when I started elk hunting in the very early 1970s I was 19 and one of my mentors (arthur) was and "old geezer" about 40 or so (the youngest of the older guys I learned from) that had lived and hunted elk for about 24 years,with his dad, he had used a 1917 enfield the first few years but bought and used a 760 Remington in 30/06 loaded with peters 220 grain ammo ,for elk hunting and hes used that ammo now for decades. he used that same rifle and similar ammo that used 220 grain round nose bullets and swore anything else was inferior for decades and he did darn well using a weaver 4x scope on that rifle also, he eventually dropped 17 elk in 40 years which is far above average success on public grounds, and we always hunted there,on public grounds,because most of the group could not afford to hunt else ware. well I got a call, that AURTHUR has made his last elk hunt last year at age 83, he lost most of his eye sight to various medical conditions due mostly to age,plus a mild heart condition, his daughter keeps the rifle now but she seldom hunts.
I could tell from the conversation with ARTHUR that he was devastated at the prospect that he had no chance of ever hunting elk again as he had made every trip he could possible afford to with our group over the last 45 plus years.
its rather depressing to think all that experience and enthusiasm will no longer be part of our elk hunts, but he was the last of the original mentors and even most of the guys I started hunting elk with decades ago have either died off, lost interest of are medically no longer able to hunt, and I can see age has even effected the few who remain, and Im not immune to the effect of time either, so guys enjoy what time you can spare to hunt and take pictures if you can,thats one huge regret on my part, I seldom took a camera
I could tell from the conversation with ARTHUR that he was devastated at the prospect that he had no chance of ever hunting elk again as he had made every trip he could possible afford to with our group over the last 45 plus years.
its rather depressing to think all that experience and enthusiasm will no longer be part of our elk hunts, but he was the last of the original mentors and even most of the guys I started hunting elk with decades ago have either died off, lost interest of are medically no longer able to hunt, and I can see age has even effected the few who remain, and Im not immune to the effect of time either, so guys enjoy what time you can spare to hunt and take pictures if you can,thats one huge regret on my part, I seldom took a camera