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Stan from Pa.
02-12-2016, 02:09 PM
Hello guys,
finally taking the time to upload some pictures of the elk hunt that myself, father in law, and 2 brother in laws enjoyed this past fall in Wyoming. This hunt was with Star Valley Outfitters in the Little Greys River Area in Wyoming. We initially went out in September during archery season, it was very warm (80 degree daytime temps), and the elk were not bugling much if any till the last two days of our hunt when the temps started dropping. With that came rain in lower areas with snow in higher elevations, we finally started seeing elk. We had a great time, but nobody was able to score an elk. I was the only one that was presented a shot and I screwed that up, still not able to remove that from my memory.
Our last day of our archery hunt, I started talking with the outfitter (George Herrold) about returning in rifle season, he says sure, he can make room for us. So home we went, after checking schedules and other commitments, plans were made to return to Wyoming in October. Can't say the wives were real warm to the idea of us heading to Wyoming again, but they would have had a pretty tough time changing our minds, we were going to Wyoming! Never dreamt I would go to Wyoming twice in 1 fall, crazy what hunting will do to you.
I worked on making sure my 7.21 Firebird was all ready, shooting at 600 yards, and then at 800 yards, and finally at 1,070 yards. I didn't want to not come home without an elk, much less because of poor shooting on my end. I evened caved and bought a pair of Leica Geovids 10X42 HD-B with the advanced ballistic compensation. These are a great tool and the range finder in these is very quick and good to 2,000 yards, a big improvement over my older Geovids.
October 14th we flew into Jackson, beautiful weather again and all the snow had left again. Daytime temps were forecasted to be in the 70's again, very different for Wyoming in October. We arrived in camp, rechecked the rifles and prepared to go hunting again. Breakfast was at 4:00, get the horses ready and leave camp by 5:00-5:15. After riding about 5 miles, we arrived close to where we wanted to where we wanted to tie the horses and start walking. My guide says he can smell elk, he thinks we've maybe pushed some. So we walk a short distance and wait for daylight to arrive.
Daylight arrives and we can see a few cows across the canyon feeding in some clearings, but no bulls. We did have some company though, 3 hunters on the same side of the canyon as the elk we were watching but well above the elk. After about 45 minutes I observed 2 of these hunters making a move towards the elk we were watching. My guide said to be ready, if they push the elk, they will either go down the canyon between us and the other hunters or cross to our side and climb Dead Man mountain behind us and cross over the top.
We didn't have to wait long, after a single shot by one of the 2 hunters, elk were everywhere. there was around 60 elk in this group, much more than we expected. Hard to believe, but there was only 2 bulls with this group, a spike and the bull I shot. The guide was correct, they decided to cross to our side, and climb behind us to the top to cross over. As the elk started moving, we were on the move too, trying to get in the best position to get a shot. We tried to get a shot while they were moving through a meadow (800 yards), but they never stopped.
So we started running to get a better position. I'm trying to keep up with the guide, suddenly he turns around and tells me to stop and he points to a few cows coming out of the pines above us. His words were, Get down on that gun and be ready to shoot as soon as that bull comes out! So I lay out prone using my bipod, chamber a round and I find the cows in the scope. I'm thinking I have to check the yardage so I can make scope adjustments. I reach for my Geovids, guide says, Put your binoculars down, get on that gun. I'm thinking, Yes Sir, so I get on the gun again but no bull yet and the elk are relaxing some and not moving as fast as they climb. The elk are at a pretty serious uphill angle (verified later, 20 degrees) from us and I'm just wanting to range them.
I reach for my binoculars again. My guide says, Get on your gun, I will get the range! I had uploaded all my ballistics on the SD card in my Geovids and was planning to adjust my scope using the clicks given by the number it gave me. My guide didn't want me moving from my gun. He tells me the range is about 440 yards and I did a quick adjustment to my scope, going off memory.
He was correct, less than a minute later the bull walks into the open. I'm just willing him to stop and finally he does. I send a 180 grain JLK for his shoulder. He buckles, goes down, and starts to try to get up again, I'm busy chambering another round and ready to shoot again if necessary, but after trying to stand up, he fell and started tumbling/sliding down the hill. He went out of our view, but the guide assured me that he was certain the bull was done. After some high fives and some celebration, the guide went to get the horses while I went to find where the bull stopped sliding. This was my first bull elk, so while not a record bull, I was very happy.
We had an excellent time with Star Valley Outfitters and their guides. I learned in the last 3 weeks that George and Denise did sell Star Valley Outfitters to Extreme Outer Limits. They had it for sale for a little while, so it was not a surprise, but I was disappointed after the great time we experienced with them. I'm sorry I was so long winded, I didn't plan to write this much, but got kind of carried away after starting to tell you about the hunt .
Hope you enjoy the pictures,
Stan
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_15.jpg (http://s405.photobucket.com/user/Stan17PPC/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_15.jpg.html)
This is a picture of camp, they did have a very nice comfortable camp Ray. It consisted of 2 man tents for sleeping, a larger tent for the guides,
and also a larger tent on the left where the meals were served. http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_10.jpg

