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6 below zero and i don't know what the wind chill was. he's laying in pieces on the Mt. go back in the morning and gather him with the ponies. smoked him twice at140yds and thou he has a couple broke tines, if he was all together,he would be knocking on 370. was a picture perfect precison strike/stalk and thou not the best i saw in 22 days, he's the one i have hung my fun ticket on for the 2010 season. try and get a report and photo's up in the next day or so. there are some GREAT critters showing up here and i'm glad to add my 2 cents,so to speak. more to follow when he's hangin in the shop | ||
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Congrats Joe! 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!! Looking forward to hearing from you. ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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Let's see those pics.  | |||
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As much snow as was dumped in the park they should be pouring out. | |||
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Good for you. Can't wait to see him. | |||
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  i hope this doesn't get long winded and put anyone to sleep,but i hunted a combined 25 days and there is alot to tell. the hunt started off in typical warm ,dry fall. there would be a good frost on the ground up at 9000 ft and would warm to 65-70 during the day. i spent 4 days early looking and basking and checking out country and bulls. in those 4 days i saw 82 bulls 2 wolves and 6 grizzly bears and spent the one day perched above a postage stamp sized meadow way down in a canyon cause i had gotten 25 seconds of a look at the biggest bull i saw on the entire hunt before he walked into the timber late one morning.played hide and seek with this bull thru the morning, in thicker scattered timber and got a good enough look to piece him together and he was a no-brainer. i camped out there waiting for the evening and thou 12 other bulls came out,the big one and his 2 friends never did. i had this bull figured 380-385 and i was going to kill him given the chance,it never happened and a day later i had to pull out for a guiding commitment. i was gone 2 weeks and heard from my nephew that a 386 bull had been killed out of the same canyon,he sent me a picture and i knew i didn't need to be looking for that one any longer. got back early in november and started riding, spent the next 10 days riding the back country of this unit and sleeping on the ground. i would come out or call and get a weather report midway thru this time frame and waited 10 days for a hint of winter. finally the weather man said it was coming and i pulled my camp and headed down. you don't want to get a truck and horse trailer snowed in,not in this particular world. there has been a handful of rigs spend the winter on the Mt. over the years.  almost didn't leave soon enough and had hells own time finding the horse trail down off the top with a headlamp in the thick, blowing,swirling snow. ended up finding it and got to the truck about 10 pm. rode the ponies another 3 miles down the road and tied them in a group of trees and walked back up the logging road to the truck and chained up all 4s and crawled the truck and trailer off the hill.got to the horses,loaded them and pulled into the house about 1:30 am. was dead beat and limpin around the next day at the house but knew this was "phase 2". this was the part of the season i was really counting on. they can get away from you during archery season,they can hide in the dark timber in Oct. healing from the rut and hot weather, but brother when the snow and sub-zero shows up,they got to come out and eat. by now i was over 150 bull sightings and i had spent days walking in wolf and grizzly tracks, sat on ridges and watched the eagles fly below me,alone nights around the campfire and let the wrangle bells lull me to sleep.early morning wake up,scratch together a meal and saddle ponies for the morning. i had walked and rode over 100 miles and if the world would of ended right then... i would of been satisfied with the efforts and the results. | |||
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you are such a tease... 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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had to make dinner for my sweety now i'm just wore out sorry fella's i promise to catch up soon | |||
