one of the longest shots Ive made

grumpyvette

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Staff member
I had some friends over discussing past hunts and the subject came up about memorable mule deer......
Ive found that most guys I hunt with should never attempt a shot over about 300 yards simply because they have never had the opportunity to shoot at similar ranges, and have zero experience making shots at similar ranges.
first some back-ground info...It was back in the early 1970s and Id just gotten my 340wby the year before this and I was young , gullible and believed a great deal of the elk hunting articles Id read , Id spent a great deal of time at the local range, sighting in my rifle and finding the best hand loads, etc. and Id printed out and laminated a matching ballistics drop chart that was taped to my rifle stock. I had a bi-pod similar to my current ,Harris 27" swivel bi-pod mounted and a good sling and Id sighted in exactly 3.5" high at 100 yards , the weatherby rifle was pillar block bedded professionally and easily kept 1"-1.2" groups even though my skill level was not nearly what it would be later. I had a baush and lomb 4x12x scope mounted in weaver rings, and I was convinced that anything I saw inside of 600 yards was easily shot.
http://www.harrisbipods.com/HB25CS.html

most of my elk were shot from a sitting position with this bi-pod at over 100 yard but under 250 yards, or at very close range shooting off hand (usually under 60 yards)
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now we (JACK AND I) had been hunting rather hard near eagle co. for several days for mule deer and on this particular morning I had walked up a logging road several miles in the predawn darkness ,occasionally stopping to eat an apple that was 90% frozen, and being amazed at how hard it was for a florida guy used to near sea level to walk more than about 50 yards up a old road grade without stopping to breath, and after about 2 miles of walking I reached what in the darkness appeared to be a rather open field, in the occasional moon light thru the cloud cover,I was now sitting on a large fallen tree trunk and leaning against my day-pack as the sun barely lit the horizon, it had snowed very lightly last night and there was what looked like beads of ground styro-foam on the ground in spots (snows not always in flakes) I was resting and wishing Id known too opened my jacket more, when walking because Id begun to perspire , due to exertion, and thats not good once you stop, and need to stay warm.
I was watching a large, older clear cut that had begun to grow back, and had found a spot where I could remain just below the ridge line , looking over the crest into a shallow sloping clearing and I was seated under some sparse conifer branches for cover,making me very difficult to see from the clear cut area, I was watching as I was actually not on that areas slope but just over the ridge line
I was mostly wondering why, Id been rather stupid too rush up here, to this location and then sit and freeze to death as a result when, I heard muffled gunshots in the distance.
after about 15 minutes the light was good enough to make out the far slope , but nothing but a few chip monks were moving so far.
after about 20 more minutes I spotted several doe deer in a group trotting/briskly walking away from the direction Id heard the shots from earlier.
I was keeping busy watching my breath smoke in the bitter cold crisp air and wondering if my partner had even gotten out of the tent yet, as when Id gotten up earlier I decided to get dressed and walk in rather than listen to him snore any more (try never to hunt with guys that snore loudly, you don,t get a good nights sleep)
over the next hour I saw several does and a few small mule deer bucks but nothing I was sure was worth shooting, until about 8am.
the wind was just starting to pick up enough so you could barely feel it, when I noticed a couple more does out on the far slope, I was watching them , when I eventually noticed a large legal mule deer buck walking behind the group, , I placed my day-pack behind and under the rifle butt and extended the bi-pod and snuggled into a prone position, and watched the deer which were at about 600 yards out but moving diagonally a bit closer, just then my hunting partner started walking over, he could see I was looking like I was about to shoot so luckily he didn,t make a great deal of noise as he approached but I was afraid the deer would notice him,but he and I were effectively barely into the drainage the road we walked in on was in not the drainage and shallow clear cut I was watching, just over the crest.
he sat down and got out a spotting scope and tri-pod I pointed out the deer which was now looking in our direction, I don,t think he could see us but he may have heard us, the wind was not in his favor so he darn sure could not have scented us.
I decided to take the shot and judged the range to be just over 500 yards so looking at my drop table and assuming the deer was 3 feet tall at the front shoulder, I steady the vertical cross hair on the front leg and judged the horizontal one to be exactly the same distance as the deer was tall from hoof to back line above the deers back line and slowly squeezed of a shot ......(this is where you learn not to shoot a 340 wby prone crawling up to close to the scope and yes I got a good weatherby eye-brow scar and blood on my new jacket)
