Lesson Learned

[Poison Slinger]

Hey guys,

Not a story about hunting with my ’74 Shiloh, a 50-90 Business Rifle (a bit over-gunned for game around here), but several shorts on hunting with old rifles. Since moving to Cody 5 plus years ago I have hunted exclusively with single shot rifles. In addition to the ’74, I have hunted with a Ballard, Rolling Block, Maynard, Wesson muzzleloader, and even a Bullard single shot. So far I have taken game with all of the above.

This year I had to use a barrowed modern rifle for a shot and thought I’d pass on the reason to help someone else avoid the problem. I have a poor shooting eye that forces me to use a scope on most occasions. Normally I use a Lyman 438 4x scope with external adjustments, but this year for antelope, elk and deer (lucky us in Wyoming where you can do all this at the same time) I was using a .45-70 Roller with a Unertl 10x also with external adjustments, zeroed at 100 yards. I’ve had no problems when hunting on foot, but this time I was hunting on a mule with a friend; first time I have hunted from a saddle. Several times we dismounted and I slipped the rifle out and back in the scabbard. Later in the hunt I had a shot on a great mule deer buck at just over a hundred yards. This should have been a clean kill, but it was a complete miss. Later a nice shot on a broadside antelope at about 150 yards was also a way-off miss. At this point I gave up and barrowed the bolt action rifle and took my antelope. Moral of the story, in hind-sight as the rifle was slipping in and out of the scabbard I was ‘re-adjusting’ the scope when the knobs were rubbing on the inside leather. I now understand that you can lock-down the knobs on some scopes or I’ll tape the knobs in place for hunting; something you might think about if you are in this situation.

This season I was able to be with my daughter as she took her first deer buck. She has taken antelope and elk with her original Ballard in 38-55, but never a deer. We were slow stalking in thick woods, when we heard a shot from another hunter about 100 yards off. We stopped, waited and sure enough, the buck was coming right at us. It came to 15-20 yards, but directly behind a fallen tree. It sensed us, but couldn’t make us out. As it turned and moved off, Ariel got her shot. She was shooting 25 gr of AA2495 under a 250gr pure lead bullet, a light but effective load for deer.

Later in the season I was able to take a nice whitetail doe with the Roller, an 80 yard shot also with a reduced load. I have been shooting AA2495 with lead bullets when not hunting with the ‘true powder’. I carried a Ballard chambered in .40-90 Everlasting for my cow elk this year. After about a mile and a half uphill walk I was getting winded and had my head down. Taking a breath I looked up to see two cows and two calves just looking at me in the open at about 180 yards. I dropped to a knee and settled on a cow, then it occurred to me that I was a mile and a half from the truck – so I moved over and took a smaller animal. The lead bullet did its job (like they always do) and the work started. It was a great season in the field.

I’m preaching to the choir on this site, but I am truly convinced that slow lead is the way to go for hunting. I always loose less meat with lead, and have rarely had to track an animal.

Anyway, good hunting to all and have a great New Year.

Rick Patton
Cody, Wyoming