Caribou fun...the end of the early season.

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Anonymous

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Took my son and a friend out caribou hunting. We floated about 4-5mi down a long chain of lakes. We found several large herds and a few stragglers.

First up... I shot this cow with my .300WSM. A 150yd shot is hardly stretching the legs. Through the onside shoulder and out the ribs. DRT. No bullet recovery which has been typical for the .300/180AB for me.


My friend Gary headed down the ridge to tackle another herd and left Evan and I on our perch. He made two great shots with his .338WM/ 180AB on a couple great cows. Never realized that it was 400+yards. We didn't get any photos because we were dealing with this.

A bull wandered out to where the cow had fell and seemed to be in no hurry to go anywhere. I asked Evan if he'd like to take him... perfect situation for a first big game animal. Nice bull, reasonable range, unalarmed critter, standing broadside out on the wide open tundra with no cover for well over a mile with Dad backing him up. He got prone and fired with his 7-08 and missed completely. I coached him to just breath, reload and calm down....the bull wasn't going anywhere. He did it all right and at the shot I saw a big tuft of hair explode from the bull's mane and he fell in his tracks. The little 140gr pill out of the 7-08 carbine did it's work.

The ridge in the background made a perfect spot to spot and shoot the animals on wide open basin.
 
Congratulations to each of you. Your son did just fine. That is a fine bull; he is to be congratulated for taking his time and making the shot. Good for you coaching him.
 
Way to go, that is what it is all about doing it with the Family and Congratulations to everyone as that should be around to snack on for a while!b :mrgreen:
 
I've gotta make a correction....

While cleaning and hanging Evan's bull this morning I noticed a small amount of bloodshot meat on the ribs, which I found unusual since he killed it with a neck shot. The bull had no reaction to the first shot so I thought it a pure miss...I was wrong.

Sure enough- located in the high lung was a perfect 7mm bullet hole. It would have been fatal, but it might have took a while since damage appeared minimal and there was no exit. So Evan scored 2 for 2 with his little Savage.
 
Factory 140gr Fusion. I only did a little range work with the gun... 140gr Power Points were a total disappointment and the 140gr Fusion which shot pretty well. I'll likely load up some ABs over the winter to see how they do. At the speeds the 7-08 generates, something like a BT might would do pretty well too, particularly at typical tundra ranges.
 
You would think they would have opened up. I do like the idea of a BT or AB for a 7mm-08.
 
Congrats to Evan. Those "bou" are cool lookin' critters. Way to follow up young man! CL
 
Awesome hunt and I gotta say I'm surprised the Fusion didn't open.

Gives you a good excuse to load some Noslers.
 
Congratulations to both of you! What a great account of the hunt. Thanks for sharing.

Those high lung shots can be troubling. A little low to impact the spine. A little high to really get into the lungs and cause significant damage. I've seen critters that didn't seem real impressed with a high lung shot.

He surely did put the 'bou down on the second shot though! Nothing wrong with that young man's marksmanship!

Regards, Guy
 
Congrats to you all, especially your son on his first! Caribou is definitely on my short list of hunts I need to do!
 
Now that's a great hunt , glad to see father son both connect. Those are memories he'll carry with him forever.
To bad you never recovered the fusion bullet, as far as factory fodder goes alot people have had good performance with them.
 
Congratulations Evan that is a fine bull! Glad to see that you and your Dad were able to connect that should put some meat in the freezer this winter. Just wondering how many tags does your family get? Do you have to apply or do you get them as a resident?

Blessings,
Dan
 
sask boy":1itmxwfk said:
Congratulations Evan that is a fine bull! Glad to see that you and your Dad were able to connect that should put some meat in the freezer this winter. Just wondering how many tags does your family get? Do you have to apply or do you get them as a resident?

Blessings,
Dan
Click to expand...

Dan- thanks a bunch, we're really grateful to have several in the freezer this year.

Due to our area we get a few different kinds of tags. In GMU 13, there are Tier 1 tags (state subsistence, sort of a guaranteed draw for residents), state draw tags in a lottery, and for rural residents (which we are) Federal subsistence tags on BLM managed lands.

So depending on which types of tags we're hunting we can get anywhere from 1 to 6 with varying areas.

On the Federal tags we each qualify for 2 but the areas are limited to BLM managed hunt areas. Tier 1 is the entire unit but limited to 1 per family. Draw tags are divided into 3 areas and it's 1 per person if you draw.

Mixing and matching the tags is kind of complicated but 6 is the max we can take as a family.

Up north in 26 it's more like 5 per day....
 
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