# Elk hunting in the morning???



## Sabotloader (Mar 3, 2009)

We have an open elk season going on right now... cows only... in the unit I normally hunt. The season started Aug 1 and goes to Sept 15 - but there are some problems.... It is hot really hot - so hot and dry I really have not got to excited about heading out. I have made it out a couple of times but i was packing my Tikka WinMag because it was so dry and tender I worried about shooting a ML out there.

We got a little bit of rain yesterday and some more again early this morning... so I gathered up a couple of ML's and headed to the rock pit to verify their POI. The first gun I wanted to shoot was the Knight Extreme 50 cal. It is/was sighted in with the Lehigh .458/277 grain, in a MMP Orange saboat, 120 grains of T7-2f. I am really anxious to try this new to me projectile - I have done my research and have shot the bullet quite a bit so I am more than confident it will do the job.

I set up 3 clay pigeons @ 100 yards - popped a couple of caps ran a windex patch and loaded up for the first clay bird. Got all three - one shot each... The gun is ready

One of the rules is that you must be within 1 mile of a cultivated farm field and you can not be on USFS lands... I have a spot we hunt late in the year (December) that I have been going to. I think it provides me an opportunity to ambush a group moving from water back to the termal cover in the south. I just have to pick the right day. I am working on the thought that a few resident elk that remain in this area most of the year. There are two large trianlges of area that I can observe from two different ground stands - certainly can not move to them - way to noise.

I figure I can hunt from daylight to about 8:00am... can not go much after that as it would be to hot to win the battle with the yellow jackets... I have to have it skinned and halved, and out to the truck by 10. If I make that time line I have a chance to win the bug battle & not get any meat spoilage (bone sour)

Here is an aerial photo of the area...


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

Your set up should work Mike. Carry a can of black pepper to keep the bugs off the meat. It rinces off once you have it in a bug free enviroment.

We are having huge amounts of yellow jackets here trying to get at the honey we are removing off the bees. I have home made traps all over the yard too. I wish I could get 10 bucks for every call we have gotten about bees in the house this year. I have been getting two calls a day on adverage for over a month and they usally turn out to be yellow jackets a WASP not a bee.

 Al


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