Mauser98
10-05-2007, 08:51 AM
Sept 15 was my first morning of hunting in a area south west of Fort St John. On that morning and the next, I hunted a seismic line that had been good to me in the past for moose. There were elk bugling when I arrived each day but unfortunately, the wind wasn't cooperating and I was forced to back out.
On Monday, Sept 17, I again hunted the same area. There were three bulls bugling and the wind had calmed down somewhat. I started bugling and cow talking and made my way down the line. Two of the bulls moved off(still bugling) and one off to my left moved parallel with me, bugling steadily. I had gone in about a 300 meters and had stopped in a alder clump to bugle when I heard bush cracking behind(downwind) me. I turned to see a cow elk coming out of the timber onto the line about 30 yds from me. She soon smelled me and took off.
I turned away from the cow in time to see a large bull elk come out on the line about 50 yds upwind from me. He was screened by 3 or 4 clumps of alder but I was able to see his eye guards and thirds but I was unable to count the upper points. I had the binocs on him and I thought he was looking straight at me but realized he was probably looking for the cow. He started walking toward me and cleared some of the alder and I saw he was legal. I didn't dare drop the binos because he would surely see me.
He stopped, stared then suddenly turned and went into the timber. I dropped the binocs, chirped the Hoochie Mama and brought the rifle up. As soon as he heard the chirp he came back out and faced my way then walked toward me. When he cleared the last bit of alder I shot him in the chest at 20 paces.
I was using my 9.3X62 with 286 gr Nosler Partitions(2350 fps) and the effect of the impact was astounding. The bullet entered at the base of the neck a bit above the sternum and must have passed very close to the spine. The impact literally knocked him backwards. His front legs splayed out and he went down hard. A second bullet from closer range into the upper neck finished it.
He's a 6X7 and my first elk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/media21.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/P9170021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/P9280042.jpg
Now, about those moose. In two weeks of hunting, nine of us in three camps saw about half a dozen cows and calfs - no bulls. One of our party heard a bull grunt-once. This is an area in which my family has been hunting since 1979 and have never been skunked on moose before this year. It seems the die-off was more extreme in our area.
But I am encouraged to read on this and other forums that lots of other areas faired much better.
And we saw a pack of five wolves near my kill site and a couple of days later. No joy on the round I lopped.
On Monday, Sept 17, I again hunted the same area. There were three bulls bugling and the wind had calmed down somewhat. I started bugling and cow talking and made my way down the line. Two of the bulls moved off(still bugling) and one off to my left moved parallel with me, bugling steadily. I had gone in about a 300 meters and had stopped in a alder clump to bugle when I heard bush cracking behind(downwind) me. I turned to see a cow elk coming out of the timber onto the line about 30 yds from me. She soon smelled me and took off.
I turned away from the cow in time to see a large bull elk come out on the line about 50 yds upwind from me. He was screened by 3 or 4 clumps of alder but I was able to see his eye guards and thirds but I was unable to count the upper points. I had the binocs on him and I thought he was looking straight at me but realized he was probably looking for the cow. He started walking toward me and cleared some of the alder and I saw he was legal. I didn't dare drop the binos because he would surely see me.
He stopped, stared then suddenly turned and went into the timber. I dropped the binocs, chirped the Hoochie Mama and brought the rifle up. As soon as he heard the chirp he came back out and faced my way then walked toward me. When he cleared the last bit of alder I shot him in the chest at 20 paces.
I was using my 9.3X62 with 286 gr Nosler Partitions(2350 fps) and the effect of the impact was astounding. The bullet entered at the base of the neck a bit above the sternum and must have passed very close to the spine. The impact literally knocked him backwards. His front legs splayed out and he went down hard. A second bullet from closer range into the upper neck finished it.
He's a 6X7 and my first elk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/media21.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/P9170021.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v403/Tiagra885/New%20Rifle/P9280042.jpg
Now, about those moose. In two weeks of hunting, nine of us in three camps saw about half a dozen cows and calfs - no bulls. One of our party heard a bull grunt-once. This is an area in which my family has been hunting since 1979 and have never been skunked on moose before this year. It seems the die-off was more extreme in our area.
But I am encouraged to read on this and other forums that lots of other areas faired much better.
And we saw a pack of five wolves near my kill site and a couple of days later. No joy on the round I lopped.