Well, it's hunting season again which means another season of embarassment and humiliation for Leeper. I can imagine the local elk herd getting together to plan the evenings activities.
"What do you think we should do tonight?"asks a young bull.
"I don't know", says another. "Wait a minute! It's hunting season isn't it? Why don't we start tormenting Leeper.
"Isn't that kind of risky? I mean, he's a hunter isn't he?"
"Naw, he isn't a real hunter. In fact, I know this guy and, believe me, he's as dumb as a stump! We can have him running in circles in no time. It's a hoot! Perfectly safe too!
Now, you might think I'm being a little bit defeatist, thinking this way but I think tonight's events are pretty illustrative of why I might have this outlook.
I had recently gotten a box of bullets from North Fork Technologies of Glenrock, Wyoming, courtesy of forum member Rick F. (thanks Rick!). These are neat looking bullets featuring a lead core bonded into a copper jacket and a solid copper base. The bullets have circumferential grooves cut around the solid portion of the bullet to reduce the bore contact area. The idea is this will reduce pressures and eliminate some of the fouling problems associated with some solid copper bullets with the benefit being improved accuracy. I don't know if it is a result of the grooving or not but these bullets are accurate in the test rifle ( my old Lee Enfield barreled in 30/40 Krag). 3 shot groups were right at the 3/4 inch mark at 100 yds. The load, for those who care, is 47.5 of XMR4350. Don't use this in your favorite Krag!
Anyway, I had E-mailed Rick and told him of my intention to try one on a bull elk tonight. Jokingly, of course!
So, around 7 o'clock I drove out to the end of the driveway ( to give the dog pack the slip) and left to hunt the area just south of our place. This is a nice area. Big old yellow pine and larch with tall grass underneath. Kind of parklike. Small clumps of thick timber provide cover for the whitetail deer to bed down in when they aren't eating our shrubs and fruit trees. I haven't seen an elk all summer since the neighboring field was closed in with an elk fence but I did hear one bugling last night so I figure there's a chance. If nothing else, I might find a really stupid whitetail buck.
It turned out to be a fairly uneventful hunt. The half dozen deer I saw were all does. There was fresh elk sign but not so fresh that the elk was still near it. I saw nothing shootable and walked back to the Jeep in the dark.
When I got back to the house my wife, Sharon, was standing on the porch greeting me with a smile. Now this isn't typical behavior although as I think back it was more of a smirk than a smile.
"You'll never guess what happened just after you left", she said sweetly. It turned out I didn't have to guess because she was obviously anxious to tell me all about it.
"Not ten minutes after you drove out a big bull elk walked across our field and out the gate! He was huge! And he just stood there displaying his antlers for me. finally the dogs noticed him and ran out, barking, and he left.It was really neat!"
I said nothing. For one thing, I was in a state of shock. For another, I wasn't real sure she wasn't in league with the elk and just trying to torment me. Over the years she has often made comments indicating she is less than awed by my hunting prowess and often seems to take pleasure in my occasional failures.
"And that's not all", she gushed," a half hour later he came back in the gate and crossed in the other direction".
"Probably wasn't legal", I said hopefully.
"Yes he was", she smirked, "He had six points on each side. Long ones too!"
I was going to ask if he had a smirk on his face too but decided I didn't really want to know. In fact, there's little doubt in my mind that he did. So the battle of wits is on. Here we go again. Regards, Bill.

Look at the bright side, you live in elk country!

True, but the problem is Bill lives in "Elko" BC... all that passes for "hunting" being secretly manipulated by a sort of Tri-Lateral Comission run by the elk. There's a big conspiracy going on around the Leeper homestead I'd say!

Well it seems the big mechanical elk we shipped up there did it's job again. Next year we will have him walk by and make dinging bell noises IF Bill hits him with his fancy rounds.

Bill,

Where was your wifes gun? Wait, that would have been even worse wouldn't it... Sometimes ya just can't win.

Ahh, you'll get 'em Bill. Let us know how that Northfork bullet works on him.

Sounds like the time I came home from sitting in a tree freezing my ass off while calling it deer hunting. When I walked in my wife asked if we had any elk where we live ( piedmont North Carolina ). I mumbled no there are no elk here in NC. She replied that I was wrong and that she had just seen one trying to push a tree down in the back yard, and that it was twice as big as anything I had ever killed.
That's about the time I started drinking.

[ 09-18-2003, 15:36: Message edited by: crowrifle ]

Tonight get the wife to drive the car to the end of the drive and you stay at the house..

Wanna guess what would happen !!!!!!

Pat

This is further evidence of a phenomenon I have been studying for years. My theory; Elk are imaginary; figments of our warped minds. We suffer from mass, contagious illusion. Put another way, if we (Hunters in general) were all put on trial, we could plead insanity and the jury would certainly convict us of being insane, that is, if there were no hunters on the panel.

Ah, but what a happy sanity. I think I�ll go in the next room and stroke the rake of my last bull elk!

Bill, I have to say, one of the real down sides of moving up here is that I can no longer drop by and hear those stories in person. Thanks for sharing it here. I can picture the whole thing in my mind, and it has me grinning ear to ear (entirely at your expense of course -- sorry for that! )

That fence must really rip you off! Especially since 1/3 of it was probably paid for by your tax dollars!

I will be in a South-Country deer camp in November. Hopefully you will be around so I can drop in for a visit.

Cheers,
Chris

Leeper: That's almost exactly my situation too but with moose. Even down to the Northfork bullets. Great post. Just as good or better as some of your others. I still think ya oughta write for some of the outdoor magazines, I'd probably start subscribing to a number of them if they had someone of your perception on their staff. Keep 'em coming & better luck in the future. Bear in Fairbanks

Bill, thanks this made my day. Not you missing a chance at an elk of course, but like Canuck the ability to relive this in my mind. Laughing with you, not at you compadre. Okay, maybe a little at you...

It occurs to me that all pressure has been taken off my upcoming moose hunt! I’ve got a ready-made excuse. Let’s say I don’t see a moose on this trip, despite being surrounded by the buggers. If anyone decides to belittle my hunting ability, all I have to say is, “I did the best I could, hunting patiently and skillfully (?) in great habitat. But I was hunting with a rifle that Leeper made. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Maybe Sharon could offer her services by actually packaging the rifles for shipment? You know, her hands being the last to touch the rifles may offset the "Leeper Factor". I can see it now, and Elko hunting-gods exorcism for only $49.95! Not that we hunters are a superstitious bunch or anything!

[ 09-19-2003, 00:56: Message edited by: RickF ]

Looking back, I made several mistakes leading up to this hunt. Everyone knows there are certain things which may serve to jinx an upcoming hunt and I was guilty of doing these things.
Sharpening your knife. It is common knowledge that if you sharpen your knife the day before the hunt your chances of success are virtually nil. I had honed my favourite Bob Lay knife to a razor edge. The only way to counteract this is to leave the newly sharpened knife behind and take only the old pocket knife with the notch in the blade. I broke this rule.
Sighting in the rifle with the ammunition you will be using. All the experts will tell you this is a good idea but I say it only a good idea if you don't want to actually shoot an animal with this ammunition. Sure, you might miss otherwise but at least you will get to try a shot.
Dressing apporpriately. While I have had some memorable (if unsuccessful) stalks while wearing pajamas and slippers I made the mistake of dressing in hunters clothing this time. A recipe for disaster.
Know your quarry. Everyone knows elk like to frequent parklike areas. They don't strut back and forth in front of a bunch of yapping dogs! By believing this I obviously guaranteed failure. Regards, Bill.

It is so simple, really, let your wife shoot them while you wash dishes.....