I recently did a solo hunt on elk in the Rockies of southern Alberta. Not so much by choice, but unfortunately my hunting partner of many years had his feedlot purchased and he was buried with all the technicalities of getting the outfit turned over to the new owners, so there I was.
I had been reading all the local hunting forums and hearing of how the rut was supposed to be in full swing, so I had pretty high expectations. My first night out of scouting, after having set up the wall tent, I toured all of my local haunts and honey-holes to try doing some calling and locate a bull for the morning hunt. Nada. Not so much as a chirp to all of my unanswered calls, and I put the miles on!
My first morning, I was sitting in the vicinity of a well-know lick in the area an hour and a half before legal shooting light. This is usually productive in hearing and locating bulls by their early morning bugles, but today, like the night before, nothing.
I made my way up the side of the mountain and circled high into the wind over top of the lick. This little detour took about an hour of hill climbing and alder crashing to get into position. I let loose with the occasional bugle and a multitude of cow calls, all with no response. It wasn't until I was roughly 300 yards south and above the lick that I finally got a meager chuckle from the resident bull. I made my way stealthily down into the valley, only to half fall, half crash, over a deadfall that was blocking the trail. The herd bull immediately responded with an enormous bugle that sounded about fifty yards away. God I love that sound! This is what gets me looking forward to this week of the year, and has kept me coming back for the better part of thirty years!
I caught a glimpse of elk moving through the alders, but no sign of horns, and definitely nothing to identify for a clear shot. I busted my way towards the bottom of the valley, and figured that the swirling winds had given him my scent, as the sounds of the bugling moved farther and farther distant down the valley.
I found the main trail in the valley and went on a stumbling run, hoping to catch up to him and at least get a glimpse, or heaven forbid, a shot at the big-boy. I ended up running right into his harem of cows. Busted! Cows scattered everywhere, and I knew my morning hunt was done.
I made it back to camp for a hot cup of coffee and a rest up till the evening hunt. So as not to chase the herd out of the country, I decided to try a different spot that I hadn't hunted, but showed promise. This area had had a major fire through the area about fifteen years ago. Lots of pine had come back and were now about 12-14 feet high, just enough so that the bottom boughs allowed some visibility underneath, and good travelling and feed for any elk that chose to hang out there. There was also an old logging trail through the location that made for a nice gradual uphill climb until I hit the base of the far rim of the valley. I've always had a bit of "next-valley" syndrome, curious to see what lay in that "next valley" and that was what kept me going this afternoon. I had a goal of getting over the rim and seeing what potential lay in the valley beyond. I had it pegged for a bit over a mile, and turns out I was pretty close.
Just before I hit the base of the rim, I ran into a large bunch of cattle. This section of public land allows grazing, and they still had a few weeks before pulling their stock out. These cattle were all extremely flighty. I was betting they hadn't had any human contact for a number of months, cause every time i got remotely close, they stampeded off ahead of me. I finally decided to cut my losses and go up the rim ahead of where I planned to get somewhere where the cattle weren't!
About five hundred yards uphill, I stopped to get my wind. To justify stopping a bit longer, I took out the cow calls and let loose with a few chirps. Once again I was rewarded with the chuckle of a bull higher up the slope.
I made my way another hundred yards or so, and set up at the edge of a decent size clearing to try a few more cow calls. Just enough cover to break up my outline and give myself a good shooting opportunity if the chance came my way.
I had been packing a winchester model 95 in the venerable old 405 cartridge. The gun was equipped with the "climbin' Lyman style peep sight, and was loaded up with some handloaded Hornady 300 grain bullets. I figured this would make just about the perfect short range bush gun, although in practice at our local range, I could use this set-up to consistently bang the 10" gong out to the 200 yard backstop.
Another advantage I found to this rig, was that all through the evening it had been misting rain. It was nice to not have to stop and check the visibility of a scope and be always cleaning off rain drops. If the rain ever gets bad enough where I question the visibility of a peep sight, I'm staying in the tent next to a warm fire anyway!
Two more chirps on the cow call, and he came like he was on a string. Text book response, right up until he held up in a thick patch of alder about 70 yards out on the edge of the clearing. I could just make out the outline of his head and neck, but there was no body shot. I needed him to take one, maybe two more steps and I would have him.
Man, by that time that ugly raghorn took those fatal steps, the beating of my heart was just pounding my eardrums! Adrenalin at it's finest!
At the shot, the bull took off like he hadn't been touched. I had half expected him to pile up on the spot, and here he was running off like a clean miss.
I gathered all my gear and went to the last spot I had seen him go. Nothing. And then, five yards further, two tiny spots of blood. Well, now I'm committed to a follow-up, and I have this nasty fear I've got a big job of blood-trailing on my hands.
Five yards further, and it looked like someone had dipped a paint brush into a gallon of blood and just started throwing it on every bush in the clearing. For another fifty yards, I couldn't believe how one animal could lose so much blood and still keep going. Ray Charles could have tracked this bull! Turns out the slightly quartering shot had taken out the liver and at least one lung. He was piled up nicely on a grassy slope. No bleeding required!
I would like to say that it was all fairly anti-climatic at this point, other than the fact that I now had a bull down a mile off of the trail and was all by my lonesome to get him off of that ridge. Oh, and did I happen to mention that this is serious grizzly country too?
Two days and four serious loads with the back pack, I had him out to the truck. I was pretty pumped with myself for getting it done, being just shy of my 57th birthday.
A few notes on the 405 and Hornady bullets.
Even at a modest 70 yards, the bullet did not exit. When I pulled the paunch out, I found the seperated jacket off of the bullet, with very little else remaining. I know that "dead is dead" but I had a bit higher expectations of bullet performance of a heavy bullet like this. On the plus side, it destroyed some major organs, without wrecking hardly any meat, and that was the trade-off. Not sure how confident I would have fealt in the off chance that a grizzly would have gotten into the equation. When all is said and done, I just hope that I keep healthy enough to make this trip for another twenty years, and for now, I'll be okay for packing the winchester along!

