This hunt took place on the opening day of elk rifle season one year. My hunter and I drove up to a place that I liked to glass from because I could see almost the entire mountain range. I didn’t like to go to this spot before daylight, since I believed the headlights on my truck would spook the elk. Once we had some natural light, I took my spotting scope and binoculars there and saw a big herd of elk; I spotted a big bull at about 350 yards. I ran back down to the truck where my hunter was loading his pack for the day’s hunt and told him, “Leave your pack and binoculars here. Grab your rifle, and get it loaded. I’ve got the shooting sticks. There’s a really nice bull here, and I think you can take him.”
At the top of the mountain, I got my hunter settled in and ready to make the shot. The bull was standing out in the open. My hunter said, “I can make that shoot at 250 yards. “ He had a good steady rest and squeezed the trigger of his Remington 300 Winchester Magnum. When the bullet hit the elk, the bull flipped over backwards and started rolling down the hill. I don’t have very many hunts that result in a bull being taken that quickly. In 15 years of hunting, this hunt was probably the fastest a hunter ever had tagged out on opening morning of rifle season for elk. After we got the elk quartered and back to camp, we did a lot of fishing until the 5 days of the hunt were over. This hunter said the same thing that every one of my hunters who tags out in the first day says “Is it always this easy to get an elk? “ I always smile and answer, “If you only knew.”