The deer was no ware to be seen, I never saw him fall and I never saw him run, so I asked my partner who, said he was so busy watching me flop around and bleed, that he had not noticed where the deer went either, (that was a lie, he saw it drop on the spot but I did not find that out until months later) so I held a couple napkins on my eyebrow to stop the blood and told him to go look for the deer while I directed him to the deers location, as I could clearly see where he was standing when I shot...he walked out to the location following, what I'm sure he thought was, my frantic orange vest waving directional support,as a guide. but kept indicating he saw no blood or deer.. frustrated I walked the 545 counted paces to where I found him sitting on my mule deer ....still swearing with a big grin that he had zero Idea where I was shooting, because this mule deer he was sitting on must have died laughing at the ridiculous idea I could actually have punched him thru both lungs at that distance, there was no other logical explanation for the dead deer!
now I didn,t hit that deer exactly where I aimed the bullet hit a bit further back and a bit lower than I had planed , but it zipped thru over the heart and under the spine and about 6-7 inches behind the front leg, but I was still rather pleased with my shooting (YES I later found out It was partly luck trying to duplicate it on targets at 500 yards where keeping a 6" group for 5 shots is reasonably good field shooting) but when your young you just know you can do almost anything. Ive since tried to limit shots to no more than 350 yards and where I usually hunt thats not an issues as shots over 200 yards are rather rare!
THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE AREA I HUNT FREQUENTLY FOR ELK
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LOWER CANYON
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upper canyon
Ive hunted DEEP CREEK, and GRIZZLY CREEK and several surrounding drainage areas in the white river , and similar canyons for DECADES
for decades most years when I hunt ELK in Colorado,Ive hunted most of the canyons around EAGLE,DOTSERO,GYPSUM, and those areas north and south of RIFLE,CRAIG and MEEKER
http://www.mapquest.com/satellite-maps/gypsum-co/
If you stuck a pin in a map of Colorado in dotsero and swung a 70 mile radias arc around it, Ive probably hunted the vast majority of the canyons inside that 140 mile diameter circle, several times over the years that those individual areas were available to hunt, having experience in how game moves when under hunting pressure and where it tends to move too as it retreats to the more remote, less easily accessed and protected areas gives you some advantages
don,t get the idea youll need a long range magnum for most elk hunting, larger male elk are seldom stupid enough to hang out in open fields during full daylight hours , your far more likely to need to sneak thru thick timber slopes to locate elk, shots tend to be hurried and not at long range.
its been decades since any member of out elk hunt club has killed any elk at over 250-300 yards, and the last time we actually took the effort to calculate the average distance, it was in the high 80-90 yard range , thats probably got a great deal to do with the gradual shift from the 7mm and 300 mags many of the guys started with,to calibers like 358 win, 35 whelen, 45/70 and 450 marlin, and shorter carbine length weapons that has slowly taken place.
yes a good many guys started with a 30/06 and 180 grain-200 grain and 220 grain bullets and many of the older guys have stuck with that combo, and at least in our group the remington pump action 30/06 and 35 whelen, and BLR in 30/06 and 450 marlin and 358 win are very common.
my personal average is probably in the 70 yard range with several shot at under 35 yards
I usually have my 35 whelen, and 450 marlin rifles along, sometimes my 375 H&H carbine,
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most of the areas I hunt look like these pictures
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Jack stopped over for coffee , this morning, and we got to talking about old hunting trips again.
On one trip back in the mid 1990s, Jack, Howard and I drove out to Colorado, in my 1989 ford f350 dually truck, and we stopped at Frank's house, in woodland park the day prior to the season opener.
we got there early in the day after driving out from florida over the previous 40 hours.
We helped Frank load up his ford bronco with the gear he wanted to take and proceeded to drive out to gypsum Colorado,
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which is about a 7-8 hour drive under decent driving conditions, if you take the back road route though aspen. When we arrived at the area we were going to camp at, a well know area, that we had used for several previous years, there were several other trucks already parked there so we decided to move a few miles further along the access logging roads and after looking at several topo maps we located a long unused spur road that allowed access to grizzly creek drainage
yes the cost has increased a great deal,
,over the last 45 years, when I first started hunting in Colorado we would get 3-4 guys , too drive out in a truck too split gas cost and drive out, too Colorado, driving strait through swapping drivers every 4-5 hours this generally took 44-47 hours.
total trip cost including over the counter licences was under $1200, now the cost is about $2300 if we spit the fuel cost three ways and buy , $1100 in deer/elk licences
we would occasionally arrange too rent a second truck and have to pick up a couple other guys who chose to fly into Denver ,the guys driving out would transport the bulk of equipment even for the guys we picked up who fly into Colorado, we would all camp in tents for 7-9 days while hunting
this led quickly too a firm adopted rule,
each person was limited to what would fit inside a single military style duffel bag,
and one hard side rifle case(and your back-pack needed to fit inside that single duffel bag along with the other gear, if that rule was not firmly enforced you would not ever believe the amount of crap some guys wanted to bring or transport.
yes we also transported a couple large coolers and a large tent for common use, but nothing else or the amount of equipment guys would want to pack ,would quickly , and vastly exceed the area available in a pick-up truck bed.