csterner
02-12-2016, 02:58 PM
fixed it for ya! ;)

ray h
02-12-2016, 08:32 PM
Stan, that must be the Hilton of hunt camps.

csterner
02-12-2016, 11:57 PM
It is pretty nice. Been there twice. Right behind my bud's house. Beautiful country.

camel
02-13-2016, 12:28 AM
WOW :eek: Now that is some flash camp set up.

Wheres the dead critters ?

Oleman
02-13-2016, 01:23 AM
It is pretty nice. Been there twice. Right behind my bud's house. Beautiful country.

But no snow during Elk season? Looks like shirt sleeve Elk hunting. But I've hunted Wyoming when that was the case.

Stan from Pa.
02-13-2016, 04:08 AM
Another shot of the elk with a beautiful sky and country in the background.http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_16.jpg
Here we have the head, horns, and hide all ready to head for camp.http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_17.jpg
We were joined by more of our camp on the way back in.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_14.jpg
A bull moose at about 50 yards, he appeared on the hill across from camp and I didn't trust trying to approach any closer.http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_13.jpg

Stan from Pa.
02-13-2016, 04:34 AM
Hard to see, but in the back ground are the Tetons.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_12.jpg
A spot we enjoyed eating lunch while archery hunting.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_11.jpg
Some steep country.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_18.jpg
And my dirty ride which I drove out in September while hunting archery.
http://i405.photobucket.com/albums/pp136/Stan17PPC/Mobile%20Uploads/image_19.jpg
Sorry Dodge/Ford guys, I had to include my trustworthy Duramax which currently has 302,000 miles on the odometer.
Thanks much Charlie for the help on the pictures, I may have got the hang of it now,
Stan

Stevo
02-13-2016, 11:00 AM
Great stuff Stan. Thanks for sharing.

csterner
02-13-2016, 12:16 PM
Nice bull Stan. Sure, there are bigger but they're also tougher to eat and take up too much wall space.;) Glad you got the pics figured out. George never mentioed selling the camp the other week when I was there. He had a good run at it.

ray h
02-13-2016, 01:57 PM
Congratulations Stan, great write up. That's some beautiful country.

sicero
02-13-2016, 02:39 PM
I tried to get a good friend of mine to go on several hunts with me and

he never would go.

He had to save his money.

He died last month at 69yr.

I have lost five friends to cancer since I was diagnosed 9yr ago.

I sure am not sorry I spent money I didn't have to go, many times by myself.

Kenny

Great hunt and a nice bull Stan.

csterner
02-13-2016, 10:42 PM
Kenny.., in 1999 I was single, making good money and my Dad and I bit the bullet and ponied up for a guided hunt, right next to Yellowstone. We both killed decent bulls, mine was like Stan's. Dad died in '08 at only 56. Had we waited, he'd have never made it. Go while you can!

camel
02-14-2016, 12:03 AM
Nice photos Stan, thanks for putting them up, some very impressive country over there. Great memories of the hunt. :)

Stan from Pa.
02-14-2016, 01:24 AM
Thanks guys for all the kind words,
I've not been on many guided hunts, so I don't have much for comparison, but this is one I'll remember. I thought George and his guys had a comfortable camp and did very close to anything we asked, I may be wrong but I'm afraid it will change some. I did actually meet the new owners at the SCI show last week and they seemed like good people. They have already raised the price of each hunt by $800, putting them closer in line with some of the private land hunts. This is public land and we did encounter quite a few other hunters. We were thinking about applying for points to try to pull a deer tag, normally a three year process. They have some very good sized mule deer out there. Not sure if that will happen now or not.
It was good times, we met some nice people, and have memories to keep of time spent with close family. Was already dreaming of doing this hopefully someday with my son ( 10 year old now) if he keeps hunting.
Stan