Tradmark asked me to post these photos of last week's New Mexico free-ranging cow elk hunt. He, his son and his cousin zipped it, got it done with their .454 Casull revolvers and got out. Mark will fill in the blanks and details. I think you will agree that it was a job well done!

Group photos first:





Mark's son Mikey with his first semi-big head of game.



This is cousin Michael's:



Mark and his:



Elk lung after encountering 250 grain Barnes XPB:

That's a whole lot of freezer-filling going on!

Congrats to Mark and fam!

Congrats to all! Special memories with the family and a freezer full of delicious meat.

Well done! Congrats all around!

Outstanding. Saw the pics on the BB yesterday. Good show guys!

Thanks, and thanks for whit posting these for me im a computer-tard. We had 2 days to get it done. In short, my son took his first after a short stalk and made a great 68 yd shot which dropped the elk in its tracks. High shoulder shot and when we walked up he put one more in to stop the suffering. He was very excited and it was his first big game revolver kill. With a rifle he has taken african lion and numerous plains game and deer and he felt this was his best and favorite hunt, cuz the revolver was what he used. I think we have an addict here. I took mine later right at dark and on the stalk i got with in 30 yards of a huge 7x7 and sure wish i had a tag for that one. My shot was quartering Away and very rushed. Hit one lung but the 250 barnes xbp took out the onside lung only but took out almost the whole lung and she only ran 80 yarda and piled up. On monday my cousin took his when we were driving to where the elk had been hanging out and busted a hige herd while in the truck as they were crossing the road. The were spooky as the whole herd took off at sight of the truck. We were a little bummed they all took off but noticed the herd got split and 3 were back up in the trees. My cousin jumped out and got behind a small pine tree and we drove on past letting the elk remaining in the tree line settle and come back down which they finally did. They were real jumpy and as he got the shot and raised his gun the elk spun to run and he hit her in the shoulder with his barnes from his 454 taking her in the onside ahoulder and passing thru the guts. She only ran 15 yards and puled up. We are now calling this the barnes bailout. All in all i was theilled with being able to take 3 freerange cows in 2 days and see my 3rd child get their first revolver kill!

I`ed say there`s more then enough to feed the family this winter.... shooting skills also were more then enough....

James u need to come down for an axis hunt and an elk bbq!

Very Nice. Making memories with family. IT really doesn't get much better than this!!!!!

Tradmark,

I am humble when I write this: Having had a lot of experience hunting and guiding elk I want to tell you three:

A BIG KUDOS to you guys! You did GREAT!

Getting three cow elk in two days with revolvers surely beats all common sensible hunting odds, especially for elk!

And the logistics of, within the same time frame, packing all of them out, and not to mention WHOLE and in one piece, is quite the feat!

I assume you were able to pack them out by getting a vehicle near them. Nonetheless, I know how much work any of that elk stuff is!

Congratulations guys! What a great hunt you had!

Gregg

PS: This story surely is worthy of being written up for Member Articles. I hope you consider it! Maybe Whit, being a writer, can give you a few pointers if you're not sure.

PPS: No harm meant, but I sure like the "field photo" compared to the "hanging in the barn" photo!

WTG, gents! Good eating hanging there!

Yes Sir! Very Nice!

I like that,,,, The Barnes Bailout. Ya'll did real good. I almost bet your son did not sleep much that night. I would have been on cloud 9.

3 elk in 2 days is getting it done. I know I very much enjoyed my time in New Mexico chasing elk. Yours sounds like a fantastic trip.

This has been on my to do list for a couple of years. Hopefully 2018 will be my year. Very nice hunt and congrats to all!!

Couldn't agree more, 3 elk in 2 days with six guns is a rare feat on free ranging elk, not many people can pull that off. I'm sure your son had the time of his life getting his first elk. I consider them the "holy grail" of north american game animals with a revolver. That one cow looks as big as a barn, probably an old lead cow. Great job!

Dick

Thanks a bunch for the kind words. In answer to your question greg, yes we sure were able to get vehicles close and that was purely lucky i think. With some tow straps in packs we could pretty much carry/drag down to whatever flat spot/road we needed to. We also lucked into some cold texas weather to match the cold in the mountains so we could take em straight to the processor and didnt have to lose time quartering in the field. Lucky us, but we did have to quarter up one to get em all to fit in the trucks. It was also pretty easy to get on em since there was snow in lots of spots and could find fresh tracks crossing the road and follow em
Up ala africa, which was nice and it was fun and im not sure my son has yet to fall asleep!👍

Congrats to all of you on a great hunt! A lifetime of memories there!

Good job, filling the freezer and having fun, that"s what its all about.