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 i'll try and wrap this up. about 10 days ago the snow hit and i changed my methods. there are a couple high vantage points in the unit and now i would sit like a hawk on a post and look at as much winter range as i could. glassing and long range spotting. this was turning up the bulls,and most were easy to qualify. a few required a closer look and i made a run on 2 different bulls that showed promise but didn't make the cut at 300 yds. the bears were not yet asleep and cutting thru a patch of timber to get closer to one of these bulls i had the only griz incident of the season. about a inch of fresh snow on the ground and i'm sneaking thru the cover when there in the snow is a FRESH set of griz tracks and my heeler dog's hair down his backline stood up and he gave me the low rumbling "griz growl" the tracks circled around to my flank and i figured he was going around to the downwind side and would figure out what i was and leave. instead he shadowed me and the dog and followed along behind about 100 yds away. i din't want to sicc the dog on him fearing blowing out the bulls with the barking and chasing, so i just went on counting on the "dog early warning system" to take care of the problem.i cut the bears tracks a couple more times that morning but never saw him. last friday my bull sighting count was over 300 and thou i know i'm seeing some of the same bulls over and over,i'm also seeing new bulls pushed in from the weather. i sat in the truck that day for 2 1/2 hours only being able to see the end of the hood from the blowing snow but with a thermos of coffee and some snacks to pass the time. i had finally give up and fired up the ford to leave when i noticed the hoarfrost covered bob wire fence was bouncing up and down and realized the wind was coming up.20 mins later a window in the clouds opened and i spotted 3 bulls on a hillside, it took another 40 mins before i could see clearly and identified a new bull. i could tell he was a big mature bull with 7 on his right and 6 on the left,long beams and good mass.he went in the trees mins later and i was hoping he was the first of the new bulls to show up and i had 3 more days before the schudule got tight and thou he was a shooter i decided to be patient and wait it out. the next morning i saw the bulls again and made a run to within 900 yds to get a better look in the spotting scope.putting him in the scope didn't disapoint me but i passed him again. saturday evening i saw him on the same hillside and he was the best of the evening. sunday morning he was there with his buddies and another new bull showed up farther up country,putting him in the scope he had all a guy needed for a big bull.main beams over his backline when his head was down big fronts as long as his nose,3rds you could see in the scope at 2 miles,giant swords and a big whale tail finish. at least a big whaletail finish on one side,the other was broke off after the sword and that saved his life.lots of bulls in this area and a lot of competition and broken tines and beams by this time of the year. about the time i figured it was time to go smoke the 6x7,he lifts his head off the ground and heads for the timber like he could read my mind.its about 8 degrees out and i come down off the hill make a run to town fuel and a hot meal cause "i'm going in." getting back to the perch about 2 pm i gather gear and clothing and dive in. there were 12 bulls on this hillside that morning and when i get back 4 of them are already out and feeding.i hike to the base of this hill that is 1000 yds up and down and 2000 yds wide.figuring i can get under 500 at the base and stay out of their bedroom,but when i get where i want to be i'm under the hill and the trees near where they went in for the morning are 768 yds in the rangefinders. looks like i going to have to crawl in amongst them. i back off and find a protected spot on the crick bottom and build me a small fire,its zero by now and getting colder. hunkered by the fire i can see the hill and it takes 45 mins before i see 4 more bulls in the edge of the trees and kicking snow over the fire i make my move. the hillside is steep and you can get under the roll of it and can't see 150 yds up,it takes the next hour to get close and even thou i can't see the bulls i know they are within 250 yds,wind in my face,dog at my side i shed extra gear and make the dog stay. i top off the rifle and chamber a round and move on up.50-60 yds at a time i ease uphill and soon i can see 1 bull,hes at 160 and facing away, i keep my eyes on him and move up. the sage is waist high and i move right to try and see which bull it is, oops, 2 more smaller bull to his left and i kneel in the snow waiting.after 10 mins he lifts his head to look around and its the 6x7. i can only see 6 or 8 inches of his backline and its back to the waiting game,hoping he will hit a hole i can shot thru,wishing i had my 25-06. at 140 i'm packin a whole lot more rifle than i need. i set up and watch the bull over the top of the scope and within a couple mins he shows me what i need to see and i run a 150 nosler thru both lungs and followup with a 2nd when he doesn't go down after 15-20 seconds. lots of horn showing over the top of the sage and i watch him for awhile before going back for my gear and dog.   when i finally get back to the bull i take some pictures between warming the camera so it will work and getting busy caping and quartering. it keeps me warm,all the hard work and finishing an hour and a half later,its dark and time to climb up out and back to the truck. had to chunk him out or he would of been froze solid by morning. went back in to get him with ponies the next day and the windchill was 22 below zero,ended up walking most of the way as there is NO way to stay warm on top of a horse in these conditions. mis calculated how strong i was and