. We are extra thankful for this wonderful time we spent together.
Happy Thanksgiving to you!
