OK. Here is my story and I'm sticking to it. Sorry it's soo long!
I will give you a little background because it is relevant to the rest of the story. I grew up in Wyoming and always enjoyed the outdoors, hunting being a big part of that. My dad has always been a big hunter and by the time he was thirty, had become a very successful elk hunter. He was never a trophy hunter. He hunted for the meat and simply the thrill of the hunt. Of course, he would take a big bull if given the opportunity.
By the time I was a senior in high school, I had 4 antelope, one deer and one moose under my belt. However, no elk. I had only been on one serious elk hunt by that time, mostly due to school concerns. My dad would pack into the Wyoming back country with horses and stay a week. Our family has always been serious about school so taking an entire week off was tough. Looking back now, I wish I would have just bit the bullet and taken more time to elk hunt because the memories created hunting are far greater than any memory I have of high school.
The one elk hunt was only three days long. During that time, I didn't see any elk. But I shot my first coyote which I am very proud of to this day. A nice 60-70 yard running shot through the trees. I am sure most of you can relate to bagging my first yote!
Well, during my senior year, I crashed on my motorcycle and broke my back. I lost my ability to walk as well as my hope of doing many other things. One of these things was the hope of ever getting an elk. It just is not effective to road hunt elk. It still works well to hunt deer and antelope from a vehicle, but nearly impossible for elk.
Then, two years ago, Utah (where I live now) changed their laws to allow disabled hunters to hunt during the middle of September, about a month before the hoards of other hunters. But the real advantage is that this is during the starting of the rut. When I first heard this, I thought that I may actually have a chance at getting an elk. So I bought a license and went hunting. That year, on the last day of the hunt and after a lot of hunting, I finally got a shot at a spike, and got him. It was a huge spike and I was awfully proud.
I hunted last year without ever seeing a bull.
Then this year, I heard of a spot that elk will sometimes travel through. So a good friend and I planned the hunt. We would walk/roll in about half a mile, set up a blind and see if we could ambush some elk as they passed through. Saturday morning turned up nothing but a distant bugle. So I moved on to another area that also turned up nothing.
I did not have the time to hunt the second day but Monday I was back at it. That evening, we sat in the blind waiting and hoping. We were on the side of a treed knoll looking through a clearing towards another small hill covered with trees. My friend had seen elk in the past skirting along the group of trees that we were watching. We had gotten there at about 4:30 and was hoping to see something before dark.
Well, we waited and waited and waited. It was about 7:40 and with only about 5 more minutes of shooting light, I had almost given up hope. I think Victor, my good friend, was also getting frustrated and he got up to walk around the knoll to see if there was anything sneaking around the back side. He had been gone for about a minute when Kody (my 12 year old son) and I heard a bugle far off in the distant. I thought to myself that there was no way that the elk could travel that far in the little time we had left.
Then, all of the sudden, I caught some movement to my left. There was a cow and two calves trotting down through the middle of the clearing, much closer than I had expected. They were passing directly between the two knolls, about 60 yards away. A few seconds passed and about 4 or 5 more cows and calves passed by us. There were only about two good shooting lanes between the trees and branches that we were hiding behind. I waited for what seemed like a minute but was probably more like 20 seconds. I remember thinking in frustration, “COME ON! THERE HAS TO BE A BULL FOLLOWING THEM!â€Â. About then, I saw another elk trotting slowly following the same path as the others. Because it was pretty gray at this point, I didn't immediately see antlers. But a second later as he turned his head, I saw numerous white tips of antlers. As I saw him, I instantly knew that I wanted to take the shot. I rested the rifle directly down the first shooting lane and waited. When he entered my scope, I settled the cross-hairs just behind his shoulders and squeezed the trigger. It was probably more of a yank, but who's keeping track?
Now I am sorry but I must digress for just a moment. My friend Victor, who I shoot with a lot, is a big magnum fan and has always razzed me for my little girl gun, a .270 WSM. In his arsenal is a .375 RUM, .338 RUM, .300 RUM, 7mm RUM, .300 WSM, 7 Rem Mag and a .270 WSM. Last year, his weapon of choice for elk was the .375 RUM as he pounded a very nice 5X6. He mocks me saying the .270 WSM is his pea-shooter or "girl gun".
However, my dad has killed more elk with this .270 Win than most people see in a life time. So when it came time for me to get a bigger gun than my .243 that I had used growing up, I succumbed to the marketing hype and instead of getting a .270 Win, I got a .270 WSM. I shot my spike two years ago with a 130 grain Hornady Interbond. I hit him perfectly in the chest and the bullet exited. It ran about 40 yards before piling up. But after talking to people and reading on the internet that the lowly .270 is a little small for big bull elk and after having trouble getting the interbonds to group well, I tried some Barnes TSX bullets. I finally was able to get them to group extremely well, putting 5 shots in a group the size of a quarter.
One thing that everyone brags about the Barnes TSX bullet is that it puts them right down (bang-flops is what we call them). Without really thinking about it, I got the stupid impression in my mind that if I shot an elk with this bullet, it would go straight down.
Well, at my shot, I was kind of surprised that he did not drop. It was really a stupid thought now that I think about it. As I recovered from the recoil, it did not appear that he had even flinched but actually quickened his pace. Cows were scattering and running away from us and in the direction they had came. But my bull was still up and running.
I have to tell you now that I was a little worried. About half way up the hill we had been watching was a fence. This fence marked the boundary of the hunting area. If the bull got to and jumped the fence, now only about 70 or 80 yards from the bull, he would be forever gone. Instinctively, I jacked another round in and settled my cross-hairs in the middle of the second opening between the branches. The bull appeared and I shoot a little quicker this time, hoping to put my second bullet through his shoulders. The bull slowed way down while turning away from me, staggered a little and went down. I waited for a few seconds to make sure he was not getting back up and the celebration began. Victor ran off the hill down to him to make sure he was going to stay down. Kody and I started whooping and hollering as we looked briefly for my brass.
I made my way down to him as the adrenaline subsided and the darkness settled in. The excitement level was off the charts. It was AWESOME!
My first shot hit just behind the shoulder and exited. The other hit a little high in the shoulder, passing through the first shoulder blade and then breaking the second shoulder. We found it half way through the skin on the far side. I cleaned it off and weighed it. It started life as a 130 gr .277 bullet. It weighed 129.8 grains and expanded to a beautiful mushroom with a width of .58" at it widest point. Both bullets caused major damage and trauma. This is the first time I have used these bullets and personally, I think they are a little expensive. But I must admit that they seem to do exactly what Barnes claims.
I must thank Victor big time. He took time away from work to go with me. Then he spent until 4:00 am gutting, skinning and caping without a complaint. I owe him big time! It was an incredible hunt and I am glad I got to share it with Kody and Victor.
And most of all, thanks to my beautiful, loving and patient wife for everything she does. She spent all day hunting with me Saturday but had to work and take care of the younger kids on Monday.
Here is another picture of Kody and I:
And here is a picture with Victor:
Congratulations on the hunt & the finalizing of a dream. I hope you get to shoot many more fine elk & I can't wait to see Kody's 1st elk too!! 
I've been waiting a long time now to bag an elk and after reading your post I am now more anxious than ever!!