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The cow elk story... Taken in the Carrizo Plain and surrounding mountains of South Central California We were hunting with Nolan Twisselman. The Twisselman family has approximately 80,000 acres in the area. Accommodations are a very comfortable but simple guest house next to Nolan’s house. On the first morning of the hunt; we headed off the flats in the truck up into the hills (as you see in the first photo). We stopped at several places to glass. We saw a few deer and at one point kicked up some pigs while we were driving from vantage point to vantage point. We came around a corner and there up on a knob, across a steep draw, about ½ mile away was a group of about 9 cow elk and an immature bull. The rut ends by September here. We stopped and glassed them for a moment and then backed off by looping around to the south about a ¼ of a mile while getting behind two little knife ridges which formed a nice draw. Using the first ridge as cover, we walked a short distance along the second ridge to a viewing vantage point and the elk were still there. I lasered them at 892 yards so were pretty much back to where we started from distance wise . So I checked my drop chart for my 308 win, slung up really tight off hand, held 14 ft over her back and touched one off, and the big cow dropped in her tracks. THE END. Just kidding but I couldn’t resist. We then slipped off the second ridge down into the draw picking are way forward. About every 100 yards or so, we would sneak up the slope and peak over the edge of the near ridge at the top of the draw to check to see if the elk were still there. The elk had not move but there was a lookout cow who kept staring in our direction. At about 500 yards out we identified a big juniper that looked promising for a place to shoot from. We continued to pick our way forward in the bottom of the draw and using the range finder determined that the juniper was probably 200 yards from the elk. We moved up the slope using a combination of crawling and crouch walking to get the juniper between us and the elk. I then went forward on my own and moved up to the big juniper. I peaked around the corner and lasered the elk at 235 yards. I had crossed sticks and could have taken a sitting shot but decided to crawl forward about 40 more yards to a nice little bush. So I infantry crawled my fat butt forward pushing my rifle (Kimber 84m, 308 win, Zeiss Conquest, 165 grn GMXs) ahead of me on jacket to a nice bush that sat on a tiny little bump in the earth. I waited a minute for my heart to slowdown. I found the lookout cow in the scope she was quartering to me at a pretty good angle and I put the crosshairs inside her shoulder and fired. I heard the bullet hit and she hunched up and lunged forward and moved up hill behind some junipers. The other elk got up out of their beds and starting milling around startled and confused but not running off. I waived my buddy Mark Nelson up to my position as two of the startled cows were moving downhill towards us and not up and away. Mark moved up to me in a crouch. Got over the custom Home Depot bamboo short cross sticks and shot his cow with his 35 Whelen at a distance of about 140 yards. She lurched and kicked and dropped out of sight moving a little further downhill towards the road. Mark walked to where he had last seen his cow and immediately found her and I went up to find mine. She had probably been down for 5 or 7 minutes by now if not more. I walked up hill with Nolan our guide and Nolan spotted her down next to a juniper. As I approached her she jumped up and bolted down hill. Clearly bleeding from her mouth and an exit wound. I couldn’t shoot because she was running straight towards where I had last seen Mark and then she disappeared in the brush and down the slope. I then saw Mark off to my left and moved down hill to look for her. I didn’t go 40 yards and she was laying under a brush pile alive but clearly spent so I finished her off with a neck shot. Well two, I missed the first one from a distance of 10 ft. Autopsy revealed the bullet hit the shoulder (so a little further back then I was aiming by about 3 inches), I was aiming for inside the shoulder, angled backward, then punched through the ribs damaging the near side lung, cutting an artery, and traversing the front of the stomach and exiting the other side. She was dead just didn’t know it and had some fight in her. The bald spot on her hide is from the drag down the hill she had a very health coat. The pig story... We were set up on a knob in the rolling hills above the harvested barley fields. About 6:45 am a sounder of about 15 pigs came through the first little set of hills surrounding the barley fields. At about 600 yards they stopped and froze. The wind was in our favor they just sensed something wasn't right. I don't believe pigs can see 600 yards and we were quiet. The pigs veered off to our left and went to put a small hill between us and them. So we hopped back in the truck and tried to head them off at where we expected them to be. As usual pigs cover more ground than you think they do and when we saw them they were 200 yards past us. So we diverted around again to try to get way ahead of them. We thought we did. Nolan killed the engine we got out and the pigs crested the rise not 40 yards from us and scattered. Some running away, some veering left, some veering right. Mark made about a 35 yard running shot through the shoulders and of course...I stunk the joint up missing with three shots. We confirmed Mark's pig was down for the count and then headed off to find the group. We saw the group...of course 800 yards farther than we would have expected but then I got a glimpse of Whitey trailing the group by several hundred yards. We maneuvered into position and I tried a couple of shots as he scampered away at 200 yards...of course I missed. Then we identified a spot where Whitey would likely pass through and got in front of him. Whitey crested a little rise and spotted us at about 50 yards and decided he had enough. He basically just looked at me straight on and kept coming. I don't know if I would call it a full charge but he just kept coming with determination and I shot him in the head at about 20 yards. This boar was not blond he was almost white.      First time I ever shot a whitey...  Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | ||
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You are far too honest an individual.  If you miss one running at 300 yds. and then dust him on the second shot, admit it. Otherwise.....none of us were with you and what we don't know makes you a better shot  . I also like the fact that you are comfortable shooting an elk with a caliber of less than 458 lott. Sounds like you had a great time and thankfully brought enough ammo. Congrats.  | |||
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Yeah that was a good honest writeup. Would be interesting if that whitey had of got 10 paces closer, and put his foot down. | |||
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Well Done. DOUBLE RIFLE SHOOTERS SOCIETY | |||
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Mike, I sure like that country. It easily lends itself to your long range spoof. Our elk must need their hair more than yours...could it be the 9 degrees [above 0] that we expect tomorrow morning? I've never seen a pig like yours, was it an albino or just plain ol white? Great write up and pics...thanks! Matt | |||
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Matt, That bald spot on her coat was from the drag down to the road. She had a full coat on her. The piggee was not an albino just literally white hair. Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue. What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Daniel, I am a firmly believer that punching a 30 caliber hole through a big games animals lungs generally does the trick. Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue. What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Great read Mike! Thanks and Congrats, Bob There is room for all of God's creatures....right next to the mashed potatoes. http://texaspredatorposse.ipbhost.com/   | |||
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Thanks, Bob...it was a fun hunt. Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue. What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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