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CURRENT COLORADO Nonresident License + Fishing Combo*
Elk, Cow $ 484
Elk, Bull or Either Sex $ 644
Deer $ 389
Moose $ 2,149
Pronghorn, Buck or Doe $ 389
Bear $ 354

when I started hunting in colorado
a combo deer & elk licence cost about $300
yes they are effectively pricing themselve out of the average guys ability to hunt colorado, and several other states as well
http://www.backcountrychronicles.com/top-colorado-otc-elk-hunt-units/

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...f-the-longest-shots-ive-made.6154/#post-51351

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...om-friends-over-your-choice.10059/#post-50694

http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ecent-carbine-on-an-elk-hunt.9932/#post-40035

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/elk-hunting-tips.1095/#post-25711

http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/jack-stopped-over-last-night.9854/#post-37534

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Id brought my 340 wby that year.
(not the ideal back packing rifle but ideal for sitting on one side of a canyon while watching for game crossing the canyon floor ar far slope as its easily used out to 500 yards or so with a decent bi-pod)
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for some reason Frank and Howard both decided they wanted to set up camp and hunt out of the new area rather than back-packing into the canyon we were very familiar with
(probably due to experience on previous trips out of that canyon lugging heavy packs filled with sections of recently deceased elk quarters) so Jack and I loaded the gear we would need to back-pack into the canyon, as we usually did, on these hunts , knowing that the next morning the various camping areas further down the canyon drainage (that stretches for several miles) would disgorge crowds of hunters and the result would be similar to most years, in that much of the game in the drainage would be forced due to hunting pressure would travel up-slope past the choke points we knew all too well from previous hunting trips, but in this case we would actually benefit from the change of camp location as the areas we wanted to hunt would be a shorter distance from camp.
Jack was carrying his 375 H&H A bolt browning rifle , for this trip. that looks a great deal like this
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the four of us looked over the topo maps and decided where we would hunt, Frank and Howard decided to hunt only a few hundred yards down slope from the access logging road that snaked along the ridge crest , while Jack and I being more MASOCHISTIC, and more concerned with filling a tag, were determined to hunt the lower canyon.
well 4 AM the alarm in the tent went off and we all got up to near ZERO temps in the tent, got dressed in stiff boots and ice cold clothes and kidded each other about the absurdity of grown men paying damn good money and looking forward all year to two weeks a year, to be un-comfortable , half frozen 2300 miles from home.
I filled the back-pack with granola bars, pop-tarts and two, two liter water bottles along with the knives, plastic bags and other gear to process an elk.
by 4.30 am Jack and I were traveling down slope , into the canyon, it was pitch black dark in the conifers and snowing lightly but really quiet.
we traveled slowly as we did not want to make much noise and viability was minimal.
by 5AM it was starting to get barely light enough to see a few yards past our noses.
by 7AM we were almost to the ridge rock formation that formed a natural choke point, Jack was whispering and pointing, to the far slope when I saw movement down slope moving toward us up the slope, both Jack and I leaned against large aspen, trees watching movement in the trees about 130-150 yards away. I could make out a decent small four point elk following several cow elk, I un-slung the Weatherby and wrapped my arm into the sling , sat down and extended the 27" bi-pod legs, I had a very sturdy and solid rest and as the bull passed through an open area about 130 yards out I put the cross hair, of my 2x -7x scope on the front shoulder about 1/2 way up from the lower chest bottom edge, and as the elk swung that leg forward I squeezed off a quick but accurate shot, As the rifle recoiled, I slapped the bolt back then forward and down into lock as the cross hairs re-aligned. the elk dropped , like a soaking wet towel from a porn star, as she exited a shower, as a 250 grain hornady zipped through the bulls chest and exited , I remember I saw a small aspen about 2" in diameter just beyond, the elk, slowly fall as it had been 3/4 cut through by the exiting bullet.
Jack stared at me and said are you sure that was a bull? I only saw cow elk?
I assured him it was a legal bull and he was shocked when we walked up and saw it was better than many of the elk we had shot previously,
(no record but still on public land a darn nice legal elk with a 4 x 5 but a bit spindly rack.)
Jack joked and swore I shot that damn elk 20 minutes into legal shooting light, simply too get him to help back pack out the meat!
I reminded him that that was not likely the case as, if it was planed, it was poorly planed, as we were several hundred yards up-slope from the canyon floor thus his trip out with a heavy pack would not allow him the full benefit in exercise that packing out several hundred lbs of fresh meat usually required.
Jack still swore it was a plot he seemed to fall for all too often as he seemed to pack out a few elk every year he had not shot!
I reminded him that the previous year we had both helped pack, not only our own but each others elk out!
And what really made Jack roll his eyes and mutter under his breath is the fact that FRANK had a really nice mule deer hanging in camp when we got back with the first load of meat, at about 10 am, that FRANK said had just stood there ,like a complete idiot, in the seldom used logging road,that we had driven in on, about 300 yards from the trucks as he ran around looking for his rifle at first light.
BTW a bit of info for anyone reading this, there didn,t seem to be a pennies difference in the results from JACKS 375 H&H with its 270 grain hornady at 2660fps and my 340 wby with its 250 grain hornady at 2850fps over several years of hunting so its your choice, as to what works best and yes both of those rifles and cartridges do seem to be almost ideal and useful combos
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Good Reading Grumpy.
Good Time Memories shared.
Thanks.
 
I did this shot with a Savage 17HMr.(no sound, my friend had an ugly evil laugh, so i removed sound.).
Wait until the end so you can see the complete range :).
I don't remember the distance but it was pretty good.
 
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