My son shot a Caribou yesterday morning with a my Handi 30-06 loaded with Nosler 180gr Ballistic Tips. First shot Caribou was running, at about 125 yards. Hit high just in front of right shoulder. Bullet should have hit the spine and dropped it instantly. Blew a hole about the size of a softball in the muscle at the base of the neck. Caribou stumbled, and ran on for about 150 yards. There it laid down. Thinking it would lie down and die we just sat down. to watch it. After about 10 minutes it got up and started stumbling down the slope. He took a second shot at the big wound we could see, Caribou fell instantly, this time bullet hit the spine. I had read that the 180gr Ballistic Tip had heavier metal for shooting bigger game such as Deer, and Black Bears. After seeing what it did to this Caribou, No penetration at all, I decided not to use them for Grizzly. Going back to Partitions. Since he shot the same place both times it's hard to tell just how much damage was done by each shot. But when we got there a big gaping hole about the size of a softball was at the base of the neck, and I could see the spine. It took two shots to penetrate 5 to 6 inches of muscle. This is not acceptable in my book. Glad I let the three Grizzlies go the night before.
Now that I've got you wondering about the Grizzlies I'll tell you about the rest of the trip.
Norm, my son Skyler, and I, left Thursday morning, going down on the Denali Highway. Nice drive down, sunny and bright for a change. One heck of a torriential downpour Wednesday night. Arrived to a wet but passable trail. Loaded up and headed toward our secret lake. When we got to the Gulkana River, water was high. Skyler said we should go back, but two old stubborn old men said "Na, we can get across". Norm drove in and immediately started being pushed down stream, even as he was angling up stream. Then he got stuck. I stepped into the water and gave his trailer a shove. The water was very swift, and when his rig moved I lost my support and fell into the frigid water. Gosh those mountain streams are cold. I was wet from the waist down, and my hip boots were full. While I was helping Norm, Sky tied the end of a rope to the back of my trailer. Sky later said, he thought it would be a good idea. I jumped on my machine and headed into the river. I got through the deep hole near the bank, but when I tried to crawl up onto the gravel bar midstream my wheels started to spin. Norm wadded in to help pull me across. Water was only about knee deep there. Norm jerked and I moved about a foot, then stopped. Norm jerked again, I moved another foot and stopped. Norm was getting ready for a third jerk when my wheels gripped and my machine moved by itself. The sudden movement caught Norm unprepared and he lost his balance. Down he went, totally under water. After he got up I drove forward and he used my machine for stability till we were on shore. Mean while Skyler is back there laughing at us. When we got ashore I was concerned about Skyler because he was driving my old Suzuki that is a lot smaller than the machines Norm and I were on. Then I saw the rope he had attached to my machine. He had tied it off to the front on his little machine. I took up the slack and tied it off. I pulled him through the deep part, once through that he drove out. We then went on uneventful till the lake. Someone was camped at the lake with a float plane so we decided to camp back about a mile off in the tundra. We pitched our tents, dried off and went to bed.
During the night it clouded up and without a moon to see by it was pitch black, could not see a thing. About midnight we heard something outside. Then a big banging sound as something opened my trailer lid. We looked out but could not see anything out there but we knew something was climbing around on my meat trailer. It had to be a grizzly. Norm reminded me of the blood in the trailer from earlier in the week. Not finding anything in the trailer but smell it left. Norm had to go out so while he was out he closed the lid in case it rained to keep the inside dry. Around two AM again we heard the lid being opened, and something climbing around inside. After it left I needed to go outside, so I closed it again. Then about 4 we heard something outside again. Same routine, only this time we could see a vague shadow moving around out there. This time the Griz came and nosed around the tent, then left. This time Norm and I stayed up. We got dressed and went outside. Fixed breakfast and went for a walk. Around six Sky got up and joined me on a knoll about half a mile from camp to glass. We had just decided to go back to camp for lunch when we jumped this Caribou I mentioned he shot earlier.
After we got Sky's Caribou back to camp the weather started looking nasty. Also the Whitesocks (Black Flies) were eating us alive. We discussed it and decided we should get back across the river, and away from these bugs. Bears will have to wait. The trip back to the river was uneventful again, just muddy and slow due to my having a loaded trailer now. When we got to the river, it had gone down about six inches, Norm went across first. Just before he puller out on the far side he hit a hole and went in deep. The current pushed his trailer over and the hitch slipped off the ball. Norm's trailer went down stream, as he drove out onto the bank. Norm jumped off and chased his trailer down the river bank, catching it but unable to drag it from the water. Norm was able to get it back onto it's wheels but he had to jump on top if it to stop it from going downstream again. Skyler and I made the crossing with no problems. My trailer is taller off the ground and did not catch as much water and it also was heavier loaded. Angling downstream Skyler had no problem this time as well. I unhooked my trailer and drove down to Norm's location to help. Here sat Norm out in the middle of the river, unable to do anything. I parked my machine angled downstream. I pulled out winch cable and using it to stabalize me I wadded out to him. There I was able to get a tow strap around the tongue and secure it well. I then pulled myself back up the winch cable to the bank. There I attached the strap to my winch cable and used my machine to drag Norm, and trailer out of the water. As we drove back to the truck it started raining. It rained hard for about 20 minutes, I mean hard, like those eastern thunderstorms with driving rain so hard you can't see to drive, kind of rain. We don't see that kind of rain up here very often. Glad we got across the river when we did. We got home at 2AM this morning, tired, sore, and all bit up. This Caribou will become Sausage, since we cut the other two up for steaks, roast, and burger.
Whitesocks (Blackflies): When they bite they take a little scoop out of your skin then lick up the blood. They land on you by the thousands, and crawl over you looking for a place to bite. Mosquito repellent does not work well against these little monsters either. They crawl all over you looking for a way inside your clothes and under your headnet. My reaction is to swell up and then an area the size of a silver dollar will turn black, and get hard. It also is tender and itches like crazy. I have 14 bites on my right leg, 12 on the left one. 8 bites on my right arm 7 one the left one, and one on my neck, one on my face. It will take three to four weeks for the discoloration and swelling to go down. Meanwhile Benedril is my friend. I'm not going out again till the bugs are down. Our first trip we did not have this problem, we were at a higher elevation and it frosted everynight.
