For those that red it from the other forum just scroll halfway down the page and start the new one. Rog
The Caribou: 1971 I had just arrived in Alaska and had been sent along with a bunch of hunters (Military VIPs) on a hunting trip up the Steese Highway, for Caribou. At the time I only owned one gun, a Parker Haile in cal .308. I had worked up a good load using the Nosler 165gr partition bullet. After the incident involving the Grizzly, I decided I needed to learn to shoot long distances better. I knew that shot had been pure luck, with a lot of intervention. I had slghted my rifle in for 300 yards, and had started shooting at 400 yards regulerly. Occasionally I would try a 500, 600, or 700 yard shot just for the heck of it. The guys that ran the range kept a gong set up at 1000 yards, and everyone would take their last shot at it before leaving the range. And sometimes someone would hit it. Anyway, on the hunt one of the VIPs not knowing the differance shot a reguler size Caribou. The Caribou had been running when he shot, so he had hit it too far back. It got into a draw and disappeared. The shooter and his partner ran down the draw expecting to intercept it. I walked up the hill. After walking a couple of hundred yards up the slope I saw the Caribou come out and run across the tundra. The Caribou stopped out there on the flat tundra a long ways out. I sat down on the ground between two large tussocks of grass. I placed my rifle across one using it as a rest. I guessed about the distance and for the hold over. I took the shot and saw water fly in a pond just over the animals back. That gave me a referance point to lower my point of aim. I took my second shot an the caribou started to run. Then I heard a solid "whack" and after five jumps the Caribou dropped.
The Moose: 1998, I was hunting with Chuck Wattier, Carlos Young, and Dick Abernathy. Dick was visiting from Wisconson and wanted to get a moose so we decided that he got first shot. We were riding Chuck's track rig that morning, it was cool so Carlos and Dick had decided to ride in the cab. About four miles from camp a nice sized bull jumped out of the willows right in front of us. Chuck stopped the rig and Dick jumped out. Dick ran forward to get around the willows before making his shot. Meantime the moose is running. When Dick finally gets clear of the willows the moose is out over a hundred yards and everyone is yelling at him to shoot. Dicl made a bad shot, I saw blood and dark material fly from the paunch area. The moose went down, but got right back up and hit the willows running. Dick was not ready, so he missed with his second shot compleately. Dick, Chuck, and Carlos chased after the moose going east. They went into an area of tall willows and black spruce, and I lost sight of them. I could hear them yelling at each other as they tried to spread out and keep the moose in sight. I decided to stay on top of the rig. I had a good view from there, and where you find one bull there is usually a more around.
After about 15 minutes I saw a moose come up out of a wash into a clearing and just stop and stand. I could tell he was not standing right, so I looked at him through my spotting scope. The moose was standing humped up, like a gut shot animal will do. I could also see blood running down his belly. I took a reading with my range finder, 500 yards. I looked at the paper taped to my stock and read that my load would drop 30". I aimed what I estimated to be 30 inches high and took the shot. The rear end if the moose went down, and I thought he was going to fall. Then he straightened up and took a hopping step forward. Then stopped again. I realised that the grass was blowing midway to the moose even though there was no wind where I was. The wind was blowing left to right and I had hit him low in the rear quarter. I held the same elevation, just moved point of aim even with his nose. Took the shot, heard a "thump" and he fell. The first bullet broke the rear leg bone, passed through and was not found. When we dressed him we found the second bullet against the far ribs. The bullet had passed through both lungs, the stomach, and stopped against the rib breaking it but not going through. The bullet was only half expanded to the reguler mushroom shape normally gotten when shooting one at 80 yards. I was using a Ruger M-77 in .338 Win Mag. The bullet was a Nosler 225gr Partition.