couldn't lift the frozen head and cape high enought to put it on a horse and really had misgivings about safely getting horses off this steep hillside in the very slippery steep terrain so left the head on the Mt. and came off with just meat. i was one froze skinney elk hunter by the time i got to the truck and the truck heater took its own sweet time warming the cab. went back yesterday and put the head on a pack frame and spent 4 1/2 hours of sub zero misery backpacking back to the truck. don't know what the temp was then but it hit 30 below zero windchill at 5pm,about an hour after i got to the truck. this is what 30 below looks like.  he's in the shop now and i'm warm once again and damn this kinda stuff was alot more fun 15 yrs ago... anyway hope the rest of you had as rewarding of a season and judging from some of the posts it been a very busy and sucessful season for most of us. enjoy and safe travels. happy thankgiving all. | |||
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Thank you for taking the time to post. Great read for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. | |||
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Great bull! Congrats bud! Hope you stop by the house and stay the night on your way back. Drummond | |||
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Beautiful pictures and a impressiv bull. thx | |||
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Uncle Joe, Great bull. We need to hoist a couple to that old boy. Our schedule is open! Mark MARK H. YOUNG MARK'S EXCLUSIVE ADVENTURES 7094 Oakleigh Dr. Las Vegas, NV 89110 Office 702-848-1693 Cell, Whats App, Signal 307-250-1156 PREFERRED E-mail markttc@msn.com Website: myexclusiveadventures.com Skype: markhyhunter Check us out on https://www.facebook.com/pages...ures/627027353990716 | |||
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Thanks for the suspense and the great story with pictures. | |||
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Great Bull! Congrats. I'm curious on the details of the rifle. | |||
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Congrats on the great bull. The story really makes me want to meet your dog! He sounds like a real winner. ______________________________ "Truth is the daughter of time." Francis Bacon | |||
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 I'm jealous as hell!!!!!  Darn nice bull! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
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Reading that was about like a dream! Great story and what a Bull! Congratulations!!! God Bless, Louis | |||
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chuck nelson i'm shooting a 7 STW, stock winchester off the shelf w/ a 3x9 leopold.handload that will print 1/2" at a 100 off the bench | |||
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wonderful bull ravenr, Nice pictures too. What a hunt! Congratulations mario | |||
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Very well done, you did not dissapoint. | |||
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I enjoyed the entire thing, even pictures of your ugly frozen mug! Congratulations and hold your head high friend. Ted ________________________________________________ Maker of The Frankenstud Sling Keeper Proudly made in the USA Acepting all forms of payment | |||
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Great story, pictures and a damned nice bull old buddy! Not quite as comfy as our time together down in NM this past September, but the results are a lot better! | |||
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Outstanding... 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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Congratulations! Wonderful post and photos. Thank you very much for taking the time to put that together for us. Healthy is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die "Men don't change. The only thing that should surprise a man in his life is the history he doesn't know." Harry Truman | |||
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If this works out you should see a couple of better photos of the elk -- I did some white-balance correction and they look much better. The only bad thing is the camera focused on the antlers so the hunter's face is out of focus which is what happens when you shoot a f2.2.  I left this one a little bluer to really show the cold.  Last one -- enjoy  DB Bill aka Bill George | |||
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Thanks for sharing the beautiful scenery and experiences, Ravenr and DB Bill aka Bill George. We have so much for which to be thankful-- including the gift of creation and nature. Blessings to all of you and yours on this Day of Giving Thanks to a Loving Creator! | |||
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Great photos of a great hunt! Congratulations. | |||
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Congratulations on a memorable Hunt and a fine Bull. You folks that can handle that kind of COLD weather just amaze me. I had no idea a Bear Dog could be trained to take flicks. | |||
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