Nice shooting and congrats on a successful hunt.

Very enjoyable story with a great old rifle and caliber.john

Thanks for a good story and for taking your elk with a .405 WCF.
I have taken a variety of game with my 1895 .405 and really like it.
Those 300 grain Hornady JSP will get done on most big game, but I have loaded some tougher bullets for tougher game.
The NF 300 grain bullets are perfect for the 1895 as are the Barnes 300 grain TSX; Woodleighs are also good bullets for the .405.
There are no doubt other good bullets that I have not tried.

If really serious, you can also use 400 grain bullets from Hornady and Woodleigh.

Good hunting!

Great story and thanks for sharing!

I am a little late, but great hunt.sounds like the 405 Win is good elk medicine.

Imahot a big whitetail in the top of the lungs at six feet with the 300 grain spire point and raking forward behind the last rib on the same buck at 30 yards as he slowed down

Neither bullet exited.

The blood trail was like yours.

The spite point has a thin jacket and a lot of lead exposed. I was surprised the high lung shot did not exit. But death was fast, and the blood trail did get heavy.

Were you shooting the flat point or spire point Hornady?

Watched a friend put a 405 into a bison. Hit him at the base of the skull. Dead as Ceasar's ghost.

And the 95 Winchester just reeks of cool. I shot my last year’s bull with one rebarreled to .35 Whelen. It is also my fowl weather rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
I am a little late, but great hunt.sounds like the 405 Win is good elk medicine.

Imahot a big whitetail in the top of the lungs at six feet with the 300 grain spire point and raking forward behind the last rib on the same buck at 30 yards as he slowed down

Neither bullet exited.

The blood trail was like yours.

The spite point has a thin jacket and a lot of lead exposed. I was surprised the high lung shot did not exit. But death was fast, and the blood trail did get heavy.

Were you shooting the flat point or spire point Hornady?

300 grain spire point. The function and end results were positive, just a bit concerned on how the bullet did a complete seperation from the jacket.

Like I said the guns are cool and I have some great Winchesters, the calibers of 405, 45-70, don't suit me, the 45-90 better, but for elk and bear, I'l always go with a 9.3x62, 30-06, 338 or 375 H&H, and never a problem of any kind so far. Don't get me wrong, Id use any of the calibers mentioned, but would certainly be at a disadvantage and pick my shots with care and that alone is a recipe for failure. I learned that shooting elk with the 25-35 and 250 savage, had to pass up opertunities many times, so I see this thread as more than nostalgia or too prove a point on caliber..I know a lady who kills her elk every year with a heart shot 22-250 off the haystack behind her house, so do the kids.